5 Steps to Learning New Songs on the Ukulele
Step 1: Review the chords
Spend a little time forming each of the chords that will be used in the song. Just strum the chord a few times to get a feel for that chord shape. Try some of the chord exercises in the Uke Camp Library like “press and release” or “touch the headstock/fly away”. These will help build muscle memory for the chord shapes.
Step 2: Review the chord pair changes
Once you are comfortable with the chord shapes, look at the pattern of chords in the song. Which chords do you have to change between? Changing from a C to an Am isn’t so difficult but you may have to work at changing from an Am to a G. I like to mark the lead sheet with a pencil, circling difficult chord pair changes. That helps me remember to practice those first.
Step 3: Review the different parts of the song and try a SLOW play-through
Songs can have a variety of parts: intro, verses, bridge, chorus, endings, and maybe an outro. I like to take each of these parts and learn them separately. Then, I can focus on how they fit together.
Once you have finished reviewing the chord and changes, it’s time for a first slow play-through. I emphasize SLOW because that is what you need to do - play through the song as “slow as molasses”. Don’t try to sing and play it like a song, play it as just chords in a line - one change at a time, doing the best you can with each chord and change. This playthrough will help you identify where you need to spend extra practice time. Is it a difficult chord shape, a difficult chord change, or both?
Step 4: What strum to use?
You’ve chosen your song, and you’ve learned the chords and the changes using a simple downstrum. But now it’s time to figure out what kind of strum will bring it to life.
Sing through the song and keep time by tapping your foot. That beat can help you choose a strum that will keep the same tempo.
You might want to listen to another musician play the song on the ukulele and see how they handle the strum pattern.
Can you use one of the strums you learned in the Uke Camp lessons, or do you need to learn a new strum?
Try a couple of different strums to see which feels most comfortable while you play and sing. An easy strum allows you to focus on chord changes and your singing whereas a more complex strum may require your full attention when it comes to chord changes.
Don’t be too discouraged if you find it difficult to sing, strum, and change chords all at once. It takes a little time to do all three, and nothing a little practice won’t fix!
Step 5: Practice in pieces and Practice with Intention
It’s all about the mechanics. Practice is not the same as playing, so think of this “practice in pieces” as teaching your hands and fingers what to do to form a chord and to make a chord change. Mark your lead sheet into sections, and isolate the difficult changes or chord shapes you identified in Step 3. These will be the sections you practice first in each session. Then go on to the easier chords and changes. Come back to the hard bits again after working through the easier parts to reinforce the muscle memory. Take a few minutes to identify any chord progressions and practice them separately.
This intentional kind of practicing may seem like the “long way around” but it will give you good results faster than rushing through a song from beginning to end.
