The ukulele, an instrument often associated with Hawaii, is now the focus of an Ohio State club.

The OSU Ukulele Club is pending acceptance as an official OSU organization. The main reason its acceptance is pending is because the club does not have an adviser, said Cyrus Sethna, Ukulele Club president and a first-year in political science and Spanish.

Sethna said his search for an adviser within the OSU Department of Music has been unsuccessful. He now plans to look to faculty and staff in the OSU Department of Theatre, particularly those focusing on Pacific Islander or Asian culture, he said.

Once the club has an adviser, the last hurdle to acceptance is having the club constitution passed.

The ukulele usually has four strings, can play two octaves and looks like a little guitar, although it is more closely related to the lute, another small-stringed instrument. There are four traditional styles of ukulele: the baritone, concert, tenor and soprano, or standard.

Sethna said he liked playing and making music and wanted to play an instrument to match his personality.

“My parents made me take piano when I was younger and I didn’t really like it a whole lot,” he said.

Sethna described himself as eccentric and upbeat and said the ukulele matches those aspects of his personality.

The ukulele originated in Portugal, and Portuguese and Spanish colonists brought it to Hawaii.

Jake Shimabukuro, a Hawaiian native who has been playing since he was 4, and James Hill, a Canadian who has been playing since he was 9, are two well-known ukulele players. However, Sethna said he does not try to play like them.

“To say that I attempt to emulate their styles would not be doing them any justice,” Sethna said.

Sethna said he enjoys playing non-traditional songs on the ukulele, such as songs by one of his favorite groups Alkaline Trio.

“I really like that contrast between the upbeat, spritely happy sound (of the ukulele) and the more morose aspects of Alkaline Trio’s music,” Sethna said.

There are 26 OSU Ukulele Club members, according to the club’s Facebook page. Typically, between five and 15 people have shown up to the Wednesday or Thursday group meetings, Sethna said.

It is free to join the club, but it is encouraged that members own a ukulele.

“You can find a very good starter ukulele for about $30,” Sethna said.

Few people teach the ukulele, so most teach themselves to play.

Sethna said it is easy to learn to play but difficult to master.

Sethna brings a few extra ukuleles to meetings for those who do not own one and he said when the club gets accepted, he plans to use club money to buy more ukuleles.

The meetings are usually at 8 p.m. and last an hour.

Club meeting times will become more consistent after the group becomes an official club, Sethna said. Until then, the club cannot reserve a specific time to meet at the Ohio Union.

A typical meeting involves playing songs such as “Over the Rainbow” or songs from the Nickelodeon TV show “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Then, attendees are invited to share with the group. Meetings end with a discussion of administrative topics.