DIY Music Lessons

Am I missing something here ...seriously and no offence meant or anything ..we used to buy the sheet music books with the chord symbols printed over the tune and then sing the song and strum along...and then adapt the strums by listening to records or if you were lucky ,other uke learners/players......Then pick the tune out from the chord by trial and error until learning to read the staff...and still use trial and error even then !!

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Time was that's how we did it simply because, for the vast majority of us, that was the only option. These days "things are different" ... not necessarily better, but different, and it's all about information interchange and, in some instances, exploitation.

In many aspects of music there is deemed to be the "right and proper way" to play, Scottish bagpipe music, ITM (Irish Traditional Music) on whistle, fiddle etc., the ukulele, of course, clawhammer banjo ... the list goes on ... and should you even consider deviating you're likely to be "cast out to eternal damnation" ... or wherever

Some virtuosos capture the imagination and a new genre is born, but mostly "traditional" is sacrosanct!

Ceejay, like myself, was probably introduced to music simply for the want of being able to play music and used whatever was to hand or could be afforded to generate music. There seemed to be little definition, in my circle of friends at least, as whether or not this was a fiddle tune or that was a banjo tune or whatever, it was just a nice tune and we played it as best we could on what was "our" instrument-de-jour.

I feel there should be a lot more emphasis on playing music and using an instrument of choice to do so, than "playing the ukulele" ... or whistle, banjo, recorder, piano, fiddle ..........

It's very much more of a recent scenario that any one specific tune should be played "exactly like this" with no variation in picking or strumming ... sorry , not my scene

I really enjoyed guido heisteks uke newsletter. I totally ordered the dvd yesterday.

Wow....I asked for links to help me out as a beginner...and get antagonistic responses insulting people who are starting out...
So you have 40 years expirience but cannot offer anyone advice except to go figure it out for yourself?
I come from a family of self taught pianists and my family acted like if you werent born with musical ability, there was no point in trying! I got tired of caring about looking cool, and I want to learn how to play my uke, without people acting like my method "isnt good enough".
If you want to have to teach yourself....fine.
But I dont. It took me more than a year to teach myself to play twinkle twinkle on a kalimba, and I dont want to wait years to be proficient on my uke.

I found the best way for me was finding songs that I liked, chords I could play, and then looked them up on YouTube and played along with the songs. These guys have some great tutorials, as well as others mentioned.

https://www.youtube.com/user/mediocremusiciantube/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/ezfolk777/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/Uke4U2/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheUkuleleTeacher/videos

And here is a chord progression you can cycle through to get used to changing chords. Seeso passed it on to me the other day.

C, G, Am, F
G, D, Em, C
D, A, Bm, G
A, E, F#m, D
E, B, C#m, A
B, F#, G#m, E

KaijuEmily said:

I really enjoyed guido heisteks uke newsletter. I totally ordered the dvd yesterday.

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Glad you found it useful Emily.

Another great resource I'm surprised no one has mentioned is Uncle Rod's Boot Camp. (funny name I know) http://ukulelebootcamp.weebly.com/ Like Guido's strumming material, there is no/low emphasis on playing songs to start out, rather getting your fingers used to transitioning from one chord to the next, and building from there.

And power to you for taking this on in spite of negative vibe from some here and from your family.

Jim

Having played stringed instruments over a 10 decade period, I still remember how I first learned. It was not music theory, but simple chord shapes and familiar tunes. I remember bringing my arch top Harmony acoustic guitar to grade school for show and tell. Suddenly everyone knew my name and wanted to talk to me about my musical aspirations.

