Let's Get Together and Feel Alright: Learning Project Week 5

Hello and welcome back to my ukulele learning journey! First, an update on this week's progress!

For Week 5, I wanted to try a new online learning source. After using YouTube and TikTok in previous weeks, I decided to see what I could learn using websites like written blogs and articles. It was difficult to find one to use, as many blogs give basic tips for using the ukulele, like this article with beginner tips from Will Grove White. As this was several weeks into my learning project, I was past the stage where I was looking for beginner tips of that nature. Therefore, instead of searching for key words like "ukulele lessons", I switched to searching for terms like "easy ukulele songs", hoping that I could find a written tutorial for a new song. This returned more useful results, and I looked through many websites that just listed a number of songs you can learn and linked to YouTube video tutorials before finding a similar website that also included written explanations of how to play the song. 

The article that I chose was written by Rodrigo Sanchez in May of this year on a website called Roadie Music. The article is called 8 Easy Ukulele Songs You Can Learn in One Day. I scrolled through the song options before choosing One Love by Bob Marley, because I was familiar with the lyrics and decided that it might be time to try learning a song with which I could sing along. The written playing description was listed below a how-to video, as shown in this website screenshot. 

This song uses 4 chords that I have already learned, but a new strumming pattern. The text on the website itself explains a little bit how to strum, but it is not very descriptive. Unlike a YouTube and TikTok video, it is quite difficult to follow along with written text when trying to learn ukulele. The main thing I liked about using this website to learn is that it collected several good how-to videos in one place so I didn't have to search on YouTube and weed through many videos to find a useful tutorial. To actually learn this song, however, I had to play the video suggested by this website, which was "How to Play One Love by Bob Marley- Ukulele Lesson" by Brad Bordessa. 

Following along with the video helped me actually understand the strumming pattern and rhythm, and how the singing fits in. This experience has taught me that I prefer learning ukulele using videos, especially long form videos that I can easily pause or rewind, like on YouTube. 

My final product after practicing the new strumming and chord patterns, then looking up the lyrics to practice singing while playing, is demonstrated in the video at the top of this blog post. Please note that I have taken several artistic liberties with both the tune and the words (which was definitely influenced by an arrangement I sang a few years ago in a community choir but that I will pretend was very purposeful and artistic)! 

Summary of learning

- New song (One Love)

- New reggae strumming pattern 

- Singing while playing the ukulele

- I prefer using video platforms like YouTube or TikTok to learn over written text on websites, although websites are helpful as a means to find lists of songs or techniques to search for on those platforms

Goals for next week

- Try fingerpicking/plucking 

- Try a dedicated music app like Yousician

P.S. I'm now feeling like real ukulele player because my ring and middle fingers on my left hand are peeling from holding the strings for different chords! 

Thanks for reading about this week's ukulele experience! Please leave me any tips or other thoughts in the comments below!

*COMMENT TIP*: When you're typing a comment, look just above your comment to where it says "Comment as". If "Anonymous" is selected, you can click the word "Anonymous" and change it to your Google Account or your name and website URL. If you have issues signing into Google or entering your name and URL for some reason and have to comment as Anonymous, please sign your name at the bottom of your comment - I'd love to know who is commenting! Thanks! :)