First `Ukulele Lesson

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After asking a new student what their music goals are and what they expect to get out of lessons, we dive right into how the ukulele works, what the role of the mind, hands, and ear is, etc.

The assignments, at least the first three, are based on knowing the ukulele fingerboard and technique. You’ll never be any better than your actual ability to execute with your hands, your inner ear, and your mind.

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Let's take a journey with our hypothetical student, the ukulele player in the Uke Groove Trio and tag along for his first few lessons. His name is Bernard or Barney and is just starting out has a goal of getting better and developing a more in-depth understanding of how music works and how to apply it to the ukulele.

Learning the Ukulele Fingerboard

This is the first item in EVERY lesson—it's that important and really pays off down the road. It is one of the few things you can practice where you don't actually need the ukulele. It also has one of the biggest returns on investment, or ROI, as they say in the corporate world. You actually memorize the notes on the fingerboard well before you actually get the full benefit of all the effort. It takes a while to memorize the fingerboard, so we start right out of the box with lesson one.

It turns out we are never going to be any better than our technical ability to get the music out. And that all starts with developing both hands. The second and third lesson lesson assignments are totally for developing efficient technique.

Sports have the same requirement. Think baseball — if you can't catch and throw the ball very well, you probably not going to be very good at it.

Single Note Picking

The thumb is most efficient when picking DOWN, and the fingers are most efficient when picking UP. Lesson one as well as the first few lessons focus on using the thumb and index finger.