Practice

Just wondering how often and for how long do other beginners practice?
At the moment it's every day for an hour or more for me. But I'm right at the start of things.

Every day is good,but do what you are comfortable with! We had a learner group once, and I suggested an hour a day; one lady said she couldn't manage that, but was two hours on a sunday okay? I laughed and said no. Even ten minutes a day would be better for her.
To gain the muscle memory in your fingers, you need regular contact with your instrument,such as you are doing;and many folk need to toughen up their skin on the fingertips too.Keep playing,and be happy!

As a beginner, I would practice most days, rarely more than an hour, but often only for ten minutes or so; which is often all that's needed to reinforce whatever I learned the day before.

For me, the important thing isn't so much the time spent practicing as the project I'm working on. For example, I learned a lot building a repertoire of railway-themed songs for a performance at my brother in law's birthday party.

Now I'm not so much a beginner, I practice whenever I feel I need to, and that depends on whether I have a performance coming up or whether some new (to me) song or technique has grabbed my attention.

I've never practiced. I'm allergic to practice. I just pick up my uke when I'm bored and try to do things with it.

Loveiz said:

Just wondering how often and for how long do other beginners practice?
At the moment it's every day for an hour or more for me.

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I would second the comments made to you by Jim and Topdog as being a good guide for a beginner. I didn’t learn the Uke as a child but I did learn another instrument from a peripatetic (traveling) teacher. On practice that teacher asked for fifteen minutes everyday of structured practice, more was not unwelcome but he sought regularity and structure most and accepted that people also had other time commitments too. So little and often is good and structure will see you working with direction.

Robins comment set me thinking. I find his way of working more right for an intermediate or an experienced player. It would seem that I’m bored a lot as I often go to an instrument and just try out things on it, the time seems to fly by and I have a smile on my face as it does.

I used to do about 15~30mins, 2 to 3 times a day, but not every day, when I started.

Put the uke on a stand, & pick it up every now & then when passing by.

I practice every work day for about 20 minutes, every other Wednesday at the ukulele club for a couple of hours, and then (in agreement with Croaky Keith) I have one on a stand that I pick up whenever passing.
I sometimes spend 10 minutes or so just randomly changing cords without actually playing a tune.
One bit of advice I would give is to not shy away from the difficult cords, but try changing from "easy" cords to the more challenging ones, then back to easy ones. You soon find that they become easier.

When I first started it was a half hour to forty five minutes a day. I practiced most every day and I was somewhat structured as I was following Uncle Rods Boot Camp. I play longer now and practice is more spontaneous and less structured. I agree with many of the others who say that the frequency of practice is more important than time.

robinboyd said:

I've never practiced. I'm allergic to practice. I just pick up my uke when I'm bored and try to do things with it.

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^^^ this

It's like fishing... if you love doing it, you'll fish more often and become more proficient as a result.

Thanks for replies

Swamp Yankee, you made me smile as I am also an avid fly fisher and have been for many years.

Swamp Yankee said:

^^^ this

It's like fishing... if you love doing it, you'll fish more often and become more proficient as a result.

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For me personally, I like to practice to wind down for bed. But I find if I've done lots of typing & the like, I find I can only practice for 10-30 minutes at a time.

I encourage my students (Basics I) to practice each Practice Sheet (Uncle Rod's Ukulele Boot Camp - link below)
ONCE a day for official homework - more if they like, but it's their choice after the first go through

by the end of the 5-week course, they will have gone through the Practice Sheets for the Key of C (35 times).
Key of F (28 times), Key of G (21 times) and the Key of A (14 times), and of course on the 5th and final week
we would be formally going through the Key of D - although, since they get the entire syllabus at the beginning
they can practice ahead any time they choose to do so [I encourage that as prep for the upcoming lesson]

please check out ( ukulelebootcamp.weebly.com ) and try out the SET-UP (Self-Examination Test for Ukulele
Proficiency) just for fun

keep uke'in',

Loveiz said:

Thanks for replies

Swamp Yankee, you made me smile as I am also an avid fly fisher and have been for many years.

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...especially fly fishing... as one's first forays with a fly rod are often quite frustrating
I hear you though... I've enjoyed fly fishing since the late 70s when I first began teaching myself the rudiments of casting.

at the beginning, everything is hard!

1) we are unconsciously incompetent - we don't know, and we don't know that we don't know
2) next we become consciously incompetent - now we know we don't know
3) with practice we become consciously competent - we're getting better
4) in time we become unconsciously competent - it becomes natural for us

Spaced Repetition is part of the key - little by little, day by day, keep on keeping on!

"Nice and Easy does it every time" - Francis Albert (Sinatra)

keep uke'in',

I don't practice for a set amount of time each day, but I try to keep instruments around (excuse for UAS! I do need one I can leave in the car...) so that when I have a gap in my schedule it's easy to get some time in. I can usually get several 10-15 minute sessions in throughout the day before even considering an active "play & practice" time.

I try to keep those practice times directed: what is it that I need to work on, and how can I work on it. At this point I mostly target three things: new chords, smooth chord changes, and strumming patterns and rhythm (love / hate Mr. Metronome!). Specific activities are generally a mix up between Uncle Rod's boot camp practice sheets (thank you sir!), playing through songs, and improvising through chord changes. Details depending on my mood and what I have at hand.

