Testing the 20 hour theory w/Uncle Rod

Having been inspired by the "20 Hour" TED that was posted in another thread (http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?92384-Learning-anything-in-20-hours) I'm going to attempt to become competent on my ukulele.

I will use Uncle Rod's Boot Camp materials. I will attempt to do 20 minute segments, 3 times a day. That's one hour a day, but I figure it will take me about 25ish days to actually get the 20 hours in, just because my schedule can keep me away from my uke some days. I've made a little spread sheet to keep track of my time and I'll be reporting on here from time to time to report my progress, and also to comment on Rod's system. I'm making this public in order to put pressure on myself. (Feel free to write encouraging/kick-in-the-butt/"you lazy bum" comments to inspire me.) The 20-minute segments are manageable times I can fit in throughout the day.

"Competency" will be achieved when I feel that I can play in front of people without embarrassment. Let's see if 20 hours does the trick.

First update: I did my first 20 minutes this morning. And I'm already frustrated. (The Cdim, Dm7, and Fm6--really, Rod? On the first day? )

Excellent idea!!

Looking forward to your success!

Cheesehead! Good for you. I still think of myself as one, being born there. You know you're from WI when you can tell a MI accent.

Thumbs up for Uncle Rod. I said the same thing, when will I ever use a Cdim????? He has his reasons however, trust him grasshopper.

I'm only about 11 months in right now myself, but it's fun and that's the point for me.

I look forward to your updates. I also thought the TED video was cool. I'm trying clawhammer strumming. I'm up to almost 8 hours already, and notice improvement. Seems to work so far.

Bum ditty...

I wish there was a "like" button. I'm subscribing to this thread! Looking forward to the results.

Great idea of applying 20 hours to the learning. Looking forward to the result of Uncle Rod's bootcamp.

I'm doing this too Mr. Preacher!

The dim chords are pretty tough. I practiced just going from C to Cdim over and over until I could do it without looking. I think that alone took 20mins of practice.

I'm down for keeping you accountable!

Great Idea!

I will try this method when I get my Uke

cheers
Paul

I am gonna give this a shot as well. I have the first 4 down on page one and will focus on Cdim and Dm7 as a start. I will also record time.

Marc

I've been using Uncle Rod's Boot Camp practice sheets for about 5 weeks. I'm finding it to be a great way to learn chords, and make smooth transitions between them. (I'm trying, anyway). I haven't been keeping track of time - I don't want to feel discouraged. I can say that I'm improving; I recommend Uncle Rod's material to beginners.

Yes, Preacher, and all Uncle Rod 'students', Cdim, Fm6, Dm7... all on the first day!

Remember, however, that you can vary your tempo to accomodate what you need to maintain a
tempo while making smooth transitions. Hey, it's called 'Boot Camp' after all.

Preacher, did you take Greek? need I say more? What about Hebrew? Just the alphabets would be
tougher than Cdim [ been there, done that, so I know ]

I appreciate you going public and using the Boot Camp materials. I teach a class on Thurs nights in
Edmonds, WA and I'm taking the students through a modified Boot Camp - they'll get the full Boot
Camp experience in the next series (4-weeks) in Feb

I'm seriously considering showing the TED (first 20 hours: how to learn anything) presentation as I
also found it inspiring.

Preacher, please keep us updated with your progress. We all know that in the beginning everything is hard/difficult.
I hope to see great improvement after the first 5-10 hours!

We're on your side and rooting for you!! None more so than me!

keep uke'in',

Preacher, did you take Greek? need I say more? What about Hebrew?

Click to expand...

I did indeed, Uncle Rod! Was actually just reading an article about the newest edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament. Learning those languages was a bit easier though because I didn't have to move my fingers in certain ways while translating!

I'll be posting an update later today. Still frustrated, but also have the added bonus of my finger tips being really sore due to our cold, dry weather. (19 below this morning.) Using lots of hand lotion. Oh well. Onward!

I might be biased . . . I already knew Diminished chords and how there's "really only 3" (not really...) of them.

One trick I figured out pretty quick is to use my pinky for that occurrence of C, then just drop the other fingers down for the Cdim.

Then I went nuts and transposed to the other keys (except Cb and C#) . . . Right now, E and B are daily, then I roll 1d6 for the other "new" keys . . .

