Participate in the August 2026 Member Challenge – WIN $549 Kala Ukulele

[Andrew]

Hi Rock Class 101 Community!

We’re back with a VERY SPECIAL Site Member Challenge #113! We’ve teamed up with Uke Republic to give away an INCREDIBLE Kala Revelator Tenor Ukulele! This slimline electro-acoustic ukulele has a beautiful mango wood top and includes a built-in pickup. This ukulele retails for $549 USD.

I’m beyond humbled to share that over 5,000 members have now participated in our challenges! If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, now’s the perfect time to jump in! This month’s challenge is a fun way to stay motivated and a great opportunity to connect with fellow ukulele players who are passionate about learning and growing as musicians.

Please watch the video above and read the instructions below carefully for all the details on this month’s challenge.

Pick ANY SONG from our new course: Pathways: A Curated Guide to Learning Ukulele Through Songs

Please watch the video above for guidance on taking the course in order versus choosing songs out of order. Premium members have full access to all 30 songs, while free members can access only the first three beginner-level songs.

** If you need assistance with how to record yourself, check out our FREE course on recording audio/video or email me, and I will be happy to help you out. **

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GOALS FOR MEMBER CHALLENGE:

1. Beginner Level: Be able to play one of the lessons smoothly and in time. Don’t worry about trying to play fast, slow and steady wins the race 🙂

Recommended Piece: ANY SONG IN THE BEGINNER LEVEL

2. Intermediate to Advanced Level: Be able to play the lesson smoothly, in time, and at/or close to the original piece’s tempo.

Recommended Piece: ANY SONG IN THE INTERMEDIATE OR ADVANCED LEVEL

3. Participation Goal: 35 Rock Class 101 Member Participant Videos/MP3 posted.

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GROUND RULES FOR PARTICIPATION:

1. Post your Youtube, Vimeo, or Soundcloud links of you playing 1 of the 30 RC101 songs anytime between Saturday, August 1st till Monday, August 31st, 11:59pm ET.

The upload feature on the site only supports photos. Members must host their own files. Creating an account is easy and free. Here are the links to create an account:

YouTube (For Video) – https://www.youtube.com/create_channel

SoundCloud (For Audio) – https://soundcloud.com/signin

2. Submit individually, as a reply, IN THIS POST.

3. Feel free to submit more than one video for the challenge, but additional videos will not count as extra entries into the raffle for the prize.

4. Have fun and don’t be intimidated by this challenge!!! Use this challenge to help you set goals and complete them by a deadline. You can also use this as an opportunity to chat with your fellow Rock Class 101 members and share tips or tricks on this challenge that you think are useful.

5. You must perform the entire piece to receive an entry into the prize raffle. Your performance must be submitted by the deadline listed (in #1) above to gain an entry in the raffle.

* Note: In my opinion, it is better to show progress versus perfection with these challenges. So if you are a beginner and can only play the first couple of measures. That is completely ok. If you play two more measures of the next challenge piece than you did the previous one, you are on track to getting better. This is what these challenges are about… you learning ukulele and getting better. Remember we are all here to support you no matter what your current playing level is.

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COMMON FAQs:

1) The prize and the challenge is open to the entire world!

2) Premium membership is NOT required to participate, but will make participation easier as it gains you complete access to the full video lessons, tabs, and the on-screen tab viewer.

3) Basic membership (free) is required to submit a reply on this forum post. You can sign up for Basic Membership HERE.

4) To post YouTube video links (in which they appear embedded on the forum), simply copy and past the video URL in its own line. For example:

YouTube URL

5) If you live in the Continental U.S., we will ship the giveaway ukulele to you for FREE! If you live outside of the Continental U.S., there will be a shipping fee ranging between $40 USD to $80 USD (as this ukulele is very expensive, shipping costs may exceed this amount. It will be shipped insured). This fee will be collected by Uke Republic. You are also responsible for any custom fees or duties.

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Giveaway Rules:

There will be 3 chances for you to win this ukulele.

SUMMER CHALLENGES:

First Chance: Participate in our July Challenge.

Second Chance: Participate in our August Challenge.

Third Chance: Participate in our September Challenge.

There will be 1 winner, selected by random drawing on October 5th. To qualify to win, you must submit your audio and/or video links of your playing by the deadline listed above.

Grand Prize:

1) $549 Grand Prize! Includes:

A) Kala Revelator Night Owl Mango Tenor Ukulele with Pickup

LISTEN TO THIS SWEET UKE BEING PLAYED!