I find chords and chord changes to learn based on what gave me trouble at our weekly jam (again, thank you Uncle Rod ) or in songs that I want to learn. I note down the chords and changes that give me trouble so I can come back and work them out. Trying to learn a song well enough to record for the Seasons of the Ukulele has really pushed my skills up, and it's a real thrill when I can find a new (to me) fingering which turns a chord change from a stopper to trivial.

At all times I try to be mindful of what I'm doing and to stay in the sweet spot where I'm pushing my skill level while still being able to play correctly. As an instructor told me:

Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.

I play (is it practice???) about 30-60 minutes a day give or take. I'm always working on songs for my various ukulele groups, for church worship band, and songs I want to learn for myself. I don't force myself to maintain a strict practice routine. I just play to make music & make myself happy. During the workweek, I often play first thing in the morning while my coffee is brewing, and right before bed to help me relax.

My biggest piece of advice is to find a ukulele group to play with. I was fortunate to find several local groups that include a teaching aspect with each meeting. I learned a lot as a beginner just from YouTube, but once I found the local ukulele groups, my playing really took off.

RafterGirl said:

I play (is it practice???) about 30-60 minutes a day give or take. I'm always working on songs for my various ukulele groups, for church worship band, and songs I want to learn for myself. I don't force myself to maintain a strict practice routine. I just play to make music & make myself happy. During the workweek, I often play first thing in the morning while my coffee is brewing, and right before bed to help me relax.

My biggest piece of advice is to find a ukulele group to play with. I was fortunate to find several local groups that include a teaching aspect with each meeting. I learned a lot as a beginner just from YouTube, but once I found the local ukulele groups, my playing really took off.

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I think that this is the case of many ukulele players. I was talking to someone about when a ukulele player could quit calling themselves a beginner and my thought on it was when the ukulele player is no longer practicing to learn to play the ukulele and is practicing to learn to play songs. But I think that only applies to people who are playing the ukulele to play songs. There are different approaches to playing the ukulele. There are some people who are playing the ukulele as a discipline and who are challenging themselves by perfecting established techniques and playing more articulate pieces. I suppose in that case they measure themselves by testing themselves, That they reach their goals by attaining a specific level of competence based on their ability to play difficult passages, and use a scale to label themselves. I imagine those people are much more structured in their practice and set aside a specific period to practice. I don't know that, I'm just talking from what I've observed and heard. My point is that what is practice really depends on your approach to the instrument.

I just play.

I was structured in the beginning did online courses and books like ukulele aerobics but that became labourious for me. I get more satisfaction learning songs, focusing on rhythm and timing. I try to use my ear first and foremost to hone my skills. In the early stages I played all the notes too evenly........... probably what most beginners or non musicians do so the songs never sounded right . But I do see marked improvement on my playing and started tackling tougher solos now like Beales Street Blues from Fred Sokolows book.

Bottom line is that whatever you do is make sure you enjoy it. Don't make it a chore.

I probably can't call myself a beginner, but I still play/practice.

I probably pick up my uke about once a day, perhaps twice or none, just to spend 10 min going through whatever I am trying to learn. At these sessions I dont try to find new stuff to learn, it is only repetition.

Then I do a longer session of half an hour to an hour two or three times a week.

UkingViking said:

I probably can't call myself a beginner, but I still play/practice.

I probably pick up my uke about once a day, perhaps twice or none, just to spend 10 min going through whatever I am trying to learn. At these sessions I dont try to find new stuff to learn, it is only repetition.

Then I do a longer session of half an hour to an hour two or three times a week.

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I can relate to this though not on the Uke, the Uke isn’t what I play best or even most but it is what I enjoy most (club nights are really a ‘blast’). On what I play best I’m now using some old music, that I thought I’d mastered years ago, and finding subtle ways in which to noticeably improve the music now produced by me. Building on old knowledge with what you have later learned is good and simple music is a good medium on which to incorporate those subtle skills/tricks/refinements.

Time is a funny thing. I can pick up an instrument for an intended five minute session and half an hour later I’m still happily playing, and doing so whether working away at something or just taking pleasure from the music produced. I never expected that practice time would be anything but a chore but these days it seems to be virtually a pleasure.

I’m all for leaving an instrument out ready to play somewhere, nowhere obviously unsafe but ready access. More expensive instruments I do try to protect, but having a cheaper second hand one (eg. Dolphin) that’s messed up a bit already is very liberating. Well I find that so because any further damage won’t affect their (resale) value, they cost little and they look like they’re played - to my mind instruments should virtually always be played and not (just) displayed. Playing between work and chores, for rest times and short periods in the day, works for me.

Thinking a bit further I find all playing is, in a way, practice. If I’m either performing or attending a rehearsal (not on my Uke) it’s also a practice session because you notice what you could have played slightly better, what came across well as a result of practice and ways in which you could alter other things that you do to help you deliver better music.

Edit. Did a few trivial refinements of my post earlier but for some reason they didn’t take then, they’re here now though.