I need some encouragement.

I have been trying to learn to play the Uke on my own for 6 weeks and I have made some progress but it has been a hard go. I have gotten real good at playing all the scale patterns up and down. I can play from memory most of the chords (some bar chords are still killing me) but I am having a real hard time transitioning from chord to chord as well as getting a consistant strum. I started doing the chord boot camp from uncle Rod and am starting to see some improvement but it is coming real slow. I can play some finger picking songs on the first three strings like Oh Suzanna and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but I just play these with picking the notes with just my thumb. I am trying to get my index, middle and ring finger in the game but they are refusing to cooperate. I cannot keep up to a decent tempo either so these songs dont sound right as the tempo keeps changing as I am fumbling for the right chord or note on the frets. I am completetly new to music and am also learning how to read music and to understand music theory. I am practicing about 1 hour a day, 3-4 days a week when I am home and not travelling for work.


My question to the group is: is this normal prgression for a beginner? Do I need to just hang in there and push forward? I know I will need a professional teacher to take lessons, but was hoping I can get some of the basics down first so I can make that time as beneficial as possible. With my work travel schedule, I will only be able to do one lesson a week on the weekends.

Any words of advice or encouragement would be appreciated. Anybody want to share their beginner experiences and how they made it through the hard beginning stages would be great as well.

Thanks,
John

Hi John,
Sounds like you have a great start going. REALLY all you can do is practice. In the big picture six weeks is a drop in the bucket. Some folks like Matt (thejumpingflea) just catch on and go with it all real fast. Jake has been playing since four, so over 30 years. Me I take it day by day. I don't get disappointed or frustrated in anyway as I learn. YOU WILL get better it just takes time and lots and lots of practice.

Six weeks ago I started to learn Lightin Wells Music Box Waltz (by Roy Smeck). I thought when I started there is no way I'll get this, but here I am now just waiting to record it to share on YT. It is so doable so just keep strumming them strings (<-mm stan).

Don't expect to learn and know it all right away, just have fun with it. It will come....with only practice and time...

Hello John,

SIX WEEKS! Wow, It sounds like you are doing fabulous and making great progress. It sounds like you are very organized with how you approach learning the uke and you are doing a good job. Now try to relax and have some fun. For me personally, and I have only been playing since this last August and I never played a string instrument before, I think I get bored easily so I switch from using the lesson books to just practicing a simple 2 to 4 chord song and just having fun with it. I haven't picked up my lesson books in weeks because I have been playing/learning Christmas music. I don't have any advice accept keep going, keep practicing, and relax. You are doing great!

Roxhum

I agree with em Burr.. sounds like you are making great progress... I have been playing for 4 months now and my progress is sporadic at best. I don't practice scales like I should and can only play a few.. so that is wonderful... Keep at it..
Most people don't take more than one lesson a week anyway so if you can do that it would be great for you.. Keep plugging away and maybe take your ukulele with you when traveling so you can practice when not working. One of the joys of a small instrument... Good luck and don't give up! Usually I find when I am most frustrated is when I have a breakthrough shortly after!! Keep it up...

There's some good advice in this thread: http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?39180-Better-finger-control/
Page 2 starts with a posting by JoshFromTallGrassUkes which explains a method which will improve chord switching, among other things.

Thank you all for the replies and advice. Sorry if I sounded like a whiner. I just really love this instrument and want to improve as much as possible.

Learning is not linear it is big leaps and long plateaus.

You are doing great, just keep going through the plateaus.

Like you, I find it a slow process. The advice above to relax is good advice for me.

Your progress sounds about right to me. One thing I found helped me with strumming and timing was to play along with recordings of songs I knew. You might have to keep starting the song over and over, but the more you do it the more natural it gets. Also, for strumming, you don't even have to actually know the chords when you're "playing" along with the song... just mute the strings and work on a strum that fits the song, if that makes sense. When you've got the rhythm down with your right hand, you can work the chords in to it afterward.
Keep it up! It's perfectly normal to go in spurts of progress, as others mentioned. I have weeks where I don't feel like I'm improving, and then BAM!!! Something just happens and I make a big jump forward. Of course, that's generally followed by "hitting the wall" again, lol.
The most important thing, though, is to have fun with it.

Focus on what disturbs you/concerns you most.

If you want to play a song at a regular beat, work on chords and chord changes, since that's
what will slow you down if you don't know the chords or haven't practiced changing them at
a regular beat - without reference to any melody or song.

It sounds to me like you're trying to play a song as you are learning it. I believe that if you try
to do too many things all at once, you will frustrate yourself because it won't be going smoothly,
as smoothly as you'd like. Learn the chords - names and formation on the fretboard. Then practice
changing from chord to chord at 4 strums each, then 3 strums, 2 strums, 1 strum - at a regular beat.

THEN add the melody and lyrics AFTER you already have the chords and chord changing down pat.

It's laying a foundation for everything else that you do, so work at it. It's NOT playing a song, to
begin with, but laying the proper foundation for playing any song in that key. Make sense?

