Finger Picking and learning a new song
As a beginner on the ukulele, I find fingerpicking difficult and this section of playing the ukulele took me longer to learn than other areas of music, such as chord progression and strumming patterns. I really like the sound of fingerpicking and find it really helpful to learn as a lot of songs include fingerpicking within the verse and chorus. I need to continue to practice this skill as I want to learn most intermediate songs but I lack the skills of fingerpicking to be able to play them properly.
To practice, I searched for information on how to read fingerpicking notes and then played the video instructions continuously until I was able to memorize the pattern and play in time without reading. I found it to be beneficial to find songs that were only fingerpicking and slow, then embed the skill into the songs and melodies I have chosen. As I am still a beginner I find looking for the frets and notes to be challenging without looking at the ukulele directly, and as a goal, I want to learn the fretboard more in-depth, so I am able to play notes without looking.
I started learning “Three Little Birds” by Bob Dylan and found this song to be more challenging than the other songs I have played. I needed to listen to this song more than 5 or 6 times to fully hear the rhythm and beat associated with the strumming and lyrics. The chords and strumming pattern were more challenging and I found that it took more time to learn and practice. I tried learning how to mute chords, (pressing palm to chords as you strum to create a mute effect), and I found this hard to keep the rhythm and timing. However, I love Bob Dylan, and learning this song was very rewarding and fun as I want to play it with my family and share my learnings with them.
Overall, my experience was challenging, but nonetheless positive and I am going to continue looking for music and songs to play. Fingerpicking was an essential tool in developing my musical understanding as I can now progress with more challenging songs, and add a more professional edge to my playing. I am really grateful for the website resources and the time off on Mondays, so I practice and learn new skills to grow my understanding of the ukulele.
This video is a basic development of my fingerpicking skills and is the intro verse to “Three Little Birds” by Bob Dylan.
