Welcome to my Learning Project Blog!
For my learning project, I am going to learn how to play the ukulele. I have always thought that the instrument has a nice sound, and I have had an interest in learning how to play the ukulele for around four and a half years now. This interest began after taking a guitar class for a semester in grade ten, but I have not pursued this interest until now. It worked out quite nicely that there were a few extra ukuleles at the elementary school in my hometown, and I was allowed to take one for the semester!
Picture by Emma Robertson
As of right now, I have no experience with ukuleles. As mentioned before, I have minimal guitar experience from high school. Also, I took piano in elementary school. Due to these experiences, I am able to read basic sheet music. As I progress in my ukulele skills, I believe that my sight reading skills will improve, too. In order to learn how to play the ukulele, I am planning to rely primarily on YouTube videos, music apps, and online articles. An example of a music app that I can use is Yousician. As of right now, I will record my progress using videos and audio recordings of myself playing, as well as written updates.
My first steps to learn how to play are learning how to tune and hold the ukulele. Then, I will learn the chords, and I will practice transitioning my fingers quickly between chords. Next, I would like to learn melodies, and afterwards, I would like to learn chord melodies. Learning these will help me learn to play songs. My ultimate goal is to be able to play a popular song on the ukulele at the end of the semester, or possibly a more complicated Christmas song since the end of classes is near the holiday season!
Hey Emma,
Ukuleles are such cool instruments. Do you have any specific songs in mind that you want to work towards being able to play?
One of the apps I used when learning to play the guitar was called Ultimate Guitar: Chords & Tabs. This app allows you to search for specific songs and brings up the different chords or tabs that compose the song. If I am not mistaken, there was also a ukulele option on there. If you’re interested in checking it out, I have provided a link to the app on the AppStore.
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/ultimate-guitar-chords-tabs/id357828853
Enjoy the process!
I think any song would be an accomplishment and fun to learn, but specifically, I would like to be able to play Riptide by Vance Joy or any Christmas song!
Also, thank you for that app suggestion! I will have to check that out.