What are some bad habits to avoid?

D

DreamerZz

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Being new in the uke, I was wondering if someone can list some of the pitfalls they know of or personally experienced that they were once unaware of.

I guess some of the habits to maintain that I already knew are

-strum with your wrist and not your entire arm (because its more efficient)
-hold the uke with your elbow area and not your lap
-try placing your finger as close to the fret as possible?(minize buzzing)
 
1 bad habit that I did was that I learned too many songs at once and then just forget it all when I took a break.
So a good tip is to go into things slowly and maybe play it once or twice before learning another song.
 
Learn to hold the uke correctly up front. It will save grief later! A;so, be patient with your self.
 
Dont practice for too long or you will just be practising mistakes.
 
Another really bad habit is upgrading your
collection,and buying top range,top quality
ukuleles.So if you ever find yourself doing
this,fight it.Send them to me instead,and I
will love them and look after them for you!
Seriously,you seem to have grasped some
good ones for starters.Uke playing is a bit
like driving I think,if you develop good habits
early,they will stay with you for life!
 
Geeze, there are so many to think about.

One bad habit I have been working on and I've seen others doing a lot of is looking at the fretboard too much. Great players don't need to look, they feel it. The better you are at feeling it and hearing it the better you will sound and play.

Joe Pass (a jazz guitarist of some note) once played at a university conservatory. He saw all of these guitar students out in the crowd and said, "I know you all are here to steal my licks!" He then pulled out a white handkerchief, rested it over the fretboard and his hand, and proceeded to play through his opening number.

~DB
 
DreamerZz said:
... strum with your wrist and not your entire arm (because its more efficient)
-hold the uke with your elbow area and not your lap
-try placing your finger as close to the fret as possible?(minize buzzing)
Click to expand...
Not necessarily bad. Strum with your wrist AND your arm for the best effect, but wrist alone is okay, too, especially for making small movements and softer sounds.

Try using a strap instead of your elbow and you'll be amazed at how much more freedom your right arm has for movement. But it's okay to hold it in your lap, if that's comfortable and gives your strumming arm enough leeway to move. It also makes it easier and faster when changing chords because you don't have to support the neck while doing so.

As for the fret position - depends on the height of the fret, the distance between frets and the size of your finger. But yes, minimizing buzzing is good.
 
- Strum over the 12th fret or thereabouts... not over the sound hole. This will be fairly automatic if the uke is held in the traditional fashion, but strappers and ex-guitarists often get this wrong.

- Relying exclusively on other people's ears is a bad habit I see time and time again. When learning a new song, don't be so quick to rely on chordsheets, tabs, and YouTube tutorials. Take a stab at as much as you can all by yourself first, just by listening to the song. Even if all you can figure out is one chord. (And even if you later find out the chord was wrong!) Fall back on the other resources when/if you get stumped and use them to fill in the gaps. The more you do this, the fewer gaps there will be.

- In performance, don't interrupt the rhythm/tempo of a piece just because you're having trouble grabbing the next chord or note. The beat of the song should be your unyeilding master. It's better to fluff the chord or miss the note and press on than to lose the tempo. When practicing, it's okay to slow down the tempo during the rough spots to ensure that you get it right (and therefore learn it right). But don't turn that into a habit that you carry beyond the learning phase. Practicing with a metronome helps here.

JJ
 
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Don't try playing your uke whilst cycling to work, I have got the hang of it now but must have fallen off a hundred times getting the hang of it!
 
Don't play your ukulele during work hours, or your boss might not be too happy with your unproductive work...HaHa
 
Also don't let anyone play your ukuleles unless you are confident that they are responsible, or else you are going to get some marks and dents.

It's an instrument, not a toy.
 
NFLcheesehead1 said:
Don't play your ukulele during work hours, or your boss might not be too happy with your unproductive work...HaHa
Click to expand...

lol , but what if you work is as professional musician?

my tip, don't play it in the bathroom. For obvious reasons.



Opt for a bass guitar instead.
 
Rings, watches and bracelets off when playing another person's instrument. I always insist before I hand one of mine over to someone else to play and I always take my jewelry off before I play another's.
 
Excellent thread dude! Great tips.
 
Even though it sounds awesome, don't play in the shower unless you have an all plastic uke, you may however play in the closet, this also helps if you look at the fretboard too much or are driving your mate crazy practicing the same thing over and over .
 
Hiddencross said:
Oops :(
I guess I'm soon to be haunted.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about it. There's a lot of snobbery about use of the thumb by people who were taught to play otherwise. In most cases, they've never used their thumbs themselves and have no first-hand idea of whether it works or not for long-time players. They tell you it doesn't work because they were told when they started that it doesn't work.

I don't play the D the way this guy does (barring it with the thumb), but I do play the E and chords higher on the neck that way. And I use the thumb to fret the G string on a lot of chords. I'll put my ability to get from one chord to the next quickly up against most of the people who tell you not to use it. The important thing is to practice -- no matter how you fret your chords, you need to practice songs where you move to and from different chords to get the dexterity to do it cleanly and quickly in everything you play.
 
hoosierhiver said:
Using your thumb for the D chord is bad form and will haunt you down the line when you get better.
Click to expand...

Yeah. It should only be used for G#7! ;-)
Funny thing that. I used my thumb for several chords when playing guitar, but of course with fewer strings I seldom do nowadays. My thumb feels negelcted and lonely, having little to do but press against the neck while the others play on the fretboard.
 
Arcah said:
Also don't let anyone play your ukuleles unless you are confident that they are responsible, or else you are going to get some marks and dents.

It's an instrument, not a toy.
Click to expand...

Good one. Also I always ask the person to wash his/her hands before touching the uke. I always wash my hands before playing.
 
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