Sure Fire Way to Improve Significantly

coolkayaker1 said:
Your old teacher was right: ramp up that tempo, and ramp it quickly.
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You missed the entire point. Where did I start on those techniques? 60bpm. I doubt many of the people that are practicing start with a metronome anywhere near that. Once you get it in your muscle memory, turning up the tempo is fairly easy, and you'll find you're playing it clean and precise, which is the entire point of mastering something.

Two weeks to ramp up a tempo from 60 to 120bpm isn't really that quick. Especially if you can't play it cleanly, there is no point to continue to ramp the tempo because at that point, you're playing fast but you're playing sloppy.
 
One Bad Monkey said:
I'd actually say to turn DOWN the tempo of the metronome. It's a lot harder to play patterns and passages at a slower tempo than it is to play it faster. Plus, it makes your internal metronome and time keeping skills rock solid.
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Absolutely true!If one cannot play it accurately at a slow rate, playing it rapidly will only make it worse. Check for finger positioning and alternative finger positions as you go from note/chord to note/chord. You might even want to to put little little sticky pad notes at some places as prompts for awhile.

Example play 1-2-0-2 as we usually do with the index finger on the 1..., to play that same pattern on any other position , the index finger is needed on 4-5-3-5 as covering the 3. So---why not play 1-2-0-2 in the same position, since all other positions of that pattern must be played with it? This is a sadly neglected part of practicing because we are so used to looking at printed stuff that tells us where to place our fingers as though it sacred writ.
 
I'm also a proponent of going slow and steady until it is perfect and then speeding up. Only problem is, my students think it is boring. Sometimes, so do I. I want to fly right now... So, I alternate between slow, methodical work and just winging it and seeing if I can get through it.
 
This is interesting. Stan....all of you...I think I just learned something. I always wait till I have my "thinking" and active stuff done before I play, right before work. Or, when I feel stressed out from some crap that happened, like today. So my practice has been getting cheated.
I think I'll try playing right after my dog walk and meditation, see how it goes, before I do my thought/business activity. Maybe I'll feel/play better....
Thanks!
 
Nickie said:
This is interesting. Stan....all of you...I think I just learned something. I always wait till I have my "thinking" and active stuff done before I play, right before work. Or, when I feel stressed out from some crap that happened, like today. So my practice has been getting cheated.
I think I'll try playing right after my dog walk and meditation, see how it goes, before I do my thought/business activity. Maybe I'll feel/play better....
Thanks!
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Aloha nickie, yes you will have More creative aha moments, better concentration, memory, better mood
And dB be able retain more equals to more happiness and success, happy strummings
 
I was taught to only play at the speed you can make it perfect, only then speed up the tempo. Also I often watch my wife play guitar, and when she messes up a tricky part she starts from the beginning, she again gets to the sticking point and again goes wrong, she then repeats the process. I've told her to play till she gets it wrong, then practice that part only until she can do it and continue from there. Doing this slowly moves you through the piece till you get it down pat. If you repeatedly play through mistakes your just learning to play those mistakes. Bad pratice=bad playing.
 
katysax said:
I have found a surefire way to make significant improvement in my uke playing.
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Me, too. My surefire way is to give lessons to a beginner 'uker. It forces me to be a good example - a role model. And the extra playtime in preparation of the next lesson and the lesson itself is beneficial.
 
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UkuEroll said:
I've told her to play till she gets it wrong, then practice that part only until she can do it and continue from there. Doing this slowly moves you through the piece till you get it down pat. If you repeatedly play through mistakes your just learning to play those mistakes. Bad pratice=bad playing.
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Exactly. When I was learning a new solo piece, I would play through it once at a slow tempo, ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Make notes of the mistakes and tricky passages, and then spend some time focusing on each of those spots, before attempting to play the song.


Peterjens said:
Me, too. My surefire way is to give lessons to a beginner 'uker. It forces me to be a good example - a role model. And the extra playtime in preparation of the next lesson and the lesson itself is beneficial.
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What's that phrase? To teach is to learn twice?
 
Noodling is useful and important. Noodling isn't "practice" but noodling can help you learn to use your ear.
 
I improve "significantly" by paying attention to what I'm doing and using my noggin. Example: I was playing a song with the chord progression C, Em, F yesterday, and I was having trouble getting the chord changes smooth. I looked at what I was doing and saw that in coming out of previous chords I was fingering the C (first position) with my Index finger. That meant I needed to shift my hand to play the Em. So, I started making sure that C was fingered with my Middle finger, and the transition smoothed right out as my hand was already in position for the Em. All I had to do was lay my fingers down, no shifting required.
 
katysax said:
Noodling is useful and important. Noodling isn't "practice" but noodling can help you learn to use your ear.
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Why isn't noodling "practice"? Is there some rule about what practice is and isn't? Because if there are rules about practicing, I might not be practicing at all.
 
Rllink said:
Why isn't noodling "practice"? Is there some rule about what practice is and isn't? Because if there are rules about practicing, I might not be practicing at all.
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Suppose it's the difference between having proper football (insert your chosen sport as required) training or just having a kickabout with your mates. Both will allow you to use your skills and even improve them, but the training will focus on specific things that could be improved upon, whereas the kickabout won't reinforce those things anywhere near as well.

I would say that if you're happy with what you're doing, keep doing it though.
 
RAB11 said:
Suppose it's the difference between having proper football (insert your chosen sport as required) training or just having a kickabout with your mates. Both will allow you to use your skills and even improve them, but the training will focus on specific things that could be improved upon, whereas the kickabout won't reinforce those things anywhere near as well.

I would say that if you're happy with what you're doing, keep doing it though.
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I think this nails it. The operative word in the thread title being "significantly".
 
The problem with noodling is that you stay within the zone of what you already know. Noodling tends to reinforce mistakes. I think noodling is hugely important and it is fun. Playing the uke should not be work. You will progress very slowly if at all if all you do is noodle.
 
RAB11 said:
Suppose it's the difference between having proper football (insert your chosen sport as required) training or just having a kickabout with your mates. Both will allow you to use your skills and even improve them, but the training will focus on specific things that could be improved upon, whereas the kickabout won't reinforce those things anywhere near as well.

I would say that if you're happy with what you're doing, keep doing it though.
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Fair enough.
 
Is there a defined definition of what constitutes "noodling", or is it just one of those words with a very loose definition and everyone gets to decided what "noodling" is to them? I mean, I know what it is to me, but maybe I don't know.
 
Rllink said:
Is there a defined definition of what constitutes "noodling", or is it just one of those words with a very loose definition and everyone gets to decided what "noodling" is to them? I mean, I know what it is to me, but maybe I don't know.
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As I learned it.

PRACTICING: Intentionally focused on improving your skills; running through scales, learning new tunes, focusing on tricky passages on solo pieces, etc..
NOODLING: Playing with absolutely no direction or focus, as in walking by the ukulele on the stand, picking it up and playing whatever for a couple of minutes, putting it back down and going about your business.
 
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