How to Practice the Ukulele
With a narrow fretboard and four strings, most people pick up the ukulele with ease. Learning to play is simple ... as long as you take the time to practice.
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Instructions
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Learn to keep your ukulele in tune. Purchase a digital tuner or use an online tuner if you'd like to practice near the computer. Digital tuners will tell you whether you're flat or sharp, while online tuners generally require you to tune by ear to match the tones they produce. The more often you tune your uke, the quicker you'll be able to do it and even learn to tune the instrument by ear.
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Set aside time to practice, preferably every day. You can spend minutes or hours practicing, but don't skip practice too often or you won't improve.
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Play slowly when you're starting. Whether you're playing songs or practicing your chords, start slow and work your way up to full speed.
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Practice with a metronome to help keep the rhythm. You can purchase a mechanical or digital metronome. Learning to keep the beat helps you play with others and improves your solo playing.
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Practice in front of a recording device, such as a tape deck, microphone or audio-enabled camera. Listen to the recordings to learn what you need work on and to help you catch any mistakes you might have missed while playing.
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Find the chords for songs that you enjoy and play them on the ukulele. Many songs for the guitar can be transcribed for playing on the ukulele as long as you learn the right chords. Play alongside the original recordings, though you might wish to slow them in an audio-editing program until you're comfortable with the chord changes.
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Tips & Warnings
Strum over the bottom of the neck, rather than the opening in the body of your ukulele.
Buy a chord chart or look at a chord chart online to learn how to play different chords.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit tuning the ukulele image by Shirley Hirst from Fotolia.com
