Since my last blog post, I believe that I have improved dramatically: my mindset has shifted to believing that I can learn to play a song that I would be more engaged in learning, rather than some nursery rhythm. I was lucky enough to be able to have a bit of a music lesson from my uncle, who was a professional musician in Japan for years and has always played the guitar. He taught me how to properly hold the ukulele and which fingers go to which strings on the chords. Prior to the lesson, I was strumming with my entire right hand off of the ukulele. He explained to me why it is easier to learn to strum by holding the ukulele with my left hand and strumming by only moving my thumb. I found this super beneficial because I was able to make the sound from each strum much more consistent with the sound from the strum. In addition, he got his ukulele out and I was also able to play along with him. We went over the F, G, and Am chords and made sure my fingers were on the right frets and strings. To start he just had me count and tap 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4… and then strum down for 1 chord and count 2,3,4 before strumming again. Once I was able to play the same chord, he suggested that I switch chords after each strum. I found it near implausible to keep the same beat and get my fingers in the right spot to play the next chord. Lastly, I found that listening to him play different chords properly helped me reference if the sound of the chord I was trying to play sounded correct. I’ve attached a couple of photos of some cords that I’ve learned.
C Chord: Am Chord: F Chord:
