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Thank you so much for all the encouragement everyone! I really love this community. I’m posting my video below. I do not wish to win anything – I’m just submitting for fun! But I hope that Andrew can give me some helpful feedback. I also have a couple of questions for anyone!
I’m a beginner (playing only for the past couple of months now).
1. In “Daydreaming” how do I make the strumming part feel and sound more natural?
2. I know I hold the ukulele angled upwards a bit… which looks wrong… but when I hold it a little more straight like a guitar it slides off my lap & also eventually starts to hurt the muscles in the upper middle part of my left shoulder blade. Is it okay to hold my ukulele more upright if it helps me deal with it not falling away? Or is it weird and I should really re-train myself to hold it differently?Thank you so much in advance! I hope you’re all having a nice weekend.
In reply to: Submit Your RC101 Performance for Feedback!
Thanks guys for all the kind words, means a lot! And it’s super awesome to see so many videos in already 🙂
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awesomestrings – let’s save those questions for our next lightning round 🙂 But please feel free to post a performance video, I’d be happy to offer feedback.
wabbit – great idea, I will keep that in mind for a future video!
Lisa – is that a new uke? It sounds really buzzy, which I can’t recall hearing anything along those lines in any of your videos. In the past we talked about playing with a swung feel. If I were you, that’s where my focus would be. I think the best way to do that is to play along with my recording and slow it down to whatever speed you need and try to match that feel. You’ve got a really great base established and now your focus should be on cleaning it up and nailing that feel.
lalo_eer – wow, amazing to see someone tackle this! I think it’s the hardest one on the site. First off, make sure you tune before you record 🙂 I watched your performance three times and I think overall, you have great form in both hands and great timing. There are two sections in particular that I think you should narrow in and practice more.
The walk down at 45 seconds in, take a look at how you are pulling that third string down. We always want to try to keep that string even, because if you pull it down, you will pull that note Sharp.
The other section I would work on begins at one minute. It is the diminished lick that walks down. Take that lick and put it to a metronome and practice it as 16th notes. Start slow and gradually build it up to speed.
Overall I’m really impressed and I love to see when you guys memorize pieces. Keep up the great work!
machie – let’s start with our first song. It looks like you are hunched over a little too much, check out this lesson and this one for tips on how to hold the ukulele. I really enjoy watching your progress videos, and you made great progress quickly on this one! Timing sounds great. When you’re strumming, I can hear your nail hit the neck. I’d recommend to strum lower, over the sound hole. Check out this lesson to see where we recommend your strumming hand to be.
For the vibrato lesson, try the single note vibrato with a little more subtle up and down movement. A cool idea would be to try this with the first song (our first song).
So for that barre chord in exercise 5, I can see what you are talking about as your index appears bent. I see that you are forming that chord with your ring finger where your middle finger should be, because it looks like you are using the middle finger to push the index down for Extra Strength. This is actually a bad habit, we want to build finger strength in the index so it doesn’t need a “crutch”. Take that barre chord and move it up the neck, it will be easier to practice higher up because there is less pressure.
Check out this lesson to make sure you have proper form and practice playing one note at a time to see if each note is ringing clearly. If it isn’t, it’s due to one of two reasons: You are not pushing hard enough or you need to adjust the curve of your finger (in this case the middle finger) because it is curving down and touching the second string, essentially muting it.
In reply to: Submit Your RC101 Performance for Feedback!
Hi, Andrew. I hope you feel better. And hi, everyone. 🙂
After I tried RC101 arrangement for the first time, I tried other 2 arrangements of RC101.
“Our First Song”
Since I found it hard to hold ukulele, I’m putting my ukulele on my lap. Is this wrong?
Andrew’s right hand and fingers look beautiful when you playing the ukulele. I always trying to imagine your hand and fingers while playing the ukulele but I can’t well. 🙁“5 vibrato exercises”
When I’m playing barre cords, my index finger looks bent. I wonder why? 🙁
I’m practicing “Drum-like percussive strumming” now.
