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@katazumiri that was so lovely. Never heard it before but I was mesmerized listening to it.
Here is my cripple creek. Few notes, I ordered wrong adapter for my new microphone so still waiting on delivery. Recorded on iPad and uploaded back track all on iMovie. Next decided to use one of the first couple takes. Took stress away but want to bring it up to speed and clarity (as usual). So not where I want i, but felt Michael’s backtrack helped mask me 🤔☺️
Been a good month everybody. Nice playing.
@leb397: You’re once again making that wonderful old banjo uke sing! Nice sounds.
I need another month (or more) to make this smooth and unclunky, but here’s what I have so far. I’ve found it hard to play vibrato on one string when I’m playing other strings at the same time, so that’s something else to work on. My dogs provided the background sounds when they decided to plop themselves down beside me (they do seem to like being serenaded).
I hope you’ve had a good break @Andrew – thanks again for making this possible.
@leb397 and @grannieannie Thank you so much!
Here is my last and final update:
I’ve managed to learn Moon River. 😊 A lot of repetition is really key!
However, I guess I’ll forget the tune quite quickly if I stop playing it, because it’s mostly muscle memory.Unfortunately, the video is a little off centre, so only half of the Kalimba is visible. Oh well! 😅
I’m quite happy with it, but I messed up a bit towards the end of the song. I didn’t play any wrong notes, I just forgot what came next. This is normally the easiest part for me when I practise. 😅I now have to catch up on all the entries from this month so far. 😅
@leb397: Thank you! I know the song from a local radio station that plays hits from the 90s 🙂
Thanks, @grannieannie! Fun fact: Fools Garden is a pop-rock band with vocals, guitar, drums, bass and keyboards. In the studio version of the song “Lemon Tree,” the tuba is clearly audible in the verse. Therefore, in live concerts, they sometimes perform with a full brass band 🎷📯🎺
🍋🌳🍋
Aloha Ukuukulelele Family! This month I wanted to learn RC101’s excellent new Morrison’s Jig Arrangement. This one was a real challenge for me. I managed to finally get it 100% memorized over a week ago. But I have, to this day, never played it with perfect accuracy except at snail speed. This take is the pinnacle of my practice, decent speed and almost accurate. Thanks for the great challenge Andrew, Matt and Sam Muir! 🙂
Andrew suggested trying a different instrument for this month’s challenge which made me remember a few years back I bought a guitalele (or guilele) as it intrigued me being a baritone size ukulele but with 6 strings (I’ve never played the guitar or any other instrument other than a uke). I didn’t really take to the guitalele and found it distracted from me trying to learn ukulele so it was put away and forgotten. Inspired by Andrew – I dusted off the cobwebs and aimed to try and learn a song – this was a real challenge as although the nut width is 50mm the string spacing is narrower and there are 6 strings to contend with!
I came across the YouTube channel Sky Guitar (which seems to be a fantastic resource if you are a guitarist) and chose the tune A Dandelions’ Promise by Jay Chou which I believe is a song from a movie. I tuned the guitalele to E tuning (Pepe Romero strings), perhaps G or A tuning would be better as the high strings sound a bit ‘compressed’ to my ears.
As the song is all in first position I thought it wouldn’t be too challenging – I was wrong – and a real pinky ‘workout’. I had to do the last part separately as the tempo change had my fingers tripping up all over the place – on a positive I dabbled a bit with iMovie and learnt how to merge two video files.
I’m glad I gave this challenge a go – although I feel I have done a disservice to a beautiful song. But I am happy to be back and reunited with my ukulele where 4 fingers = 4 strings.
Things didn’t exactly go to plan this month learning a new piece, BUT I had lots fun getting back into practicing, and revisiting songs and lessons from years prior. It’s amazing how much your fingers remember! At any rate, I am proud that I brushed the dust off my uke this month and made time to practice.
Here is a piece from my favorite concept lesson- Harmonizing in C Major!
@johanna2509 so pretty. Makes me want to get one to play around with it.
@grannieannie thank you for comments. I thought your Spanish Romance was well done. And your doggie toes did like it too. It’s a long song and hard to keep that pace.
@akukes73 I’ve never seen or heard a guitalele. Didn’t know they were a thing. I like the sound. Very pretty@grannieannie Thanks for your comment! Grab a slide and check it off your list…you’ll love it! What a pretty piece Spanish Romance is…very nice. And the dogs are a delightful addition…mine like being serenaded, too!
@leb37 Great work on Cripple Creek! I know how hard that song is…although I didn’t post, it was the song I worked on last month, and between the clawhammer, rapid note changes, and tempo, it was a real challenge for me.
@brettboy Your jig was dance worthy…well done!
@johanna2509 I don’t think I’ve heard a kalimba before…that was just beautiful.Wow…so much talent around here! 🙂
Missed a number…
@leb397 Great work on Cripple Creek! I know how hard that song is…although I didn’t post, it was the song I worked on last month, and between the clawhammer, rapid note changes, and tempo, it was a real challenge for me.Hi everyone,
I am so impressed with how you have all taken on this challenge. It is a joy to see your entries.I really enjoyed learning “12th Street Rag”.
Every time I choose a song to learn, I tell myself that I have to start recording videos about my progress during the month. Not because I’d be less nervous about the final recording, but so that I could hear and see the flaws earlier — not on the last day of recording — and focus on them more.
Maybe next time… I’ll make it a side task… Again. 😉
@grannieannie
Yes, Matt’s tips and advice are always worth it. But for me, the goal at the end of the month is to perform the best I can after a month of hard work. So I followed Matt’s other advice from an earlier lesson and set a limited time window for recording. I record what I can, and then I choose something, even if I’m not satisfied (and I’m almost never satisfied 😅). It’s like musicians in the studio — they also record until they’re satisfied. And that’s where experience and hours of practice come in — some get it right on the first take and some don’t. It’s going to take a long time before I’m satisfied with my performance on the first attempt. But I take it as part of the process, I don’t fight it.@jasdel thank you. I’ve wanted to attempt Cripple Creek a while now. Also extra kudos to @karenj who played it last month and did a better job than I ☺️. I hope you post yours. You are right about so many brain cells getting involved 😆
@janaq1 love it. Such a fun piece to have in your pocket. Nice.
@dianna one of my favorite! Great freight train.
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