Participate in the December 2023 Member Challenge – WIN $935 Kanile’a

[madz_about_uke]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

Holidays are wonderful but can become stressful and overwhelming at times.
Stepping back and playing something ~slow~ to soothe me a bit.
Have Yourself A Very Merry Christmas

[Andrew]

@firebladetim – Beautiful take played w/ great feel! My only suggestion is to loop the bridge in the tab player to practice keeping tempo steady. Great job overall!

@madz_about_uke – Lovely performance, Madell. Beautifully played and I loved the ending! 🙂

[johanna2509]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

Hi all!

This month I chose Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (I have to admit that I didn’t know this song before 😅🙈 I checked out Frank Sinatra’s version though). As a big fan of Matt’s all thumb arrangement, I had to learn this one, soo beautiful. Recording was as always not so easy. I normally stop trying if I can’t get an acceptable take in, let’s say, 5-8 takes (then I am not ready to record). I agree so much with @leb397 saying that every take has its good parts, but it is hard to get them in one recording. 😅 With this one, I had so many takes where the first 21 measures where almost perfect, but then I mess up on parts in the end that I usually play right in practice. Such a struggle. I stopped counting the takes.

This month marks my 5 years of playing ukulele! I can’t believe so much time has passed. Since April 2019 I have taken part in almost all monthly challenges. Thank you so much RC101 for all the arrangements, teaching, hosting these challenges and giving feedback every month!

Anyways, here it is, recorded next to our little christmas tree. 🎄

Oh, and I know that my fingering in measure 13 is kinda cursed. 😂 It was difficult to not cause string noises on the jump to the start of measure 14 (in the uploaded recording it surprisingly worked quite well).

With that said, I wish you all happy holidays and merry christmas! 😊

[leb397]

@johanna2509 that was lovely. It’s a beautiful song. Very popular in the States. I’m guessing you are somewhere different maybe? Recording is my nemesis when it comes to challenges. It’s funny, I would be recording and thinking “oh this is going to be a great take” and then with my mind “thinking” I’d immediately goof up 🤣🤦‍♀️ Congrats on the 5 years of playing. You are very good and certainly at an intermediate level. I started just before you but took a full year off of playing with “life” in the way. Love being a part of RC. Merry Christmas!!

@madz_about_uke your posts amaze me at how calm you always look. I see them in Facebook and your voice is so pretty. Nicely played… love the distraction – yikes I’d be a mess 😉

@muzikmama very creative with your rendition – nicely played. When Aura Lee was a challenge I remember it being such a pretty song. @The_Bumble_Bard I think I started RC just before you. Thank you for your positive comments.

Love hearing where everyone is living. I can tell the improvement of so many at RC. Fun to see and hear about the journey.

@deadbuggy I am amazed your wrist has healed so well and hasn’t effected your playing at all. Very nice submission and congrats on Andrew sharing with ALL.

@nat-uke well done. pretty tone to your uke too. 🎶

Great entries so far!!! Can’t wait to hear the singing entries! Happy Holidays

Maybe we can all add a location to our last challenge of 2023. I am from Connecticut USA.

Happy Holiday’s

• This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by leb397.
• This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by leb397.

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@johanna2509, that was so lovely! Literally perfect to my ears. It is funny that you’ve never heard the song, but you did such a beautiful job with it. Agreed I love that style of arrangement/thumb-strumming Matt does. After I first saw him do that, it quickly became one of my favorite ways to play, too. 😊

I agree with your and @leb397 ‘s statements about recording. It’s smart that you take a break when the recording is just not working. That isn’t productive then. I also do that when my anxiety with recording is interfering too much.

@madz_about_uke, very lovely take! Agreed with @leb397 that it’s impressive how calm and focused you are, even with distractions. 😅

And one more note to @leb397, I don’t know if I’ve said, but I’m from Wisconsin, USA, the land of cheese and cows and Midwestern spirit, man. I went as a cow trick-o’-treating with my nieces and nephew this last Halloween. It was udderly ridiculous. 😉😅

[leb397]

@the_bumble_bard I think WI is one of the prettiest states. I’ve been to all but Idaho, camping mostly. It’s so green and as you say udderly Beautiful. 🐄 😁

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@leb397, it is very pretty here. My family and I have referred to it as “The Shire” of the US (like from The Lord of the Rings) because it is indeed very green, pure, and peaceful here. 😅 I’ve never been to Connecticut, but have a weird fixation on the poetry lectures from Yale University and just all the poets who lived in that general region: Frost, Poe, Dickinson, and others. And I lived in PA for a few years and have been to NYC multiple times for… reasons. It’s cool that you’ve been camping in almost every state. Now I wonder if you plan to camp in / visit Idaho? Seems a shame that you’re just missing that one. 😅

• This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by The_Bumble_Bard.

