5 Health Benefits of Learning Ukulele Backed by Science

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Being able to make music is a fulfilling and enriching endeavor regardless of age.

But if you’re thinking about learning an instrument later in life, it’s important to know that engaging in this creative pursuit isn’t just about checking “Make Music” off from your bucket list, but rather, it’s something that can offer remarkable health benefits.

From cognition to emotional well-being, let’s explore five ways backed by research in which learning ukulele can enhance your health and overall quality of life!

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The Most Important Things to Practice If You’re a Beginning Ukulele Player

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Learning to play an instrument as an adult shouldn’t be the same as when you were a kid.

If you learned music as a kid, there was probably a big focus on traditional music education. You know what I’m talking about… scales, classical music, rote memorization, theory, ticking metronomes, rulers smacking your knuckles if you mess up, and all that fun stuff!

And a big reason for the “traditional” approach is, when you’re a kid, time is on your side… you have time to follow through the “twelve grades of playing piano” over the next 12 years.

But as an adult, you don’t want to spend 12 years… you want to play music as soon as possible.

Of course I’d be lying to you if I told you that you don’t need to practice.

You need to practice.

But what you practice is SUPER important.

For most adults, the starting goal is to be able to take your favorite song, look up the chords, and play it!

Note: This is a very reasonable and attainable goal for new players who have just started playing the ukulele.

To do this, here are the most important skills you need to develop in your practice and nothing else.

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Best Ukulele Strumming Pattern to Learn a New Song

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Strumming patterns are the bread and butter of playing ukulele.

And they can also make or break you.

“If only I could figure out the strumming pattern to this song.”

What if I told you there isn’t a magic strumming pattern for a song? What if the best pattern is the one you come up with?

In order to come up with the right strumming pattern, you start by using what I consider my favorite strumming pattern of all time. As someone who’s played ukulele for over 25 years, this is still my go-to pattern whenever I’m first learning a new song. And I suggest you do the same!

But I’m warning you…

This pattern is super easy.

Because of that, a lot of people overlook it, but that would be a mistake.

I explore all this and more in the video.

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Ukulele vs. Guitar: Complete Guide to Decide Which to Learn

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Yes, this is Ukulele Tricks, a website that helps you become a better ukulele player, but…

Spoiler alert:

I’m not just going to tell you to learn to play ukulele!

Contrary to popular belief, ukulele might not be the best instrument to learn if you’re a beginner.

I’m a lifelong ukulele and guitar player of over 25+ years, having learned both instruments right around the same time (in addition to piano), so I know there are a lot of factors that go into choosing to learn ukulele or guitar.

The last thing I would want is for someone to make a decision learn ukulele because they feel like they should or they have to… because I know I didn’t and you shouldn’t either!

Ukulele is a truly amazing, beautiful-sounding instrument, and just because it’s smaller doesn’t mean it’s an “easier” or “kid-level” instrument that ranks below others.

That said, it might also not be the instrument for you!

I know all to well that learning to play an instrument is a commitment of time and an investment of money, so you want to make the best choice.

In this guide, I’ll help you do that by guiding you through the most important things you need to think about if you’re trying to decide between ukulele or guitar.

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How to Play the E Major Chord on Ukulele the Easy Way

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It doesn’t matter if you’ve been playing ukulele for a month or a decade…

The E major chord is one of the worst chords to play!

And by worst, I mean hardest.

But yet, there are SO MANY songs with E chords in them.

Why is this?

The biggest reason the E chord shows up all the time is because it’s actually a super easy chord to play on guitar.

So much popular music has been written on guitar in the last 50 years, which means you end up with a lot of songs written in the key of E major.

Sadly, this doesn’t make it easy on us as ukulele players! But there is a way to make this really common chord easier to play.

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How to Practice Ukulele and Lose Track of Time

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In my 30 years of playing music, there’s one trait that’s helped me practice ukulele and improve the most as a musician.

It’s helped me so much so that I…

Lose track of the time when I practice…

Have more fun when I practice…

And, have more patience for myself when I can’t perform.

Yesterday, I was working on practicing a particularly difficult bluegrass solo on guitar by the great flatpicker Tony Rice (I’m a lifelong ukulele player but also play guitar and piano!). The solo is a short, lightning fast 8-bar passage in the song Nine Pound Hammer, and for me, it’s just… hard.

Every time I step on the gas it falls apart.

I fail.

Practicing, failing, repeat

I practiced this solo for nearly two hours yesterday without taking a break, and you know what?

I had the time of my life.

In fact, I’ve been working on this solo for almost a year and I get excited every time I sit down.

And it got me thinking, why is this so much fun for me to keep failing?

For me, the answer is simple.

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3 Ukulele Strumming Tricks to Instantly Add Energy to a Rock Song

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It’s true that with just a few chords and a simple strumming pattern you can play hundreds of songs on ukulele.

But maybe you’ve noticed it’s one thing to strum the chords and another thing to sound musical.

This idea of musicality is really interesting to me because what I often find it’s the small, subtle things you add to your playing that make the biggest impact!

In this new video, I take the chorus of Tom Petty’s famous rock song I Won’t Back Down and apply THREE strumming tricks to a beginner chord progression and strumming pattern to instantly add energy to the song.

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This Is the Solo Ukulele Tab For Adele’s “Easy On Me”

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This was the most fun I’ve had in awhile arranging a solo ukulele arrangement of a popular song.

Adele’s Easy On Me took the world by storm late 2021 and now you can play it on ukulele.

In this video, I perform my arrangement of Easy On Me played solo on ukulele. This arrangement features single-note plucked melody, like in the intro and turnaround hook, as well as combines the chords to provide rich harmony. In the choruses, the energy opens up with full out strumming while still featuring the melody.

Take a listen for yourself!

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Solo Ukulele Tab For Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license”

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In this video, I perform my ukulele tab arrangement of Olivia Rodrigo’s drivers license solo on ukulele.

This was a really fun song to arrange the ukulele tab where I combine single-note melody, chords, and even percussive drum techniques to mimic the kick drum that is a constant force throughout the song.

Take a listen to hear how I pull this off!

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Strum & Fingerpick This Improvised Moody-Sounding Chord Melody Vamp on Ukulele

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Chord melody is a style of ukulele playing where you strum the chords and fingerpick the melody at the same time.

Often chord melody arrangements feature modern pop songs you would normally sing but instead play solo on ukulele.

However, you can also play what I like to called chord melody vamps, where you take a repeating chord progression and improvise a melody with those chords to create a beautiful-sounding solo piece played on your ukulele.

In this video, discover a fun and easy way to play your own improvised chord melody vamps on ukulele.

I show you how to play a few chords with a mellow-sounding strumming and picking technique, while adding in improvised melodies.

By the end, you’ll be playing your ukulele in a creative, beautiful-sounding way!

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