Uncle Rods Bootcamp

Normagal

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I keep seeing people mention this as a good place to start. It kind of scares me off, though, as there are so many chords to learn. Then I see other posts that say you only need to learn a few chords to play many songs. How does one memorize all those chords?
 
Learn C, G, Am, F. You can play a ton of songs with just that chord progression... If you decide you like the ukulele enough to really learn it, doing the bootcamp is a great start. You memorize just by doing. It's not hard. You just have to make the commitment and spend a bit of time on it each day.
 
as Bob stated the first 4 chords in the C key will enable you to play hundreds of songs, the way it is structured and if you follow the instructions you will have loads of chords in different keys under your fingers in no time, I used to use it as my warm up before practice and still do a couple of times a week, I am hoping Uncle Rod decides to bring an intermediate version out so we can all move up a step, now that would be excellent!!!!!
 
I know about 10 or 12 chords. Now being able to switch to them all seamlessly... Haven't mastered that yet. Like Em ...I know how to do it, but have a hard time getting my fingers there quickly. And the chords don't always sound good either...I'm sure the answer is practice,practice,practice.
 
I know about 10 or 12 chords. Now being able to switch to them all seamlessly... Haven't mastered that yet. Like Em ...I know how to do it, but have a hard time getting my fingers there quickly. And the chords don't always sound good either...I'm sure the answer is practice,practice,practice.

For EM just make a G (when you've astered that) and add your pinky on the c-string 4th fret. No need to remove your indexfinger. i always play an Em like that.
 
I know about 10 or 12 chords. Now being able to switch to them all seamlessly... Haven't mastered that yet. Like Em ...I know how to do it, but have a hard time getting my fingers there quickly. And the chords don't always sound good either...I'm sure the answer is practice,practice,practice.

Switching easily from chord to chord is precisely what practicing a chord progression does for you. It will also build stamina. Start slowly and play each chord a couple times through and as you get more proficient speed up the tempo and you're there.

So yeah, practice, practice, practice :)
 
I keep seeing people mention this as a good place to start. It kind of scares me off, though, as there are so many chords to learn. Then I see other posts that say you only need to learn a few chords to play many songs. How does one memorize all those chords?

GO SLOW! and accept that you won't be perfect at first. But keep at it.
Here's what I did. Play page one for a week. I set the metronome at a very slow 40bpm.
Play line one 4 times.
First time through 4 strums(beats) per chord.
second time 3 strums per chord
third time 2 strums per chord
fourth time 1 strum per chord
Then repeat for line two, three and four, the same routine.
After one week turn to page two and follow the same routine.
Continue through all 5 pages (One per week) then repeat.

I did this for my warm up routine for months just about every day before practicing or playing songs.
After you feel like you can handle this without alot of mistake (and there will be alot, just do your best) increase the speed on the metronome.

Also find a uke group to jam with. This will help alot.
 
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uncle rods boot camp also helps tremendously with sight reading. I have a celtic fake book and having played through the C & G sheets I didn't have to spend time fumbling around looking for fingering on most of the songs. Practicing A&D should get me most of the rest for that book.
 
I agree -- practice SLOWLY. A metronome, set to a ridiculously slow tempo, is a great idea. Practicing up to tempo and then slowing down or stopping to change chords, even just a few chords per song, will be counterproductive and could create bad habits.

I sit with my 'uke while I watch TV with my husband and practice chord changes over and over (without strumming, of course). For very tricky chord transitions, I will practice the same one over and over. And over. And over. Really, really slooooooowly. I'm sure it would be very annoying to anyone, but I never let anyone hear. :eek: It does work.

And yes, I'm a big fan of Uncle Rod. His idea of "boot camp" is not very military; you can work on as much of it as you want at one time. As someone posted earlier, I used to use it as a warmup. I still do sometimes. It is not necessary to learn all the chords. Uncle Rod suggests saying the name of the chord each time you change to it, either aloud or just to yourself, to help connect the name to the action, and I find that helpful.

