I know we have a few accomplished Uke players around here, and I was hoping for some targeted advice. I’ve been noodling around with a Uke for a little while now and I’m enjoying it. I’ve learned most of the important chords and can strum and sing with a wide range of songs.
My question is this: what should I focus on next? Chord inversions? Learning the scales? I’d categorize my current skill level as “advanced beginner” and would like to move forward, but I think I’ve hit a wall. What would be the best thing for building the skills necessary for playing more complex pieces that are written in tabulature rather than chords? Do you know of any specific exercises that I could do to improve my picking?
It’s been years, but I remember how thrilled I was when I learned how to play a simple melody using whole chords rather than picking it out one string at a time.
Learn the 1-4-5 in all keys. Then as seventh chords. Learn 2-5-1, then 6-2-5-1. Learn minor 2-5s.
Inversions of all your triads, and all your sevenths. That’s ∆7, -7 and 7, plus -7b5. Also extensions (9, 11, 13 and variants) and how they apply to the above.
Scales - fingerstyle and strummed, all majors, plus all three minors, diminished and whole tone.
Learn to harmonize a simple melody. The only rule is your melody note must be on top. Easy with only 1-4-5, but gets progressively more interesting as the top note becomes a more esoteric chord tone, say ∆7 or #11 etc.