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Hey just a quick question. I have a soprano pineapple ukulele, and I am struggling with holding it because the body shape is so different from what I am used to. Any tips?
Here’s everyone in the bottom part of page 10 and all of page 11:
karenj – You are off to a wonderful start! You got the harmonic in the middle of all of the tricky shifts in this song! When a song is this challenging and you are struggling with certain quick passages, I recommend performing the piece at a slower tempo for the challenge. This will help you keep the song flowing on the difficult passages and give you time to think ahead on how to get to the notes smoothly. It’s always better to play it slower with a steady feel than to play full speed with interruptions on the hard parts. You’re doing a great job, this is merely “performance” advice 🙂
jedart – Congrats on your one year uke-eversary! You’ve got the idea with learning techniques by starting at a comfortable speed! You’re developing the right movements, now it’s time to clear up the triplets: The hard part of triplets is keeping them all evenly spaced. You are adding extra space after the third triplet and pushing the other two notes closer together…causing it to feel like 16th notes instead of triplets. If you can find a metronome that clicks triplets, or set one to 3/4 time at a fast pace and pretend they are triplets, you could play on just the down beat of the first set, and line your strums up with the other three beats. This would help you develop the right timing at your current speed a bit more effectively. I hope this helps! Other than that, you are doing great!
stianukulele – Very nicely done with the notes! Now it’s time to go back and exaggerate the rubato feel on the faster note runs. I would start a tiny bit slower and swell (both the speed and the volume) into each phrase. Mechanically you’ve got it! Just add this for a bit of emotion to an already great performance!
timolnz – You are doing a wonderful job on this! You’ve got the notes and the feel very nicely! I would only recommend hitting some of the notes a bit lighter to have slightly less attack on certain faster note runs. It sounds great the way it is, but a softer attack might get the emotional quality across a bit smoother. Keep up the awesome playing!
nathalie – You’re playing wonderfully! I know it’s hard to be patient with the triplet strum, but the best way to have the technique sound as precise as Matt is to be patient and work up to speed more gradually. The goal should be to have well defined, distinct hits on each of the three strums. If there’s a speed where it starts sounding more like two hits rather than three, it’s time to drop back to a slower tempo, and then stay at that speed until you master it. Everything else sounds great!
tim0721 – While it sounds nice plucking with the thumb, I recommend going back and working on the fingerpicking to be able to build speed and accuracy of the right hand. Having to skip strings so often makes you focus on the right hand while the left hand has the bulk of the work on those quick runs. It is possible to play this with only thumb at full speed, but it’s a lot of extra movement. You still sound great on this, and it might be nice to add fingerpicking to your list of techniques.
oldan_ – Your triplet strums sound wonderful! Way to go! You are very consistent with this technique. It seems like now it’s a matter of practicing the fingerpicking section until you have it memorized. Great playing, just work out those hesitations at the end!
eyka321 – Very good job on this one! You’re playing has a nice flow to it, and you know the song very well! There were only a couple of notes that buzzed a little bit, and I just recommend working a tiny bit extra on the fast runs that go further up the neck (as it was mainly the highest note that had that buzz). Because of how small the frets get, it’s a bit trickier to be accurate in that part of the ukulele, and a concert could help with that part! Keep playing, you’re doing a wonderful job!
mszatanik – You’re off to a great start! The triplet strum is a very difficult technique, and working at it at slower tempos is the best way to get each strum to be well defined. Make sure to keep the 3 parts strums this technique evenly spaced, and that all 3 are about equal in volume while you are practicing slowly. This will help your hand know how much extra motion is needed on the last two strums to create this definition. Then I would work on the transition between the strummed section and the fingerpicking section to keep the flow of the piece.
dorabr – Wonderful job on this one! I like that you sway with the rhythm to keep the laid back feel. You captured the vibe very well! My main advice for you would be to hold the notes out a bit longer to try to get a bit more of a legato (smoother, more connected) feel on this one. Aside from that, you’re doing an excellent job! Keep it up!
funtime2018 – You’re off to a great start, and the intro sounds great! When you start playing along with the backing track, you have a tendency to rush the faster rhythms. What I like to do is sway to the music or pat my foot to feel the tempo and groove while I’m playing. This helps me to lock in with the timing that the band/other players have established. Try playing along with the version with Matt to see how the rhythm flows. You’re doing great, keep working at this!
kaidunc – Phenomenal job! Your feel, dynamics, and technique are wonderful! I can definitely tell that your background on violin is translating to ukulele very well. Superb!
elealong12 – You’re doing very well on this one! The main spots to focus on is the run at measure 9 and 13. Once you get the shifts in these passages to be second nature by practicing slowly and gradually building speed, you’ll be performance ready on this song. Great playing on this!
