Participate in the August 2019 Member Challenge – World Music Themed!

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  • #29374
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Hi Rock Class 101 Community!

    We are back with site member challenge #29! WOW, there has now been over 1,150+ members participating in our challenges! If you’ve sat on the sidelines, please join us for this month’s challenge! Challenges are a fun way to stay motivated and a great way to meet fellow ukulele players who are passionate about learning and becoming better players 🙂 And I offer feedback on ALL submissions!

    Please watch the video above and read instructions below carefully for details/instructions on this month’s challenge.

    Pick 1 from the following 4 Rock Class 101 World Music Lessons:

    1) Kemp’s Jig – A playful melody from the Elizabethan Period; this piece is a perfect challenge for the seasoned beginner.

    2) La Gitanita * – Learn a Flamenco piece that uses Picado and Rasgueado technique to create an authentic Spanish flair. * Taught in its entirety for FREE w/ FREE TAB!

    3) Sakura Sakura * – Learn a traditional Japanese piece that’s perfect for the intermediate fingerstyle player. * Taught in its entirety for FREE!

    4) Eastern Uke – I composed ‘Eastern Uke’ with the Intermediate player in mind. As the name implies, this is a fun ‘Eastern’ sounding tune!

    ** If you need assistance with how to record yourself check out our FREE course on recording audio/video and/or private message me and I will be happy to help you out. **

    _______________

    GOALS FOR MEMBER CHALLENGE:

    1. Beginner Level: Be able to play one of the lessons as shown by Andrew smoothly and in time. Do not worry about trying to play fast; slow and steady wins the race 🙂

    Recommended Piece: “Kemp’s Jig” OR “La Gitanita”

    2. Intermediate to Advanced Level: Be able to play the lesson as shown by Andrew smoothly, in time, and at or close to the original piece’s tempo.

    Recommended Piece (from easier to harder): “Sakura Sakura” OR “Eastern Uke”

    3. Participation Goal: 35 Rock Class 101 Member Participant Videos/MP3 posted.

    _______________

    GROUND RULES FOR PARTICIPATION:

    1. Post your Youtube, Vimeo, or Soundcloud links of you playing 1 of the 4 World Music pieces anytime between Thursday, August 1st till Saturday, August 31st, 11:59pm EST.

    The upload feature on the site only supports file sizes up to 5 MB. Members must host their own files. Creating an account is easy and free 🙂 Here are the links to create an account:

    YouTube (For Video) – https://www.youtube.com/create_channel

    SoundCloud (For Audio) – https://soundcloud.com/signin

    2. Submit individually, as a reply, IN THIS POST.

    3. Feel free to submit more than one video for the challenge, but additional videos will not count as extra entries into the raffle for the prize.

    4. Have fun and don’t be intimidated by this challenge!!! Use this challenge to help you set goals and complete them by a deadline. You can also use this as an opportunity to chat with your fellow Rock Class 101 members and share tips or tricks on this challenge that you think are useful.

    5. You must perform the entire piece to receive an entry into the prize raffle. Performance must be submitted by the deadline listed (in #1) above to gain an entry in the raffle, as well as, to receive feedback.

    * Note: In my opinion, it is better to show progress versus perfection with these challenges. So if you are a beginner and can only play the first couple of measures. That is completely ok. If you play two more measures of the next challenge piece than you did the previous one, you are on track to getting better. This is what these challenges are about… you learning ukulele and getting better. Remember we are all here to support you no matter what your current playing level is.

    _______________

    COMMON FAQs:

    1) The prize and the challenge is open to the entire world!

    2) Premium membership is NOT required to participate, but will make participation easier as it gains you complete access to the full video lessons, tabs, and the on-screen tab viewer.

    3) Basic membership (free) is required to submit a reply on this forum post. You can sign up for Basic Membership HERE.

    4) To post YouTube video links (in which they appear embedded on the forum), simply copy and past the video URL in its own line. For example:

    YouTube URL

    5) There is no shipping fee, as the gift card will be emailed to you as a code which can be used on UkeRepublic.com. The gift card does not expire.

    _______________

    Giveaway Rules:

    There will be 1 winner, selected by random drawing on September 5th, 2019. To qualify to win, you must submit your audio and/or video links of your playing by the deadline listed above.