It will get easier! If you find yourself getting bored or frustrated stop with the drills and play something you feel like playing and have some fun. The 'ukulele should never be scary! Well, almost never.
 
GO SLOW! and accept that you won't be perfect at first. But keep at it.
Here's what I did. Play page one for a week. I set the metronome at a very slow 40bpm.
Play line one 4 times.
First time through 4 strums(beats) per chord.
second time 3 strums per chord
third time 2 strums per chord
fourth time 1 strum per chord
Then repeat for line two, three and four, the same routine.
After one week turn to page two and follow the same routine.
Continue through all 5 pages (One per week) then repeat.

I did this for my warm up routine for months just about every day before practicing or playing songs.
After you feel like you can handle this without alot of mistake (and there will be alot, just do your best) increase the speed on the metronome.

Also find a uke group to jam with. This will help alot.


Scrolled down to see if anybody mentions something like this. This is how you do it, if you are too scared of too many chords in the beginning!
 
There's magic in the bootcamp and it will work for you if you let it. Stick with it! :D
 
I did something similar though I just concentrated on the C chords for about a week. Particularly tricky lines - eg 2nd line of C chords I would just repeat over and over again in 4 time, never mind, 3,2 or 1 beats. Strangely that chord progression crops up in one of our uke group songs (Bye Bye Blackbird, I think) but having said that Uncle Rod wouldn't throw it in if it wasn't lurking out there somewhere.
Still, bootcamp will not work for everyone. I've passed on copies to friends and some loved it and some were put off by it as they didn't seem to be able to break it down into bite sized chunks. That for me is the key.
 
Aloha UUers! Uncle Rod here :)

cb56, thank you so much for clarifying your use of the Boot Camp. That's what I had in mind when I sent it out.

I'm currently teaching a 9-week beginner course for a local hula studio and sure enough, the first 5 lessons
are directly from the Boot Camp. I understand that you may NOT encounter several-many of the chords in
the Practice Sheets very often, but as you progress you will want to know and use them as they add so much
to enhance the background accompaniment as you play and sing. They will add the 'flourish' that you enjoy when
other ukulele players solo/perform. Learn them so you can hear/recognize them, then experiment with adding
them into your playing. :)

As for an Intermediate Boot Camp, perhaps someone else will take up the mantle and go for it.

keep uke'in, and thanks for the good words :)
 
I was unfamiliar with Uncle Rod's Bootcamp -- going to check it out now.

When I was starting out just 4 years ago (and with no experience on any other instrument), I despaired of ever learning more than the few basic chords. I remember flipping through some uke books full of songs that seemed to be crammed with dozens of "impossible" chords -- even if I could form my fingers correctly, it seemed like changing from one to another quickly just would never happen. Now I go back through those same books and wonder why I ever found them so daunting! Muscle memory is an amazing thing. And, even if I come across a chord that I've never used before, just taking a look at the diagram and playing it through a few times makes it possible to play the song -- even if I don't actually "absorb" that particular chord.

- Steve
 
Send him a PM.
 
As someone stated, practice slow but also as you form each chord Say its name to yourself. That way after time you remember the shape and name of the chord without thinking.
 
More than a year after starting on Bootcamp I still start almost every practice session running through all the chords at least once. So I've probably played those five practice sheets a few hundred times or more. What's that expression, you have to do something 10,000 times to be truly proficient? So only 9,547 to go!
 
there are chords you will struggle, what i did with such chords ie Bb..Em..G7...was find songs with one of these chords in then, then put song as a practice with other songs with chords i know, that way it wont be such a chore to learn,
with Em i would learn it as it is it will pay later if you use pinky to make it with G it will be a harder transition,
keep at it you will get there in the end,
 
Okay. What exactly is Uncle Rod's Bootcamp and how does one access it?
 
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