In reply to: wall mount hardware
I have Top Stage guitar hanger from Amazon but it easily holds my Luna soprano pineapple and Kala PWC concert. Very inexpensive.
Here’s everyone on page 9:
willymac – Excellent feel, dynamics, overall playing on this one! I really like your interpretation. You really got the harmonic to ring on that last time through Melody B! I have to ask, did you play Melody B twice on purpose? Either way, it sounded very good both times. Keep up the great work!
mikewatts – Very well played! The notes and the timing were great, all the way through the harmonic at the end! Only one note buzzed out of all of them if I heard correctly, so very consistently played as well. Great job, especially for your first challenge.
mfaske – Very good job on this one! Your playing and feel are very nice on this one. I have one small suggestion: on measure 16, make sure to count the rest at the end of the measure so that that bar has 3 full beats before taking the repeat. Counting “one, two, rest” might help to get this right. It’s a small detail, and wouldn’t detract from the song unless someone was trying to dance a waltz over the piece. Good job on this one all around!
mszatanik – Your playing sounds great, all the way to the harmonic, but the first two notes and every time they repeat seem to be different pitches from the original. Did you tune your ukulele differently, or did you change these notes on purpose? Either way, it’s very interesting.
coffeemug – Great work on this one! You played this very well, and the ritard was well executed both times.
lisa-k – This is only your third month playing ukulele? I’m very impressed! I like the harmonic at the end as well. You did a phenomenal job considering how long you’ve been playing. Muting the strings and having less string noise is definitely something that comes with practice. If you take the sections that you have this issue the most with and play them very slowly, you can become aware of where it’s an issue and what part of your playing is causing the noise. Then you can find a way to mute at the slower tempo, speeding up gradually only when you’ve succeeded in properly muting at each speed. Wonderful job!
smudge – This was the perfect tempo for you to play this at! You did a wonderful job on this! Now it sounds a little bit mechanical due to playing along with the metronome, so the next step is to play with a more legato feel, letting each note ring out a bit more, and eventually parting ways with the metronome to develop a more musical feel on the song. You have the hard work out of the way, the notes and shifts are certainly the bulk of this one!
schaap123 – You are doing very well on this one! There are a few rhythms in certain spots that are slightly different, and I highly recommend playing along with the tab player at 75% speed to figure out all of the spots you are changing the rhythm on. I also think playing at this slightly slower speed will help you get the notes to ring out a bit more. You’re doing great, keep it up!
omaon4 – Nicely done! You sound great on this, and with a tiny bit more work on the harmonic at the end, it will be superb! Your fretting hand wrist is bending a little bit too far in the way a waiter’s wrist would be while holding a tray over their head. Try to keep it straight rather than letting it bend this direction to avoid wrist pain. You’re doing a wonderful job!
jinajupiter – That reverb compliments this song very well! You’ve got most of the tricky parts down, it’s just getting all of those higher fretted notes to ring clearly at this point. I feel like playing slightly slower would give you time to get your fingers placed in time. Still, you played this very well over all!
dorabr – Great playing on this one! Just a tiny bit more work on the harmonic at the end. It’s tricky to get it right over the piece of metal accurately in time, but you’re close! My only other suggestion is just to pluck a little bit lighter throughout the piece to give each note a slightly softer attack. Good job on this!
mirthy – You’re off to a great start! Recording makes things harder, but I can tell you can play this, it’s just playing enough to lessen the anxiety at this point. One small thing rhythmically to change is in measure 16, make sure to count the rest after the half note. Right now you are cutting one beat out of the measure, so make sure to count to three (either “one two three” or “one two rest”) to keep your place. If someone were dancing a waltz to this, they would have to skip a step to stay with you otherwise! Still, you are doing great!
santai – Very nice job, especially with only 3 days of working on this one! You really got that harmonic to ring clear as well! I only heard one spot transitioning from theme 1 to theme 2 where the rhythm was slightly off, but judging by the rest of it, this was a simple mistake and I know you would play it correctly on another take. Keep up the good work!
