Need Direction

So I have been playing for about 3 weeks now and I am having a blast. I really look forward to practicing and I am actually seeing improvement in the following areas:
-Basic chord sound - the easy ones
-Switching chords
-Strumming - still a bit ragged with the more complex ones but I've come a long way.

I haven't really fooled around with picking yet but I feel like I'd be a happy camper if I could just learn some chord songs and actually have them sound good, and maybe even figure out how to sing along with them (I am not even close on that). I also haven't done anything with scales.

So my question is what to try and learn and when? This has been my biggest struggle. There is a ton of info out there, but I don't know if I should be doing it in some systematic order or not.

Should I focus on continuing to learn chords and strumming and get good at that (basically continue what I am doing)? Or is there some systematic approach that I could do?

I guess that's it for now,
Thanks in advance for any help.

-matt

If you just learn 1 song all the way thru, words & all and practice it,, I bet it will fall together. And you will soon see where you really need work. Ive met quite a few people who could play a cool part of a rock song or whatever,,, but when you ask them ," what entire song do you know , so we can play" they dont know hardly any , or none.
Just my advice , but it be worth nothing more than you paid for it though .
Steve

As for systematic approaches, there are several systems out there - so there are multiple systematic approaches. Just decide what you want to do.

Learning the chords with your left hand along with a simple strumming pattern is a good place to start, without getting too caught up in trying to learn complex strumming patterns or fingerpicking at first.

One bit of advice is to actually learn songs. Find simple songs you want to play, and learn the chords to those songs.

IMO, It's less effective (and less efficient) to just learn chords for the sake of learning chords. It's good, but I think you'll go farther and enjoy it more if you're learning chords in the context of songs. You'll get a better feel for changing chords (and chord progressions in general) when learning an actual song as opposed to learning A, then B, then C, etc.

One book I have really learned a lot from is Understanding Ukulele Chords by Robert van Renesse (about $10.00 from Amazon). There's not much to it, but it's very clearly written and teaches chords by shape, while also teaching the roles of the individual notes within chords. This allows you to understand how to make more complex chords from the simple ones - actually understanding them rather than just memorizing them. I think it's fairly easy to understand for a beginner, but in only 48 pages it progresses up to complex chord types and substitutions. There are also tips on when to use them and when not to.

That may be more than you need right now, but thought I'd mention it.

Jason

Great advice, thanks.
I have been trying to get the chords to a few simple songs down and it is fun experimenting with different chord combos as I get better at moving from chord to chord.

I found another thread here in UU and was able to download a copy of 'Uncle Rod's Free Songbook'. It uses the approach of learning one song all the way through until you can do the entire chord progression without looking down at your fingers. Then you start adding in simple strums, humming, and eventually singing. Seems similar to what you folks are saying.

As a new ukulele player myself, I just focused on learning songs I liked, that were simple (ala Creep, Lovesong). If you learn songs, you'll learn the chords and you'll learn strumming. When I was learning the guitar I focused on technique and strategies...honestly I hated learning the guitar. I'm having a blast learning the uke, and after a week I have 2 full songs and I'm tackling my third.

Youtube has been my friend.

For me having a song as an objective or goal really helps. I too struggled with the "how to practice" question. While I think it's important to separate making chords sound good, fluent chord progressions, strumming, singing, etc., I believe you have to have a song to pull everything together. For me, trying to nail a complete song did wonders to highlight my problem areas.

- Jack

Find what you like to play. You Tube is amazing and has almost everything you need.

I like to try different styles, but do focus on learning complete songs. I have been playing since the middle of January. I did play some guitar in high school...about.... 40 years ago. Yikes; I am old.

For example, here are some songs that I can play... poorly. Most of them are online tutorials or online with downloadable tabs. I practice each song a bit, then move on to the next one if it becomes tedious.

1. White Sandy Beach ( D D U U D U) (online) B-flat and B-flat-major still have "thuds' in them.
2. Wildwood Flower in the claw hammer banjo style, (online) It is time for another claw-hammer songbefore I drive everyone crazy.
3.What Child is This (free tabs by the late John King, online)
4. The Minstrel Boy (free tabs by Ken Middleton, online)
5. I am working on the George Fornby strokes - - but can't play any songs yet. This is hard for me and the strums are loud.
6. I have Jumin' Jim's Gone Hollywood book. It is good practice in learning chords and how to change chords. I found a tutorial online on how to play Over the Rainbow like Iz.

I usually explore something new and find songs to learn later. I am still not very good, but I have improved so much. It is fun.