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Hi All, I’ve been putting this off for too long, so today was recording day! I am playing Loke Lani on a vintage Harmony soprano that belonged to my uncle, I need it to really reach that 5th fret with my pinky lol. I will also take a look at Day-O, I’ve been so inspired by the creative submissions. Good job everyone, we’ve had quite a turnout this month.
So here is my video, be sure to see the picture at the end! ~ Holly
Hi RockClass101,
I found RockClass101 through the /r/Ukulele subreddit and love seeing all the tutorials. I’ve been practicing several of the renditions, and have been learning a lot. You guys rock! Thanks for all you do.
I’ve made a submission on my Low G ukulele for Loke Lani. I hope you like it 🙂
Cheers~
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
For April I decided to give Hone A Ka Wai a shot on my new Pono AC. I Really enjoyed the challenge of this song and how pretty it is 🙂
Well, it’s not perfect, but it never is after hitting record. Here it is complete with some mutes and buzzes sprinkled in for color. 😂
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER.
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!
@funtime2018 – huge improvement on the 2nd time through! Stephen left you some feedback – I think the take away is to play with Matt AND the backing track. Matt’s playing acts as a guide this way, helping you stay locked in. BUT – you did a great job locking in on the last half of the rhythm track, so I know you can nail it all w/ practice! Keep up the good work!
Hi Stephen,
I’m on bottom of page 10 with a 2nd entry song. I didn’t see a critique on it. I’m between jedart’s song and stianukulele. The song is Hone A Ka Wai.Thank You,
Mary GraceThank you very much, Stephen for your feedback! I will work harder on the triplet and on the legato feel.
Cheers,
CatherineBasic Membership for beginner challenge Banana Boat Song.
I am new to RockClass101 and look forward to upcoming lessons. This site is without a doubt one of the best ukulele sites I have spent time on. Well organized, outstanding instruction. Well done!Stephen,
Thanks for the feedback. I seem to freeze when I’m playing in front of people or a camera. I’ll slow things down until I feel totally comfortable and then try to increase the tempo.
Thanks again!
RockMyUkeThank you @Stephen, I’ll work on the timing while keeping it slow until I have the strum motion down. I do have a metronome app that has lots of features for customized rhythms. It’s called Impulse (iOS), I highly recommend it for beginners. I’ll post an update if I can get a recording that shows improvement.
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