Hi everyone, new here, I’ve been playing for a few months now and seem to be able to play most chords okay. However, when I transition between let’s say Em to a D I feel like the ukulele starts to slip/fall and I need to balance it sort of with my palm/ top of the index finger.
Any tips or suggestions on what I might be doing wrong? I’ve seen the intro videos on holding the ukulele and I feel like I’m holding it and positioning it fine but it’s like I just wish I’m using a strap to be able to transition between chords faster and smoother. I must be doing something wrong.
Thanks
Whoops! Looks like I skipped a couple, my apologies!
ramiro – I love the A and B melody. Here’s what I would do. I’d cut that transition section from 35 seconds to 45. And just go from B to C (strum section). That makes it flow better IMO. You can test this by playing 0 to 35, pause and jump to 45. That sounds more coherent… as in a more complete sounding piece, IMO. “A B C” is a cool form and we’ve done those before. Keep writing, you’ve got talent for it!
And good idea for an arranging challenge, I’ll keep that in mind 🙂
marama – Here is my feedback for you 🙂
Here is the first lesson on form to check out, and another.
Topic: Teaching children
Hi Forum,
if I were to teach the ukulele to children, what would be the best way to start with?
I am working at a childrens home and my 7year old advertised his interest as well. Especially the kids at the childrens home would benefit from this potential hobby.That is why I don´t want to mess things up by teaching to strictly and want to focus on the fun playfull aspect.
Do you guys know of a good method for that? Is it important that they hold the ukulele right (especially my boy tends to hold it in a very creative way). Do I teach chords right away? Short melodys or songs? Should they strum or pick? What are good things they can practice by themselves?
When I started playing I just went on youtube and practiced one song for a month, I don´t think that would work with children. They are stubborn in other ways 😉
Here’s the last 2 entries on page 8 and everyone on page 9:
holly1 – Great job on this one! You have a nice sound on this one, and really captured a peaceful happy vibe! Very well played! Keep it up! Thank you for entering the challenge!
andrewvh – You are off to a great start on this one! Not bad, especially since the thumb technique is new to you! Towards the end, it looks like a few of the chord shapes (mainly the Ddim7) are in need of a little more practice. I noticed that your ring finger and pinky are collapsing inward on that chord, rather than curving. Try playing just measure 19 to the first beat in measure twenty to practice getting into and out of this chord without your fingers collapsing. Keep up the great work! Thank you for your entry!
morrieuke1 – Awesome job on this one! You played this very well! There were only a couple of notes with a tiny bit of extra buzz and pretty much everything else was flawless! Thank you for your entry and donation!
karenj – I love that ukulele! The doubled strings sound so cool, even though they’re a bit trickier to hold down without added buzz! Some of the buzz can be fixed by pushing down closer to the actual metal frets or at least slightly more than halfway between the frets. This means, within each square created by the frets, your finger should be at least slightly closer to the body of the ukulele and further from the headstock/tuners. I hope this isn’t too confusing, and I know it’s tricky to do on some chords, but you won’t have to push down quite as hard if you can master this concept. Great job keeping a nice tempo throughout, and a good feel throughout. Thank you for joining the challenge!
jinajupiter – Wow! Fantastic job playing all of those instruments, and excellent editing/mixing as well! That was very entertaining, and I loved the surprise of the other instruments joining in! Thank you for your hard work, creativity, and consistently rising to these challenges!
timolnz – Nicely done! I like that you have a nice playful bounce to your performance. My only suggestion is to try to not cut the last note of every phrase quite so short to get a slightly less staccato feel. Wonderful job! Thank you for entering the challenge.
oldan_ – Great job adjusting to the thumb picking! Once you got past the first few notes and started looking at your ukulele, you sounded great! My only suggestion would be to play the song with a metronome a few times to figure out where you are hesitating/rushing in a few spots. Thank you for your entry!
aquatopaz – You are off to a great start! With more time, you will get this one down! You are close to having the notes down enough to start playing with a metronome. This will challenge your mind to think/look ahead to stay in time. Before doing that, work a bit more on the ending so that you are more comfortable with it. Keep up the great work! Thank you for joining the challenge!
