Practicing my ukulele

September 10, 2017 | minutes read

Over the past month, I’ve been investing more time in learning the ukulele, sitting in the office area in the morning, strumming and picking my soprano ukulele for at least 30 minutes either in the early mornings or just before hitting the sack.  In addition to my daily routine, I’ve not only been taking weekly, 1 on 1 lessons from a local instructor in Seattle but I’m also reading books (favorite one so far was a short, 40-page book on music theory) and watching videos, playing along with the instructors from The Ukulele Underground.  I find this website very impressive not only for the content itself, but how well organized it is, breaking down the website into different levels: beginner and intermediate and advanced.  The organization of the website allows me to find exactly what I’m looking for. And when I cannot find the content I’m looking for, their staff is very responsive, replying to my messages.

In addition to my practice routine, where I drill scrumming patterns and drill my understanding of music theory, I make sure to carve out time (even if it’s just a few minutes) to just enjoy the instrument, playing songs that I like.  Isn’t that the whole point—enjoying the beauty of music?

Speaking of songs that I like, here’s a video of me practicing the introduction to the song Stand by me. If you watch the entire 20 second video, you’ll be blessed with the special cameo appearance.

I’m Matt Chung. I’m a software engineer, seasoned technology leader, and father currently based in Seattle and London. I love to share what I know. I write about topic developing scalable & fail-safe software running in the AWS cloud, digital organization as a mechanism for unlocking your creativity, and maximizing our full potentials with personal development habits.

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