    Grand Prize:

    1) $100 Gift Card to UkeRepublic.com!

    null

    _______________

    THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR!

    Uke Republic: http://www.ukerepublic.com/

    Let’s crush this challenge!

    #29378
    becky7777
    Participant

    Hard choice this month for me…

    I wish I could trade La Gitanita for Spanish Ukulele. Might revisit it though since that was the song I did my first real month playing. (And finish learning Spanish Ukulele.. I have A pretty smooth, haven’t started B yet since I need to change a bunch of notes and probably should write the changes on my tabs..)

    I want to learn kemps jig because it’s a practical use for trills.. The Cherry Blossom one is on my list to get other styles.. Can’t do Eastern Uke most likely. With 3 other choices no need to stress out over making strumming into something that doesn’t activate pain.

    #29395
    lisadmh
    Participant

    Eastern Uke for me. I’ve wanted that one for a while but I’ve never been able to get through that first bar. This gives me motivation. I don’t know if it’s better or worse that the first bar is the hardest. It’s the part one tends to play the most, so more practice, but it starts the song on a discouraging note when you can’t get it. I will try, while still channeling the Force from last month.

    I might clean up La Gitanita too. That one was featured before but it has fallen off my play list.

    #29399
    robinboyd
    Participant

    Well, ordinarily I would choose sakura sakura. I love that song. The trouble is I already have a version memorized and I don’t want to get them confused. (The RC101 version is a bit fancier). Anyway, because of that, I think I’ll do Kemp’s Jig.

    #29420
    jinajupiter
    Participant

    Olé! Already having fun with la Gitanita.
    What finger is on the downbeat? Middle or index?
    Or are the no rules for that?
    Is this the same like how el. bass players play?
    How do you spell this technique, piccato piccado?
    And the strumming, rasgiado or rasgado?
    Looking forward to the strumming book b.t.w. 🙂

    #29421
    gaberdude
    Participant

    @Andrew, I’m confused about the arrangement of Sakura Sakura. As you mention in the lesson, the scale is a traditional Japanese “in scale”, featuring only 5 notes — apparently also known as the “Sakura pentatonic scale”! I inferred that the root note in the arrangement is A, due to the intervals I see. So the 5 notes should be A Bb D E F.

    However, I noticed the arrangement also prominently features the note G (“flat 7”?), which seems to fill in one of the big gaps (two whole steps) that normally would be present in this scale.

    I have access to one other arrangement, by the great John King. Although it is quite different, it appears to be in the same key and, interestingly, also has instances of the G note, although in that case only 2, somewhat concealed within a 4 note chord.

    I wonder if you could shed light on this mystery — is there a reason to include the G?

    P.S. It is a real joy to play and learn.

    #29422
    laladehulu
    Member

    Eastern Uke is actually very fun! Glad I decided to challenge myself with it.

    #29423
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    @gaberdude – The root is not A, it’s D. Which would place G in the scale (4th).

    #29424
    mfaske
    Participant

    Does the Low G tuning for Kemp’s Jig just a matter of tuning, or does it require a special set of Low G stings? I know I can probably just Google this, but I thought others might have the same question.

    #29425
    gaberdude
    Participant

    @Andrew, Hmm, well I noticed there are 6 notes used in the arrangement, not 5:

    D E F G A Bb

    So this fact already presents a puzzle, whatever the root note is.

    As for the root being D, maybe I’m misunderstanding the convention. The pattern (as described in the video, and elsewhere) is 1 2-flat 4 5 6-flat, which gives for the key of D:

    D Eb G A Bb

    As this doesn’t line up with the observed notes, I settled on the root being A:

    A Bb D E F

    This almost matches the notes used in the arrangement — but of course misses G…

    #29426
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Yep, looks like I got it wrong. It is A.

    I added that melody Note of G. It’s not actually in the traditional melody (diff key). Which should answer your original question.

    #29436
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I added a correction to the lesson page 🙂

    #29438
    lisadmh
    Participant

    @mfaske you have to buy a low G string and restring the g. It’s a full octave lower than the usual g.

    #29439
    rickeymike
    Participant

    Gaberdude and Andrew, Someday, hopefully, I’ll understand what you guys are talking about. ha

    #29440
    Andrew
    Keymaster
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