How to practice ukulele when 15 minutes is all you have

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One of my musical mentors Danny used to practice drums early in his career every day for eight hours… or until his fingers were bleeding.

“You’re kidding me,” I laughed the first time he told me this.

He wasn’t kidding.

Yikes!

I’ve learned a lot from Danny and his work ethic. For him, he wanted to be a career musician and his discipline allowed him to do just that.

But, if you’re anything like me, chances are you don’t have eight hours a day to practice or the desire to play until your fingers are bleeding!

Fortunately, there’s an easier way.

Playing ukulele is about experiencing the joy of making music.

If playing ukulele is about experiencing joy, then, why does practice sometimes feel so overwhelming?

Here are the most common reasons I know from my own experience and from talking with you.

See if you relate:

  • I don’t have the time. Life is busy. Family, work, children, grandchildren, traveling, home projects… it’s a lot.
  • I don’t know what to practice. When you actually find the time, you ask yourself, “Where did I leave off? What do I even practice next?”
  • I’m frustrated I can’t play a certain song or technique. When this happens, the tendency is to think there’s something wrong with me (i.e., I don’t have natural musical talent).

Let’s get beyond these frustrations and find a better, simpler way to practice.

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What To Do When Practice Isn’t Fun and You Feel Stuck

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Practice can get a bad rap.

For me, it’s conjures up scary images from university of slaving away in a dark, sound-isolated practice booth that smelled like leftover body odor from the last person who was in there sweating it out.

A standard music practice room – what I like to call the “stink box”

Practice actually stunk!

However, I’ve discovered it doesn’t have to be this way. Practice can be fun, while also being intentional and focused, allowing you to achieve your goals of making the music you want to make on the ukulele.

However, most of us don’t know how to practice.

Effective practice that helps you improve starts with:

  1. Your Reason
  2. Your Place
  3. Your Focus

Let’s look at how to discover these and come up with a rock-solid method for practicing the ukulele.

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Discover Ukulele Chord Theory Making G Major Triads Across the Fretboard

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Have you ever wondered how to make any chord across the ukulele fretboard?

All it takes is some simple ukulele chord theory.

A lot of ukulele players don’t realize there isn’t just one way to play a single chord on the ukulele. You can play chords in multiple positions and places on the fretboard.

Sometimes when playing the ukulele you want to find a way to add variety to the sound. Playing chords in different positions is a great way to do this.

In today’s intermediate-level lesson, you take the first step to being able to play any major, minor and diminished chord across the ukulele fretboard by tapping into the power of a three-note chord called the triad.

You start off today by learning the G major triad in three positions: root position, first inversion, and second inversion.

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Learn “Away In a Manger” Played in Solo Fingerstyle (Chord Melody)

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Become a ukulele soloist this Christmas and learn a beautiful, intricate-sounding Christmas song played in the style of solo fingerpicking.

In this lesson, you learn a chord melody or solo fingerstyle rendition of Away In a Manger.

To play this song, you combine the chords and melody at the same time.

There’s so much to learn!

In the following video, take a listen to Away In a Manger now.

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Learn to Strum “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”

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There are those songs that just have a way of getting you in the Christmas spirit.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas is one of those songs for me.

In this lesson, you learn to strum the chords and sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

This song has a fun rhythm and challenging chord changes (in a good way) to help improve your skills and get you in that holiday spirit!

Let’s begin!

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Learn to Fingerpick “Jingle Bells”

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The song Jingle Bells will forever be a must-know Christmas song.

It’s a song you can strum, or as you’ll learn today, you can fingerpick.

In this lesson, you learn to fingerpick the chords and sing Jingle Bells with the chords and ukulele tabs included.

Let’s get to it!

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Learn “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” Played in Solo Fingerstyle (Chord Melody)

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It’s that time of year to dust off the Christmas songs and get into the holiday spirit!

In this lesson, you learn a chord melody or solo fingerstyle rendition of Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.

This means you play the chords and the melody of the song at the same time!

Lots of fun awaits.

In the following video, take a listen to Jolly Old Saint Nicholas now.

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Learn the Country Bluegrass “Boom-Chicka” Strum

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There’s so much fun to be had playing country and bluegrass songs on the ukulele.

In this lesson, you learn an upbeat rhythmic country and bluegrass strum that you use to learn a famous song called Billy Boy.

Are you ready?

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7 Tips to Learn to Play Ukulele Faster

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Note: This is a guest post from Eduardo Uke of EasyUkuleleSongs.com.

Hello my ukulele friends! I have a question for you. Have you ever felt stuck while learning to play the ukulele?

Then this is the perfect time we go over the ultimate guide to learning how to play the ukulele faster.

From my experience playing different instruments, the most difficult part is getting stuck with the feeling of no progress.

If you’ve ever felt like there is a stumbling block in your way or a barrier holding you back from getting to the next level of your ukulele learning journey – then this guide is for you my friend.

The goal of this guide is to completely remove stumbling blocks in the form of bad habits and incorrect routines. Once these are out the way, just imagine how fast you will see progress and breakthrough in your ukulele adventure.

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Ukulele bringing hope to survivors of human trafficking in India

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Today, I bring to you a remarkable story from Laurie Kallevig of the Survivor Girl Ukulele Band project.

Survivor Girl Ukulele Band is using the healing power of music and love through the ukulele to bring restoration and hope to survivors of human trafficking in Kolkata, India.

Survivor girls–girls who have been rescued from forced prostitution–are able to come and be apart of Survivor Girl Ukulele Band and learn how to play the ukulele, finding confidence, joy, and freedom.

I had a chance to speak with Laurie and learn more about this inspiring little ukulele band.

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