They say, “practice makes perfect.” They are right. But practicing the right way is an important component to reaching perfection. Presented for your consideration is my list of 5 Practical Practice Tips.

1: Listen to what you are doing! This may sound like simplistic advice, but really listening to the sounds you are making takes concentration.

2: Get off the book. Reading a book and playing music are two different things. If you are trying to play while reading the chord changes/lyrics out of a book you are not fully experiencing what it is to play music.

3: Go slow and don’t practice mistakes. If you are constantly making a mistake on a certain passage, lick etc. slow it down to where you can play it without mistakes.

4: Train your hands. A lot of ukulele playing is not talent, but muscle memory. Think of your fingers as little athletes and take them to the ukulele gym every day!

5: Learn the chords of the major scale. Every key has the same set of seven chords (I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi-viidim), only the pitch is different. Know your diatonic chords.