Learning anything in 20 hours

JamieWG

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I just saw this video of a TED talk given by Josh Kaufman. He discusses the time it takes to learn new skills, and then demonstrates his point with a ukulele! I had no idea the uke was coming when I started watching it, so it was a really pleasant surprise. Aside from that, the talk itself was also very interesting. I thought some of you might enjoy it too.

 
That was wonderful.

I couldn't articulate it the way the speaker did, but, in a nutshell,
that's Uncle Rod's Ukulele Boot Camp Method for Ukulele Proficiency! :)

1 - deconstructing the skill of playing the uke - for me that was getting people to learn the chords and practicing moving from chord to chord smoothly.
2 - learn enough to self-correct - that's what the practice sheets are for.
3 - remove practice barriers - for me it's encouraging personal committment to work it through, or getting students to take a class :)
4 - practice at least 20 hours - if players can play through the 5 practice sheets at a comfortable tempo at 4 strums per chord, without interrupting their strumming or looking at their chord-forming fingers... that may take up the 20 hours. :)

End Result, no longer a 'Beginner', but a genuine ukulele player! :)

Thanks for sharing the video.

keep uke'in',
 
that was great... puts a lot in perspective, plus he's promoting the uke!
 
I'm in the learning and development field, so this really spoke to me. Thanks for posting!
 
I am a public speaking instructor. Learning a new skill is something we cover the first day. Thanks for a video that can cover that concept, give them an example of someone speaking in public, and best of all, incorporate a ukulele!
 
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I really enjoyed that, thanks for posting.

I'm trying to learn clawhammer strumming right now, this is great encouragement.

Time to practice
 
When I posted this, I had no idea how many different angles it would be seen from! It's really interesting to hear all of your perspectives, and what a wide variety of talent, experience and interests are in this forum. I knew there was a reason why I like it here!
 
The four chord illustration is so true. The same goes for west coast swing dancing - there are four basic patterns to learn and you can be on the dance floor all night long.

Thanks for posting
 
Dang, that's pretty cool. I would have never sat through such a video had I not known there was a ukulele hook in there somewhere, but he really brought it on home there at the end.

What uke is he playing? And what's with the guitar upstage-right?
 
Great notion, that you don't have to be world-class to have fun. Good thing, too, otherwise I surely wouldn't be doing much of anything ...

Then again, twenty hours doesn't get you very far as a musician. What do you play after that one song?

Steve
 
Great notion, that you don't have to be world-class to have fun. Good thing, too, otherwise I surely wouldn't be doing much of anything ...

Then again, twenty hours doesn't get you very far as a musician. What do you play after that one song?

Steve

The song was a mash up of some of the songs that can be sung using those chords, with very little variation in stum pattern.
Check axis of Awesome, 4 chord songs:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I
I think the other point not directly raised is that 20 hours will get you to a level of competence, but to get to the level of Clapton etc you will need the other 38,960 hours. The higher up you get, the smallest of improvements take longer to achieve.
I was also struck by the similarities to Rod's boot camp.
H
 
There's also a book on the 20 minutes thing. I think there's gems there. . .

---focus your practice on your weak spots; there's a tendency to enjoy playing the stuff that's easy-go or avoid the stuff that is hard to do.

---many short bursts of practice seem more productive than one long sit at it.

---have a goal and a deadline.
 
This information really helps me. I've always believed the 10,000 hours thing, and I've always been terrible at sitting for long hours "woodshedding" like my nephew, and a good friend did with guitar as teenagers (both are very accomplished players), but with this information, I let go of that, and I have to say, I'm learning much better than before. I'm already picking up a tune I spent less than an hour on that the Westside Ukulele Ensemble took on last week which we're playing tonight at a gig.
 
The song was a mash up of some of the songs that can be sung using those chords, with very little variation in stum pattern.
Check axis of Awesome, 4 chord songs:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I
I ran across that Axis of Awesome video right after I started learning the ukulele, and it was a huge inspiration!

The Ted talk is also an inspiration, although I must admit I think if I ever reach 10,000 hours I'll still be only "moderately competent" and not the elite player the speaker describes.
 
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Yeah, I heard the Axis of Awesome before I got into ookery, and I knew about four-chord commonality when I played guitar. You can chunk a whole lot of stuff with three chords, too: blues, anybody ... ?

Three chords and the truth will take you a ways, but nobody thought Johnny Cash was as good a guitarist as Chet Atkins. Depends on what you want to do, but 20 hours is just a toe in the water.

The 10,000 hour thing is often misunderstood. What it says is that world-class experts at a thing usually have that much determined practice doing it. It doesn't say that doing that much practice will make you a world-class expert. You see the difference?

Steve
 
The 10,000 hour thing is often misunderstood. What it says is that world-class experts at a thing usually have that much determined practice doing it. It doesn't say that doing that much practice will make you a world-class expert. You see the difference?

Yes, I see the difference, and now the 10,000 hour thing makes more sense to me.
 
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