My final ukulele blog!

While I wouldn’t say that I am particularly good at playing the ukulele, I think that I have made massive strides since the beginning of the term. When I first started, I had never played the ukulele before and thus was barely even able to hold it properly. I can now say that I can hold the instrument, I know chords 5 chords, I know a strumming pattern, and I can play two songs! I think that overall I have experienced quite a bit of growth, and if I continue to practice there is the potential to one day be decent at playing.

One of the reasons I bought my ukulele instead of renting one is that I want to continue my practice and growth, to hopefully one day be able to play in the classroom. I am going to continue working on the songs I have already learned to improve the quality, as well as move on to learning new songs as well.

In terms of my practice this week, I tried to focus on the Am and G chords as well as the change in strumming patterns between the verses and the chorus. The strumming pattern during the chorus is the “island strum”, which is also included within the verses. However, the tricky part is that the chorus does not have the extra downward strums that I am used to playing before and after the “island strum”. Additionally, there is a change in not only the strumming pattern but also the tempo. I can make the transition, but I am a little slow into it as my brain takes a couple of seconds to process the change.

My goals for my final video are to be able to play the G chord after Am with under a second or two of pause. The same goes for my verse to chorus transition. Overall, I know that I won’t be able to play the song entirely at tempo, but I hope that the tempo I do play it at is relatively fluid and that I can properly execute all of the chords. I will note that while I am unable to play the song as fast as the original, I am able to play faster than I was for my first midterm song.

Featured image by Joints Creative on Unsplash