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Hi!
Here’s my attempt at ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’.
This feels quite rusty and just not smooth but decided to post regardless. Looking forward to your reviews and suggestions.
Hey everyone, here is my recording of crossing hemispheres, a really cool tune.
I played it a little bit slow and sometimes i wasn‘t able to find the chords in time, but it‘s my first song without looking at the notes.
Thanks for another great lesson.Here is my submission of Beginner Blues Strumming. At first I had trouble with the slap part because my right hand was too much over the sound hole, but once I moved it more to the left (over the frets), it seemed to help.
I plan to take the Next Level Strumming Course to get more comfortable with different strumming patterns!Jane
Here’s everyone on page 2 I haven’t gotten to you yet.
maryjanew – Excellent job on the timing, MJ! For the ending lick, the first single note falls on the & of 1. Try playing along with the tab player in “synthetic mode” to help get that rhythm tight. It’s tricky because the lick is fast at that tempo that you’re playing at.
ccwuke – Playing sounded great, Chris! Only thing I’d say is to play along with a metronome to help strengthen your timing. This is a really tough tune because it has a lot of syncopation.
misterbones – I thought that was a really unique take on both Matt’s tune and the ghost note strum. Matt’s got more of a constant strumming motion to his right hand technique, but the way that you played the chords with a flick of the index and the thumb stationary on the G gave the latter a more prominent role in the overall sound. I liked it a lot, it’s like you took it and made it your own 🙂
ukandrea – Andrea, placing the uke in between the legs like a classical guitarist seems to be a difficult position to hold and play in. I’ll include a short video below which detail 3 steps on how I hold the instrument.
As far as your playing, listen to the section that you did starting at 1 minute. Notice your right hand has more motion when strumming. If you compare that to the opening of the song, you’ll see that you’re much more stationary. The former it gives it a more natural and fuller sound. So I’d copy that approach for the first part of the song.
Overall it was great! Keep up the excellent work 🙂
I code Daybreak. Need much more work on the pulloffs but the end of the month is here. Knowing Also need to learn to not let a mistake effect me. The great thing about these challenges are that they make you realize things that need a bit of extra work.
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Here’s my submission for this month.
This was quite challenging but I also learnt a lot. Thank you for the arrangement!
I just wish the first/last section wasn’t so muffled in sound.
And when watching the video back I noticed that I still have a tendency to pull strings E & C downwards… 🙁 Not a big issue with this piece but something that I’ll need to work on to correct…Andrew will leave feedback for those that performed “Crossing Hemispheres,” in order to give specific advice pertaining to the strumming course, so here is everyone else on page 3 and to this point on page 4:
lisadmh – You’re doing a great job on this one! You have the notes and most of the rhythm spot on. On occasion, when you strum the melody notes (0:39 to 0:41), you slightly lose the swing feel temporarily. I would isolate that part of the song, as it might be the difficulty of the chords under the melody taking your mind off of maintaining the rhythm. It’s a very slight thing, but keeping the rhythm consistent makes the performance more “danceable” to a listener. You’re playing wonderfully over all, keep it up!
nelsonlin2021 – I think your tone sounds great on this one, and you are doing a great job on the notes! As far as improving on the rhythm, one thing that might help is playing along to a metronome. However, to really get the timing and feel correct on the swing 8th notes, it may be good to find a backing track of a drummer playing a swing feel at a similar tempo. Your main tendency is to rush into the slide in measures 3 and 7. Make sure to wait for the swung upbeat for those in particular. It may also help to practice just a bit slower than this as well. Other than that, you’re doing great!
ukule_lise – Excellent job on this one! Your tone, rhythm, and notes were very nice on this! This may be more of a preference of mine than true feedback: On the 2nd time you play through theme 2, I would not overdo the rubato feel, and would more or less keep a steady pace that gradually slows down in the last 2 measures rather than pausing for effect before certain chords. Both ways of playing this are great, but it might make for a better flow to not have multiple dramatic pauses in that section. Great work on this one!
kpurdy – You are off to a great start on this one! Your strumming sounds great, and you are playing the patterns with a good rhythm. The main things to work on now are shifting into and out of the E7 chord without hesitating, and working a bit on the last 3 measures of the piece. With the E7, practice shifting from A7 into E7 without the strumming pattern, and then from E7 to D7. Once you can make those two shifts faster and more comfortably, those hesitations will disappear. Then for the final 2 measures, listen to Andrew play it looped with the Tab Play Along until you internalize that rhythm. It is tricky to count, so this way will help for now. You’re doing great, keep it up!
herbdrawsaline – Great performance! Your timing was solid, your strums sounded clean, and the rhythm was great! The only feedback I have for you is on the 2nd to last measure, the first fret note on the C string (C#) happens on the upbeat after beat 1 rather than waiting for beat 2. This is a small detail, but that slight syncopation makes a cool effect! Great job on this one!
leslieb – Very nicely done! You have the notes and slaps correct, and the rhythm is great! With the ending, the 2nd note of measure 23 happens just a bit earlier (on the upbeat after beat one). Then for the chord after the slapped strings in measures 13-22, it might be easier to pluck those chords (the “and” after beat 2 in each of these measures) rather than to play them with an upstrum. You’re doing a great job, Keep it up!
