Try These 5 Easy Ukulele Warm-Up Exercises For Your Stiff Fingers

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One of the great pleasures of teaching ukulele the last decade has been seeing students successfully learn to play ukulele in their 70s, 80s, or even 90s.

Because ukulele is an instrument for everyone, many of these students see success through their determination, but I’ve learned there are unique challenges at this age.

Namely, stiff or uncooperative fingers.

If you find yourself with stiff fingers, then one of the best things you can do is take a brief five minutes as you pick up your ukulele to warm up the fretting hand, strumming hand, and the mind.

By doing so, most importantly, you get yourself into a relaxed state. Sometimes we unintentionally bring the stress of the day into our practice. By warming up, we take an intentional moment to focus on the feeling of playing relaxed. And when you’re relaxed, you make the most out of your practice and set yourself up for the best likelihood of success.

In this video lesson, I teach you five simple exercises you can use before you play ukulele to get the hands, fingers, and mind ready to play.

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Overcome These 3 Biggest Bm Chord Challenges on Ukulele

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Barre chords on ukulele, like Bm (B minor), present a lot of challenges, but they also present opportunities to improve your fretting hand technique.

Bm Ukulele Chord Diagram

Bm Ukulele Chord Diagram

If you can figure out a barre chord like Bm on ukulele, then, there’s no reason you can’t play dozens of other barre chords! That’s not to say barre chords are easy, but with the right approach, you can begin to get your fingers acquainted and comfortable playing barre chords.

And that’s what we’re doing today.

I’ve covered difficult barre chords before like Master the Bb Chord on Ukulele With These 3 Easy Steps, When to Play the Easy Hawaiian D7 Versus the Barre D7 Ukulele Chord, or 3 Best Ways to Play the E Major Chord on Ukulele, but this chord deserves special attention.

Let’s take a look!

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“You Are My Sunshine” on Ukulele: Easy One-String Fingerpicking Play-Along

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Fingerpicking the ukulele doesn’t have to be hard, and you certainly don’t have to shred in order to get started!

Today, in this fun song play-along, we’re fingerpicking the melody of You Are My Sunshine on ukulele on just one string – the A-string.

So tune up your ukulele, find a comfortable spot, and let’s make some music!

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“Happy Birthday” on Ukulele: Easy One-String Fingerpicking Play-Along

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You don’t have to be a world class singer to make beautiful music on ukulele, and you certainly don’t need to be advanced to start with some easy, simple fingerpicking.

Today, in this fun video play-along, we’re fingerpicking the melody of Happy Birthday on ukulele on just one string – the E-string.

So tune up your ukulele, find a comfortable spot, and let’s make some music!

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“Perfect” by Ed Sheeran Ukulele Chords & Lesson

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I’ve always thought ukulele is a romantic instrument so of course learning to play Perfect by the romantic hit-song-wonder Ed Sheeran on ukulele is only fitting.

Whether or not you want to woo that special someone or perform this on ukulele at your friend’s wedding for their first dance, with the simple chord shapes and a simple strumming pattern I show you in the video below, you can start playing this song today.

Scroll down to get the ukulele chords and a video lesson giving you tricks and tips for how to play Perfect on ukulele.

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6 Reasons Your Ukulele is Going Out of Tune

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There’s nothing worse than an out-of-tune ukulele.

Even if it’s just you locked away practicing in a room by yourself where nobody can hear you, listening to out-of-tune chords and notes can you make you feel uninspired and wonder why you sound so, well, bad.

You can be a competent and proficient ukulele player, but if your ukulele is out of tune, no one would know it – even yourself!

I’ve always said one of the fastest ways to sound better as a ukulele player is to tune your ukulele. It’s a common beginner mistake to think that since you had your ukulele tuned once that you won’t have to tune it again later. If you’re new to playing ukulele, then, your number one goal is to figure out how to tune your ukulele! Always tune every time you sit down and play.

But why does your ukulele keep going out of tune after you spend all that time tuning it up?

How can it be that your ukulele is technically “in tune” according to the tuner but sounds out-of-tune when you play?

And what can you do if you have a ukulele that can’t hold pitch?

Here are the six reasons your ukulele is going out of tune and what you can do about it.

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“The Star Spangled Banner” Chord Melody Ukulele Tab

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Happy Memorial Day!

Today I’m playing a chord melody arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner on ukulele.

Chord melody is a style of playing ukulele where you strum the chords of a song while you simultaneously fingerpick the melody.

As far as chord melody goes, The Star Spangled Banner is an easy song to learn for those who are beyond the basics of picking. Played in the key of C you use a lot of open strings to create a full and resonate sound.

The Star Spangled Banner is the United States national anthem. The lyrics of the song were written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, however, the music was written much earlier in 1773 by John Stafford Smith. Key wrote the poem on September 14, 1814 at age 35-years-old after seeing the British Royal Navy bomb Baltimore Harbor in the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. After looking at the U.S. flag waving above Fort M’Henry in victory, he was inspired to write the poem. It wasn’t until March 3, 1931 that Congress made it the U.S. national anthem by resolution, which was then signed by President Herbert Hoover.

Musically, The Star Spangled Banner has one of the broadest vocal ranges spanning 19 semitones making it one of the hardest songs to sing. Fortunately for us, we can fingerpick the melody and strum the chords of the song without singing! Whew.

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5 Different Ways to Play a C Major Chord on Ukulele

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An exciting way to take your ukulele playing to the next level is to find new ways to play the same chord on ukulele.

Yes, there are often several different ways to play the same chord on ukulele, and I include many of these chord variations in the Ukulele Tricks Chord Library, but you might be wondering why you’d want to find a different way to play a chord on ukulele.

There are many reasons for why you’d find a new way to play the same chord:

  • Make a chord easier to play
  • Add variety to the song you’re playing
  • Find a new sound
  • Blend together with an accompanying ukulele player
  • Voice a melody note in a chord to be the highest note in the chord (for example, like in chord melody)

In this lesson, I introduce you to the world of finding chord variations on ukulele by showing you how to play a C major chord on ukulele in five different ways.

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How to Fix Buzzing Ukulele Chords With One Easy Trick

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You finally figure out how to play that one ukulele chord that’s giving you all sorts of trouble, but when you strum:

Bzzt!

No matter what you do, playing the chord sounds like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard.

Is this a problem with how you’re strumming? Is it an issue with your fretting hand? Do you just not have the strength yet to play a chord?

Every ukulele player at some point or another has gone to play a ukulele chord just to have the chord sound out with a dead thud. This is such a common challenge every ukulele player has to overcome. Even advanced ukulele players will encounter this problem and have to find a way to fix it.

Fortunately, most buzzing ukulele chords can be fixed with one easy trick.

Watch the video to learn how to fix your buzzing ukulele chords.

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“Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber Ukulele Chords

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I haven’t had this much fun lately learning to play a song as I did learning Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself.

In this heart-felt and soulful tune, you play unexpected chord variations for the verse giving the song it’s signature sound and instant recognition. With a subtle strumming hand slap, you create a percussive rhythm that carries the song’s melody. By the time you get to the chorus, you play the same chords but change the variation to create a fuller sound.

I chose to perform this song on baritone ukulele for two reasons. For one, Love Yourself is played in the key of E, and the key of E is a much more player-friendly key on the baritone ukulele versus a standard-tuned ukulele. And secondly, the baritone’s smooth, mellow sound lends itself well for this particular song’s soulful style.

First, listen to my performance, and then, once you’re ready dive into the ukulele chords for this song below.

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