Total Beginners Thoughts/Blog, Progress Thread etc

As I'm a complete beginner with the Ukulele, I thought it would be a good idea to do a thread where I put down my progress. Not just for me to see how far I've come, but also for others following afterwards.

Yesterday I had my first 30 minute lesson with a local guitar teacher, who runs a Ukulele group. He showed me the 3 first cords (C, F ,G7) and how to hold the Uke etc. The Ukulele I'm playing is a very cheap £14 model from Ebay called Sun Wolf with Aquila strings (its purple to go along with my womenly nature, and easy to spot).

Today is my first lesson with You Tube etc.

Lesson 1
The 5 effective strumming methods, on YT. I enjoyed this, but I found working out where the upstroke went was a little boggling. I need to write it down and follow it as his playing. The last two completely lost me, so lots to practice there.

I then went on to learning the C, and the F, going from one to the other and back again, making sure my fingers were in the right position on the neck, but also that I was using the pads of the fingers. I need to cut my nails right down on that hand. They are short, but not short enough.

The lesson is noted down on a spread sheet with problems, good bits and comments, so I can look back this afternoon or tomorrow to see where I need to work from.


On a side note, I've started to keep a small pocket notebook, so I can put all the bits I want in it, and travel with it, so I can learn in those lost times we all have (ie waiting for buses or the like).


Here's the video I used, just to make some noise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAScCO3Mb-w


NB I will repeat this lesson until it goes smoothly and then move on to the next. The reading matter is the book called 'Ukulele for Dummies' is for the off time when I want to do something but have sore fingers or the like.

This is a great way to kick things off Purdy Bear, tackle the basics, learn a few chords and always assess your progress. It's a gradual building process and you are already doing some great stuff.
Congratulations on your efforts so far and good luck for the future! Please remember, help & advice is only a post away!

Hi Purdy,

Your level of focus is truly impressive. I have found it helpful to play some songs along with doing exercises. I find it extends my attention span and I can go from 20-30 minutes of practicing chord changes and strum patterns to spending a couple of hours murdering a few simple tunes... and my neighbours love it too

Seriously though it does mean I spend more time with the instrument, and I find it very satisfying to play something all the way through, even if the end result isn't perfect.

There are quite a few lists of three-chord songs (for ukulele) out there on the web. Obviously personal taste comes into it. One song I enjoy playing that uses the chords you already know is Here Comes The Night by Them/Lulu (you may need to click reset on the transpose feature on this page).

Anyway, we all have different ways of learning stuff, so this may or may not be helpful. Looking forward to your next 'report'

Camsuke - Thanks for the support I will need it.

Jollyboy - I don't want to push it in the beginning, as I know from others that sore fingers can be a problem until the calluses build up. I'll start of at 10 minutes and build up to an hour per day, once the muscles and fingers can do it.

Today I just went over what I did yesterday. I have cut my left hand finger nails down to about 1 mm and it worked well, I'll go shorter if I need to. The strumming patterns were written down in my little book, and I found writing down the sequences were easier to understand:

ie 1 2 and 3 4 = down down up down down or 1 2 and and 4 = down down up up down

The two notes of C and F seem to be going well, they are much easier to play with the shorter nails. I did find changing mid strumming pattern hard, but I am sure that will come with time.


Oh for timings of the self lesson, I did meditation practices for years and you are taught to do the same time every day, with quiet, etc, so I'm using the same practice. After I've had breakfast and dog walk, I sit down listen to some good Ukulele music to inspire me, then do the lesson bit.

This afternoon I'm going to start doing a lesson in music theory, as I totally bombed at that when I played the flute. I've found a series of lessons by this chap that looks good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gHEIF0rT2w

Hello Purdy Bear! I'm also a real beginner (been at it for a few weeks now!) and it looks like you're off to a great start!! I feel like this forum is a great place for support for all levels and it is definitely inspiring me. I found strumming so hard to begin with - my finger kept on getting caught in the strings, haha It seemed so easy when I saw other people doing it, I was shocked at how such a simple-looking thing was actually super hard!!! I still have problems with strumming "consistency" (sound, tone, etc.) but, it's definitely getting better and I know you'll improve really really quickly! Youtube has also been a really great help to me, too!