In reply to: finding stuff
Great question! I’d recommend starting with Learning Paths. It’s our guide that helps you answer 2 big questions:
1) Where do I start?
2) What do I work on?The second video on that page gives a run down on how to navigate the site. One of the features covered is the search bar. You can use that to find lessons that cover different topics.
With that said, the most common beginner topics are covered in our Beginner’s Course. Such as the 2 lessons you mentioned about proper holding technique.
I’m always around if you have questions too. Please don’t hesitate to ask 🙂
Topic: Very beginner questions :)
So maybe there are more of us who has just started playing ukulele and it would be good to collect these “silly” questions under one topic… ( If there is one, please forgive me and give a link please 🙂 )
For a start, my silly question is about holding the uke. I listened the Holding your ukulele lesson and watched you Andrew and others in many lessons, and tried to play some songs, but can’t figure out the right technique. So I hold my uke against my side, try to hold its body with my right arm, but when I change the position of my left hand, I have to secure my uke with my right ring- or little finger. It was OK when I just played accords because I didn’t have to move to much with my left hand, but slows me really much and makes my play uneven when I try to do fingerpicking. What is the secret?
I am a Ukulele Kids Club Rock Star supporter at a nearby hospital, but will also make a donation for RC101. Will let you know when it’s official.
I encourage everyone with the means to consider donating to this worthy cause which has a special place in our hearts as ukulele afficionados! Or at the least submit an entry this month to not only have a chance to win a great prize, but to hold Andrew to his donation promise.
Happy Holidays and happy strumming everyone.Hi Uke Friends! I went for Bohemian Rhapsody. I’ve averaged about an hour of practice on this epic tune everyday this month. I used my baritone because I don’t have a low G uke. The larger neck on the bari made for some hard stretch chords! There were times when I thought I’d never be able to play the entire piece but after a couple weeks things actually started to fall in to place just enough to give me some hope. This tune was harder for me then Danse Macabre and Moon put together! Next came recording it… I tried so many times to get a good take but I never captured the accuracy and emotion I was getting during practice. I’d give this attempt I posted today a B+. A few of the hesitations and sloppy transitions make me cringe but I was so excited to see the neighbor’s cat come to the window at the end of the video to say hello! That’s how I knew I was done and that I was never going to be able to play it any better with a camera in my face. I hope you like it. Huge thanks to Evan and Andrew. I feel such a sense of accomplishment. This tune holds a lot of meaning to me and many people and as a ukulele player it feels like a kind of “leveling up” of sorts. pretty cool 🙂
In reply to: Holding the ukuklele right
Proper holding is covered in our Beginner’s Course, as well as the other lesson you mentioned: Proper Left Hand Form. Here are the links:
1) proper left hand form
2) how to hold the Uke (from our Beginners Course)Could you post a video of you playing and going from form 1 to 2. I’ll be better able to help if I can see what you are doing.
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
My first attempt
I found very difficult to hold the ukulele while moving my left ha d on the fretboard. For this reason I used the soprano, which is easier to hold, even if I prefer the concert sound.
I will continue to try this song.Here’s everyone on Page 18:
tomolnz – You are doing a great job on this one! It’s quite challenging for several reasons, but you are up to the challenge! It sounds like you are plucking the strings with a lot of force. Try relaxing a bit to get a warmer sound. If you’re picking close to the bridge, try playing over the sound hole or near where the neck starts. There are a few slight rhythms that just need to be counted. In a few measures like bar 15, you are holding the first note slightly too long: the second note starts on the upbeat (“and”) after beat one instead of on the downbeat (beat two). On measure 18, you are also holding the first note out too long. If you work through the timing of each section, it will make playing the sections much easier. All in all, you are very close to having this one down, and your timing is great besides these few rhythms to count. Thank you for your entry!
