Genius Hour Reflection 2: Finding the Perfect Resources.

By now I am well on my way to working towards my goal. I am set up with the perfect tutorial and I am totally ready to really start diving into this project. This past week I focused on finding the perfect tool to help me learn the song. First thing I had to do was download a ukulele tuner app, I found the App called Pocket Ukulele Tuner. This simple App has literally worked miracles for me! I had no idea what note each string on the ukulele was even supposed to be tuned to, and this app does it all. Simply pluck the string into your phone and the meter shows you when you have reached the appropriate note! It is seriously wonderful!
After I tuned my ukulele to the perfect notes I began the bulk of my research. Now my task was to find the best way for me to learn this song. I first looked up the tabs, tabs are a great source to use when you have never learned how to properly read a piece of sheet music. For me never having seriously played an instrument in my life I realized using ukulele tabs instead of actual sheet music was my only option. I practiced playing the different chords which thankfully there were only 4 different chords used throughout the entire song and that all went well until I realized that I have no idea what the rhythm is for this song.
So off to Youtube I went. I was able to find a ukulele teacher that made her tutorial fun and easy to understand and the best part was that she had made a tutorial for the exact song I wanted to learn. However before i was able to graduate to using the tutorial for the song I was learning I had to learn something called the Island strum. I was actually really glad I mastered this video first, not only was I able to get comfortable with the rhythm in the song Lava, but I was able to learn the basics of how to also play the song Stand by me, which uses the same strumming pattern. On this post you'll find the two Youtube videos I used the most through my learning process. You will also find the chord chart I used to play the song when I was confident enough to play without the teacher but still had not quite memorized the song yet. Once I found the perfect resources, I felt that this was really where the fun began for my project.