Hi , I don’t use a neck strap. When I play my ukulele tends to slide around and I lose my grip on it, or my arm presses too tightly to hold it close to my body that my arm starts to cramp. What’s the best way to hold a ukulele while playing?
Glad it was helpful Carmen!
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Hi Sheryl! Bravo! Love it, I can hear you’ve been practicing 🙂 I thought your timing was great, as well as your tone. Yes, some of the rhythms are quite tricky, so do watch the videos above as I’ve highlighted the tricky lick rhythms to help others out as well.
I did notice that your uke looks a little high on that strap, causing your wrist to curve downward a bit awkwardly. Maybe try to lower it a little bit and see if it feels okay in your wrist. Oh and one other thing, try to memorize the piece, so you can put all of your focus into the performance. But truly great job overall, I enjoyed watching your performance!
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Hey MT! Great job! Strumming rhythm is spot-on. What I would work on though is getting the piece to flow smoother. So go back and try to tackle 4 bars at a time and use the tab player in “synthetic” mode with the metronome on to help keep you steady. In the video feedback above, I went over the rhythms for some of those tricky licks, so definitely check that out and try to count it out as you play. Keep rocking!
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Woah! Look at Lisa go! Love it, love it, love it! Going to share this one on our facebook page 🙂 keep up the good work, you’re kicking butt and taking names! (haha, couldn’t help myself)
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curlyuke – great job and that’s a very pretty sounding ukulele! Couple tips for you, first off I would encourage you to adjust your seating position and the way that you hold the ukulele. Check out this guide and this guide for a detailed look at holding the ukulele properly. Furthermore, make sure that you practice in chairs that allow you to sit up properly, this will also be vital for correct posture. Although, I’m guessing you just sat there for recording the video 🙂
And be sure to check out our Beginners Course for lessons on strumming to help break you away from using only 1 finger. Great job overall, keep up the good work!
Good question! The trick is to apply an even amount of pressure from behind with the thumb (as you noticed, in the middle of the neck) and in the front with the partially barred ring finger. This will help to keep the neck steady. Furthermore, make sure you are holding the ukulele properly and using form 1. Also, read over form 3 to get a better understanding of why it’s important to apply an even amount of pressure.
Give this a shot and let me know how it goes 🙂
In reply to: How to keep the Ukulele steady when changing chords?
Thanks for the videos above, Andrew. Those were helpful. My ukulele has a strap which I really like, but I want to be prepared for occasions where I might pick up someone else’s uke which doesn’t have the strap.
I do have a couple of related questions which I hope you might help with.
1) Do you change anything in how you hold the uke while standing up to play? I come from a background of playing bass and guitar, so I’m more comfortable performing while standing.
2) I’m a big guy (6’4″) with large hands. When you hold the uke, it looks like you have roughly the middle of your right forearm against the corner of the uke. When I hold the uke as you demonstrate and have my fingers over the soundhole, the contact point for my forearm is only 1-1.5 inches from my wrist. This feels less stable while I’m strumming. If I slide my forearm deeper to a contact point like you have it feels more secure, but my fingers are now past the body and up the neck of the uke. This doesn’t work for fingerpicking, but seems okay for strumming. Do you have any recommendations (Use one position for strumming and one for picking/ stick to one for both/ other)?
My strap does take care of both these issues for me, but I’d like to develop good habits so that if I pick up a friend’s strapless uke I can function without confusion.
That was awesome Ambre! I can definitely tell you put a lot of work into this, great job 🙂 My only suggestion for you is to go back and work on the last melody. I would approach practicing it by slowing it down and honing in on the timing to get it to flow a bit steadier. Also, the rhythm of the outro is: 1 2& 3.
I really enjoyed your performance, that was fun to watch!
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Excellent playing ser_ser! Great use of dynamics on that last buildup section. Keep up the good work!
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Deb, wow! If there is an award for most improved, then you definitely won! I’d highly encourage everyone to go back in this post and watch all of Deb’s performances. It’s a testament to how hard work and practice pays off.
