PLUC Weekend Workout

Tamás Gáll has just developed a new chord training site called It’s Chordtime, which allows you to change chords to a regular metronome tempo and help become a smoother player.

• The initial page lets you select a number of chords to practice – either random or specifically picked ones. You can choose a set or random progression. Optionally it shows suggested chord diagrams (uke or guitar).
• On the second page it’s possible to alter the playing speed & number of beats per bar. The next chord coming up is shown so you can ready your fingers to move efficiently.
• You could easily adapt this to choose chords in a specific song you’re learning, to improve a strumming pattern or polish a new picking technique, increasing the pace gradually as you progress.

It’s Chordtime – Screendump

Do give it a try and let him know any feedback you have for potential enhancements. And if you enjoy this, have a look at our other PLUC Weekend Workout & PLUCking Ukes postings, including Uncle Rod’s Ukulele Boot Camp chord drills & musictheory.net’s Fretboard Memorisation Tool, which can also aid your playing speed and accuracy.

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PLUC Weekend Workout

Want to brush up on your knowledge of the fretboard? Need to know how to relate written music to the notes you play? Then head over to Tom Potts’ handy Ukulele Note Finder tool.

All you need to do is hover over a position on the fretboard & it’ll tell you where else you’ll find notes of the same pitch (ie octave) elsewhere on other strings. Or, if you are looking at a piece of music, go to the bottom of the screen, find the note on the stave you have to identify, & it gives you your various playing options on the fretboard.

In the example below, you can see there are four high Cs (C5) on a standard gCEA-tuned 12 fret instrument. The open C string is an octave lower –  C4 / middle C. Use the various search boxes on the right hand side of the PLUC site pages to look up more articles, tools & tips from us about very basic understanding of music, notes & fretboards if this is all unfamiliar to you!

Tom’s Ukulele Note Finder (http://www.permanentleisureltd.co.uk/music/Ukulele.html)

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Uke Nut is an interesting blog, covering various ukulele resources, including links to a selection of fingerstyle tunes & practice drills. Amongst the instructional postings are some links to a useful site of tools – MusicTheory.net.

Uke Nut has customised the Fretboard Memorisation Tool for a standard gCEA-tuned uke. Use it to practice identifying the notes up to the 10th fret. This will help you develop your skills, including helping you form moveable chords more readily.

Ukulele Fretboard Memorization Tool from MusicTheory.net, customised by Uke Nut

 

More PLUC fretboard-related, moveable chord & quiz posts.

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Yet another free courses website is ALISON. There are over 300 courses available, including an Introduction To Music Theory.

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Yhancik’s LastGraph – Rainbow Music Soundwaves (Photo credit: yhancik)

Try Hooktheory’s daily ear training challenges to see if you can identify the notes or chords in a song. There are three levels: beginners, intermediate & advanced. See if you can top the leaderboard for solving the puzzle accurately & quickly.

Other PLUC music theory postings.

Other quizzes include: A Question of Uke – TV & Movie Themes; PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine Ukulele Chords; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Tech Teacher; PLUC Weekend Workout – Fretboard Master Game; PLUC Weekend Workout – Guitarator Chord Quiz; PLUC Weekend Workout – Vocal Match Game; PLUC Weekend Workout – Open University Intro To Music Theory

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Singing Practice (Photo credit: John Swords)

Continuing our current theme of improving one’s singing, here’s a link to Theta Music Trainer’s Vocal Match game. You’ll need a mic on your machine (or headphones/webcam with a mic). We’ve written about them before – they have a huge range of fun theory games to try. See also some of our previous Weekend Workout postings too.

Jeanette

Other quizzes include: A Question of Uke – TV & Movie Themes; PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine Ukulele Chords; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Tech Teacher; PLUC Weekend Workout – Fretboard Master Game; PLUC Weekend Workout – Guitarator Chord Quiz

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Ukulele (Photo credit: morberg)

Play the Fretboard Master Game to learn the notes on the fretboard. Just configure it for a four-string uke, with the strings G – C – E – A (or the appropriate tuning for your instrument), then choose your difficulty level; whether to name the note or find the note; & if you want to play a timed game.

Jeanette

Other useful music theory postings: Learn Uke Notes Without Fretting;

Other quizzes include: A Question of Uke – TV & Movie Themes; PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine Ukulele Chords; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Tech Teacher; PLUC Weekend Workout – Guitarator Chord Quiz; PLUC Weekend Workout – Vocal Match Game