Help. My playing is sloppy

addicted2myuke

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I have been playing everyday for 18 months. Even though I have improved and know many chords now, I feel that my playing is sloppy. Sometimes I miss some strings when strumming, and my fingers don't land on the strings properly when fretting. If I look at my fretting hand while playing, it improves, but then I lose my place on the music sheet. I do tend to play fast sometimes, and catch myself and slow down. I tried using a metronome but it is distracting. Any suggestions for more fluid playing?
 
S-l-o-w. Slow down. Way down. Slow down to where it is rediculous. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Speed up slowly. As many will tell you: Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. The way to learn how to play fast cleanly is to play slow cleanly. Instead of going a song at a time. Go a phrase at a time.
 
I agree with Katy. You've got to slow right down and work on little bits over and over.
 
I have the same problem. The way I fix it is by breaking up your playing into two parts. Focus on your left hand first and make sure that you get your fingers in the right place. Then focus only on your strumming and make sure that you are strumming correctly. After spending a lot of time with the two parts separate you can join it together and it will sound better. You can also record yourself or have another person critique you.
 
Well put. Sloppy practice just ingrains sloppy playing into your brain. Bad (practice) habits are hard to break.

Ditto to all of this. If you practice up to tempo before you are ready, you will become really, really good at playing a particular song badly. It may seem frustrating or boring, but it is worth it to take your time and learn your song piece by piece.

I often play one chord change over and over, if my fingers or brain are not handling it smoothly. I will sometimes do this silently while I watch a movie (trying not to annoy my husband who is, you know, watching the movie), just kind of moving my strumming hand but not actually touching the strings. The focus is on the chord change (or changes). I find this very helpful. I sort of adapted it from Ukulele Mike's tips for learning barre chords! The next day I add the strumming and see how it goes, but it still takes some time before I'm ready to speed it up. A lot of it is muscle memory, and that can't really be rushed.

If you let yourself enjoy the process, it's more fun! Also, the more you learn properly, the easier it will get with subsequent songs.
 
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