🤣 TRUE! I can play drums and I’m a great singer, but I’m so far away from Pat Benatar... 😞 I really wish I’d learnt this when my mind was young and formidable!
Same, it's like your strumming is using that part of your brain that sings and when you try to sing it takes away form the strumming. I feel like if you can juggle, you can strum and sing no problem.
You know when you go through that “ I really don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do this” and then you finally kinda muddle your way through it you realize there is hope and even though you still suck you know that it’s gonna come and your excitement is enough to keep you practicing!? Ugh your video just got me there. 😃
thnx cynthia, this is great :) for easy access practice (again & again)... 02:20 - STEP 1: Just Sing (without playing) 04:12 - STEP 2: Sing and Airstrum 08:05 verse - 09:05 chorus - STEP 3: Speak the words and strum 11:10 - STEP 4: Sing and Strum Super Sloooow mahalo!
You are amazing.. thank you so much for going slow and taking it apart like that. You are the best teacher .I appreciate this video so much.. I'm 78 and I'm having so much fun with my ukulele. but I could not figure out how to get a complicated strum like that together with the music. thanks again I'm a real fan .
Cynthia you are amazing - so talented at teaching the uke. I have learned how to play because of you. No one on youtube compares to the way you teach. I hope you never stop these videos! It would be great if one day you would consider creating a course to use offline (with no internet) with songs/video instruction/and a printed song book. I would totally buy it. I'm sure most of us would. I have found the singing and playing together the most challenging thing so far, so have only focused on playing without singing for the past 5 months, but will try to add these techniques you mentioned in the months ahead. ♥Mahalo!
God I love you!! Seriously, you have made learning how to play so much less intimidating. You have a gift for teaching. I know you probably know this, so I hope you never stop. Thank you for your generosity in sharing these tutorials, you are offering such a service. You rock!
Hi Cynthia, It's Easter weekend in Australia, I'm now entering my third week of Corona-19 isolation. I decided to unwrap a cheap Aldi store bought uke (Soprano) for the grandkids. I've never played a musical instrument before but in two weeks of watching your vids I'm amazed at how much I've progressed in such a short time. Tomorrow I'm off to buy a Mahalo Concert uke. I'm Light Years from being a uke player but I'm going to stick with it and gauge it in 3 month slots. I videod my first week and will video every 4 weeks to hopefully give me a sense of how I'm progressing. I urge everyone to do the same. Thanks for sharing your wonderful talent.
You have such a patient and encouraging energy... breaking everything down into manageable sections. Some teachers just breeze through because they may have forgotten how clueless and frustrating it is for new learners. Building muscle memory and pushing through the awkward few weeks of playing is a challenge. You seem to know exactly how that feels even though you are a fantastic player and singer. I'm really enjoying the first few lessons even though my fingertips are sore and tender but I feel encouraged at my progress and can actually follow along better than any of the other videos I've been trying. I'm so glad I discovered you! Thank you so much for the well excellent lessons!
I did this and it works people.... be patient it takes time for your right and left brain to communicate when you do 1 thing with one hand and another thing with your other hand. If you dance or play sports remember when you were 1st learning; it took time.Thank you Cynthia
i literally started playing the uke 4 days ago and i started getting frustrated with strumming because i just kept losing the tempo but this literally helped so much. Thank youu. you’re an amazing teacher.
Thank you Cynthia appreciate all the great feedback on challenging the ukulele I'm a little past beginners and enjoy your teachings with practice every day🎶and learning to sing with out any hickups 😀thank you for supporters all the ukulele players and especially your prescience with guiding us💖🎶😎🇦🇺
Hi Cynthia , even though I'm a guitar player , you have no idea how much you have helped me with my playing and singing , nothing more important than timing , always the basics , you're a great teacher and so pleasant to listen to, and when it comes to sing you are someone special , I'll will get my repertoire from you , thanks a million . you take care . Vancouver
I'm on my 5th day of "mastering" the uke and Cynthia has helped me tremendously !!!! I watched many other tutorials but Cynthia's way of explaining is THE BEST !SHE'S an AMAZING TEACHER !! Thru her tutorials I was able to tune my uke properly, learn how to strum correctly , do the island strum ( well 95% so far haha ) , and also some chords progression ( so far only, C, G7, Gmaj, Am and F ) I still struggle with the chords transition but ofc like everything else this requires practice. TIP : what helped me a lot was sometimes changing the playback speed of the vid ( video settings) from "normal " to 0.75 or even 0.5 to make sure I don't miss anything. Slow motion REALLY HELPS Y'ALL ! Many thanks Cynthia! U ROCK !
This is so helpful. I feel so much more hopeful about building my skills. You are a great teacher and break things down so well. Thanks for being humble, personable, calm, and positive for all of us newbies out there. Best ukulele teacher on the Internet, hands down.
