According to my growth plan, I decided to learn the song “I’m Yours,” by Jason Mraz. Below, is a video that I used to teach myself all of the basic aspects of playing this song. This video includes all four chords, C, G, Am, and F, the tempo and speed of the song, and the strumming pattern.

I first started by practicing the chords and finger placement. Since all of this is completely new to me, I found this part very challenging. I had to take lots of time to create muscle and movement patterns for each chord so that it became more like muscle-memory. I found the G chord the most difficult, as it requires three fingers, whereas F requires two fingers, and C and Am require one. I think this difficulty really shows that I am at a very beginner level for ukulele.

Luckily for me, the ukulele songs I have chosen are just patterns, so I did not have to use my ability to read sheet music to play songs. Before this class, I had completely lost my ability to read sheet music. However, I have now learned that I do not need it to play the songs I am playing, and I have luckily been able to get my abilities back through our music literacy worksheets.

I have been practicing the four chords in the correct order, without introducing a strumming pattern yet. This has helped me become more comfortable with my left hand and has helped me become aware of my chords.

I plan to slowly incorporate the strumming pattern of DDU UDU once I become more comfortable with the chords.