Uncle Rods Bootcamp

On board with Uncle Rod, now. There's a madness to this method. I look forward to making my way (slowly) through the exercises.
 
I have to agree with everyone that Uncle Rod's Bootcamp is a truly awesome tool. It's a really good starting point for someone brand new to the uke. I had zero musical background when I took it up a year ago and still practice through it every few days.

The groupings in the Keys of the chords are great. I imagine they'd be great if you were writing songs too... grab one of these chords, then one of those, and voila (if only it were that simple, but you get the idea). You'll be surprised how frequent you see the groups of chords together in any song listing/fake books.

To be honest, I usually skip the diminished chords (Cdim 2323 for example) since I almost never see those chords in the songs that I like to practice (I know, I know, bad me).

It is cool to see the creator Uncle Rod here on the board. A big THANK YOU for providing such a valuable resource!
 
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To be honest, I usually skip the diminished chords (Cdim 2323 for example) since I almost never see those chords in the songs that I like to practice (I know, I know, bad me).

I haven't come across them in anything I play yet either, but I like the sound of them, so I play them when I'm doing the excercises.
 
I often skip the easier chords and practice the progressions with the hardest chords in them. Even though none of those chords are in the easy songs I practice I feel like it makes my hands more limber. I also hope that someday I will play more difficult tunes and then I should recognize those chords.i have a rule for myself also, mainly because my strumming is often uneven, if I don't switch to the harder chords in time to the strum I have to keep that chord until I get it right!
 
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I'm Baaack :)

Thank you everyone for such nice words re: the Boot Camp method.

Just like our beloved instrument, the Boot Camp Practice Sheets are NOT to be mastered all at once.
Thanks to those who shared the "How" of what they do with the Practice Sheets. Go slow and take
them one at a time, or whenever you come across a song in one of those keys and you want to practice
becoming familiar with some of the chords you may have to play.

Also, if you haven't checked out the FREE Songbook link, there you will find the Boot Camp Method applied to
learning specific songs... again by creating Practice Sheets. My suggestion is that you work on the chord
progressions without reference to the melody... even if you know it well. I feel it's most important to
your sense of enjoyment and satisfaction to be able to play the song through, eventually, at a good tempo
without stopping to change chords along the way.

That being said, I enjoyed the video about 'Forcing Changes' [Danno, post #15]. As we all know, once a song begins, especially in a song circle, the tempo doesn't stop until the end of the song. Also, if anything, it tends to speed up! :)
I particularly liked what the video said about NOT training your rhythm/strumming hand to stop as you make
the chord changes. "Practice makes Permanent" so it behooves us to practice only the correct things, the things
that will enhance our playing of our ukes and not detract from it.

OK, 'nuf said for now :)

keep uke'in',
 
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Thank you, Uncle Rod!!!
 
Uncle Rod is cooler than the other side of the pillow! Proud to have such a great ukulele ambassador from my hometown!
 
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