Throughout the past month or so I have in all honesty not been playing the ukulele as much as I would have liked to. I have been super busy with all my course assignments and still being able to find time for myself to keep my sanity. Since my last video post my ukulele playing has dropped from 6 times a week to probably 4; however, in the last week or so I have been trying to play every day. I am still finding it very challenging to switch chords quickly enough throughout the song I’m learning how to play, I’m Yours. When switching chords I often find myself having to readjust my fingers after I have switched to the next chord. I am trying to combat this issue by imagining exactly where my fingers are supposed to go next as my uncle taught me; however, sadly, I am still having the issue of having to readjust my fingers. Another thing that I am still finding to be my biggest challenge is the strum pattern: down up, DOWN up, down up, DOWN up. The most difficult part of the strum is the hard DOWN strum that happens on every second down strum. I am still constantly finding myself forgetting to strum hard on every second down strum, or strumming too hard. This is by far the most challenging part for me. I have also been experimenting with using different fingers to play the ukulele because one of my roommates also plays the ukulele strums with his pointer finger. I find it easiest and most comfortable to play with my thumb rather than trying something new once I still haven’t mastered playing with my thumb. I’ve attached small audio of me experimenting and using different fingers, I found that my thumb creating a softer sound than my other pointer and middle fingers.
April 6, 2021