Hidden Character
Well-known member
I've been playing for a year now and I love playing the uke. It’s an instrument I'm very passionate about, and through my job, my love for it has only grown.
Unfortunately, I'm in a Rut.
When I first started playing, I practiced for upwards of eight hours a day. My drive to learn and master the instrument was just so strong it took precedence over many thing. Of course, all that practice didn't go to waste, and, with all humbleness, I got pretty good at the uke. But these days, I don't feel like I'm getting any better. I practice daily fingerpicking drills, improve on songs I already know, work on my singing and am even in the process of composing a piece directly inspired by the likes Bandito Tyler, Bodysurfing, and Mach4. But even with all this going on, I'm finding it hard to even play the uke for more than two hours. All the things I mentioned kind of just feel like things I do every day, just part of the schedule.
The same goes with trying to learn a new song. Before, when I first started playing, I had a lot of songs I only dreamed of playing. Songs with very tricky fingerings, tough chord changes, and speeds that are just plain astounding. Since then, most of those songs have become part of my repertoire. I love each and every song I know, but recently, it has become quite tough doing that for other songs. The passion that once drove me so hard to learn the songs I know now doesn’t seem as strong as it used to be. Whenever I sit down with a piece to try and remember it, it feels like I’m just doing rote memorization, just playing the song for the sake of knowing that song, not because I had a deeper motive fueling it. If anything, I feel like the road I’ve been travelling has become very foggy and I don’t exactly have a clear view of my next stop.
I feel like this rut of mine is seriously hampering my ability to get better and while I'll never get bored with the uke, I definitely need something to boost me out of this. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's gone through this. So I ask, what have you guys done to break through this rut?
Unfortunately, I'm in a Rut.
When I first started playing, I practiced for upwards of eight hours a day. My drive to learn and master the instrument was just so strong it took precedence over many thing. Of course, all that practice didn't go to waste, and, with all humbleness, I got pretty good at the uke. But these days, I don't feel like I'm getting any better. I practice daily fingerpicking drills, improve on songs I already know, work on my singing and am even in the process of composing a piece directly inspired by the likes Bandito Tyler, Bodysurfing, and Mach4. But even with all this going on, I'm finding it hard to even play the uke for more than two hours. All the things I mentioned kind of just feel like things I do every day, just part of the schedule.
The same goes with trying to learn a new song. Before, when I first started playing, I had a lot of songs I only dreamed of playing. Songs with very tricky fingerings, tough chord changes, and speeds that are just plain astounding. Since then, most of those songs have become part of my repertoire. I love each and every song I know, but recently, it has become quite tough doing that for other songs. The passion that once drove me so hard to learn the songs I know now doesn’t seem as strong as it used to be. Whenever I sit down with a piece to try and remember it, it feels like I’m just doing rote memorization, just playing the song for the sake of knowing that song, not because I had a deeper motive fueling it. If anything, I feel like the road I’ve been travelling has become very foggy and I don’t exactly have a clear view of my next stop.
I feel like this rut of mine is seriously hampering my ability to get better and while I'll never get bored with the uke, I definitely need something to boost me out of this. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's gone through this. So I ask, what have you guys done to break through this rut?