What to do?

rreffner

rreffner

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When learning songs, is it better to stay on one song until you get it down or study multiple songs at one sitting?
 
i dont know whats better...but if i want to learn a song i pretty much stick with it til i get bored of it. if it so happens that i learn it all the way through before i get bored then great, if not, ill get back to it.
 
I switch up between hammering one song and playing a few songs in one sitting.

If it's a song I feel I'm "nearly there" i'll play it 10-15 times through, working on rough spots.

If it's some easier songs, I'll play one a few times, work on another, and then jump back to the first to see how well I can do it "cold turkey"
 
Mixing it up a bit keeps the game fresher. It's especially helpful if there are some common patterns or chords between the songs. It will help your fingers to better fing the songs.
 
:agree:

Find a few songs that share the same chords it helps alot and keeps your playing from becomming that dreaded P word....
 
in my experience it seems some people focus far to much on one song....when they could be learning a better variety of uke stills playing multiple songs. It is certainly a help to your skills to master something like a jake or AG song, but at the same time, one should learn to play regge and bluegrass and things and the best way to learn, for me, is to simple play a variety
 
bornagainjeeper said:
in my experience it seems some people focus far to much on one song....when they could be learning a better variety of uke stills playing multiple songs. It is certainly a help to your skills to master something like a jake or AG song, but at the same time, one should learn to play regge and bluegrass and things and the best way to learn, for me, is to simple play a variety
Click to expand...

Yup! I have found I have learned more in a small amount of time playing many different songs as opposed to just focusing on one...
 
I'm not patient enough to learn just one song at a time. Maybe that's why I can't play any songs terribly well, but I can play a few songs sorta well. I like it that way though. When I sit down and practice I may spend most of my time on one song but then switch and just play some fun stuff too.
 
mix it up - get a folder of a lot of songs you like, and keep going. A folder of songs gives you a ready made ukulele practice session - force yourself to play them all!

They start to stick after a while - in my experience, the ones I like best stick first.
 
hoosierhiver said:
I usually work on about 6 songs at a time.
Some get tossed aside, some get more attention.
Click to expand...

I do this as well. :agree: For a period it seems that you make little progress then all of a sudden, some of the songs are played quite well!! :) This really helps if most of the songs have similar chords.
 
hoosierhiver said:
I usually work on about 6 songs at a time.
Some get tossed aside, some get more attention.
Click to expand...

I'm with hoosierhiver on this one. The ones that get tossed sometimes come back when I realize I really liked the tune after all. Doug
 
I find I'm practising two or three songs every day, but often forget which songs I've been doing when I sit down the next day. So I've started to keep a log of any songs I've practised and would like to come back to, a weblink if needed, a progress report, and what I need to work on.

eg. today's entry was:
==================
09/12/2009
Practiced 'Scenic World' using various inversions and **singing**.A bit of practice needed with singing and rhythm, but getting there!... need to decide on which inversions to use, maybe think about adding some melody lines.
http://ukulelehunt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/scenic.pdf
D chord 2220 coming on good!
==================

It's too early to tell if I'll keep the log going as I've just started with it. The other option was to do a video log, but it wouldn't be as easy to refer to later...
 
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I get bored easily. So I constantly look for new stuff to play. I will work out something until I can play it through and then add it to the pile. When I get the chance I end up just flipping through the three ring binder I've set up with stuff.

I can bluff my way through a lot of different material that way.
 
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