The project started exactly how I had planned. I started working on the chords just blankly. I’d look at the fret placement and strum the chords. Unfortunately, that got boring fast. I then asked my friend, Alex Camp for some guidance. Alex is skilled with the guitar and ukulele. She helped me with strumming techniques and fret placement. She suggested I learn the chord progressions to easy(ish) songs as a means in learning all the chords I set out to learn. It made learning an instrument fun again and it was good to know that I was on the right path.
The next daunting assignment was to find songs with chords I was trying to learn and with easy enough chord progressions. I started with a slower song, something that would make changing chords easy. So I picked out “Sea of Love” specifically the acoustic cover by Cat Power, not the brass-based original version by Phil Phillips. That got me started. My goal was not to perfect my playing of these songs but to simply use them to better learn the chords.
This technique worked wonderfully, then spring break and quarantine happened. It was rather easy to continue my project at home. So I kept at it working my way through each chord. I wouldn’t say that I had mastered the chords, because really the difficulty is mostly in switching from chord-to-chord, but I soon had all of the chords down with reasonable comfort. My favorites being Em, G, D, and F. The most annoying to play being Bb, Bm, and B. Or the other chords that required one chord to press down on multiple frets. I had reached a beginner’s level of competence with the ukulele and I still had a few hours left on the Ten Hour Project. I had to add something new to this project.
I decided to try my hand at fingerpicking. It is rather difficult. I found the thumb the hardest, and the most painful. The song I initially picked out was above my level so I decided to write my own song. It was as easy as I wanted it to be. All frets were open, it’s slow, and I added a simple chord progression in between. I even got carried away and started making a melody. I decided that I would not count time strictly focused on writing the song as apart of the project, because I was not practicing a number chords or fingerpicking. I was just trying to figure out what chord works well after the last. That worked well and I got carried away so I started adding some percussion. Link Below:
I then decided to learn a more complicated fingerpicking song, Gustavo Santaolalla’s “The Last of Us”. The main theme is hauntingly beautiful and I found a ukulele rendition of it on YouTube. This is something I actually want to perfect, as a personal project and a continuation of this project. What I’ve learned so far linked below:
Overall I would say that this project is a success. I set out to become competent on the ukulele and to push me to learn more instruments. It brought back some of my passion for music and reminded me the thrill of learning a new instrument. The project even pushed me to finish learning the song I started on piano four years ago. I will continue practicing and becoming more proficient on the ukulele. Ten hours, actually eleven, well spent!