There are different schools of thought on how to learn 'ukulele. In Canada, they start with theory and no one can contest what fine 'ukulele musicians have come out of their school systems:

http://www.chalmersdoane.com/home.html

CD's are downloadable from his site that show the wonderful results of his pioneering of teaching the 'ukulele in Canada:

http://www.chalmersdoane.com/downloads.html

...and of course the 'Ukulele In The Classroom Project:

http://www.ukuleleintheclassroom.com/

As you progress, the chord progressions and Vamps (turnarounds) will help you familiarize yourself of what chords to expect in certain keys. Learn at the level you want and you will be happy. Ric

If possible find a teacher and take some lessons. If there is a Guitar Center near you, ask someone there. Most Guitar Centers give lessons. I study privately with a string player at GC, he is a guitarist but doubles on uke, banjo and mandolin.
Trying to learn by yourself can really be frustrating and it's easy to develop bad habits. I have a masters in music ed. as a trumpeter and thought I could teach myself to play finger style and it was just not happening for me. Started studying privately in Sept. 2013 and the progress has been amazing. It's a bit pricey but it's money well spent as far as I am concerned.
I have also supplemented my lessons with various online tutorials. Nothing takes the place of one on one instruction.
Good luck and keep us posted.

KaijuEmily said:

Wow....I asked for links to help me out as a beginner...and get antagonistic responses insulting people who are starting out...
So you have 40 years expirience but cannot offer anyone advice except to go figure it out for yourself?
I come from a family of self taught pianists and my family acted like if you werent born with musical ability, there was no point in trying! I got tired of caring about looking cool, and I want to learn how to play my uke, without people acting like my method "isnt good enough".
If you want to have to teach yourself....fine.
But I dont. It took me more than a year to teach myself to play twinkle twinkle on a kalimba, and I dont want to wait years to be proficient on my uke.

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Umm you must mean me the as I seem to be the only person to have mentioned "thirty to forty years experience"...

I do not think that I said "Go figure it out for yourself ", what I said was that I sometimes may be guilty of being so familiar with the instrument that I sometimes may find it hard to understand where people have difficulty because things that some people find difficult to me now that seems so easy .....if that to you reads as antagonistic, well sorry but not meant to be.........after forty years experience I actually find myself almost apologising for being able to play fairly well.....

I have no illusion about my ability nor do I stride across the forum like some have done with no learning of the uke and offer to teach you to play ....

If I have offended you in some way ...I don't see how but well it probably won't be the last time .......I manage to offend myself sometimes ....

If you need to start or follow up a comment by saying, I don't mean to be rude, or at the risk of being banned, or whatever else is similar to that motion, maybe it is best not to say it and just be as helpful as possible without being a turd.

I am sorry ...what ...?? I really am at a complete loss......what have I written that is so offensive to be called a turd ?

Actually I have read the entire thread and see where the mistake I have made is ...I have come in half way through and not read the Original Post..I have treated the thread as a conversation ...well mea culpa ...I thought it was a general conversation about learning and how we have have learned ...I meant no disrespect to learners at all ...we are all still learners....


Still ..Turd is a bit strong ......and from a lady as well ..tush and pish ....I may get all vapourish and offended ......

ricdoug said:

Having played stringed instruments over a 10 decade period, I still remember how I first learned. It was not music theory, but simple chord shapes and familiar tunes. I remember bringing my arch top Harmony acoustic guitar to grade school for show and tell. Suddenly everyone knew my name and wanted to talk to me about my musical aspirations.

There are different schools of thought on how to learn 'ukulele. In Canada, they start with theory and no one can contest what fine 'ukulele musicians have come out of their school systems:

http://www.chalmersdoane.com/home.html

CD's are downloadable from his site that show the wonderful results of his pioneering of teaching the 'ukulele in Canada:

http://www.chalmersdoane.com/downloads.html

...and of course the 'Ukulele In The Classroom Project:

http://www.ukuleleintheclassroom.com/

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Your first sentence says" having played stringed instruments over a 10 decade period". Dude that's like over 100 years, what's your secret

LOL! 6 decades. Autocorrect on my phone is annoying. Ric

I would say start with chord shapes and practice accuracy. Also practice different types of strums. My best suggestion is join UU+ right here and work through all of the lesson plans. If you already have a musical background then it should be quite rewarding.

Alot of good stuff! I already feel like I gained a bunch of insight into strumming . I really appreciate it dudes!

Hawaiian musical supply is awesome. Tons of free videos. Good thoughts on fingerpicking.

I'm new to the forum so dont know how people feel about this site but Ukuleletricks.com has a whole lesson structure with videos and accompanying literature. I think it cost me about £20 to join and you have unlimited access to all the content.