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Evaluation (cont’d): There’s been good progress in week 2. I can play Fingerpicking Etude no. 13 smoothly and in time, with minimal errors. I’ve started to focus more on Chopsticks. I know the notes by heart and can play it relatively smoothly at 60% speed. I had to look up some tutorials on how to play harmonics — that was fun! The next two weeks will be about practicing to gain speed and smoothness in my playing.
1) Execution – I will be working on developing feeling in my playing and getting back to basics with a strong emphasis on sticking to a practice schedule and participating on this site. I’m working through the blues. I’m trying to get a smooth 12 Bar Blues with back beat and to memorize and be able to slowly play at least half of EP003 Rhythm Blues with fill licks.
2) Application – I am practicing as much as I can each day and that includes warm-ups & stretch. I am working with a practice sheet but still haven’t figure out how to best use it. I am learning 1 to 4 bars at a time and trying not to move on before I really have my hands in sync with my brain and visa-versa.
3) Evaluation – I have included an evaluation section on my practice schedule. Ideally, I will record on Wednesdays to see how I am progressing. I will post when I can for feedback.
Challenges: My concert uke met with an untimely death. Luckily, I was given a banjolele this past Christmas, so I can keep playing. Because the banjolele has a unique sound I find it does not work with many of the selections at Rockclass101. The etudes sounded strange. I went with the Blues because it sounds the best with the banjolele. Now, if I can just control my playing and not twang it too much. I’m also working with some new recording methods and have taken video out of the process for the moment. I find it easier to just record my playing without the annoyance of video. I’ll get back to video when I’ve figure out how to work everything. I’ve taken on a bunch of new stuff but luckily have a little extra time on my hands right now so I hope I can stick to this and actively participate.
12 Bar Blues with back beat. 1st eval post.
EP003 Rhythm Blues with fill licks. 1st eval post.
Third day of pracitce:
Tried to combine strumming, chucking and percussion with the thumb.C – Am – Em – G
Strumming: T – U – C – U and T – DUD – C – DUD
T = Thumb (base drum)
D = Down
U = Up
C = ChuckThis is my mid-month followup on pentatonic scales. I am starting with C/Am. This video shows C and AM scales in 1st position,then the pentatonic versions,the a couple of random riffs based on C pentatonic (ie I end on C. C and Am pentatonic have the same notes.
Here is my mid-month update. I think I’ve got the picking more or less down without the singing. Now I just need to add the singing to it.
We’ve had relatives staying with us for the last week, so we have had limited opportunity to practice. I also just found out that my phone is malfunctioning, so I will need to send it off for repairs again. Hopefully, I will be able to use another device to record at the end of the month.
Progress video #2!!
Okay so here’s the next part of While my guitar gently weeps.Not the cleanest play through I’ve had but my hands were getting tired. I noticed that I’m not letting some of those notes ring out fully, so I’ll try and correct that. Also featuring in the video is my Rat Terrier Tiny who really wanted to break my focus there. She’s pretty needy.
Great updates folks. It’s fun to see what progress you’re making.
Ukuon, lol on Tiny. How did you keep a straight face? Good concentration.
Here’s my first UPDATE 🙂 In a nutshell: The goals I set for this month are to practice half an hour every day, to arrange This is me from The Greatest Showman and to do the Standard notation course.
Unfortunately, I could not keep practicing for half an hour every day. When I have university, I have to leave very early and come home late. After everything is done at home, too, I’m usually too tired to play the ukulele. Therefore, I decided to practice on the days when I don’t have to go to uni.
My own arrangement is difficult for me this time, too. All I’ve almost finished so far is the beginning and the chorus, but all in all, I’m satisfied with my progress. It’s a pretty difficult song. Here you can see the first sneak peek on my Instagram:
I’m also thinking about posting more on Instagram about my progress and arranging and stuff like that. I think that could also motivate me to practice a lot and could be helpful for others too.
With the standard notation course it also works well. I’ve already done a lot of it, but I definitely have to go through the first lessons again.
Nice progress all.
Robin- I think it’s in your singing key.
Awiea – new uke sounds great.
uku- love the song, love Tiny.
Walter-maybe not exciting but very necessary. Good challenge choice.@awiealissa I love that song and I’m loving that arrangement, great work!!
Unfortunately for me, I realized recently that the first deadline was on the 15th, so I understand my entry is not valid anymore, however I went ahead and challenged myself learning two songs I love. So here is my ”entry”:
Execution: I think I might be in the intermediate level. I’ll be working on applying music theory. My short term goal is to have a better understanding of music, so I can accomplish my long term goal which is to arrange a song by myself (I don’t think I’m ready just yet, so I’m taking this challenge as the first step). I practice between 1-2 hours every other day.
Application: I chose two songs that weren’t on RC101 because I figured it was best to step out of my comfort zone of watching tutorials and try to do it by ear and apply the theory. I’ve been reading books on music theory and studying the courses in RC101 on the subject.
Evaluation: I am so elated that I managed to write tabs and the notes values on the staff, and I felt like my head was going to explode from learning so much while doing this. I was able to know which chords would be used by knowing the key the song was in, I learned the formulas for forming the chords and naming them and using different shapes in the fretboard to form the same chord, and I think I figured out the time signature. I know that I probably messed up on the notes values while writing the tabs, but overall I’m very happy because I understand a lot more (even though I have a long way to go). Next stop will probably be using the metronome!
I’ll never love again from the movie A star is born
This one took me a looot of time, around 4 hours, but I’m happy I stuck with it
City of stars from the movie La La Land
@rickeymike Thanks! Try to improve day by day. I dont hate time to practice every day, but when I am practicing then for 2 or 3 hours 😉
Day 4: Here are my latest results. I think I am getting close!
By the way: Thanks to all other participants. You are doing great aswell. Now I get a lot new ideas what to practice in the next month 🙂
Have fun!Hi Andrew, I would like to submit my first weekly practice for some feedback. I was doing Etude No.9 Theme 2 on triplets skills. I can do tempo 100 for now. I found hard to keep the beat when I tried to move my index finger up one string from 2200 to 2220 and also move over to 3350. Please give me some advice. Thank you. / Sheila
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