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Thank you @Andrew ! I will surely look after the suggestions.
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I went for “The Ascent” for this month. Very fun and challenging song. Finished it just in time too. I hope I win. The ukulele looks awesome. Thanks for the opportunity.
@morrieuke1 what a gorgeous Uke! Congrats. Just love the tenor sound and nicely played.
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Just finished going thru recent submissions from other Rock Class 101 members…..I wish this platform had an easier way to “like” and even “absolutely love” them. I’m impressed with all of the hard work and commitment everyone puts into them. @karenj my heart goes out to you and your father. Thank-you for sharing….so beautiful♥️
So this month I worked on Etude 19, because I wanted to improve my Barring and especially my reach. I think the Barring went pretty well….the stretch is a whole other story….obviously, I still need work. Loved this piece though, and especially loved the dissonance in the 4th theme. Andrew you are developing an impressive body of work for the ukulele…..you are like the Francisco Tarrega for the ukulele….creating a whole new respect for the instrument.
@andrew as always, thank you for positive feedback. I like idea of using one finger strum in first section Etude 32, and B using three. My original problem was the three but I’ll work at it.
I don’t know about other but this month I felt nothing was going smoothly. My fingers felt so unconnected then previous challenges. Like a mental block….
@dianna I agree with a way to give thumbs up. So many amazing entries and we know the amount of practice going into these. Glad im retired but life still interferes. 😉I am a PREMIUM MEMBER.
FINGERPICKING ETUDE (NO 1)
April 2023 ChallengeI almost have it memorized. Playing on my ‘least favorite’- and cheap Luna uke- this is its debut recording! I do admit, I like the bright Zebrawood sound for this piece (better than I had thought it would be).
I plan to continue on this etude and making it faster (and memorized completely) Thank you Andrew & Company.
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Here’s my performance for the challenge this month. I had lots of fun learning the Fingerpicking Etude no. 32 and loved the old world tune. It was really challenging to control and maintain the desired speed of play without messing up. I’m hoping to add this Etude as part of my daily exercise to improve finger dexterity and rhythm.
As always, I appreciate any feedback on areas of improvement.
@misterbones – That was awesome Michael! Have you tried practicing one section at a time to a click? That should tighten up the timing issues.
@moonshoes – An excellent first post! Beautiful playing! For the pinky, you can anchor it or keep it floating. If floating, I’d keep it closer to the other fingers so it’s not so far away if you do a technique that uses it, such as the rasgueado strum.
@lynnzo – Beautiful playing! For the A Melody, try to keep your left hand in form 1 with your thumb placed slightly above the middle of neck. Your current form limits dexterity and mobility as your palm is curled inwards. The U shape gap in form 1 will make it much easier to play and move around the neck.And def keep working on 19! Please share it when you are ready 🙂
@annemarie – Excellent playing! Well done on the stretch chords! At this point, I’d take one section at a time and focus on keeping the timing steady.
@peiching – Sounds like you haven’t missed a beat! Welcome back and hope to hear more from you 🙂
@morrieuke1 – I love how full sounding the tone is! You def got a great one, Michael!! Fantastic performance too!
@ksapp92 – Excellent performance, Kelby! I hear a lot of improvement in your playing in regards to some of the things we talked about in prev challenges. Def keep up the great work!2 small tips for this tune. First, when doing the barre (0555), keep your index straight, not bent at the knuckle. Which looks like this:
That form will give you more mobility when adding the notes on 7 and 8.
Second, when switching to G5 (0235), try to move all fingers into that shape at roughly the same time instead of adding 1 finger at a time. You can practice this by playing F to G5, strumming half notes. So no fingerpicking, just working on the change.
@zongozongo – Playing sounds great! I’d recommend memorizing it so you can focus 100% on playing.
@casadot349 – Wow! That was amazing Casado! I will def send this to Evan! He’ll love it!One thing I want you to work on is proper holding technique. Right now, you’re sitting and playing it like a guitar. But for uke, we need to use a different form.
I’ll embed a video I made for another member a few years ago on how to hold the uke. Additionally, here is another lesson and one more covering this topic that I recommend reviewing.
@dianna – Bravo! Well done and TY so much for the kind words 🙂Couple tips. For the accented strum technique you’re doing from 10 to 17 seconds, try to speed it up a little bit. It feels a little behind the beat atm.
I thought you did really well with the stretch chords! I’d keep practicing that section at a slower tempo to focus on note clarity.
@kdeacon7 – Well done! Recording quality was excellent too! Your uke sounds great! As you continue to practice, I’d work on one section at a time w/ 2 goals: memorized (I know you’re almost there, but I want you to play it w/out sheet music as a reference) and steady tempo.Also, check out the index finger barre chord tip I left for @ksapp92 above.
@nelsonlin2021 – Another excellent performance, Nelson! I’d keep playing it at this tempo, but also at a slower tempo. That slower tempo will help reinforce muscle memory and improve note clarity. Keep up the great work! I’m always impressed with your performances each month 🙂Friendly Reminder – The deadline for receiving feedback and an entry into the giveaway is tonight at 11:59 PM EDT (check your local time zone).
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Hi everyone. This is my second monthly challenge entry, and about three months into my ukulele learning journey. This video is the result of numerous takes, sometimes getting to the last roll without issue and then blowing the roll! Ugh! I guess I’m looking at this piece as a work in progress, but its been fun working on this challenging etude. Thanks for creating it for us, Andrew! Happy to see so many good entries!
Hi,
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a monthly challenge, but I took on the Finger Picking Etude No. 32. There was a couple buzzes on the second half; however, this was a fun one to learn and record. Thanks for listening!
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Love all the submissions – such a great community!
Etude #31.5 from me this month.
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Sliding into the April 2023 challenge in a knick of time! Here’s Fingerpicking etude no. 1. It’s such a lovely piece 🤗
@denisedistefano – Incredible for 3 months! Keep doing what you’re doing, it’s obv working! Couple tips. I like the roll technique. Looks and sounds great! But try to do it more sparingly. If you watch Steven’s take, he does it every other bar, on the first chord hit, in measures 1 – 8. Then for 9 – 16, he doesn’t do it much. It’s one of those techniques where less is more and doing it less often makes it that much more special when used.
Second, when the song picks up speed, try to relax your right hand. It looks like you have some tension when fingerpicking. We want to aim for 100% relaxed/no tension.
@brightwing – Performance sounded great! Well done!
@yukalele – Great playing David! Only advice I have is to continue working on building speed w/ a focus on clarity and timing. And LOL @ 31.5 😂
@suekulele – Beautiful playing Sue! And your uke sounds amazing! 🙂
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