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I’m so impressed by everyone’s playing! Awesome job to everyone who has posted!! Really, really great work guys. It makes me very nervous to upload a video … I am definitely not at any of your level! Haha.
Hannah, lee it’s nothing to be nervous about. It’s what Andrew said, we are learning together. This prize is everyone’s bait for the eyes, but improvement is even a better prize. I believe in you Hannah that you can do it, and you’re not the only one who is nervous to upload a video. Have Fun!
Hi, Andrew,
Here is my entry for this month.
As usual, I do not wish to win anything, just to participate for fun. I started learning this piece in mid March. I am also working on Etude no. 11, but it will not be up to speed and ready to post this month. Thanks for these monthly challenges. They help me stay focused and motivated.
Hannah, I hope you join us! Even if you just record a few bars, it’s fine and it’s super motivating. No judgement. Just fun.
This is my entry:
Melody C was difficult for me, but I am continuing to work on it to try to perfect it. I’eve been a member for 6 months, but this is my first time entering a challenge. I really want this banjo ukulele, and the songs this month were really fun.
Vida, well played! The A melody has such a lovely laid-back feel to it, absolutely beautiful. Here’s what I would work on if I was you, the B melody sounds a little more tense to my ear, so I would slow it down and work on matching that laid back feel for the second melody. By the way, I’m really impressed with you! I can hear a lot of improvement in your playing since you posted your first video. Keep up the great work!
Great job Rachel! Glad to hear you had fun and hey, you should participate in more of our monthly challenges 🙂 I think you did really well overall and I’ve got a few tips for you. Your finger picking looks great. When you are strumming, try to loosen up the wrist a little bit, it looks like you were a little tight.
With the partial Barre chords, we need to fix your form. Check out this lesson from our beginner’s course. We cover the same shape in that lesson. Also check out, the lesson that covers proper right hand form. A few things to adjust are your thumb position, currently it’s too low. The curve of your index finger is a little too angled. And the other fingers (3 and 4) are sticking out too much. You want to keep them closer together so you can be ready to use them for the next playing section.
Check out those lessons and let me know if you have any questions, I’d be happy to help 🙂
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.
Hannah, that was amazing. Really you’ve only been playing a couple of months?? You surpassed me on this song for sure.
I’m sure Andrew will chime in on the triplet strum. I googled it and found some help on that. There’s a youtube video by jake that helped me.
Awesome job.
Hi KeyMaster,
I’m a new member here and in the Ukulele community. I tried to play the Fingerpicking and Strumming piece in hopes that I could master the transition of chords while strumming or fingerpicking.
Please see my entry through the link below:
https://soundcloud.com/ayebie/fingerpicking-and-strumming-for-rockclass101/s-tGTjB
Thank you!
This was so much fun!
The piece turned out to be a bit harder for me to learn than i first thought, and i was thinking about changing it to the first song in week two, but i´m so glad i pulled through! I know its still not perfect. The speed isnt quite right yet and its still not without mistakes (im still working on the D7 part as i´m sure you all can hear), but i´m honestly very happy with how it turned out (and a bit proud of myself too :P)By the way, I really like that we are in on this together and that we are able to see/ hear each others performances of the same songs. I have noticed, that even if its the same song, if its played by 3 different people you get to hear it in 3 different ways. I like how we can learn from each other 🙂
edit: i cant see the first link i put in thispost, so i´ll try again. Please let me know if this doesn´t work.
Hi Andrew, I’ve been really working on my finger picking since your feedback. Here’s my video of Fingerpicking Etude no.11, I hope you like it! (also I messed up a little right at the end :P)
Thank you, Lisa! Yeppp, I’ve only been playing for a couple of months, but I plan to keep playing for the rest of my life! & Thank you so much for the advice. I will definitely try to look for that youtube video.
Great job Gahanby and Hafeez3115! I really like both of your playing. Keep up the great work!
Hannah, that was amazing! I’m going to share this on our Facebook page today 🙂 I can’t believe you’ve only played 2 months, have you played another instrument like guitar before?
Let’s knock out some of these questions. Usually if someone struggles with strumming and having a “natural” feel, it’s because they are very tense or tight in their strumming arm/wrist. None of this applies to you. So I think it comes down to time. What does that mean? The longer that you play and the more music that you listen to, the more you develop your ear and a sense of playing with feeling. So what I would do if I was you, is really hone in and listen to the feel that I perform this song with and try to match it. You can use the same approach with whoever your favorite players are and whatever songs or pieces you are learning. Check out this lesson, which is all about this approach. But the thing is, for 2 months of playing you are doing so so well! You’ll get there in time.
One other thing, sometimes I notice your finger curve in at the first joint. Make sure that it stays curved and on the fingertip.
As for Question 2, Here is a great article on properly holding the ukulele from our Beginner’s Course.
jaan_beriso, well done! Was there a rooster in the background or am I just hearing things, lol! I think you did extremely well on the second Melody, which is the strumming chords section. Timing and transitions sounds great there. What I would work on if I was you is getting the timing a little bit smoother for the first and third Melody. The best way to do that is to follow the suggestions from our practice guide, which includes working on a couple bars at a time, looping them and mastering that before tackling the entire piece. I enjoyed listening to your performance, keep up the great work!
gahanby, great feel in your playing! I think you nailed the swung, laid-back vibe 🙂 a couple bars could use a little touching up, but based off what I heard I know you know how to approach practicing that. Do watch out for the triplet strum section, as I did not hear 8th note triplet rhythm. Check out this lesson for help on that.
hafeez, Big Improvement! It’s awesome to see you incorporate the feedback in this tune and in the other one, and wow you really are getting it down! All the hard work you put into it is paying off 🙂
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