I always mess up the strumming pattern as I'm singing.. instead of gong down-up-down-up-down-up, i turn it into something like down-down-up-down-down-up😂😂😂
Cynthia, I've been going over your tutorials, regularly since Thanksgiving and played my first serious gig within two months (end of January). You are an amazing teacher! I've been recommending you and seeing the results as you help others, too. Thank you, so much!
I seriously love your channel so much. Thank you for helping people learn the Uke in such fundimental way of learning. You are an excellent teacher. When I watch your videos I almost feel like you are talking to me like I am in class with you. You rock ! thank so much!
Great tutorial. Finally, at 63, I'm learning to play the Uke! I need to learn "When i'm 64" asap. Will buy a real concert Uke next week. Thanx! Maria from the Netherlands
Cynthia...You have restored my faith in trying to learn the Ukulele... Your zeal and passion shows no bounds surpassed only by your beautiful kind spirit....So grateful l have found you!
The way you break complex things down into small pieces that I can work on (and figure out which ones are giving me trouble) really helps me learn. Thank you for making it seem easy by breaking it apart!
Hi Cynthia, just started playing uke this past Monday and you are the best teacher in breaking a difficult skill into small tangible steps systematically. You are a gifted teacher and artist. After reading your bio, I feel we as a word is so blessed to have you followed your passion and dream in music. Thank you to the moon and back.
Thank you very very very much for that tuto ! I play piano and I sing in the same time, but playing uku, is more difficult. But , the way you teach uku, much more I like to play and sign uku at the same time. You're my best teacher ever. I'm now your fan ! (P.S. I'm 75 years old and start to play uku a few weeks ago only) Thank's to be the good person that your are.
You are so good. I envy your skill and energy and enthusiasm. Such an inspiration for a newcomer to the uke. And and excellent teacher. I appreciate your talent.
I'm combining your instructions with classroom instruction. You are a wonderful teacher. I'm almost 70 yrs old and learning something totally new. It is so much fun! Even when I play badly. Thank you so much.
Cynthia you are the best uke teacher in all of You Tube!!!! Your videos are amazing and this video was the only thing that helped me be able to sing and play at the same time!! Thank you!
At first i thought this tutorial did not help at all, but now i have been practising this song for two or three days and I am noticing I can speak the words now with the song. I am only trying to play ukulele for a little over a week, so it is hard to not get discouraged. But yes, this help. Will keep practising and hopefully soon be able to play and sing along :)
Thank you this really helped me. I am not a singer but, it's definitely important to be able to sing when your playing! Practice practice don't give up and you'll get it. You'd think it's second nature but it's a skill you need to develop. I had to practice singing because I never had that habit!
Cynthia you are such an inspiration and have a wonderful talent as a teacher. I know it takes time to do the teaching videos. Thanks for what you are doing.
That video helped so much. I started learning ukulele with your tutorials and always was like "oh damn how to hold the strum rhythm when i begin singing." I was a bit frustrated :'D
I finally understand how to do this. Practice. I managed to sing while playing the uke without these tutorials, but just with practice. If you quickly start trying to sing when you are still not ready with the uke, don't sing. You have to master both parts: The ukulele playing, and singing. Once you are sure about that, you can try to play both at the same time. Or at least first try singing in your head while playing the uke.
Cynthia,you make the beginner easy to learn ukulele .you are so talent and I watch your video and learn how to play and sing even is still difficult .thanks so much
I believe that with your guidance, I may be able find some music in my uku and more. I love how well you sing and play, thanks so much, from an old Nova Scotia fan.
Thank you so much for all these videos. I have no musical background what so ever (with singing or playing any instrument) but I am still feeling good learning thanks to you. Although I am making progress with playing ukulele , singing and playing is very hard. I feel no progress there .
Hi! I was trying to sing and strum exactly this song this week ! I loved the video and I will practice like you teached! I'm learning how to play uku with your videos ! You are a great teacher , very dedicated , easy to understand and you play and sings wonderfully . Congrats and THANK YOU ! (Daniela, Brazil)
As a proud American I pronounce ukulele differently from how you do. But in grade school I remember being taught how Hawaiians pronounce it (we took an entire semester class on ukulele) it’s actually really cool to see people genuinely pronounce it differently lol
I've had my ukulele less than a week and was really struggling with singing along to Stand By Me while doing Island Strum, (even though I've been a singer all my life and I know this old song like the back of my hand). But today I tried your methods above and it worked! Already I'm doing it, and the most helpful thing to me was slowing WAY down. Thank you so much! :-)
Thankyou for an excellent lesson,You are not only a Beautiful young lady ,you are a talented musician.Thanks Again.I have tried to sing and play and until this lesson I couldn’t.Istill can’t but will now try a lot slower
Also, if your really good at memorizing your chords in the song you can close your eyes and start singing that really helps for people that have the strumming problem.
You are a blessing in the form of a person. I cannot thank you enough. Yo u are like my very own private tutor. Thanks a lot! Its not enough but still.... Just don't stop doing this.... ❤️
This is an amazing step by step tutorial..😀 thanks a million for helping beginners like me by making this kind of tutorial free and accessible to all😆 More power to you!