alterin – You are doing a great job on the notes! This tune is quite a challenge in many ways, so way to go on playing through it! I recommend breaking each melody into 4 or 8 measure sections to work through. Try to keep a much slower, yet steady tempo. One way to do this is to play along with the on screen tab player set to 50% speed and try playing along to really memorize the timing and sound of each section. Once you get through 2 or more smaller sections, try playing through them together. Then you can slowly build from there. But the focus on timing is essential to learning new songs, and this work will carry through to make future challenges easier! You’re doing great, keep it up! Thank you for joining the challenge.
mfaske – Way to go on keeping a solid tempo on this one! Playing at a slow pace like that is the best way to get the song into your ear and muscle memory. Towards the middle and end there were a few pauses, but I can tell that you understand the rhythm very well. With more time, you’ll be able to gradually speed this up. Then you can focus on plucking in more fluid way to get a legato (smooth) flow in the music. Awesome job, you’ll get there with a little more practice! Thank you for entering this challenge!
givingtree89 – I love the costume, and congratulations on your first Rock Class 101 challenge! The chords and notes sound great on this one. The rhythm and flow of the song is the main aspect I would work more on; try playing the whole piece at 3/4 of the tempo of your performance. The goal is to get to the chords in time without any hesitations. Melody B is the main section I would focus on with this approach. The more familiar you get with these note shapes, the easier it will be to play with fewer hesitations. You are doing a great job! Thank you for your entry!
kcharles15 – You are off to a great start! The beginning was very good, and it seems like you were most familiar with that section. Now it’s time to practice playing through entire sections without pausing. Have you tried playing through a section with the on screen tab player set to 50% speed? I feel like this would be a good way to challenge yourself not to pause and get into the flow of the song. Keep up the great work! Thank you for joining the challenge!
kelsey91 – You are doing well so far! I think you will develop your feel for the song as you practice more, but this is good for starting 10 days ago! I notice that your wrists both seem to be bent a little too much as you’re playing. Look at the beginner course on Rock Class 101 for the module on how to hold your ukulele. Try to incorporate this into your playing by continuing to film your playing and comparing it to this part of the course. Keep working on this one, you’re very close! Thank you for entering the challenge.
ukuleleloo – I really like that you went with a slower pace on this one! This helped you to keep a nice flow through most of the song. There are still several sections that require a bit more work, but you have a very nice feel on the parts you are familiar with. The main section to work on is starting at measure 15, and working through Theme 2. You are very close, a bit more work and those tricky spots will become muscle memory. Thank you for your entry
jkulele – Awesome job! You are doing very well for a first venture from strumming! If you play the whole piece at a slow and steady tempo, it will have a much nicer flow than slowing down and hesitating on the tricky sections. Try playing along with the on screen tab player at 50% speed to work on this. Keep up the great work, and thank you for joining the challenge!
gardn_gnome – Way to go on keeping a nice steady pace on the first section! Going at this slower pace will help you develop a great flow as you keep working on the piece! I notice that some of the chord transitions are causing you to hesitate as the ukulele shifts. Have you tried using a strap to keep the ukulele steady? This combined with sitting up straight or even standing might help to keep the ukulele from moving too much as you shift from chord to chord. You’re doing a wonderful job, keep it up! Thank you for entering this challenge!
chi-_-t – Great playing on this one! Your ukulele might be a little out of tune, double check every time, especially before recording since ukuleles don’t always hold their tuning for long. If it’s not the tuning, then it might be that you are slightly bending the strings up or down as you are playing. If this is the case, focus pushing directly into the fretboard and just be aware of this. You did a great job keeping the rhythm steady through most of this, with only one noticeable hesitation when you shifted to the higher frets. Now that you have the notes down, try adding dynamics: Start each phrase quietly and slowly crescendo (get louder) in the middle of each phrase, and decrescendo (get softer) towards the ends of the phrases to create a mysterious vibe. Awesome job, and congratulations on your first Rock Class 101 challenge!
santai – I love the pumpkin mask! I also really like how you crescendo on the strumming section of this song! You kept a very comfortable pace throughout the song with very few hesitations. Measure 26 is a bit tricky since it only has two beats rather than 4. I think you tried to change the rhythm for that reason, but it is intentionally short. Double check that spot, and you’re doing a fantastic job! Thank you for your entry!
