Friday, December 2, 2011

Today's fortune: December 2, 2011

Today's fortune: Practice makes perfect.

Today's fortune, a simple and common phrase dating back to approximately Yesteryear, is clearly referring to the fact that I haven't been practicing my ukelele as religiously as I had hoped.


Well, see, while I take full responsibility for my irresponsibility, a couple things happened. First, I got frustrated with the book I've been teaching myself out of. At the beginning the book was exactly what I needed I was learning chords and notes and I was getting pretty good at it. I even wrote a little tune, which I named "Jamie's Theme," and here is its world debut.


But something happened. There's a pretty major technique that I felt the book glossed over. I was angry about it, and I sat the ukelele aside for a while. I still pick it up and play chords - almost every day, in fact, while my computer boots up - but I haven't progressed any further in the book.

Then this other thing happened, and this is kind of silly. A couple weeks ago, the Kansas City Star ran a cover story on their Sunday magazine about how ukeleles were becoming more popular, particularly with teeny boppers and high school kids. No kidding.

I usually detest things that become trendy.

But I've decided to push past those hurdles. I'm going to continue to practice. By the end of the year - just 30 days away - I want to be able to play a song. A real song, not just a 20-second collection of chords.

I'm close. The next page in my lesson book is "Mary Had a Little Lamb." And the last song in the book is actually one I had hoped to learn even before I received the ukelele as a birthday gift from my wife - "Home On the Range."

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