Cross training.

jackwhale

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I've been playing a lot more guitar lately...mainly flat picking swing tunes with another uke player. Over the past few weeks I've returned to the baritone, and have been really surprised at how much I've improved as a uke player even though I've not played much for quite a while. I especially notice the improvement in my sense of timing and rhythm.

I'm thinking that this sort of 'cross' learning is a well known phenomenon. Have others noticed this kind of improvement in their playing?
 
Yes! Even after only playing a little guitar I feel like I'm able to pull of chord shapes better. Maybe I just feel that way too, but I'm pretty sure it helps!
 
I switch among soprano ukulele, mandolin (most time), tenor guitar and tenor banjo. They are all tuned GDAE. I find that they all help me play the others better. When I go from mandolin to ukulele, the ukulele rolls! Same thing with the others. The fingers just seem to appreciate the difference and it shows in the playing.
 
I play ukuleles, tenor guitar and, for a while, a dreadnaught guitar, and I found that things I learned on both hands for one instrument resulted in improvements on the other instruments. I think it's just a matter of developing the independentce of your hands from your brain, and maybe the additional challenges of diffeerent instruments provides an additional benefit.
 
While laid up sick I didn't play guitar, just uke for 2 months. Picked up the guitar Sat and my right hand technique was a lot smoother, lots of brush off and neat stuff, just kind of happened. I think what you are saying s real. I've seen it also going from guitar back to uke.
 
I've been practicing a Joe Satriani track on guitar, before I record it on my Islander GL6 guitarlele. My Ibanez has a long scale length, and some of the stretches, such as:

|---0---|
|---3---|
|---5---|
|---7---|
|---x---|
|---x---|

really help in conditioning the hand, and changing quickly to:

|---7---|
|---10--|
|---9---|
|---x---|
|---x---|
|---8---|

makes the uke seem so much easier afterwards.
 
I think it's just a matter of developing the independence of your hands from your brain

If anyone is struggling with a complex piece, especially a fingerpicking exercise, try to forget what your fingers are doing. Maybe watch tv, or have a conversation with your dog while you are playing. Disconnecting conscious thought from a complex piece can help develop your technique.
 
Glad to hear it's not entirely my imagination. I notice the most improvement in the rhythmic 'feel' to the music.
 
I've been playing a lot more guitar lately...mainly flat picking swing tunes with another uke player. Over the past few weeks I've returned to the baritone, and have been really surprised at how much I've improved as a uke player even though I've not played much for quite a while. I especially notice the improvement in my sense of timing and rhythm.

I'm thinking that this sort of 'cross' learning is a well known phenomenon. Have others noticed this kind of improvement in their playing?

I started out as a guitarist than started playing uke about 10 years ago (maybe 11 now).
I recently got into baritone ukulele, and realized it's actually helping me understand the guitar more.
I have always been a much better uker, but coming from the guitar first i feel the baritone is the perfect fit for me.
ANd now to mix both worlds even more i will be installing high D baritone strings, to keep the low tuning and feel of the baritone
but still get the close harmony's of the smaller ukes. Looking forward to how this sounds.

But after playing baritone more I'm understanding the break down of guitar chords.
I was one of those guitarists who learned the basic chords, but just found it to frustrating to bother.
With uke i was obsessed and studied the crap out of the mel bay chord books, I memorized every chord
I could find to the point where i can say 'name a chord i can play it" on the uke. As for guitar I can play
the basic major/minor/7th/major7th/minor7th and it pretty much stops there. Now with baritone all i have to do
is transpose the chord shapes from standard, and it breaks them down for me and shows me kind of how the chords are made up in a simple way (minus the bass strings)
and now the chords on guitar make sense to me more. I started on guitar, but i don't consider myself a guitarist i'm a uker
who knows a little guitar....I'm considering getting a guitar again in the future maybe but I really think i have found all I need
in the baritone ukulele but i also appreciate how it can be used as a learning tool for guitar also as well as a unique instrument
on it's own capable of many different voices.
 
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I guess I'm still newbie enough to experience a bit of confusion when I switch between guitar and ukulele. I've also just emerged from a period where I continued to play/practice, but not as much as usual. There Are Consequences!

Even so, switching between the two (and playing various sizes of both) -- after a period of adjustment -- most definitely helps develop one's musical brain and muscles.

(I'm now eying my husband's keyboard. It's been neglected lately. How might it work to add that to the mix?)
 
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