Participate in the April 2019 Member Challenge – WIN a Kanile’a Tenor Uke!

[lyndallk]

Thanks Andrew for the fabulous video feedback. Timing is absolutely one of my challenges. I tend to make everything a little simpler than it should be . I’ll try the transcribe app. I’m excited to improve this part of my playing. Thanks for your generous words too.

[Andrew]

Here is everyone on page 17 and 18.

—-

ukukelley1 – Beautiful playing, Sheryl! So you’ve got a really great base established, in that you are very familiar with the entire piece; but I would go back and target your practice to focus on 1 section at a time. I’d recommend that the sections be 8 bars in length. For example, that could be the entire first verse.

Your goal would be to get the timing to flow steady. That should be your main focus, because everything else is checked off: great pace, great tone, great form.

zukulele – Hey Zion, that’s actually a really impressive take. Sometimes folks ask me, “you must be able to perform for hours with all the arrangements you’ve done”… And the truth is, no! It takes continual practice to keep tunes in your performance repertoire. So major props for playing it as you did, and like you said, a little more practice will get you a cleaner take.

rpina61 – Way to go! Here’s a video with my feedback for you 🙂

gardn_gnome – Great playing! Here’s my feedback for you. 🙂

borjez – Excellent feel! Your use of rubato has a very natural feel. I have nothing constructive to offer, that was simply wonderful 🙂

nitsur – Wonderful take! The only thing I can suggest is to continue working on the timing so that it flows a little bit more consistent. Overall you did a great job, keep up the good work!

malachi – Excellent job! I made a video for you talking about form, and here is the lesson that I referenced.

k_ra11 – Wow! That was fantastic, and I think this is the perfect level for you to be working on. Biggest thing with this tune was the slow, soft pace – which you nailed, and it’s super important as it’s a ballad. The only critique I have is: A couple times you messed up a little section and then restarted. Always play through your mistakes. Pretend like you’re performing with the band, if you mess up, they don’t stop, they keep going.

Other than that, keep up the great work! You are rockin’!

r1ggler – Lovely take! Here’s a couple tips for you.

becky7777 – Love the rhythmic feel you played with! Really makes the piece pop 🙂 I don’t have any critiques for you, I’m really impressed with your playing month after month. Keep up the great work!

lakeside339 – Great job! You have a great base established, in that you are very familiar with the entire tune; but what I’d focus on is working on one section at a time. So take 4 or 8 bars and focus on keeping the tempo steady. Master those bars before moving on. This will help you to get the piece to flow smoothly. Check out the three steps for proper practice from our practicing guide which dives into this learning approach in more detail.

tommyn – Well done! Sounds like the chorus and bridge needs a little bit more practice. I’d also encourage you to memorize it, as there are a lot of benefits in doing so. Check out this article to find out why. But overall, keep up the great work!

lizbun – Great timing, great feel, and love the ending! Well done, that was a lovely performance 🙂

[Andrew]

Wow! 99 members joined us for this month’s challenge, with a few more posting an additional performance on a second tune! Stephen and I are BLOWN AWAY by how amazing everyone did! Big round of applause to everyone who participated this month 🙂

Our May Challenge is LIVE and it’s theme is songs from, The Beatles! We have quite a few entries in already! I hope each of you join us again.

Below, I will post a list of members who participated in the April challenge for your first chance to win the Kanile’a Ukulele. Please let me know if there are any discrepancies.

—-

Extra ENTRY: kanae926 (Guess Fav VH Song)



rickkhan
rickkhan
alex2531255
laurasil
laurakarr12
brenna
brenna
soraya06
soraya06
en_joy
en_joy
gstriph
gstriph
deadbuggy
deadbuggy
robinboyd
robinboyd
marni11
marni11
planetfink
planetfink
carmeloukes
carmeloukes
lisadmh
lisadmh
cncamacho
tessa84
tessa84
kanae926
kanae926
coffeemug
coffeemug
cyukug
cyukug
uku_mom
morrieuke1
morrieuke1
noemie
citznmag
stinyuke
stinyuke
jgallego
jgallego
stianukulele
stianukulele
bzediver
bzediver
betsy_manning
betsy_manning
Gaby
Gaby
timolnz
timolnz
kellyblackburn
kellyblackburn
holly1
holly1
joannetala
joannetala
sprintingyogini
sprintingyogini
marion2017
marion2017
surfnrz
surfnrz
speedyfish
kirpuff
kirpuff
andracass
andracass
johanna2509
alex086962
brettboy
brettboy
edward
edward
tiff27
juwong
justin
justin
nthibode
nthibode
kmelton
kmelton
jinajupiter
jinajupiter
richo_uke
richo_uke
abaluyot
abaluyot
kumakuma
lildevil
lildevil
smudge
smudge
mheiden
mheiden
casadot349
casadot349
santai
santai
karenj
karenj
erino7
erino7
sratica
sratica
hotmilktea
hotmilktea
wongbrown
wongbrown
esimmerman
esimmerman
cyberloh
cyberloh
joe150
llmairalmiquel
llmairalmiquel
akshxd
akshxd
odysseus
odysseus
fiat-lux
fiat-lux
lisamcc
lisamcc
john21403
john21403
lyndallk
lyndallk
rufio0
rufio0
chirimoya
jlbross
jlbross
rickeymike
rickeymike
stevenflautner
stevenflautner
ukukelley1
ukukelley1
zukulele
zukulele
rpina61
rpina61
gardn_gnome
gardn_gnome
borjez
borjez
nitsur
nitsur
malachi
malachi
k_ra11
k_ra11
r1ggler
r1ggler
becky7777
becky7777
lakeside339
lakeside339
tommyn
tommyn
lizbun
yellowrosecottag
yellowrosecottag
ambre_uke92
ambre_uke92
iyers408
iyers408
mfaske
mfaske
skilshaw
skilshaw
evevev
evevev
gaevdl
gaevdl
aquatopaz
aquatopaz

