How to continue to improve my skills?

wow thank you for all of your quick responses guys :p

I think that part of the problem is maybe that all the songs i thought would sound great on the ukulele seem to have just gone away, like I've learned them all....

also when i said that just strumming chords is getting old, I meant that just strumming like, D, A, Bm, G, and (classic) C, G, Am, F for pretty much every single song is getting pretty old... I think if i do want some challenge it would be still strumming chords and singing, just more difficult and better sounding chords :)

also a lot of you suggested that I could join a band, and I wouldn't say I have joined one, but I have jammed with other people before, but even then I got extremely frustrated because they wouldn't tell me the chords to the songs we were playing XD

not to mention I'm only 14, and I'm home schooled so there is not a lot of opportunity for that sort of thing.


-Nathan

Hey man, I'm homeschooled too! You just gotta branch out and find people who are interested. I got a couple of my friends into it! As far as things to do to change it up, go through Aldrine's lessons on the main site!!! Tears in Heaven is a GREAT song, it was really the first complex song I learned. Like I said, sign up for UU+. I've learned SOO much in just a couple months. There's so many ways to break out from the routine. For example, the UU+ Master lesson "bridging the gap" has some awesome fringerpicking drills and ways to fill out simple strumming to make it sound fuller and more complex. Go for it bro! Your only limit is your ambition and your imagination.
 
I've been playing for about.... 8 months now, and I'm at the point where just playing the chords and singing is getting pretty old....

I want to continue to play, I just don't know what would be more challenging for me right now....

So does anyone have suggestions?


-Nathan

When I came to that point, I started working on chord soloing. My 1st ones were "Blues Ukulele: A Jumpin' Jim 's Ukulele Songbook (Book/CD) by Fred Sokolow" and "Blue Uke-Blues, Rags and Jazzy Dance Tunes Starring Del Rey (DVD)".

forgot "Mel Bay Ukulele Chord Solos in C Tuning by Neil Griffin "
 
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I second the suggestion that you go to Dominator's website and get some tabs, he has easy and hard ones. Also try fingerpicking, EZfolk (also already mentioned) has lessons. And try some jazzy songs (like Misty or Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, they will have harder chords.
 
Oh. Those people. Chords aren't state guarded secrets and I can't stand people who treat them as such. I know players like that, and we don't play together anymore.

Have you tried a big songbook like the Daily Ukulele? You might find lots of songs you don't know, but that sound nice. The arrangements I think come in easy form, but as you get to know a song you can add more to it yourself.


wow thank you for all of your quick responses guys :p

I think that part of the problem is maybe that all the songs i thought would sound great on the ukulele seem to have just gone away, like I've learned them all....

also when i said that just strumming chords is getting old, I meant that just strumming like, D, A, Bm, G, and (classic) C, G, Am, F for pretty much every single song is getting pretty old... I think if i do want some challenge it would be still strumming chords and singing, just more difficult and better sounding chords :)

also a lot of you suggested that I could join a band, and I wouldn't say I have joined one, but I have jammed with other people before, but even then I got extremely frustrated because they wouldn't tell me the chords to the songs we were playing XD

not to mention I'm only 14, and I'm home schooled so there is not a lot of opportunity for that sort of thing.


-Nathan
 
I recently purchased the "Daily Ukulele" book. It has 365 songs of varying degrees of difficulty. It doesn't get too crazy in regards to chords (it won't have you jumping up and down the fretboard), but it incorporates a lot more than those you list. I'm trying to improve my playing as well, and also using it to learn more chords.
 
Nathan, I think Brad Bordessa who runs www.liveukulele.com was also home schooled. I could be wrong. And he's the most fluid and wonderful "amateur" uke player online. See his website and his powerful instructions and videos--plenty of theory, and cool tunes ranging from Van Halen to Bob Marley. He's a young guy (22 yo?), and someone you can look to as a mentor. I'm an old guy, and I look to him as a mentor. lol

Seriously, he's hippieguy on UU ,and his website links his youtube videos, and I think you can learns a ton from him. I did, and still do.

www.liveukulele.com
 
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wow thank you for all of your quick responses guys :p

I think that part of the problem is maybe that all the songs i thought would sound great on the ukulele seem to have just gone away, like I've learned them all....

also when i said that just strumming chords is getting old, I meant that just strumming like, D, A, Bm, G, and (classic) C, G, Am, F for pretty much every single song is getting pretty old... I think if i do want some challenge it would be still strumming chords and singing, just more difficult and better sounding chords :)
Hi Nathan,
I don't want to sound condescending, but there is no shortage of songs with complex chord structures. The easiest way to find them is to look for pre-rock and roll songs. All those "standards" are way more complex than your typical modern pop song.
Check out some Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald or Dean Martin records. Learn the tunes, search out the chords.
tip: look here:
http://www.doctoruke.com/songs.html
You will be up to your armpits in flat fifths, diminisheds, augmenteds, major 7ths etc.
good luck
 
Got my uke exactly a year ago and was at about the same point a few months ago. Decided to take on the challenge of playing the simple songs in new chord positions, getting out of the first position.

This book was recommended here in the UU forums and has been very helpful.

Treasury of ukulele chords: the most comprehensive book of ukulele chords [Book] by Roy Sakuma in Books
 
Along with what peewee says I started working on The Girl from Ipanema about two weeks ago. Very tasty chord changes and the song has been so overplayed that the melody is already ingrained. You might enjoy this selection too.
 
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