UKULELE SPECS

Tenor size with slimline Revelator body design
Solid mango top for warm, articulate tone
Innovative Night Owl soundhole for enhanced player-facing projection
Lightweight okoume body and neck
Florentine cutaway for easy upper-fret access
Beveled comfort edges for reduced arm fatigue
Passive piezo pickup for natural amplified sound
Bone nut and saddle for improved sustain and clarity
Black open-gear tuners for smooth, accurate tuning
Aquila Nylgut Low G strings installed

Other Features: Includes a deluxe padded Revelator gig bag

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THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR!

Uke Republic: https://www.ukerepublic.com/

AND A SPECIAL THANKS TO YOU! Let’s crush this challenge!

[leb397]

It’s great to see so many entries last month and lots of new voices. 👏👏👏
Time to continue with the course.🎶🎶🎶

[gi_gi_]

@leb397 Hi Louisa, your chucking was good in last month’s submission. You got it. Your uke is pretty. Is it new?

I’m working on St. James Infirmary song for this month. Wish I could play it like @EvandaSilva. It’s unbelievable he could play so well at that tender age of 13. How he has grown now.

[anyon1]

@leb397 and @gi_gi thanks for listening to my take on House of the Rising Sun last month, and the kind words!

@leb397 I enjoyed your video; the etude you played was a happy little tune, and I love the chucking technique!

@gi_gi your Gymnopédie really captured the emotion of the piece. That’s something I try to work on in my playing, but it always seems to take backseat to getting the right notes! I’m working on St. James Infirmary this month too. I like the rhythm and feel of it, but it has some tricky bits. We’ll see how it goes!

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 5 days ago by anyon1.

[gi_gi_]

@anyon1 Thanks so much for the compliment. I appreciate it. It’s hard to let the emotions show when a video is on you. I started to forget the video was on after a while ☺️ Gymnopedie is such a moving song in itself. I look forward to your St. James Infirmary. I just love how Evan plays it with such rhythm and soul. It’s a great piece.

[The_Bumble_Bard]

Agreed with @anyon1 that your take on Gymnopedie last month was so lovely, @Gi_Gi_! 🥰 I wanted to do that one this month, but the low G arrangement does not really translate well at all to high G. I tried it. So, will keep looking at the different tunes! I defs will go through the whole course in order for sure at some point! 😅

[annyuke]

Hey folks, I struggle this month a bit to pick a song because I don’t find really beginner options on a low G ukulele (which I have only).
Or can I just play the high G songs on low G? But it will sound strange 🙈

[Andrew]

@annyuke – 8 of the 10 songs in the Beginner Level can be played on a low G ukulele. At the top of each unit, you’ll see a beige progress bar indicating the tuning used for that song. Some songs work for both high and low G, while others work with just one.

[cyman_t]

Hi all,
Here is my contribution for this month’s challenge. Still working on improving my strumming skills so I picked song 5: Loke Lani. It made me work both on the triple strum and increasing my strumming speed. Much appreciated exercise. I do think I still need to improve how my triple strum sounds though, I’ll keep working on it too.

Also, this time, I used the Hollyland Lark M2S mic to record with my phone so thanks to those who shared their feedback on Hollyland’s devices and made me discover these. I find them very useful to record with minimal equipment and still have an acceptable sound quality.

@Andrew, this new course is a wonderful idea: it really helps me on my learning path. Thanks.

I am a premium member

• This reply was modified 1 week, 2 days ago by cyman_t.

[Andrew]

@cyman_t – Strumming and timing sounds excellent! To my ear, I am hearing you play the rhythm as follows:

As opposed to a triplet in the middle (as written):

With that said, it sounds great as is! I hear it as a tasteful variation. If you’d like to try the triplet version instead, this video will help you with the rhythm.

Thank you for the kind words on the course! 🙂

[joe150]

I am a premium member

[Andrew]

Very well played, Joe! Just a heads-up: that song isn’t in the Pathways Course. For this month’s challenge, you’ll need to choose a song from the course.

[cyman_t]

Thanks for this feedback @Andrew, it confirms my intuition: something is not right even it sounds good :-D. Now I know what.

I’ll work on it, hopefully soon. Is it OK to post a new version in this topic just to check with you if I got it? Or should I post it somewhere else in the forum?

[joe150]

Thank you for your kindness and understanding. I found a song from the Pathway lesson.

[Andrew]

@cyman_t – My pleasure! You can post it here 🙂

[Author]

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