I've Been Working on the Railroad

I've been working slowly through my on-line ukulele course, up to I've Been Working on the Railroad with strumming pattern #4.  John will be happy to hear that the upcoming pattern #5 is practiced with the classic John Denver hit, Country Roads. It helps if you can sing along in tune, but come to think of it, John Denver's voice wasn't his greatest gift and look how successful he was? Besides, I've noticed ukulele players aren't a bit shy about accompanying themselves.

If you ever learned to play an instrument, you remember playing the same piece, over and over and over.  This might be tedious to the poor listener, but not the beginner.  Just one of the many revelations I've had with my new hobby.  It takes a bit of effort to sit down and practice, but once planted in front of the music stand, the time just flies by. 

Brett's on-line course helped me over a frustrating plateau, and I've made a few modest breakthroughs.  I'm also getting a crush on young Brett, who smiles back so gently and encouraging on my laptop. No wonder he's such a good teacher-- he wrote the Ukulele Lessons for Dummies book! He learned to play the ukulele at the age of six from his grandfather.

I like finger-picking more than I like strumming and singing, for reasons already mentioned.  My favorite Christmas carol is Good King Wenceslas, so I was pretty excited to find Brett's easy finger-picking lesson on YouTube.  Perhaps there will be a thrilling recital at this house on Christmas Day?