This is my final demonstration of growth with the song Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.
This song was very different from the last one I learned as it contains fingerpicking, an aspect of the ukulele I had never experienced or heard of before. I found it quite difficult. I found that my fingers were very sore, and I would have to take breaks quite frequently as all of my fingers were hurting from doing the chords and fingerpicking.
Chasing cars included the chords AMAJ, AM7, and D. I found it quite easy to navigate from AMAJ to AM7 but very difficult to perform the chord D. I think that this was really difficult for me as it required to have three fingers on one fret, and it felt very cramped. As you can see in the video, it takes me a few seconds to get my fingers correctly to D.
I also found that I did not have enough time as I would have liked to perform this song successfully. The last part of the semester was extremely course-heavy, and I did not have much time to practice. If I had more time to practice my navigation from AM7 to D, it would sound a lot better.
The introduction and the verse required only fingerpicking with the three chords. Fingerpicking was very difficult for me, but when I started to get the hang of it, it was pretty cool to do, and in my opinion, I sounded much like the real song. The fingerpicking requirements were to play 8 times on each chord. It was the first finger, and then the thumb, the second finger, and the third finger at the same time to get the correct sound.
For the chorus, it was strumming, which I am confident in within my last song Riptide. The strumming pattern was down, down, down, down-up. I also found it very easy to navigate from AMAJ to AM7 but difficult to go to D when strumming.
All in all, this song was enjoyable to learn, and I am thrilled I had the opportunity to experience fingerpicking.
I am really proud of myself as I was anxious I wouldn’t be able to play the ukulele at all, but with practice, muscle memory, and perseverance, I got both songs done at a pretty successful rate. I am confident in my skills on the ukulele that I could teach elementary school students the ukulele’s basics due to having to do this assignment. I am proud and thankful!