Habits

Hey there folks,

I'd like to take a little while to talk about good habits and bad habits for playing the ukulele. As I'm very new to music in general and I've most certainly never played a stringed instrument, I'd like to ask what you think are the best habits and worst habits for a beginner who is self-learning the ukulele with no prior experience. I'm well aware that muscle memory can work wonders when using proper technique and that it can be a curse if you learn something incorrectly and you're forced to relearn it after hundreds of hours of practicing the wrong way. I know that music can be played in a lot of ways, and that there aren't always right or wrong ways to do something but as a very beginner I think focusing on good habits is more important than style. There isn't any stopping style anyways, my music and playing will take on a form of its own soon enough I'm sure.

So, to sum it all up, what are generally accepted good habits to form and what are bad habits to form while playing the ukulele?

For instance, fretting only with finger 1 is an easy-to-make beginner's bad habit, and learning to use all 4 fingers while fretting is a good habit.

I will give my wifes worst habit- do not ever practice when you are tired. She "undoes" so much doing that.
Probably fine to strum a tune you know really well when tired, but don't practice something you are learning.

It can happen at anytime no matter how long you've played, but especially at the beginning, there's going to be a point where your fingertips hurt too much, and or your fingers are tired and maybe your entire hand might cramp, or maybe just the V part of the thumb and index finger. Don't fight it, you're just done. Practice sessions might be shorter at first, but just roll with it. OTOH, accept that every instrument has some level of pain in order to gain.

Imaginary said:

So, to sum it all up, what are generally accepted good habits to form and what are bad habits to form while playing the ukulele?

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Hmmm, good habits - play often. Bad habits - it's a uke, how can anything be bad?

Seriously, practice often. When you identify an area where you have a problem - concentrate on that problem alone for as long as you can stand to until that problem is fixed, then move on to the next. For example, if you have trouble strumming, work diligently on strumming - don't worry about the left hand just strum, strum, strum until you get it right. At least the uke is tuned to Am7 | C6 so it's at least a chord!

Learn to think of chords as a hand shape. If you think of moving from a C to a G7 as I lift this finger, I put this finger down here, I put this finger down here, I put htis finger down here - that's exactly how you'll do it and you'll quickly reach a plateau that you can't break short of relearning your technique. So, from the very beginning work on lifting all your fingers and moving them together into the shape for the next chord. This takes a lot of doing at first, but after a while it becomes second nature. I've played guitar for years and I"ll have somebody ask me, "how to I finger an F#m7?" If I don't have a guitar in my hands I can't tell them - I have to show them because I don't think of my fingers at all! Now, even after you've gotten good at this there will be some cases where some fingers will land ahead of others simply because they have a shorter distance to travel. That's fine, and you can even take advantage of it sometimes to pick up a passing note between the chords.

When playing single note runs up and down a string, don't move your finger from one fret to another (unless intentionally, to do a slide). Instead, use all four of your fingers.

Use a metronome when starting out - this will get you used to "hearing" a steady tempo in your head even when the metronome isn't around.

One really good habit to form when begining is to always keep your thumb on the back of the neck rather then wrapping your thumb up high (pinch like not tucked in the v bit). This will help lots in the long run for moving around the fretboard. The tucked in the v habit is hard to get out of.

<eM>Burr said:

One really good habit to form when begining is to always keep your thumb on the back of the neck rather then wrapping your thumb up high (pinch like not tucked in the v bit). This will help lots in the long run for moving around the fretboard. The tucked in the v habit is hard to get out of.

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Double this for me...I think I may have to tape my thumb to the back of the neck.

<eM>Burr said:

One really good habit to form when begining is to always keep your thumb on the back of the neck rather then wrapping your thumb up high (pinch like not tucked in the v bit). This will help lots in the long run for moving around the fretboard. The tucked in the v habit is hard to get out of.

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Yeah, that's one I fight constantly. On the other hand, I often see people who say "Keep your thumb on the back of the neck" with their thumb sticking way up over the top! It's good form to keep it centered though, and there are advantages to it, certainly. It helps you "pivot" to a new position without loosing your base. I'm better about it on bass guitar, but I have a TERRIBLE time with uke, because the neck is so small.