Participate in the February 2024 Member Challenge – Choose ANY Ukulele Song!

[mysticrick]

THANK YOU Stephen Cox for the enriching and informative private session. The discussion about Rhythm and Groove was helpful.Thanks for the tips and the links.

Bourre was a challenge. I have loved the piece since teen years when I wanted to be Ian Anderson. To play the piece on Uke and Bass revealed a lot about right hand technique-alternating index and middle fingers. I plan to continue correcting old habits and learning proper fingering next month with Etude #26 …Travis picking.

I do not have the technology skills or software to play both parts in one video (as Marianne did in the spectacular performance of Valse Venezano) so I used a loop pedal so I could do a duet for one.

RC101 continues to provide the instruction and development opportunities I need. I am very impressed by all the hard work and the spectrum of ability that is here. Thank you one and all.

[anikali]

@denisedistefano you make Etude 24 sound so sweet! In checking out all the songs available on RockClass101 I must have missed that one, but thanks to you I will be giving it a try. I also love the mellow tone of your uke, is it an anuenue?

[karenj]

Here is my February Challenge submission of Amazing Grace (Harmonics Version). I had started working on harmonics in January but caught a flu bug and had to break my challenge submission streak. I was so happy to have flexibility this month for a “take two” opportunity. I love the tone of harmonics, especially on that rare magical moment when I hit it just right. And this song will always have a special place in my heart. One of my goals has also been to focus on progress and not trying to get it perfect. So here is my best of a million takes.

I have been blown away by everyone’s recordings so far. Amazing work! You’ve inspired me to find some time to pick through the extensive catalogue of songs/lessons. So much to learn! Thanks again to RC 101 for the wonderful harmonics course and everything else.

Take care,
Karen

[nat-uke]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

I loved the open/any RC101 song challenge again. I went for another clawhammer song to build on my first time using this technique in last month’s challenge. I chose Christopher’s arrangement of “Cripple Creek”. I think it is deceptively simple at the beginning and the end, but then there is a crazy solo in the middle – I could have used another week on this – but here it is (@ 75% speed) and it was still fun. I can almost play the beginning and ending at 100% speed, but the solo is a long ways away from full tempo, so I recorded the whole thing with the 75% backing track. I especially like playing with these backing tracks. You play by yourself and you think -yeah, my timing is great, then the backing track says – REALLY?! You also learn to just keep playing if you make a mistake. Roll with it 🙂

I have enjoyed the variety of choices everyone has performed so far – very fun! Thanks all!
-Natalie

p.s. I figured out how to remove the background from a video – that was a cool trick this month too.

• This reply was modified 2 months ago by nat-uke.

[nat-uke]

@mysticrick – woah that was cool – both parts and the pedal looping trick. Fun!

[swissconsinboy]

I’ve loved Day-O (Banana Boat Song) since I saw Harry Belafonte sing it on TV many years ago, so it was a pleasure to work on it this month. The song is a real earworm, I’ve been walking around singing/humming/whistling all month.
It was a challenge playing to the backing track, but good practice, and there are a few glitches, but it was a fun song to learn, thanks Matt and Andrew.

[sarrafina]

I am a premium member.

Hi everyone its Sarrafina. I am a big Simon and Garfunkel fan and I love the Song “The Sound of Silence”

For this months challenge I transposed it from Tenor/concert High G to Baritone. Overall I really like the song on the Baritone. Some of the transitions can be challenging keeping everything smooth.

Having my dad handle recording duties helps a lot and this was recorded on an Iphone 13 Pro Max connected to a MOTU M6 digital interface with a Blue Baby Bottle mic just out of the shot.

I would love everyone’s feedback!
Sarrafina

[anyon1]

@nat-uke Great job! I like that you continued on with the banjolele this month. I know how challenging it can be wanting to play at top speed but needing to slow down for accuracies/timing sake. I think you sounded good with the backing track, and would like to hear it again when you get it up to full speed!

[richo_uke]

Hello Andrew and RC 101 members,

I‘ve been working on FIVE FOOT TWO again, which still is challenging for me. I could speed it up to around 70% so it doesn‘t sound perfect and on top – just to make sure it doesn‘t sound perfect – I add a few mistakes here and there. But I must say, playing without a camera pointing at me I am really satisfied with how far I came.
For this year I decided to focus a little more on strumming particularly on old time songs like this one. It really is a lot of fun for me and I‘m sure that I can improve more with this type of music than with chord melody as I never can remember all chords and notes…

Best wishes,
Rici

[richo_uke]

@Sarrafina

Hello,

I just watched your video and I am really impressed. You are so young and can play so beautiful. I couldn‘t even transpose the song to a different voicing. Everything sounded great.
Wonderful.

Best wishes,
Rici

[nat-uke]

@anyon1 – thanks for the encouragement! I’ll keep working on it 😉

[janaq1]

Hello everyone,
I’ve seen all the posts, and I’m glad I’m not alone in this effort. It drives me on, even when things aren’t going my way.
I chose The Entertainer by Scott Joplin as my challenge this month. It’s been on my list for a long time. I learned the arrangement fairly quickly, but I didn’t manage to perfect it to my satisfaction. The hardest part is separating the hammer-ons and slides so the notes don’t blend. I’m also struggling with the double stops – especially when going from the upper strings to the lower A, E strings, I don’t always hit the notes they’re supposed to sound. 😉

I gave up trying to make a perfect recording. Here’s about the 100th attempt. 😅 This time I tried recording with a metronome. But when I concentrate on the metronome, I find it harder to concentrate on the fingering.

Andrew, thank you for this great website and wonderful monthly challenges. It is a joy to be here.
Please exclude me from the prize draw this month.

Jana

[bibilele]

Hi everyone,
inspired by Brettboy in the January challenge I chose Love for this month. But boy, this is a tough one! I play it at around half speed, but I’m happy to have learnt a new technique. I guess speed will come with time. 😉

[ramiro]

I picked Für Elise as the song to learn for the February 2024 Rock Class member challenge. I learned a simpler arrangement in 2022 but didn’t continue to play it. Still, I wanted to make it more challenging and decided to learn it by ear and only watching the performance at the beginning of Andrew’s tutorial, not the tutorial itself. I listened to the performance often and used the indispensable slow down feature on YouTube a lot.

I’m aware of two notes that I played wrong in my recording and may play some notes on different strings than Andrew. Although, it can be quite tedious to learn by ear, it’s a great way to better connect with the instrument. Still, I think that tabs and notation are great tools and am grateful for the many fantastic tutorials that help learning the ukulele.

[1481632_m]

Here is my final attempt at this months challenge after the comments from @Andrew. Thank you for the feedback and explanation. I tried to make the strumming more in time with the picking and pay more attention to how I ended the song.

I enjoyed learning how to move up and down the fretboard and mute a string while strumming. I am excited to continue learning. It’s great to see all the performances. Great job everyone.

-Megan

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