Update on day two: I'm still frustrated, but seeing some slight improvement. Of course, I've only finished one whole hour now, so it's still quite early. But I'm noticing that any of the chords requiring 4 fingers pretty much require me to stop strumming and set them up. I'm also wondering if I have correct fingering in the first place. Another issue is the buzz. I'm buzzing a LOT because I don't have a string pressed all the way down. (I've got new Aquilas on here. Are they going to soften up or am I that much of a weakling? My hand just about cramps up pressing down as hard as I can to get clear notes.) I'm doing this on my Mainland Mahogany tenor. Maybe I should try on a concert? Today was one of those days where I could only get 20 minutes with my uke. Hoping for 3 full sessions tomorrow.

On the positive side, I'm looking less at my fingers for the basic notes. I also don't have to look at the diagrams anymore to remember most of the positions. And while I don't know the chords by ear yet, I DO know if the chord doesn't sound right as I progress through the first worksheet. Small steps, but they're all forward.

Maybe you need a strap? I have one on all my ukuleles - I don't want to be thinking about my ukulele falling over while trying to get into complicated chords, like the second position of Am for example. I couldn't play without a strap and I'm not really bothered what other people think about straps...

FOr the buzzing problem, make sure your fingers are placed just behind the frets.

The TED video was so inspiring I passed it off to my two artists at my shop to light a fire under their butts. I was also about to start the Uncle Rods's boot camp myself but the past two days I have done nothing but what is contained in the following video. Many years ago I was taught this by my best friend and simply forgot the lesson it taught in muscle memory.

I find as I try to get back into playing a stringed instrument that my fingers want to lift off the strings when not in use, way off. This simple exercise helps teach the fingers how to sit on the strings better as well as builds hand strength and takes zero work to achieve. Understand I'm only explaining what I'm doing and why not trying to challenge any other way.

I was taught to noodle up and down the fretboard stretching using different patterns etc. This gentleman teaches three exercises that show this and I really think its the same flavor and can only add to the teaching of URB. Hope it helps you.



Good Luck

Preacher, making great progress.

remember point #2 was to make enough progress to 'self-correct', and it seems you're there!

Please take it slowly... at first, and work harder on the transitions you find more challenging.
that way, when you put them together (ie, play the practice sheet) those, well-practiced transitions,
may get easier and easier (promise!)

If you can drive a stick shift/manual transmission... it's like getting past the jerkiness (definitely NOt
calling you a Jerk. But if the shoe fits... ) and being able to shift more smoothly.

BTW I had the privilege of attending MBI (Chicago) and WCBS (Portland) if you know what the acronyms
mean Sorry, can't correspond with you in either Greek or Hebrew. English will have to do

keep uke'in',

i found it a bit easier to do his "test" before the meat of the bootcamp.

I love Uncle Rod's Bootcamp and am using it with our ukulele club. So far, so good! I had one gentleman there say, "I've learned more in the last hour than in the last year." Thank you, Uncle Rod!!! It is amazing how things that feel impossible start to improve, and then it starts happening. My fingers are doing things I never thought they could do.

Update to the 20 hour Uncle Rod attempt:
Still frustrated--I haven't posted in a while because I've hardly been able to get to my ukulele. I figured that it would take me 25 days to get in 20 hours of practice, doing an hour a day. Well, I've already had a 4-day gap between sessions. The simple explanation: life happens. I've gotten back to it finally and it's led to ....

More frustration! I'm still not able to do any of the 4-fingered chords on page 1 of Rod's exercises. I mean, I can do them but I pretty much have to stop to get them right. I'm more and more convinced that I'm not doing the fingering right. I have no idea how to make the transition smoothly between a couple of them. And my wrist and thumb on my fret hand are pretty sore after playing, which again makes me think I'm not positioning my hand correctly. I've actually almost given up a couple times. I really wish I had a teacher that I could sit down with face to face who can show me the proper positions.

Now, having said all that, I AM only 2 hours into this, and those 2 hours have been spread out over a couple weeks. If I can find a way to get some time EVERY day, I'm hoping I'd see much better results. And it may have to be 20 minutes a day if that's all I can get. So my plan now is to get a little uke time in every day, no matter how short. If I CAN get an hour, great.

I've also ordered another ukulele. I'm getting a "cheap" one from Mim and it's going to stay at my office. This should really allow me to get in some time each day, even when I'm trapped at the office several days in a row. I'll probably also be able to bring this one on the road when I have some traveling to do in the next couple weeks. (I don't like taking my Mainland out when the weather is as nasty as it is here.)

I'm hoping I'll have a much more upbeat report the next time I post here. I'm getting the easy chords down and remembering them fairly well. I just don't seem to be making any progress on the hard ones yet. But, it will come. (At least that's what people keep telling me.) Onward!