Here is what I wanted to accomplish for Week 4 & 5 (from my learning plan):

  • Learn the song Riptide, by Vance Joy
  • Focus on playing slowly to assure correct finger positioning
  • After playing slowly, transition to playing at the correct tempo

Since I moved a little ahead of my learning plan, I was able to spend these weeks focusing on better transitions throughout the song. I also decided to extend my learning goals, so I added a fourth chord (F) and I added a second strumming pattern to make the song more dynamic.

New chord:

When I was researching the song Riptide, most of the ukulele tutorials said that you could play the song with three chords (G, C, Am); however, you can also incorporate the chord F towards the end of the song. Since this was my first song, I only planned to learn 3 chords. However, due to the fact that I was a bit ahead of my learning plan, I decided to add the fourth chord. It was not too challenging to learn (since I was already familiar with the strings), and it makes the song a bit more dynamic!

New strumming pattern:

I also watched a YouTube video that taught me how to play Riptide (I’ll insert the video below!). The video includes a more complex strumming pattern that can be incorporated for the chorus of the song. The new strumming pattern is down, down, up, up, down, up. I decided to use my original strumming pattern (down, down, up, down, up) for the majority of the song; however, I added the second strumming pattern for the chorus and bridge. At first, it was challenging to switch between these strumming patterns. However, as I became more comfortable, it became easier and I think it makes the song more interesting!

By the end of Week 5, I was able to memorize the chords and their order in the song. I was getting more comfortable transitioning between my two strumming patterns, and I was becoming more familiar while switching between chords as well. While the transition between Am and G was getting easier, it is still something that I needed to focus on a bit more.

Click the link at the bottom of this post to watch a progress video I took on February 18 (Week 4). As you can see in the video, my transition between Am and G is something that I found challenging at this time, as well as switching between strumming patterns. When I watch this video in comparison to my final demonstration (which is in Blog 3), it is crazy to watch how far I have come!

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