Uke Monthly Progress – May 2024
Posted on May 31, 2024 by Aywren
Some days are just Wayfaring Stranger days.
I try to keep at least one “comfy” tune or exercise in my back pocket for days that are too busy or tiring to dedicate a full practice time to. This means I at least played something every day, even if for a short bout of time. I keeps my practice streak going, while giving me some flexibility, and keeps me motivated to come back to a full practice when I do feel at my best.
Wayfaring Stranger has been that comfy song for a while now. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t tried anything new.
I have moved on from Jamaica Farewell since last month. I’ve also not been pushing B Flat as much. I’ve not been able to clean up B Flat much more than I already did, and I don’t want that to keep holding me back from learning new things.
In EEI, I’ve mostly been finger styling with a few new exercises/songs:
- Sea Shanty
- Snake Charmer
- Lil' Liza Jane
These include eighth notes, which are new to this instruction book, but not new to me since I also play other instruments that have already introduce this. But I do see that my notation reading for uke is weaker than I’d like it to be. This is because I don’t have something like the Sight Reading Factory to use for this instrument.
In the tune department, I’ve chosen another new song from the Ukes for Dummies book - What Did the Deep Sea Say? This is an upbeat tune, until you read the lyrics. Not sure of what to make of that, but it’s introduced two new chords and a new strum pattern, so I’m going to be playing this for a bit.
Overall, good consistent practice and looking at new stuff, so I’ll say May was a success.