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Hi Holly
I agree that Aquila wound strings are very squeaky (although I just found they are not as squeaky as Pepe Romero Guilele strings). If you decide to go with an unwound string, just be careful because sometimes they are too thick to sit properly in the nut slot and the intonation can suffer when you play up the neck (not something that you do in Kemp’s Jig, but I once tried playing Moon with a fluorocarbon low G string and it sounded very wrong). If all wound strings bother you, then a good option is the Aquila Red unwound low G. It is thinner than Fluorocarbon strings so it will sit in the nut slot and have better intonation with no squeak. It’s alright, but I’ve found I prefer Fremont soloist wound Low G strings. They are wound, but they have minimal squeak and I love the tone.
I have just swapped around my Moonbird to low G, and my Eucalele back to high g.
I think the Moonbird is more suited to low G tuning as it has the wide bout and is naturally more bass-y sounding.
I use Living Water flurocarbon strings for both, I really love the really deep “boom” on the low G string, it goes straight to my heart.
I had the scary requirement of having to sand the nut to fit the low G string (the Living Water string is really thick), it fits well now but I think one edge is a bit sharp as it is scratching the new string as it stretches and gets retuned constantly for now. I will smooth that off today.
As long as you don’t go deeper, take it slow and just sand out the sides of the G string nut space and ensure the edges are smooth – no problems. (and I just thought “Nuts can be replaced…” before I took the plunge into the DIY task).Thanks Lisa, Robin, and Miztaken, I will make note of your suggestions and look at swapping out strings again. (as if the first time wasn’t scary enough! Lol). Deadbuggy – I liked the sound of your Kemp’s Jig. Very nice tone. I really enjoy hearing everyone’s entries.
Holly
It’s true that I would not have normally picked these songs to learn, so thank you Rock Class 101 for helping me branch out! In fact I couldn’t decide between Kemp’s Jig and Eastern Uke, so I branched out even further and learned both.
As always, love seeing everyone’s work. See you next month!
Here’s my entry for this month: Kemp’s Jig:
Thanks for sharing this song with us. I really loved learning it and it helped me get some practice on hammer-ons and pull-offs which I still need to perfect but they’re a lot better than a month ago 🙂
Your smile while playing is very contagious nthibode. Nice playing too, and nice playing everybody. 🙂
Thanks @jinajupiter! I can’t help but smile; the ukulele makes me very happy 🙂
I seem to recall you smile quite a bit in your videos too. I look forward to your performances!
Hi All, I already submitted Kemp’s Jig, but I am excited to share Eastern Uke, I’m actually surprised to have learned this one in time to submit, I think it just shows how much RC101 has taught me since joining in April (I think it was april, I started playing in January). I can’t say enough how grateful I am for all the work done here by RC101. Thanks! And to have a friendly place to share our accomplishments is wonderful. I *tried* to work on some dynamics in the song too, I really liked how nthibode sounded on her video. Mine isn’t perfect, but I feel the progress…. : )
~ Hollyrobinboyd – I enjoyed the duet! As far as your right wrist, a slight bend for small durations is not too bad. However, if you want to lessen the angle on the wrist, you could change your arm angle and pluck slightly closer to the bridge. However, it’s not necessary. Your playing sounds wonderful (great tone, correct notes, fairly good timing), and for the most part you are staying together well! There are just a couple of spots where eye contact or body language would help you two stay together even better. Some of the chords strums sound slightly out of sync. It’s very slight, and hard to get perfect. You two are well on your way! Keep up the awesome job, and thank you for being part of the challenge!
surfnrz – I like the hammer-ons and pull offs you added towards the beginning and end, very nicely done! My only advice is to try plucking a bit lighter to produce a warmer tone. It sounds great how you are doing it as well, and I can tell you are combating the background noise as well, but being able to play lighter will let the tone of your ukulele come out rather than being covered by the attack of the note. This is really more of an opinion, your playing sounds great as is! Thank you for participating!
holly1 – Great job! The string noise is my arch nemesis as well! On U-Bass it’s even more squeaky and loud, so I feel your pain on that one! I know that Andrew had a concert Ukulele with a nylon low G, so that upgrade would fix that issue (costly, I know!). At 0:21 I’m hearing a slight noise from you lifting your index finger off of the first fret (almost like a soft pull-off), so in this spot, I recommend keeping that pointer finger down rather than lifting it up. It’s also a good habit to get into to not move your fingers so far away from the fretboard when moving to different notes. You sound wonderful on this in spite of those small details. Keep it up! Thank you for your entry!
hotmilktea – Wonderfully played! Great form on the vibrato at the end as well. Your posture and technique are superb! One or two times your fretting hand wrist had a slight bend to it, but you seemed to notice and correct it immediately. Great work on this one! Thank you for entering the challenge!
nthibode – Wonderful Job on both! I’m going to give feedback on Eastern Uke. You sound great on this one, there are just a few spots (0:30 and near 1:03-1:05) where the stretched octave slides just need a tiny bit more work. Make sure that when you practice these spots, that your pinky ends up in the middle of the fret when sliding down to lower numbered frets. If it’s too far back, it might sound one fret off. If this isn’t the case, it might be an open string ringing out. In that case, work on muting the other strings when practicing these slides. Very good job on both songs! Thank you for participating!
gardn_gnome – I really like that you picked a comfortable tempo to play at. For the most part, you stuck with that tempo, just slightly speeding up at the start of theme 2 and theme 3. I would recommend playing to a metronome a bit more to get all of the parts at the same steady tempo, and then gradually build up to a faster tempo. Then focus on keeping the notes smooth and connected as you get ready for the next chord shapes. You are off to a fabulous start, and I can tell that you understand the rhythms, hammer ons, pull offs, and notes very well. Keep up the awesome work! Thank you for your entry!
Thanks Stephen,
Personally, I don’t find my wrist position uncomfortable, and the only reason I brought it up is that Andrew has commented on it in the past and it was more apparent in this video than in other recent ones.
I’ll work on that eye contact. I actually had my eyes closed through most of the performance because the camera makes me nervous, so it’s better if I can’t see it.
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