Just Keep Strumming! (Part 2)

Welcome back!

I have started to progress on my chord work. Using the same four chords that I learned last week, I am now able to play the Island Strum Pattern while alternating chords. I find this strum pattern to be the most complex. 

Here is an audio recording of me playing this strum pattern while alternating chords:

I have also worked on using my middle finger while strumming upwards. By doing this, I eliminate that nail sound (from my thumb) heard while strumming upwards. 

Here is the same strum pattern and alternating chords as before, but I am using my middle finger to strum upwards in this audio recording: 

Do you recognize the song? 

It’s the beginning of Stand By Me by Ben E. King! I haven’t played the whole song all the way through yet, but it is just a continuing repetition of the audio recordings above. I learned this song from The Ukulele Teacher on Youtube.

Here is the video: 

First, he started with a demonstration of how the song should sound once it is learned. This provided a goal to work towards. Then, I really liked how he showed how to play the chords and the strumming pattern before he started to play. While I knew the chords and strumming pattern already from last week, it was a good refresher. This would also be an easy way for someone to learn the chords and strumming pattern if they hadn’t seen them before! Lastly, I enjoyed that the video was under five minutes long. I was able to quickly learn without losing interest. Overall, I found this YouTube video very straightforward and easy to understand! 

This week, I continued to notice that my timing needs improvement. In the two audio clips above, I am playing the same song at two different speeds. To improve my timing, I attempted to use a metronome. However, the metronome was not the most useful tool without fully understanding timing and how to utilize the tool.

Here is a link to the online metronome I used: https://www.imusic-school.com/en/tools/online-metronome/

I think that this metronome will be a good tool, and it is one that I will likely come back to once I understand more. 

Over the next week, I will try to learn more about timing from a few different websites. I will keep strumming along throughout the week to continue improving my transition between chords. The transition between F and G7 could use some work! If I have time, I’ll try to learn a few more chords this week, too!