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by Andrew. Reason: Updated: Participation Count & Added Members from Page 14 to Raffle List

[lakeside339]

Andrew – thanks so much for the feedback. I did not think I’d be able to memorize it but much to my surprise I did without even trying (just the practicing I guess). As you pointed out, memorizing really helps – I had a LOT more pauses when I was trying to play while reading. I did practice one section at a time, but eventually ran out of time. But a big step forward for me. Your feedback to other people has been helpful.
Two things I also found helpful: 1) playing with the chords only to help my brain know where I was going next (rather than just thinking about the tab fingering) 2) a recommendation from Daniel Ward – learn the piece backwards. In other words, do the small sections at the back of the piece first (or at least early on -I found I need to get through the lesson forward first). That way as you are learning your next section, you continue to play into a part you already know more smoothly.
Will have less time to learn the longer (When I’m 64) song this month, but will give it a go…. the motivation of the challenges is very helpful…

[iyers408]

I sent in my entry, but do not see my name iyers408 in your April entry list.

Thanks for the feedback on my playing. I am still working on Dream a little … and making good progress. In the meanwhile, the May challenge has come up! I am drinking from a fire hose (and enjoying it). I hope to get some time and work on the other courses and lessons that are on the web site.

Any tips on how to participate in the challenge while still making progress on the general stuff in the background? Thanks!

[Andrew]

@iyers408 – yikes, I forgot to add everyone on page 14! I’ll update the post above. To answer your question, split your practice in thirds. For example:

1) technique – for ex: hammer-ons & Pull-offs. here is 1 lesson and another to reference.
2) reading course
3) May Challenge tune

@gstriph – snippet is sounding good! Glad the feedback helped 🙂

[rpina61]

@Andrew,

Thank you for the video critique. I was jazzed that this challenge had a really nice opportunity in the intro to use the vibrato technique. Before the challenge, I had been working (as previously discussed) on including vibrato in my playing using Red is the Rose since that piece is quite slow (until melody B) with many held chords. I’ve been really experimenting with where and how much vibrato to use … from way overkill using it everywhere … to using it really sparsely.

As I’ve been practicing, it seems that most of the time I make an almost an instantaneous decision at the moment of playing the chord whether to use some vibrato or not, though I have an idea beforehand of where I might want to use it. But as you say, using it too much can be detrimental, I think because it makes it seem too contrived. The intro to A Thousand Years seems to clearly want some vibrato to help set the mood. But, I just played the intro a couple of times eliminating vibrato from just the 4th hit of those first three measures to make it a little sparser as you suggested and I like it better.

Thanks as always for your great insight.

Cheers,

Robert

[ukukelley1]

Hi Andrew – Thanks very much for the feedback. I do have a tendency to move ahead with a new piece before it’s smooth yet… “…that wasn’t too bad, I’ll keep going…” and then I think I get in the habit of accepting all the breaks. I’ll take your approach and do a little more drilling to polish each section before moving ahead. That will likely also help my memorization skills.
Thanks again,
Sheryl

[r1ggler]

Thanks Andrew!

The feedback is really helpful. And yes, I really had an issue getting the timing and feel for that little walk down section in the chorus. It was one of those situations where my mind had kind of decided on the timing itself and I couldn’t get away from it, sort of was just stuck there. I’ll go back and just play that section listening to your version until it clicks.

Also, you’re definitely right about the extra beat I add before repeating that section in the chorus. That one I did do to add a bit of space and feel to it but listening again to you play I’m going to try it without that extra beat. It’s nice to keep the tempo.

I’m self-taught so counting was new to me and tricky but it’s starting to help.

So far I’ve learned “Fur Elise”, “Game of Thrones” and “1,000 Years” and together they’ve really made a huge difference in my playing!

Thank so much again for the feedback and the great arrangements!

Ryan

[mfaske]

Andrew,
Thank you so very much for the feedback. I’m amazed and thoroughly impressed that you take the time to give personal attention by reviewing all the submissions. This site is so inspiring and motivating. I wish I would have found it sooner. I’ll take your advice to heart, keep working, and thanks again!
Matt

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by mfaske.

[lisamcc]

Thanks for the feedback Stephen – much appreciated. I’ll go back and modify those bits.

[Andrew]

Thanks for all the kind words guys! We really appreciate how much work everyone puts into their playing. It’s an honor for us to get to listen to!

[jinajupiter]

Thanks for the feedback, Stephen. I will work on getting my left hand faster so the tones can ring longer. 🙂

[zukulele]

Thanks for the feedback Andrew; I’ll try to set up a weekly practice schedule for this month’s challenge 🙂

[timolnz]

Thanks for the feed back Andrew….i did get carried away a little and wasn’t too sure re added beats and timing….your suggestions appreciated. Tim

[Author]

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