To answer your question, our nerves can get the best of us when we put a camera in front of us, or playing in front of people. The best advise I can offer you is: The more you do it, the easier it gets. Also, being prepared can exponentially ease nerves. If you’re ready to perform the piece, then there’s nothing to worry about. The bottom line when performing is that people want to be entertained and have a good time. Trust me, they’re not sitting there saying I hope she messes up, lol.
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Vida, awesome job on The Addams Family theme! Great feel and timing 🙂 It sounds really cool on that uke too.
It’s great to hear the halloween theme come together. I think you did well on it! Couple suggestions: First, I would focus on holding down the chords so that they sustain over the melody. Now I remember us talking about the action of your ukulele, and that you find it difficult keep pressure down on some chords. Did you ever get it looked at?
The other thing I would work on is the rhythm for the strumming section. I would use the on-screen tab viewer to work on this. Put it in “synthetic” mode and turn the metronome on. Slow it down to whatever speed you need and loop one bar at a time. Try to get the rhythm stuck in your head too. If you can sing it, you can play 🙂
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kduran, excellent job for being new to ukulele! I enjoyed your performance 🙂 Give Mike @ Uke Republic a call or email. He’d be able to suggest a great ukulele based off what you are looking for and/or interested in. Tell him I sent ya!
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Happy to help Linh 🙂 try to be conscious of your thumb positioning these next few weeks and see what difference it has on your playing. I think it’s going to make things easier for you.
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Lisa, it doesn’t sound out of tune to me. Actually, if you’re happy with it then it should be fine. But, it may be worth your time to play one with lower action so you can compare how it plays to yours.
In reply to: Holding soprano ukulele properly
Check out this video below (starting 53 seconds in) as it goes more in-depth into properly holding the ukulele. You should be able to sit up straight and perform. The soprano uke can be awkward for awhile, due to its small size. Let me know how it goes.
Hi,
I just started the beginner course, and I am not sure how to hold my soprano uke properly.
If I hold my uke as the instruction says, I have to lean forward and cannot sit straight because the uke is small. Otherwise, the ukelele is moving around while I play.
What am I doing wrong?Thank you!
Great job Kay! It’s totally fine to use the pinky as an anchor, but I wouldn’t use it to support the ukulele. We’ve got some tips on holding it in the Beginner’s Course.
My pleasure Rickey! Give the beginner lessons in the Fingerpicking Course a shot, those will definitely help!
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I want to thank everyone who participated in this month’s challenge. This was our hardest challenge to date, requiring the most effort on your part. I’m proud of all of you and am impressed by everyone’s progression!
For the prize, I included everyone who posted at least twice throughout the month. If you haven’t posted your final update, please do. I’d be happy to offer advice 🙂 Remember, the big takeaway from this month and every challenge is that we’re improving and supporting one another as a community. Great job everyone! And congrats to our winner:
Sounds awesome Lisa! Great job, I’d only suggest maybe pluck/slap a little lighter. See how that sounds, it should be a little sweeter of a tone.
Here’s my update (triplet work on hold). I’ve been busting my butt to get this Magic Ukulele Waltz tune down and am feeling ready for the performance shoot this week 🙂 Here’s a snippet of the B melody and some tips on sustaining notes/chords.
All right guys, here it is my advice for everyone who submitted on the last 2 days 🙂 please let me know if you have any questions.
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mkpruss – great job! I can definitely tell you put some work into it 🙂 I would only suggest to continue working on the transitions.
lisathoyt – no worries I’m being nervous, everyone gets that way. Great playing by the way! I agree with what you said, I’d continue to work on the timing, but break it into sections. So nail the first four bars with perfect timing before working on the next part of the song.
carrie – I love the ending! Your playing is great, keep up the good work!
hyzenthlay – wonderfully played! You have a great feel and tone in your playing.
cait23 – good job Caitlin! This is a tricky tune. You’ve got a great base established in that you know the entire piece. I’d break it down and work on section-by-section if I were you. Try and play along with the on screen tab viewer, it will help keep you in time and help you get the feel down a little bit better. Give that a shot and let me know how it goes.