(I saw your other thread regarding stores - I'm also in the UK and hoping to visit the Southern Ukulele Store in a few weeks' time! I'm preeeetty excited!)

Autojoy, I agree with you. I am so glad I found this forum, it's really helped me already in lots of ways. Enjoy your visit to SUS, I can't wait to go, but I do need to save up first.

Today I just went through this weeks lesson of tuning by ear, which is coming along nicely, strumming - I'm starting to pick up my mistakes, and lastly to add the G7 to the C and F. My left hand did feel a little stiff, so that is going to take a while to loosen up and muscles. I already had a good tone due to touch typing, but this is going to be taking it a little bit further.

I played my first song - yeepppppppyy, it was Blowing in the Wind. Nope it didn't sound much like it to me either but hey how, each to their own.

As a last bit, and a bit of fun, I tried to do some finger picking with the right hand. I do love the sound and resonance of the instrument. I can quiet understand deaf people being able to enjoy the instrument as well as others.

I recently started using a metronome (on my tablet) when practicing. It seems to really benefit my sense of rhythm, even though I'll hear it in my head for quite a while after finishing the practice.

Grats on playing your first song! Such a beautiful one, too!

I totally agree about the Metronome. When I learnt the recorder 30 plus years ago we had a swing arm type at school and I found it very helpful to pace the notes, so yep I've got one of those. Now I'm starting to do more then 2 notes, I'll start using it on slow and then speed it up to get a better timing, manipulation etc.

Thanks for the song thing. We did do something very briefly in the Saturday 30 minute class, but it wasn't what I would call a play through like today.

I've checked my ear tuning with a machine, and it wasn't far off, so I'll keep doing that, to get my ear into the notes.

Hey Purdy Bear,
I am new too, and in fact just posted a topic today on my problems with strumming. And so I thank you for the link on the 5 strumming patterns.

Terry

My pleasure!

welcome to the wonderful happy world of the ukulele and to this site. Good luck with your blog. I did a similar experiment where I tracked my daily progress/practice for my first month, but that was ages ago.

Thanks.


Today I tried a new lesson by Justin Guitar on You Tube. It was just to compliment the first ones I had done so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qh2JQwkhjk

I've found the sound board on my laptop isn't to brilliant to tune to, so I'm going to try doing it by ear and then recheck by electronic tuner. I think once my ear gets into what the strings should sound like it's going to be easier, but for now I just need to listen carefully to the different notes.

Today I learnt 2 more notes, so I now have 5 to practice with (C, F, G7, G, Am). I'm going to stick with those for a bit to make sure I can interchange properly and strum when changing to each note without hesitation.

My hands seem to be holding up well at the moment, they are sore but the 10 minutes twice a day is working out well.

For the theory yesterday I did the second class, today I'll do the third and slowly work through those. Most of it I know already or forgot I knew from playing the flute years ago.

Purdy Bear,

The notes you posted are very similar to mine, in this order: C, C7, F, Am, G7. These 5 came fairly easy to me, after much practice of course.

Now working on G & D7. For some reason G is difficult. Yesterday I began practicing moving from G to C to D7 and back to G. This practice is to learn a very simple song "Boil Them Cabbage Down". I find it difficult, but better today than yesterday.

I am also practicing the D note. After almost three months of playing, I can most of the time play C C7 F Am G7 with my eyes closed. However, I still need to work on clearer notes. Surely a work in progress.

Feeling okay about my progress. Very very satisfying and lots of fun.

Thanks for posting your progress. Nice to read about the progress of others.

Terry

G, I think, is challenging for many at first. Mine would often sound dull, because one of the fingers slipped onto the fret divider, or slightly off, because one finger was too far in the center of the fret. It also took practice to switch to it fast. I still need to practice it more for fast, smooth switching to it (I think it is mostly a matter of ring finger strength/independence). G7 was much easier for me.