ajk101 – You are doing a great job on this! There are still a few pauses in places before large shifts like between the last note in measure 3 and the first note in measure 4. Isolate these transitions to work them up to tempo with a metronome. You’re doing great, and working on these transitions will make the flow of the piece even better! Keep up the great work!
saiyara – Very nice job on this one! Everything is sounding great, and with just a tiny bit more work on the transition from measure 10 to 11, you’ve got the song down! It may help to practice that shift just a bit slower and work it up to the tempo you are playing the rest of the song at gradually. Great work on this song!
dividedsky – Awesome job on this one! You’ve got the right idea with the strum patterns, and you kept a great feel throughout! The 2nd to last measure in the piece has a slight syncopation in the original that might be fun to add: the 2nd note of that measure comes in on the upbeat just before beat 2. It’s a slight difference, but it adds a cool element to the song. Keep up the great work!
ldarrow – You are doing a great job all around on the notes, technique, and understanding of the rhythm. It seems like the biggest thing now is to get more comfortable with the shifts and transitioning from the end of one section to another without pausing. I recommend playing the song slower with a metronome to stay in the habit of playing through mistakes and to find the spots that need to be isolated and practiced extra. Keep up the great work!
lbilkie – You are playing this one very well! There are only a few spots where you are hesitating or having hiccups, and they seem to be in theme 2. I have a feeling that playing the whole song just a touch slower would allow you to perform the song with fewer hiccups, and then working the few large shifts in theme 2 up to speed might allow you to play the whole song without pauses/hiccups in the near future. Wonderful job on this one, keep it up!
xrisrari – Awesome job on this one! You played very consistently with a great rhythm all the way through. My only feedback is on the ending, make sure not to bend your wrist out on the last note of the song. practice shifting into that note to keep good form. It doesn’t affect anything in this performance, but keeping good left hand form while shifting will allow for smoother shifts in the future. Excellent performance on this one!
Here’s everyone who did “Crossing Hemispheres” on page 3.
mark1256 – Bravo, Mark! This is the best performance I’ve seen from you to date. All four techniques were excellently performed. And your feel and tempo where fantastic too. Well done, I was really impressed 👏 👏
lisamcc – Your speed is impressive! But I think if you slow down a little bit you can work on some of the intricacies. For example, the main melody was more of an interpretation than a note for note playback. Also, try to keep the same tempo throughout or if you’re going to speed up, maintain that faster tempo throughout the rest of the piece.
brettboy – I like the hesitation effect that you added the first time through the progression vamp. Such a cool idea! As always, great feel and great performance Brett!
gi_gi_ – Way to go, Gi Gi! Excellent take overall. So to my ear, it sounds like you’re playing at your max speed. I’d slow it down a touch because I think you’ll be able to play with a little bit more fluidity. Also, the last two techniques were played at a slower tempo. Try to keep the tempo steady throughout all four techniques.
smokealot – Excellent take overall, Ulli! Only thing I want to hear is a bit more of that sweep strum attack. The key for that technique is finger independence in your strum attack (i.e. flicking the pinky followed by ring, middle, index).
evapaju – Bravo Eva! It shows that you’ve gone through the course 🙂
The main melody and each technique sounds wonderful. The only technique that I would work more on is the sweep strum. If you watch Matt’s right hand during the Crossing Hemispheres performance, and you slow it down to 50% speed, you’ll see that he maintains an independent attack in each digit (finger). When I watch your performance, your attack is more of an accented strum because you aren’t deploying each finger independent of each other.
So I’d revisit that lesson. I remember Matt talking about starting super slow to develop finger independence in each “flick” attack.
lhamilton – Well done, Linda! My only suggestion is to try to hit the G string a little bit lighter. We want that note to add depth and color to the harmony and melody by being layered in the background.
wongbrown – Well done, Sheila! I’d offer the same advice I left above for @evapaju. Other than that, continue working on it to keep the tempo steady throughout all four techniques.
Here’s everyone who did “Crossing Hemispheres” on page 4 (so far).
concan – Excellent take! I’d offer the same advice I left above for @smokealot. Other than that, continue working on bringing the last two techniques on par with the tempo of the previous two plus main melody.
biancak – Wonderfully played, Bianca! Each technique and the main melody sounds great! Only thing I’d say is to practice along with a metronome. I want to hear the tempo kept a little more even throughout the entire piece. Practice at a slower tempo than what you did here, because this sounds like your max speed.
andrewvh – Great job, Andrew! So the first time through the main melody you played at a slower tempo than the second time. But you maintained that faster tempo throughout the rest of the piece, which was super impressive! Anyways, the point I want to make is to try to start and end at the same tempo. One tip that always works for me is to tap my foot for a couple measures before I began playing so that I can feel the beat that I want to play at.
Other than that, each technique sounded great! The only one I’d work on is the sweep strum. Check out the advice I left about for @evapaju.
But again, great job this month! Keep up the good work 🙂
Thanks Andrew. I think I learned a lot from Matt’s course and I really enjoy playing this song. I’m still working on the tempo.
Here is my play of “Crossing Hemispheres”. It’s fun and useful to practice. 🙂
https://youtu.be/CtgmHRDckY8
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