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Icelander53

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I've stated here many time I think I'm not a very good uke player and my skills are pretty small. I've played for just over a year and I really wasn't sure how well I was doing.

Today a friend who plays guitar in a local band came over and jammed with me for about an hour. I asked for an honest evaluation. He told me my fretting was very good, my timing was decent, my vocals were good and my strumming needed a lot of work.

I was very pleased to hear that and I'm not going to say I'm a crappy player anymore. It meant a great deal to me to be validated by someone who I know can play.

So that's my story and I'm stickin to it (for the time being)
 
Nice, really, really nice. We are always our worst critics, why is that. From now on when someone asks you are you any good say "Hell yes, for one year's playing I am". Good for you Ice, we all need a little pat on the back when we forgot to give it to ourselves. Youtube channel here you come
 
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Thanks ya'll, I truly appreciate the support I get here. I owe a lot of my progress to this forum.
 
I'm glad you got some good feedback Icelander! It sounds like you've got a good foundation in the short time you've been playing already, so just keep building on it! The strumming and better timing will come with more practice. Practicing with a metronome can help the latter...or even some sort of drum track. Just over a year is a very short time for playing any instrument, so I think you should definitely be happy about the progress you've made.
My first stringed instrument was guitar (Uke wasn't even on the radar back then. I never saw them anywhere.) and it took me a looooooooooong time and a lot of hard work to be able to fret decently at all. I almost quit a couple of times even. In the end, I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm still not advanced, by any means, but I made it further than it seemed like I ever could back then. I'd also suggest to record yourself playing, if you have a means to do so, and go back and listen at later dates. It's hard to notice the subtle improvements you make on your own over time, but if you go back and listen to old recordings of yourself it can be really apparent when you finally get to that place where everything is clicking. Uke on! :)
 
Yup, what jer said
 
I'm glad you got some good feedback Icelander! It sounds like you've got a good foundation in the short time you've been playing already, so just keep building on it! The strumming and better timing will come with more practice. Practicing with a metronome can help the latter...or even some sort of drum track. Just over a year is a very short time for playing any instrument, so I think you should definitely be happy about the progress you've made.
My first stringed instrument was guitar (Uke wasn't even on the radar back then. I never saw them anywhere.) and it took me a looooooooooong time and a lot of hard work to be able to fret decently at all. I almost quit a couple of times even. In the end, I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm still not advanced, by any means, but I made it further than it seemed like I ever could back then. I'd also suggest to record yourself playing, if you have a means to do so, and go back and listen at later dates. It's hard to notice the subtle improvements you make on your own over time, but if you go back and listen to old recordings of yourself it can be really apparent when you finally get to that place where everything is clicking. Uke on! :)

great advice and I'll take it. I do have the capacity to record myself and I'll begin that and I have an amp with drum tracks so I can use that especially since I can vary the speed. You know I forgot all about that and I thank you for the reminder.

I know the feeling of being amazed to actually be able to somewhat competently play a song all the way through. Today was a very satisfying day for me. My friend even pointed out that I picked up that he was playing a different chord than the thought he was. He gave me a funny smile when he realized I was right. He even said I had a pretty decent voice in my range. I've been dying to get some feedback like this for half a year. But the best part by far is he said he'd like to keep jamming with me. That was music to my ears.
 
Sounds like you have everything you need. I've heard a lot of people say that jamming with someone really taught them a lot too, so it's great that you'll have that opportunity again. Of course, the main thing is you just keep enjoying it.
 
great advice and I'll take it. I do have the capacity to record myself and I'll begin that and I have an amp with drum tracks so I can use that especially since I can vary the speed. You know I forgot all about that and I thank you for the reminder.

I know the feeling of being amazed to actually be able to somewhat competently play a song all the way through. Today was a very satisfying day for me. My friend even pointed out that I picked up that he was playing a different chord than the thought he was. He gave me a funny smile when he realized I was right. He even said I had a pretty decent voice in my range. I've been dying to get some feedback like this for half a year. But the best part by far is he said he'd like to keep jamming with me. That was music to my ears.

That is great news about finding someone to play with. I know since you split with your playing partner it has been tough for you. Congratulations for hanging in there till something good happened, you deserve it. Enjoy making music again.
 
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