Tutorial Videos

I'm like a zero beginner here and I'm trying to use some of videos on youtube to learn, but I find a song that I like and whoever's doing the video goes really fast through some important parts that I can't understand. So I find another video and this guy is doing it totally different, but he skips some really important parts too anyway. AHHHGGGG! Super frustrated! Any suggestions on how go about learning???

The UU+ videos online here at Ukulele Underground are done well. They offer a trial of 2 weeks so you can see if they suit your purposes.

AB

I have the same problem--thinking of UU plus, but I find right now, the books and cd combo are working for me. I'm working through Fingerstyles which has you do progressive studies. I stayed the first three weeks on horrible little "Twinkle Twinkle" worst thing Mozart ever wrote, and then did the variant (arpeggio style.) After than, I'm onto Ku'u Morning Dew and I'm staying on that until I can play it smoothly. I ordered a copy of Rob MacKillop's progressive finger studies but I don't know how this book will work out. However, I like books and CD as I can listen, then prop up the book on the music stand and play. Eventually, I memorize the notes and can concentrate on the fingering. I find watching a video sometimes is difficult to keep up with.

I just picked up Ukulele for Dummies (book plus CD). It covers all the way from basic strumming through fingerpicking to different genres/styles. I think it will serve as a good textbook for a couple years of learning for me. I might pick up the Fingerstyles book too.

Edit: the OP was looking for video instruction. I like Ukulele Mike's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CO7zryA668&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
I find he goes slowly and clearly enough for me to follow along. I agree some videos are way too rushed and the camera angle used doesn't show hand position clearly, etc.

Jim B

Check out Uncle Rod's Ukulele Boot Camp. He explains how trying to play without gaining proficiency at chord changes first requires too much of you, and that, for some of us, learning by just playing songs is not the best way. When I first started getting serious about uke, I had the same problem and had to go back to "boot camp."

Welcome to UU

I have been playing for around 10 months and know about 20 chords by heart and around 80 songs. You can play plenty of songs with 20 chords. I attribute my knowledge to 2 sites. One is Dr.uke.com. and the other one is Richard G's Ukulele song book ( found on this site under resources) Both sites cater to beginner to intermediate players. There are hundreds of songs on both sites. If you see a song and don't know the melody, you can hear Dr uke sing it, or Richard G. will provide a link to youtube for that song. I agree that many tutorials are too fast, and when you are learning, going slowly is key. I met and got that advice from Jake Shimabukuro himself. If you don't know who he is yet, definately youtube him. Practice,practice,practice. Good luck.

addicted2myuke said:

I attribute my knowledge to 2 sites. One is Dr.uke.com. and the other one is Richard G's Ukulele song book ( found on this site under resources)

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I just checked these out and they are great! The first includes lots of chord change practice drills as well as songs requiring progressive skills, and the second has the largest collection of songs I've every seen in one place.

Thanks for sharing these, I hadn't run across them before.

Jim B

Dr Uke's site was also very helpful to me (and still is). Another thing that helped me when watching a tutorial video - take notes and refer to them after watching the video. I found this better than hitting pause, especially with chord progressions in a song.

uke552 said:

Another thing that helped me when watching a tutorial video - take notes and refer to them after watching the video. I found this better than hitting pause, especially with chord progressions in a song.

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I do this too. When I find a tutorial of a song I want to learn, I write down the chords (or more accurately, I type them into a Word file) and I usually transcribe the lyrics along with the chords. I practice the transitions without the video until I can play through the song somewhat smoothly, and then I can have fun playing along with the video! This also gives me a song sheet for future reference.

cantsing said:

I do this too. When I find a tutorial of a song I want to learn, I write down the chords (or more accurately, I type them into a Word file) and I usually transcribe the lyrics along with the chords. I practice the transitions without the video until I can play through the song somewhat smoothly, and then I can have fun playing along with the video! This also gives me a song sheet for future reference.

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great tip.

Here's the full list of free video lessons we've currently done. we only put the play a longs on youtube and the main lessons are on our site. If you watched the play along on youtube and thought it was too fast that's probably why. We try to make it so you watch the lesson first, practice, then use the play along to test if you got it.

http://ukuleleunderground.com/category/ukulele-lessons/

The important thing is to just keep practicing, the ukulele is easy but you're not going to master any instrument overnight. Best of luck on your ukulele journey!

Oh my gosh, thanks for the helpful advice and support. I will try some stuff and report back. I have actually applied for a job in Hawaii, so I need to get going if I want to have the basics down before I get there. Thanks loads!!!

Hi,

I'll give you another tip.

You know you can download a video from youtube, aren't you? Commonly they're .flv or .mp4

You can play this files with VLC media player, and slow down the playing speed without afecting the pitch!!!

Mega dittos to Dr Uke. His songs gave me the idea of trying to put those chord charts on other songs using just the lyrics. There's a pgm called Chordette that is a set of fonts that you can put into Word. Has a little learning curve, but worth the time to learn. However, since I'm a musician, I really do like to see the notation so I'm partial to Jim Beloff's books. We all have our "quirks."

I agree about Ukulele Mike, too. That man has a lot of patience and fine teaching ability. He does have some videos where he only plays the song with any instruction or chord charts. I'm not advanced enough to benefit from those in learning the uke although I like to listen to some of them.

Phil has continually pointed out Uncle Rod's boot camp. Initially, I thought that I would like to learn by just playing songs, but the point about learning to make fast chord changes first to avoid frustration is valid also, IMO. Ukulele Mike points out that a good way to practice chord changes is while watching tv. I've been doing that during the commercials which, as you know, provides so much time that you don't even have to miss any of your program. All of these suggestions have merit and some work better than others depending on your individual personality. The best practice to do is one you will do.

Awesome guys, thanks again. I am using Dr. Uke and Ukulele Mike and I feel like I have some direction now, which was part of the problem because I didn't know where to start. Cord progressions, got it.