[johanna2509]

@leb397 Thanks so much! Yes, I am from Germany, maybe the song is not so popular here, or I am just not culturally educated. 😂 It’s funny how we all struggle together when it comes to recording. 😅 Also, my heart rate increases with every measure being closer to the end which also leads to messing up and brain freezes. Then I am like “okay, I trust my muscle memory and my fingers, they’ll hopefully do the right thing”. 🤣
I enjoyed your performance, too! Lovely playing. 😊 I am sure most of the improvements in our ukulele journey is due to RC101!

@The_Bumble_Bard Thank you so much! I really like the soft tone that comes with strumming only with the thumb. It fits calm christmas tunes so well. And it allows to focus on tricky chords and chord changes. 😊
I also see recording kind of as a practice session. If I try to get a clean recording and it doesn’t work, I can easily figure out the parts that need more repetition or that I haven’t fully memorized yet.
P.S. I find your painting on the thumbnail very pretty! (I sometimes paint myself so I know it is not so easy to draw spheres or to get reflections/shadows right) Also great progress for such a short practice time! 😊

[muzikmama]

@leb397 Thank you. I only knew Aura Lee from the Elvis song. One my dad recognized from my practising and he doesn’t normally comment. The Christmas songs are nonetheless pretty and I like seeing everyone’s entries. I admire the work ethic and stamina you and everyone whose been doing this for a while has. I joined mid year and found it quite daunting how much of a step up it is. I have started to make my way around the site more, lately.

[Andrew]

@johanna2509 – Absolutely Beautiful performance Johanna and congrats on 5 years! I feel honored to be a part of your musical journey 🙂

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@johanna2509, so true! Playing with just the thumb is such a beautiful and delicate way to play and it also suits the kind of arrangements Matt creates so well, as he often includes rubato–All things I also love about playing uke. 😊 And yes, honestly it’s way more comfortable than using the index finger to strum (for me). 😅 You always play with that approach so gracefully, beautiful to hear!

That’s a really great way to think of recording, as practice sessions. I like to listen back to recordings, like I said, because then you can really see issues you’re having with certain parts of the song that you may not realize in the moment as you’re playing. It’s weird how that works. 😅

Thank you very much about the painting! I’ve only done maybe… 8 paintings ever, I’ve mostly done drawing with charcoal, pastels, and digital drawings. I thought about creating a topic where we could share our visual art but I don’t know if that’s too off topic, as this is a uke site. 😅😂😳 I love to draw reflections, it’s very fun. I posted this somewhere else here, but this is a painting I did of a balloon, one of a fall sky, and a digital drawing I did of a strawberry. I’d like to see some of your paintings if you wouldn’t mind sharing! 😅

• This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by The_Bumble_Bard.

[ccwuke]

I am a PREMIUM Member

Here’s my recording of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Lots of great entries so far! Merry Christmas everyone!

Now to practice for a Christmas party gig with the band I play ukulele and guitar in. We’ve got a special guest – an Elvis tribute artist! Its going to be great fun 🙂

Chris

[planetfink]

This is not an entry. But I thought I would learn this one before Hanukkah was over. I played it on baritone because it was too high for my voice and this was the easiest way to change key without having to rewrite the whole arrangement.
Chag Sameach.

[lhamilton]

Hi,

This month I played Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. What a lovely arrangement!

Linda
I am a premium member

[Andrew]

@ccwuke – Beautifully played, Chris! Good luck at the gig 🙂

@planetfink – Lovely playing and singing Kathy. I really enjoyed it!

@lhamilton – Gorgeous performance, Linda! My only suggestion would be to keep the tempo a little more intact for the rit. in bars 23-24.

[Author]

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