Learning to Play the Ukulele

For one of my education classes this past semester, as a project we had to learn an art form. Art forms that we could choose from where sewing, dance, photography, singing, calligraphy, drawing, playing an instrument, etc.

However, a few of those were already eliminated for myself to do. The reason? I either have done or currently participate in those art forms, so I didn't feel that I would get the full experience from.

• Sewing: I know to sew by hand, and I have for a bit as I can trace it backed to when I played with barbies. The reason is I would buy scraps of fabric and make clothes

• Dancing: I grew up dancing. I did it for eleven years of my life and while I could relearn a style or learn some skills that I never got the chance to. However, I feel like I would not be able to completely understand the process.

• Singing: well I sound like a dying whale, so this was out of question.

• Calligraphy: I generally know how to do this, so once again I feel as though I would not grapple the complete value of the assignment.

• Drawing: in my free time this is something I enjoy to do and have taken several classes on it throughout my life thus far.

Finally, I realized, January of 2017 my dad got me a ukulele. Because since November of 2016 I was obsessed with the idea of learning to play one. The reason is I have always wanted to learn how to play an instrument. I mean I learned the recorder like most kids in grades 3rd through 5th, but it’s similar to those who say they’ve danced but only took classes when they were two. While it’s technically correct, it’s just a commonly done task.

Why I choose the ukulele:

• It’s not that typical

• It’s apparently one of the easiest instruments to pick up with no prior experience

• One of my favorite bands (the one left in January of 2017) was a duo and my favorite played the ukulele

• There are books out there called how to play the ukulele for dummies

• It just seemed fun

• It was available on amazon and relatively cheap compared to other items

The process began on February 1st. I had the ukulele already. I just needed some picks as I have a guitar pick that I honestly don’t know how it came into my position. At first, I thought it would be fine, but I researched them and they’re really great to have.

Source of information: http://www.ukulelemag.com/gear-reviews/your-guide-to-ukulele-picks-why-you-may-want-one

I choose to document my progression on my YouTube channel as at the end of this project we had to present it to the class. I will link each video below along with brief descriptions of each video.

Unboxing picks and ukulele:

Tuning using an app:

I downloaded two apps last year. The two apps are Uke Tuner and TuneforUkulele. Both are free apps if I remember correctly. TuneforUkulele works better than Uke Turner. The reason it tells you to turn up or turn down and how close you are. While I didn't get them all perfectly tuned, they were one or two away which said good. I was fine with that.

Ukulele Books:

I used Learning to play the Ukulele for dummies. I bought two different version. One was about twenty pages and the other was at least three times as thick. I quickly misplaced them in the mess I call my room, so I really didn't get use these at all.

Researching basic chords:

For this I looked up chords on Pinterest. I literally just messed around with these. Nothing hard thought here. Just wanted to get into the swing of things.

Following Tutorials:

When watching tutorials, I learned that the chords go super fast and if you have something to hold down the chords it is so much easier. It will probably sound better with the clip, but all I had was a hair tie.

Picking A Song:

I researched the most popular ukulele songs. Several results came up. although the small band that I followed has a tutorial on one of their songs, I wanted a song most would recognize. Definitely something that had been in the top forty, one point in time. There were a few I was stuck between. Most of them were Ed Sheeran or Christmas. However, since it’s a bit until Christmas comes around again, so I stayed away from Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You. After looking at multiple websites (I’ll include the top 90 one), I decided to go with Stitches by Shawn Mendes because it had the least amount of chords.

https://ukutabs.com/top-tabs/99-most-popular-ukulele-songs/all-time/

Writing down the chords:

This was fairly simple. It was just rectangle boxes with two lines inside and three horizontal to create the image. I then put dots on where my fingers were supposed to be. Luckily it was just the same four chords in the same pattern over and over again.

Learning the Chords:

The chords seemed fairly easy since there were only four in total. Boy was I wrong. The uke is pretty narrow, but I guess I have fairly small hands because I found it hard to stretch my hand to reach all chords. However, after watching some tutorials this became easier once I put a hair tie on the first fret.

Practicing the song:

It wasn't until video 11 did I have my first successful attempt at playing all the way through. It took so long to get it up to just a normal speed.

A Glimpse Into This Whole Process:

This whole process was interesting to say the least. What I learned are tuning your ukulele helps so much. Practice helps. You will sound awful at first and even after several weeks I still wasn't where I hoped, but I will continue with this because it was extremely fun.

Playlist of All Videos:

There are 23 in total. Here's link just in case it does not lead to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riODVijf2nM&list=PLFYejsk0wE_KZm6hnjP8L5rgY89uXi3_T

What I Used:

https://youtu.be/McEnD8XUA1g

https://ukutabs.com/s/shawn-mendes/stitches/