OBJETIVOS DE DESARROLLO DEL MILENIO
4. Género en los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio
By now, you have a lot of skills and techniques under your belt, and you are well on your way to becoming a great ukulele player. However, it’s also important that you learn some other practice techniques and drills that will help you to become an even better player. After all, you should always be striving to become better at everything you do, and that includes playing the ukulele.
In this chapter, we’ll cover a few tips, ideas, drills, and techniques that can help you to improve.
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Stretching Your Fingers
Something that you might notice when you first start to play is that you might have some sore fingers. This occurs for a couple of different reasons. First, your fingers aren’t used to the strings, and it will take a little time to build up some tougher skin on your fingers to make playing a bit easier. This happens with everyone.
Another thing that could be causing a different type of pain in your fingers is simply trying to make all the chords and change from one chord to another quickly. It can
sometimes seem impossible to have your fingers get into the right chord shape. While it gets easier with practice, you can do a few other things that might be able to help as well, including some simple stretches.
You don’t even need your uke for this. Consider doing it a couple of times a day, as well as before and after you practice to help keep your fingers limber and nimble. Simply stretch your fingers by pressing them toward the palm and then toward the back of your wrist, alternatively. Rotate and stretch your wrist.
This helps to get the blood flowing, and it helps get the fingers ready to play. It also helps to avoid cramps before, during, and after playing.
Simple Fingering Technique
To make your fingers faster, and to replicate that “jumping flea” look, you have to practice. A very simple drill that you can do utilizes just the first four frets of the uke – although you could change this up if you wish.
Start by using you ring finger on the first fret of G, and pluck the note. Quickly follow by using your middle finger to fret the second fret on G, and pluck that. Do the same with the third fret using your ring finger, and the fourth fret using your pinky. Then move to
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the third string and do the same thing. Do this for all of the strings. Run through the drill a few times before every practice or play session.
When you are doing this, not only will your fretting fingers get some practice, but you will also be practicing your plucking with your thumb. As you progress, you can make things more challenging by skipping strings, going in reverse, and anything else that would throw you for a loop!
Consider Recording Yourself
Do you want to get better? Sometimes, it’s difficult to know exactly what it might be that’s holding you back with your playing. Something that you may want to start doing is actually recording some of your practice and playing sessions. You can record with just an audio recorder, but it’s really a better option to include video. This way, you can literally see if you are making any technical mistakes when you play.
Since most people have access to a smartphone with a video recorder, or even a point and shoot camera that offers video, it should be quite easy to do. You can see if your posture is bad – remember, you want to stand or sit straight. You can check your technique for strumming, making chords, plucking, hitting individual notes, and more.
It’s also fun to watch yourself, especially when you compare your improvement over time.
Listen to and Watch Other Players
In the last chapter, I will provide you with
names of some of the top uke players out there from today and yesteryear, so you can check out their music. It certainly does pay to watch the legends, but you can get quite a bit from the
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Always take the time to watch other players and see what interesting things they do with the instrument. You will find that it can help to improve your appreciation of the ukulele, and it can inspire you to become a stronger player.
Don’t Stop
This one’s nice and simple. Don’t stop playing. Far too many players, no matter what instrument they decide to pick up and try, don’t keep it up. They learn a bit about the basics, but they find it too challenging to continue, or they feel they aren’t making the progress they want. Few people will pick up a uke and be a virtuoso when they strike their first chord.
It takes time and dedication. As long as you are willing to practice, you will get better. In fact, with practice, we can go out on a limb and say that you will be pretty good before you know it. However, nothing worth having comes without the hard work, so make sure that you are actually practicing and learning as much as you can!
Watch for new ukulele lesson announcements from my newsletter and visit my website for links to new and existing free lessons.
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