[Enjoy the Ukulele Even More!] Bad habits that Often Happen in Beginner to Intermediate Ukulele Players

Hello, Conservario here.
Many people want to improve and graduate from the beginner level as soon as possible.
There are also many intermediate players who want to challenge themselves with more difficult pieces and techniques now that they can play to a certain degree.
That's a great attitude, and I hope you will continue to aim higher in the future.
But, there are two bad habits to watch out for that beginners and intermediate players tend to have.
I mean, there are people who never notice and I guess they think they’re okay? However, please read this article to see if this is you.

■ Putting down your thumb on the 4th string before you strum.

When you play a note with your thumb, you put it on the 4th string before you strike a chord! There are quite a lot of people who play in a way that says, “I put my thumb on the 4th string before I play a stroke.”
You may be thinking, “Well, what's the problem with this?
If you just play a slow song simply, you may feel there’s no problem, but you have to add extra unnecessary hand movement every time you play.
It’s simple.
When you play a chord, all you have to do is ① hold down the chord with your left hand, ② stroke with your right hand.
No other action is necessary or gets in the way.
However, for those who have a habit of placing their thumb on the chord, they need to ① hold the chord with the left hand, ② place the thumb of the right hand on the 4th string, and ③ stroke with the right hand.
Thus, one extra movement is made each time when trying to achieve that note.
This is not enough time for a fast song.
If you are playing solo ukulele and you have to play the 4th string as a melody for example, you need to keep the 4th string ringing, so if your thumb touches it, you won’t have that crucial note.
Why do you put your thumb on the 4th string before you play it? The answer is probably “because it’s stable and easy to play.”
If you play with your thumb touching the 4th string, you won’t have the proper hand positioning and the ukulele will not be stable.
If your right hand and left hand have proper form, you should be able to play the ukulele without your thumb touching the 4th string.
Please check if you have this bad habit and check and the way you play with your right hand.

■ Chords are choppy and broken

There are so many people who play this way, please stop this bad habit now.
To begin with, the reason why some people sound good and others sound bad is largely related to the speed and stability of the chord changes.
If a good player plays a chord four times, it will sound like this.
Shahn, shahn, shahn, shahn.
If a bad player plays a chord four times, it will sound like this.
Shahn, shahn, shahn, sha
The fourth chord is shorter than the last chord.
The reason why it is short is because the left hand plays the note for a moment to hold the next chord, and then immediately leaves the strings.
If you play this way, you are a beginner, no matter how difficult the chord you play or how fast you play your strokes.
In music, there is something called “note value”.
Note value = the length of a note, or how long a note can be extended.
There are many beginners and even intermediate players who just play the note value without any idea of how to play it.
If you think that if a chord sounds beautiful, then it’s OK ♫. The note value will naturally sound good.
There is no rule in music that says you can stop the chord immediately before the next chord in order to make the next chord sound beautiful.
Please understand how much to extend the note, and extend the note until just before the next chord change, so that you can make the chord change in a split second.

■ To summarize

I have introduced two bad habits that tend to occur in beginner to intermediate ukulele players.
When playing the ukulele, everyone, readers and professionals alike, really think about a lot of things.
Where to put the index finger, the second finger, the third finger, and the right hand is just busy ...... like this.
It's hard to pay attention to everything from the beginning, so be a little more aware of what you're doing every day.
Is your right thumb form bad? Do you stop playing chords too soon?
Try to become aware of these small habits.
It is only after you change these bad habits that good notes and sound will finally start to come out.
Once you get used to playing with your new awareness and you’re thinking about how you could make it better, you can change the actual notes you are playing little by little.
You may not be able to do this well at first.
It is easy to write in words, but it is actually a very long process.
How you hold down your fingers, how much force you put into it, the angle of your wrist, and many other factors come into play.
Practice chord changes from playing simple chords first.
Once you can somehow do that, you can move on to more complex chord changes.
I have only introduced two bad habits, but there are many other things to keep in mind when playing the ukulele.
If you want to continue to have fun and play well, please read my next column.
Thank you for reading to the end.

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