(An expanded and edited version of this post appears in Rhan’s new book, All In Good Time – a Book About Playing Music for the Aspiring Ukulele Player. It is available at: www.rhanwilson.com/allingoodtime )
I had this thought the other day while teaching a group of beginner ukulele players.
Often, when a new player is learning a song, they feel the need to play every chord every time, and if they miss one, they want to stop the song and start over. This works if you are practicing by yourself (though I don’t suggest that way to practice) but if you are playing with anyone else, then you are stopping the song for no reason.
The best thing to do is to just stop playing, listen to the other players, get your bearings, and wait for the next opportunity to jump back in.
Like a merry go round at the playground.
Once you get that thing going around and around – let it go. If you miss jumping on where you wanted to – just watch it go, and get ready to jump on the next time your place comes around again. There is no need to stop it and make everyone start over – just watch it and get your timing right. Then you will be able to jump right on with little effort, right?
Music is like this at times. The beat goes on, as they say, and if you are learning about rhythm, and know where the “one” is, you can just take your time, hear where that “one” is, and get right back into the song with little of no effort.
At first – it may take awhile to jump right back on – don’t let that discourage you. It’s much like when you were a little kid on the merry go round. The more you practice jumping on and off, the easier it gets. And it’s fun, too. Sometimes the real fun isn’t going round and round all the time – sometimes the real fun is jumping off and getting back on again.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Please leave a comment.
All In Good Time 