Participate in the April 2018 Member Challenge – Fingerpicking Themed!

[Andrew]

Hi Rock Class 101 Community!

We are back with site member challenge #14! WOW, we’ve now crossed an entire year of challenges which saw over 350+ members participating in! If you sat on the sidelines for the last year, 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 🙂

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

Pick one from the following 3 Rock Class 101 Fingerpicking Themed Genre Lessons:

1) Fingerpicking & Strumming – This piece contains 3 melodies that utilize many of the techniques and concepts we have learned throughout The Definitive Beginner’s Guide to Ukulele Course.

2) Fingerpicking Etude no. 10: “DayDreaming” – In this etude, you’ll learn a cute sounding melody that is played with a swung rhythmic feel.

3) Fingerpicking Etude no. 11 – In this ukulele etude, you will be working to develop precision in your right hand picking and strumming attack. As our focal point is on the right hand, the piece itself is a bluesy inspired 3 chord jam.

** 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 to Intermediate 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: Fingerpicking & Strumming

2. Intermediate Level 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: Fingerpicking Etude no. 10: “DayDreaming” or Fingerpicking Etude no. 11

3. Participation Goal: 25 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 Blues pieces anytime between Sunday, April 1st till Monday, April 30th, 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.

* 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

_______________

Giveaway Rules:

There will be 1 winner, selected by random drawing on May 4th, 2018. To qualify to win, you must submit your audio and/or video links of your playing by the deadline listed above.

Grand Prize:

1) $200 Uke Republic Package! Includes:

A) Gold Tone BU-1 Concert Banjo Ukulele w/ Pickup & Gig Bag

_______________

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR!

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

Let’s crush this challenge!

[lisadmh]

I’m doing Day Dreaming. That song is stacked with things in it that I need to learn or am working on.

– Bar chords
– Pull offs
– Em – I struggle to get into that one fast
– Staccato
– Triplet strum set
– The flick up with the thumb for the 1st string

If I get this one down, it’ll be more than just a song, but real incremental learning. Great one for my level, Andrew. My realistic goal is cleanish and memorized at 80% speed.

[kayleighb]

I’m going back to basics and will do the fingerpicking and strumming song. Lost my mojo a bit so just dialling it right back. Currently working my way through the definitive beginners course to get my confidence back.

A question for you Andrew; I’m currently working on Romance from the beginners course and am at 60% speed. Would you work on really nailing it at 100% speed before moving on, or just keep coming back to it inbetween other things?

[Andrew]

Hi Kay, I’d keep at it until you’re at 100%. But no reason it has to be the only piece you are working on. By the way I’m planning to you do a complete lesson/arrangement on that tune when I get my low G ukulele.

[kayleighb]

Thanks 😊 it’s a really lovely piece

[tonydismukes]

Fingerpicking Etude No. 11 looks like a really good challenge that will address some technical aspects I’d like to improve on.

[lisadmh]

Uh-oh. When you get your low G ukulele, Andrew, I might have to get a low G ukulele. 🙂 And so the collection plans to grow again.

[Andrew]

You definitely need one Lisa! The playing approach and contrast in timbre between the two is so different it’s exciting!

[awesomestrings]

Another challenge awaits us guys and I’m so excited. I encourage all of you, no matter how skilful you are to participate in this challenge, even though our chances of winning will be less likely but more enjoyable along the way. For this challenge I’m trying to do *** ***** ** ****, (don’t bother trying to translate) not only that, but I’m a bit relieved I wasn’t late like last month. So good luck to all future performers and High Fives all round! *Woopish* Woopish* and I hope to see your songs in the next episode! *Awesome ending background music*

[Gaby]

I’m really excited about this! I love the idea behind these challenges so much 🙂 the prizes are cool and who wouldnt want to win one of Them, but i really like the idea of trying to reach a goal together with the rest of you.

I have never really tried to learn a new piece or technique with a deadline. Its really fun and motivating. I hope i will be able play the song that i chose by the end of the month. We’ll see 🙂

[tottle321]

I had a great time learning and playing DayDreaming, thanks for the awesome piece Andrew!

[Andrew]

tottle321, Wonderful playing! You’ve got great technique and nailed the feel of the piece! The only suggestion I can give you is to loosen up your right hand wrist when doing the triplets strum. It looked like you were pretty tight and that will throw off the rhythm and tempo. But, really great job overall, I’m going to share this on our Facebook page 🙂

[tottle321]

Thanks so much! Yeah, I thought the triplet strum was the hardest part, I’ll definitely keep working on it and loosening the wrist is a good suggestion.

[pup123]

Fingerpicking Etude #11: such a beautiful fun piece.
I wanted to learn it but theme 2 was overwhelming me so I used Guitar Pro to transcribe it into 16 bars instead of 8, making it so much easier start practicing. Like a crutch or a stepping stone. No more 32nd notes.
Now I can even get through the real version. slowly
Does getting a piece performance ready mean totally memorizing it?

[Andrew]

Hi pup, it is totally fine to make the rhythms twice as long if that makes it easier for you to follow. Unfortunately, I had to delete your PDF as the tabs are assets only for premium members. And yes, I would highly encourage you to memorize it for these reasons.

[Author]

Posts