Anyway, if one thing is holding you back, work on that exclusively for a while until you see yourself
making some progress. It will become more and more 'natural' with time. Here's the progression:

1 - UNconscious INcompetence - Don't know and don't care
2 - Conscious INcompetence - want to learn but finding it difficult
3 - Conscious Competence - still need to pay attention, but making progress
4 - UNconscious Competence - it's second nature now, smooth and fun

Keep uke'in',

Chris Tarman said:

The most important thing, though, is to have fun with it.

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That sums it up nicely. If you don't want to make a living out of it in a hurry, just have fun dabbling about. I myself got stuck in some really really easy children's songs (three chords at the most, in a 1111-2222-3333-1111 etcetera pattern), but I'm having loads of fun because I am acting like a kid that's learning these songs for the first time . I get on everybody's nerve playing twinkle little star for three hours in a row (I kid you not), but I got it down eventually

No matter what level of 'expertise' you have, a uke puts a smile on:
- when you suck, people laugh they don't joke; please them with silly children's songs!
- when you try, they smile, they admire you trying; appreciate that, it motivates!
- when you rock, they drop jaws; they see how great thing this tiny thing actually is!

Just have fun!!! It will all come in due time, one day you will suddenly say...WOW, I can really play this uke!!
But remember, just have fun and enjoy the ride!

Just enjoy the instrument...

Hi, I am known to buy instruments and then give up. I have previously purchased bongos, Djembe's, Full scale acoustic guitar, flute etc etc...

None of them really seemed as simple and nice sounding as a uke to get started on.

So, as myself a very beginner (and hopefully not just a passing phase with this instrument) I take initiative to relax, and keep ploughing forward with the uke.

It has been my third week of using the uke and every time I pick it up it becomes more smoother, more natural. I think you can't have the perception that you should be sounding like a pro when learning an instrument for the first time.

Keep moving forward and don't let mistakes push you down...

It sounds like you've really been much better at "wood shedding" than most of us ever have, I suspect. The key, though, and the reason you're probably feeling a little discouraged, is that it sounds like that's mostly what you've been doing is "wood shedding." Sometimes you really have to forget about the wood shed, and learn to strum and sing along with a happy little song here and there. It's amazing how being able to memorize even something silly like children's songs can give you a sense of accomplishment.

So, my recommendation would be, step out of the shed for a moment, remember that the whole reason you wanted to do this was to have fun, and pick a couple of simple songs you'd like to be able to play and learn them start to finish before you step back into the shed!

Just my $0.02 - but I spent 15+ YEARS "shedding" on and off on guitar and didn't start to really get better, and ENJOY what I was doing until I started just learning songs - even if they seemed ridiculous, sometimes.

Oh, and the key to getting good at transitions is to practice transitions, not chords. Also, think of your hand as a rubber stamp. When you lift from one chord you want all of your fingers to begin moving together to the right right shape to "rubber stamp" the next chord.

John

Best advice I can give you is what I do, and it has seemed to work for me. Find a pretty basic song that you like. Mine was at first Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. Look up the chords and play with the music. Eventually you'll get better at switching between chords. Then step it up a little with a song with the same chords, but adds one. For me that song was On the Brightside by Never Shout Never (actually a very inspiring song). It adds an E chord. This is the same approach I took towards learning guitar. I'm way behind in knowing every single chord by memory though, but I never started by plinking out songs on one string, and the best thing is I'm having a lot of fun with it Everyone is different though. Try different things, and remember you have your whole life to play with little wooden boxes with strings, so just have fun with it. Don't let it become a chore.

I went back to get my masters 6 years ago at 50 to become a teacher.

I learned something that was so earth shattering to me, that I wish I had been told it when I was struggling in school as a kid.

It was so earth shattering and so important that now I tell all 180 middle school students I see each day this secret that was only, at age 50 shared with me.

Here it is:

When you are at your most uncomfortable, you are about to break through to learning. Don't give up. Know that sometimes learning is hard, and stick with it.

It sounds to me like you are about to break through. Don't give up!

OldePhart said:

It sounds like you've really been much better at "wood shedding"

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Love it John! I haven't heard "wood shedding" since I was in music school. I use it on students and they don't understand what I'm talking about

When I picked up the ukulele, I already had experience with classical guitar and 5 string banjo. Sure, that was decades ago, but I still could form chords pretty quickly from the start. The strumming was really different though, and the more I thought about it, the more difficult it was for me to do it. I found it much easier to play with someone else, and just feel the strum pattern and reproduce it without thinking too much. See if you can team up with someone who plays a little better than you at the moment.
Early on, I was trying to do a video (for a UU contest), and I was learning the chords to the song. I found it took a solid month of practicing before I could play it well enough for the camera. That was despite having all that guitar/banjo experience. So, my advice is to practice s-l-o-w-l-y, and drill on the problem spots. What I mean by drill, is to repeat a small part of the most difficult parts over and over again. Some parts of a song might need you to practice 40 times to get comfortable, and other parts 100 times.
One last thing, don't choose songs at this point that are too difficult. There are plenty of songs out there, so find ones that you like and that are really easy. You need to train your finger muscles and brain, so it is best to let the easy stuff soak in first, and then the harder stuff will be easier to learn and you won't get discouraged. Sometimes the progress seems slow, but it is there nevertheless.
–Lori