Goals?

I too don't have any specific goals. I found that in the three years I've been playing uke, I've accomplished more than the almost fifty years I played guitar, and now playing bass uke with The CC Strummers, I'm even more committed. We meet twice a week, I play pretty much every day preparing for the next session or for our various gigs (have one coming up Sunday, 11 am for the Culver City Fiesta La Balloña at Veterans Memorial Park) and enjoy the great camaraderie.

My latest goal is to learn how to do the 5 finger strum fast. I can do it once on one beat. But I can't do it many times in a row, fast, like Petey for example.

I didn't understand the upstrum on it. I was going to post asking about it. But then I found it on UU Minutes. Aldrine explained how to do it... 7 years ago!

@bonesoup: I do it slightly different but it's the same concept. You need to practice the 4 roll strum down like Lil' Rev's latest strumming book shows. It will really help.

@keod: Glad you liked it!

@AndieZ: Yep, she's great. I usually go to the Apple store if I need iPhone help.

bonesoup said:

My latest goal is to learn how to do the 5 finger strum fast. I can do it once on one beat. But I can't do it many times in a row, fast, like Petey for example.

Click to expand...

My short term ukulele goals are (over the next year or two) are learn the basics through uncle Rods ukulele boot camp and the ukulele for dummies and ukulele exercises for dummies books.

Long term goal is to learn how to play metal songs on a ukulele.

I don't really plan ahead but I do like to improve. And I will put the work in to do so. For example I will spend time 'programming' a new strumming pattern into muscle memory if I feel I need it to be able to play a certain song the way I want to play it.

I agree that it's about having fun. I also think that when you first start out it can be frustrating not having even basic skills in place. Sure, you want to just kick back and play some music - but you have to achieve a certain level of competency to be able to do that. And to do that - you have to put some groundwork in. So, I think it's okay to set yourself some goals

My goal is to play any melody with my tiny soprano at anytime and at anywhere. Then I stay with music anytime and anywhere. I don't need chord or finger style for my goal.

My primary goal is to have fun with playing my uke. Otherwise, I want to learn to read sheet music, stretch out my creaky left hand to handle chord and transitions easier and learn more songs.

I have a goal for everything. Although I think my goals may be defined a bit differently than other people. Even cleaning my house I have a goal to finish inside 40min.

Currently, my ukulele goal is to learn 3 songs each week (I've just started ukulele and self-teaching, so I'm going through a lessons book). At this rate, I'll be done with the book around Christmas.

I'm largely too unmotivated to set goals, for anything. I do have one goal, retire while I still feel good enough to have fun.
I did meet one desire this year, to find my holy grail uke. Now to learn to play it.
I guess I'd like to be able to sit in with whoever's around, and jam with them no matter what they come up with. I think that means "be a musician".

My current goal is to learn to strum better. I have come to relalize that strumming well is a major element of sounding well. It does not come natural to me. I can do a strum and even do some chord changes and keep it up, but once I start singing I find I resort to a 1/4 note strum. I am getting better at it but it's hard work for me

I'm both motivated (wanting to improve and play well) and unmotivated (wanting to avoid expectations and pressure), which has me oscillating between noodling (going nowhere) and attempting to be more structured in my approach (but finding self-teaching difficult). It just depends on what mindset I'm in at a given time. It's as Jollyboy wrote above, just noodling isn't so satisfying if you lack the skills to make it feel effortless, so some structure and focused effort are probably necessary to get to the place where you can "just have fun".

Right now, I feel pretty motivated about learning the guitarlele, so I picked up two easy guitar tab books from the guy who runs thisisclassicalguitar.com, one with easy exercises and one with a few simple six-string pieces. My next step (goal) on this journey is to get those exercises down and learn the songs (and play them in the wrong key!) before I get distracted with more materials. This will benefit my ukulele finger picking as well (four of the six strings are the same), because the techniques aren't fundamentally different. Specifically for the ukulele, a goal is to improve my rhythm, which means a good amount of quality time with a metronome and learning more strumming pattern.

Long-term goals, well, like I said, I prefer to keep things general and just see how things go. I'm definitely more a here-and-now-er than I'm a planner, but if I had to be more specific, I'd (still vaguely!) say that I'd like to get to a playing level where I have a decently sized repertoire that I can play around random people and be considered a musician by them, and not only by myself.

I think my next target is to improve my sight reading so that I can at least learn a tune from notation.

To that end, I'm going to forget that my bari is DGBE & just play it as though it were GCEA - that will make it easier.

Trying to think in both tunings is just too confusing for me right now - & I only play for myself anyway.

Hey Joyful! Something you might want to look into is looking for a ukulele group to join. There are many all over the world that invite players to drop in and play along. A good way to get tips and pass on your own experiences.