ukulelesam04 – great job Sam! I can hear you improving with every challenge 🙂
awiealissa – wonderful playing Alissa! I too can hear you improving, that’s awesome! You put some work into this, didn’t you? The feel and the tone in your playing is great. I’d only suggest to work on the transitions to tighten them up a bit. Keep up the good work!
rillke – great job! This is what it’s all about, getting the feel and the timing down and doing it at a pace that’s within your current ability. You’re doing great, keep it up!
yiling – excellent playing! My only suggestion is to watch the timing when you transition to the chorus and the outro.
th1234 – good job! A few of the bars were a little off in the verse, so do go back and double check those sections. A great way to practice is to work on a few bars at a time, and when you think you have it down, turn the sheet music around so that you can’t look at it and try to play it from memory.
niru95 – that was excellent! You are doing great, keep it up!
antony945 – great job figuring that out with only basic membership, very impressive! You playing is great on the first part of the song, I would suggest to work on the higher voice chords and cleaning them up a bit.
A great way to practice that section, is to only play the chord changes by themselves. So there are four chords in that section, you could play the first chord and hold it out for a whole measure, then play the second chord, and again, hold it out for a whole measure. Then the same with the 3rd and 4th chord, and loop it.
jacobturner127 – great job! I do have some advice for you. While you have a great speed, what I think you need to work on is finesse. And this is the hardest part of playing, the challenge is to make every note count.
So I would suggest to slow it down a little bit and tighten up some of the transitions and the timing. But really focus on the tone that you’re producing. Some of the chord strums you can hit a little bit lighter and it will produce a softer and sweeter sound. You can also incorporate more of the hammer-ons and pull-offs into the piece. This will help to add dynamics and will break up the monotony of plucked notes. Overall you are doing great, keep it up!
krasimirka55 – Excellent! I’d recommend same advice as I gave for rillke.
yoavlan – that’s some speed you got there! But it’s always important to note that speed isn’t everything. When we think of music, we have to remember that it’s formed from three basic elements: Melody, harmony, rhythm.
What you want to work on is connecting these three elements. So I would suggest to slow it down and work on playing everything cleanly and in time. Once you can do that perfectly at a slower tempo, then you can start to increase the speed. So keep up the good work, you’re on the right path!
klapaucjusz – excellent job, I’m not sure I believe you are a beginner only 🙂 where I would go next in your playing is to focus on the performance as a whole. You’ve got a great speed and technique established, but I would focus on cleaning up the transitions and clarity of some of the sections. But man you’re kicking butt keep it up!
bjblue2 – great job! As I’ve advice to other members in this challenge, a great way to approach practicing is to break sections into pieces. Try and take two or four bars at a time and focus on playing every note with clarity, while watching your timing. Then do the same with the next 2 or 4 bars and then try to put those two sections together. This will cut down on the practice time required to learn the song and will help you get it down easier.
ukuleleloo – Wonderful playing Lucinda! I’d recommend same advice as I gave for rillke.
lisamcc – it’s crazy how good you are for 6 months! Your tone is great! The speed is also very good. What you want to work on is ironing out everything. So what that means is that your goal moving forward is to make sure that your performance flows evenly.
I talked about the three elements of music in the feedback for yoavlan. This advice can be applied to you too. When we listen to this song, we notice that the first half builds up to a climax heard in the last half, or when the piece goes to those higher voice chords. So listening to how you add dynamics to the piece is something that you want to focus on.
This could be accomplished by playing the first part of the song lighter and accenting the second half of the song to help create that climax.
Also, go back and review some of the sections that were tricky, most notably at the end of the performance. But truly great job!
owllady – great job Naomi! I have a feeling you know what I’m going to tell you 🙂 first off, try to memorize the piece. Focus on getting the transitions down smoothly and brush up a little bit on your timing. It’s great to hear you play again, keep up the good work!
annemarie – great playing Anne! I would only suggest to review the chorus section. Slow down a little bit, loop it, and you’ll have it down in no time 🙂
tommyn – great job Tommy! I’d recommend the same advice as I gave for bjblue2, but with four bar sections. So what you working on is cleaning up the sections and smoothing out the transitions. Keep up the good work!
