Home Page › Forums › Monthly Member Challenges › Participate in the August 2023 Member Challenge: WIN Kala Ukulele!
Tagged: 2023, August Challenge, kala, Long Neck, Love Songs
- This topic has 130 replies, 41 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 5 months ago by
denisedistefano.
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AuthorPosts
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September 4, 2023 at 4:00 pm #58577
Andrew
Keymaster@akukes73 – Beautifully played, Ash! I didn’t think the strums were too loud. I thought the opposite, they had a nice accent and fit the vibe of the piece well. From here, I’d recommend practicing at a slower tempo. That’ll help smooth out the choppy parts. Overall, it was very well played!
@johanna2509 – Excellent pacing and feel, Johanna ๐
@potter – Very impressive, Jen! I rarely see folks be able to play barres cleanly in the first month. Your form looks great and it also looks like you’re applying the correct amount of pressure to get them to ring clearly. Overall, the piece was wonderfully played. Keep up the great work!
@leb397 – That was awesome, Louisa! ๐
@denisedistefano – Beautiful performance, Denise! So I noticed when you barre across all 4 strings, you are bending the index inwards:Try to keep the index straight when barring across all 4 strings:
It’s okay to curve inwards when barring less than 4 strings. For this example, I am playing 9777:
@june2020 – Rhythms sound great! Here’s an interesting thought. Listen to the first 2 notes of your performance. Compare that to the phrase immediately after. Those 2 notes sound rushed, right?I noticed we (me, Matt) do that often too. Where the song starts with a few notes that are too fast before settling into a slower tempo/feel. Try counting in or just practicing the opening a few times before recording. Idk why we all do that, must be some psychological thing with the camera being on lol ๐
As for your performance, I thought it was lovely! Great job this month!
@andrewvh – Welcome back, Andrew! Performance was great! It was a cool reinterpretation into more traditional fingerstyle playing technique. As you keep working on it, jump into the clawhammer course to learn the technique Chris uses to get a more banjo-esque sound.
@nat-uke – Excellent first post, Nat! You played it beautifully ๐Your barre chord technique looks pretty good! I’d recommend the same advice I left above for @denisedistefano. But I think for you, I’d mostly recommend working on increasing finger strength so the barres ring clear each time. Try running exercises, such as:
I’m just moving between 2000 to 4222 to 5333 and back down. You can do the same for full barres. For example, 7777 to 5555 to 7777 to 10-10-10-10. That sounds nice ๐
@dianna – Bravo! Technique sounds great! Excellent jam with the band ๐One thing I’d recommend checking out is Transcribe.
This is an awesome program that is similar to the on-screen tab viewer on our site. Basically, it allows you to slow down and loop audio or video files. It even has a feature that tells you what notes and chords are played and surprisingly itโs very accurate!
But as it relates to this song, put the 100% speed backing track in it and youโll be able to slow it down by 1% increments. This allows you to find the proper speed that is right for where you’re at right now. And of course, work towards gradually speeding it up to 100%.
@jody_hendrickson – Beautifully played with great feel!
@nelsonlin2021 – Honestly, I felt the opposite. I think this is the most expressive, emotionally, that I’ve heard you play. It was very well played, Nelson.
@maryjanew – You played it beautifully MJ! I’d recommend 2 things, one is to memorize it and second, always play through your mistakes. Most folks will never realize a mistake was made unless we stop and start over.
@gi_gi_ – Wow, you have a beautiful voice Gi Gi! The second half was flawless! The chord melody was very good too. I think if you had those extra 2 weeks, it would have been as smooth as you wanted. But again, you have a stellar voice. I’m a bit jealous I can’t sing like you lol.September 4, 2023 at 4:08 pm #58580Andrew
KeymasterWe had 38 members participate this month! I really enjoyed watching everyone’s performances! Y’all did sooo well!!
So without further ado, the winner of our August Challenge isโฆ
Our September challenge is LIVE and the theme is: Mini Lessons! Thereโs also a really unique prize for September! Hope to see everyone in the new challenge: https://rockclass101.com/september-2023-challenge
September 4, 2023 at 4:35 pm #58582leb397
Participant@andrew thank you!
@nelsonlin2021 congratulations! ๐๐๐๐๐๐September 4, 2023 at 5:05 pm #58583gi_gi_
Participant@nelsonlin2021 A big congrats! Nicely played.
@Andrew thank you sooooo much. You have no idea how much that means to me. I am constantly working to improve both my playing and my singing. These challenges truly help.Congrats to everyone who worked so hard and kept everyone motivated by your submissions.
September 4, 2023 at 7:04 pm #58584nelsonlin2021
ParticipantSeptember 4, 2023 at 7:05 pm #58585The_Bumble_Bard
ParticipantYay, congrats, @nelsonlin2021! I agree with Andrew that your performance had so much feeling behind it. Very lovely indeed! ๐
Thank you for all you put into the feedback each month, @Andrew! It’s always so encouraging and very informative as well. And entertaining frankly. ๐ ๐ The Stev/phens offer great feedback as well, but I feel like you especially notice every person and set the tone of kind support that everyone here follows. So thank ya! ๐
September 4, 2023 at 7:11 pm #58586nelsonlin2021
ParticipantThank you @TBB. Itโs always good to hear from you. I learn a lot from the interactions between you and others and your thoughtfulness has always been very helpful ๐
September 4, 2023 at 7:40 pm #58587The_Bumble_Bard
Participant@nelsonlin2021, awww, wow, thanks so much for that! That’s so nice of you to say. That seriously means a lot. I feel like I learn just as much from the interactions here, and have been so encouraged. So, I’m very glad it’s helpful for you, too. ๐
September 5, 2023 at 8:25 am #58588dianna
Participant@Andrew – So cool! Transcribe is exactly what I need. Thank-you! Iโm going to try to keep โBury Meโ in my memory rotation. Practicing with this tool will be perfect.
@nelsonlin2021 Congratulations!September 7, 2023 at 12:32 pm #58597nat-uke
Participant@andrew – thanks for the feedback and exercise suggestion. I do feel like my fingers need more strength. I was even thinking โsquishy ballโ, but I think uke barre practice would be more practical. Appreciate the suggestion ๐
Congrats @nelsonlin2021 ! Iโm sure you will play that new uke very nicely โค๏ธ
September 10, 2023 at 8:36 pm #58631denisedistefano
Participant@Andrew thanks so much for the tip about not bending my barring finger. That was a total revelation for me! No wonder I struggled with bare chords so. This is a game changer!!! Woohoo!!!
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This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by
denisedistefano.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by
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