Daniel Ward’s 8 Tips to Take Your Playing to the Next Level

BY DANIEL WARD | FROM THE SUMMER 2025 ISSUE OF UKULELE

It has been eight years since I first started writing for Ukulele. Since 2017, I’ve written lessons for just about every issue, and to celebrate, I’m sharing eight essential tips to help you improve your technique, expand your musical knowledge, and get more joy out of your playing. The ukulele is easy to pick up and strum right away, but just like any other instrument, developing solid technique and musical understanding will take you much further. Let’s dive in!

1. Fret Like a Pro

The key to clean, effortless fretting comes down to finger placement and thumb support. When pressing down on a string, aim for the tip of your finger and place it just behind the fret (not on top of it). This minimizes pressure while maximizing clarity. Try fretting a note, then slowly shift your finger position—if you hear buzzing, adjust until you get a clean sound.

Now, let’s talk about your thumb. A lot of players (myself included) start with their thumb hanging over the neck. But for proper technique, your thumb should stay behind the neck, between your first and second fingers, like a vise. This positioning helps with reach, accuracy, and, crucially, barre chords.

That said, there are exceptions! If you’re bending notes in a blues solo or casually strumming a soprano uke at a jam, your thumb might creep over the neck. That’s fine. But for most playing, especially when working on stretchier shapes, keeping your thumb behind the neck is the way to go.

Play Example 1, a simple alignment drill. Start with your thumb behind the neck and your fingers flat. Slowly curve them onto the first four frets of the fourth string, making sure each fingertip lands just behind the fret. Now, play each note while keeping your fingers down as you move across the strings.

2. Read What You Play

You don’t need to read standard notation to make great music—many incredible
musicians never learned! But understanding tablature is essential for translating music onto the fretboard.

One common challenge for beginners is wrapping their heads around how tablature is laid out. The top line represents the string closest to the floor, and the strings are numbered from 4 (closest to your nose) down to 1. This can feel counterintuitive at first, but once you get it, it makes perfect sense. Play Example 2, a simple chromatic scale from C to C in first position. It introduces every note on the first few frets while reinforcing how tablature translates to the strings.

3. Strap It On

Some great players don’t use straps, but if you’re standing, your ukulele has to
be supported—either by squeezing it against your body or holding up the neck with your fretting hand. Both of these methods can interfere with technique.

Try playing Example 3 without a strap while standing. Feels awkward, right? Almost like the uke might slip out of your hands? That’s because it probably will. A strap allows you to keep a consistent playing position whether sitting or standing, which improves accuracy and comfort.

4. Relax That Wrist

A stiff wrist leads to stiff playing. To loosen up, shake out your strumming hand like you’re flicking off water. That’s the movement you want when strumming or picking—loose, natural, and effortless. If your arm is doing most of the work instead of your wrist, you’re making things harder than they need to be. 

Play Example 4 using a down-down-up strumming pattern. Feel how your wrist snaps as it strikes the strings, then naturally rebounds. The goal is to let the motion flow without tension.

5. Maintain Perpetual Motion

No matter what pattern you’re playing, your strumming hand should never stop moving. Even when there are consecutive downstrokes, your hand still moves up in silence. Play Example 5, a simple strumming exercise where you focus on maintaining the natural down-up motion—even when certain strokes are silent. The goal is to develop a rock-solid rhythmic feel that keeps you locked into the groove.

6. Step Up Your Fingerpicking

If you want to level up your right-hand technique, fingerpicking is the way to go. The secret? Each finger should move from the big knuckle at the base of your hand, like a spring. A quick test: slap your palm with the fingers on the same hand, then try the same motion with just your middle finger. That’s the kind of snapping energy you want when plucking the strings.

Play Example 6 with your thumb (p) on string 4, index finger (i) on 3, middle (m) on 2, and ring (a) on 1. Focus on letting your fingers move naturally, hitting the string where the nail meets the flesh.

7. Learn Chord Families

Before you start memorizing every chord shape under the sun, it’s helpful to understand how chords work together in a key. One of the most common chord progressions in music is I–IV–V7–I (or in C major: C–F–G7–C). Play Example 7, which outlines this progression in different keys using open-position chords. Learning these basic relationships will make it easier to pick up songs by ear and expand your chord vocabulary.

8. Make Music Right from the Start

Too many players strum chords without really engaging with the sound. Instead of passively playing, be intentional with your phrasing—dynamics, articulation, and feel all matter. Try Example 8, a simple C major scale. First, play it as blandly as possible. Then, play it again with expression—crescendo as you ascend, decrescendo as you descend, experiment with different rhythms. This small shift in mindset turns practice into actual music making.