C, C7, F, Am, G7, G, D7 -- these are chords, not notes. I'll suggest that we have two general approaches to learning fretboards: 1) notes & scales, and 2) open & closed chords. (1) is great for becoming an instrumentalist, and (2) is easier for accompanying vocals etc. I've taken the second approach for the last half-century -- which kind of limits me, but that's the path I chose. I tend to learn songs and airs by their chord forms & lyrics, then work out fingerings for melodies, descants, and drones. These two paths are NOT mutually exclusive. Melodic players also play chords, sure! But IMHO chord-thought is more suitable for self-accompanying singing, at least at first. So think about your goals on 'uke.

To integrate the approaches, I've taken (in practice sessions) to singing the names of the individual notes I'm fretting as well as the chords I strum. That's kind of a brain-twister for me on 'uke because I'm wired-in with decades of guitar playing -- same chord forms but a fifth off, so with different names! What we call a C on 'uke still looks like a G to me. I find it easier to name the music while practicing on mandolin and mandola (tuned very different from guitars and 'ukes) than on 'ukes (too much like guitar). Familiarity breed sloppy thinking. Yow.

My wife is just now learning her tenor 'uke. She can sight-read to sing but we're taking the chord approach and working with FRETBOARD ROADMAPS: UKULELE for theory/basics and DAILY UKULELE for songs. Her goal is therapeutic, to help recover from carpal tunnel and tendonitis resulting from a software-engineering career -- many decades of intensive keyboarding. Sore fingertips are the least of her pains. Practice until her fretting hand starts to hurt, then stop.

Good luck with your continuing progress!

k0k0peli said:

C, C7, F, Am, G7, G, D7 -- these are chords, not notes. I'll suggest that we have two general approaches to learning fretboards: 1) notes & scales, and 2) open & closed chords. (1) is great for becoming an instrumentalist, and (2) is easier for accompanying vocals etc. I've taken the second approach for the last half-century -- which kind of limits me, but that's the path I chose. I tend to learn songs and airs by their chord forms & lyrics, then work out fingerings for melodies, descants, and drones. These two paths are NOT mutually exclusive. Melodic players also play chords, sure! But IMHO chord-thought is more suitable for self-accompanying singing, at least at first. So think about your goals on 'uke.

To integrate the approaches, I've taken (in practice sessions) to singing the names of the individual notes I'm fretting as well as the chords I strum. That's kind of a brain-twister for me on 'uke because I'm wired-in with decades of guitar playing -- same chord forms but a fifth off, so with different names! What we call a C on 'uke still looks like a G to me. I find it easier to name the music while practicing on mandolin and mandola (tuned very different from guitars and 'ukes) than on 'ukes (too much like guitar). Familiarity breed sloppy thinking. Yow.

My wife is just now learning her tenor 'uke. She can sight-read to sing but we're taking the chord approach and working with FRETBOARD ROADMAPS: UKULELE for theory/basics and DAILY UKULELE for songs. Her goal is therapeutic, to help recover from carpal tunnel and tendonitis resulting from a software-engineering career -- many decades of intensive keyboarding. Sore fingertips are the least of her pains. Practice until her fretting hand starts to hurt, then stop.

Good luck with your continuing progress!

Click to expand...

Pretty regularly you hear someone say, "if all you want to do is strum, that's ok, but,,,,,,", then they go into a lecture, and if not just outright, they at least insinuate, that real ukulele players don't just strum. So I've tried hard to learn scales, finger picking, and everything else, but when it gets right down to it, no matter how good I get at all that razzle dazzle, I am always going back to strumming' and singing. To me, that is what it is all about.

Me be a # 2. Gotta sing the music.

k0k0peli said:

C, C7, F, Am, G7, G, D7 -- these are chords, not notes. I'll suggest that we have two general approaches to learning fretboards: 1) notes & scales, and 2) open & closed chords. (1) is great for becoming an instrumentalist, and (2) is easier for accompanying vocals etc. I've taken the second approach for the last half-century -- which kind of limits me, but that's the path I chose. I tend to learn songs and airs by their chord forms & lyrics, then work out fingerings for melodies, descants, and drones. These two paths are NOT mutually exclusive. Melodic players also play chords, sure! But IMHO chord-thought is more suitable for self-accompanying singing, at least at first. So think about your goals on 'uke.

