I’m always looking for ways to improve as a player as well as track my progress in my goals. I’ve been using bingo sheets for some time now, and am getting better at working with them. In the beginning, I just had very generic items to cross off in the boxes (piano practice, ukulele, tuba, write in my journal, read a chapter from a book, etc.) … However, I find that you really need to be specific in how you use this kind of tracking or you just end up spinning your wheels and not going anywhere.

So, I’m now using this kind of tracking a little differently, not just to check off that I’ve practiced ukulele, but to track progress on specific songs I’m preparing to record or perform. I’ve created a basic sheet that you can fill in the name of the song and then mark how many times you’ve made it through the song. You could get more specific than this and track different sections or parts of the song (for some of these I’m practicing 3 different ukulele parts, a rhythm part and a bass part). For now, I’ll keep it to complete run-throughs and see how that works.

You can use this system with rewards. I’ve typically put a dollar in a jar for each bingo I complete to spend on something special I’m saving up for … bonus dollars for a blackout. You can set up a reward system differently, or use it without, but it adds an element of fun to it.

Post filed under All UkulelePlay! Blog Posts.