To integrate the approaches, I've taken (in practice sessions) to singing the names of the individual notes I'm fretting as well as the chords I strum. That's kind of a brain-twister for me on 'uke because I'm wired-in with decades of guitar playing -- same chord forms but a fifth off, so with different names! What we call a C on 'uke still looks like a G to me. I find it easier to name the music while practicing on mandolin and mandola (tuned very different from guitars and 'ukes) than on 'ukes (too much like guitar). Familiarity breed sloppy thinking. Yow.

My wife is just now learning her tenor 'uke. She can sight-read to sing but we're taking the chord approach and working with FRETBOARD ROADMAPS: UKULELE for theory/basics and DAILY UKULELE for songs. Her goal is therapeutic, to help recover from carpal tunnel and tendonitis resulting from a software-engineering career -- many decades of intensive keyboarding. Sore fingertips are the least of her pains. Practice until her fretting hand starts to hurt, then stop.

Good luck with your continuing progress!

Click to expand...

1. Whats a descant, please?
2. Do you have a bari

Rllink said:

Pretty regularly you hear someone say, "if all you want to do is strum, that's ok, but,,,,,,", then they go into a lecture, and if not just outright, they at least insinuate, that real ukulele players don't just strum. So I've tried hard to learn scales, finger picking, and everything else, but when it gets right down to it, no matter how good I get at all that razzle dazzle, I am always going back to strumming' and singing. To me, that is what it is all about.

Click to expand...

Getting all Chet Atkins on the frets can be very satisfying, but IMHO singing is key. One of the great mandolin virtuosos of late was Jethro Burns, who was very careful (as half of Homer & Jethro) not to let audiences know he was a whiz. He got rich by singing funny, not by playing fancy.

Nickie said:

1. Whats a descant, please?
2. Do you have a bari

Click to expand...

1) I was a little loose there. I should have said counter-melody, a mostly harmonic line that moves around the piece's melody without copying it. If you know the classic CHEAP THRILLS album (Big Brother and the Holding Company), think of the multi-guitar lines around Janis Joplin's singing SUMMERTIME. Those are what I mean by 'descant'.

2) Yes. My current Harmonia bari has a too-small voice; it's good for practicing *very* quietly. I plan to get an inexpensive Washburn and string it as a Venezuelan cuatro (GceA). That should be a kick!

Thanks for all the great hints and help.


Today I couldn't find my little notebook with all my bits in so had to work from the cheat sheets I'd made up, and the one the teacher on Saturday gave me. I've begun to recogise when a string is out of tune but still don't know why, I am sure that will come in time.

I did the strumming from the previous class with the metronome, and it's a bit harder to get it in sink with the ticking, it's the up stroke - I wasn't sure if that was a whole note or half, so played it the same as the down stroke.

Then I moved onto the chord sheet given to me by the teacher, and just tried my hand at the 30 chords/notes given there. The only thing that is confused me were some of the finger holds for instance in the Uncle Rods Ukulele Boot Camp booklet it says the G7 hold is 0212 and the Fm6 is 1213 - so how do you leap one string with the same finger? In the teachers chart is says to play G7 as 0213 which is easier of course.

For the theory I'm going to make up the flash/index cards with the stuff from lesson 1 and 2 so I can quizz myself. I wasn't sure whether to make up the cards for the chords/notes as well. I suppose it would be a good idea to do then I can go through them when I don't have the Ukulele with me. Oh and I've started shadow playing - ie fingering the notes in thin air - I truely believe in visualisation as a practice to learn, after all top sports people use it for prepping to race.



PPS: I know I'm guilty but I brought another Ukulele, I got an Octupus Soprano coming, so it's not expensive but more then my current one, plus the reviews were so great for them I just couldn't resist. I am going to behave though and not get any more for a while! It does mean that if my brother wants to play there is another available. He usually just takes stuff rather then asking, so it's always best to have an extra just in case.