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Here’s everyone on page 9:
@whollyprofit – I think you should be really proud of that, especially considering it was just a one take! I really like the extra strumming you added too. It filled the arrangement out nicely and made it a more unique performance. Great work!
@andyrose – Good job on this month’s challenge. You have handled all those barre chords really well and that swing rhythm is flowing nicely. I like your right-hand thumb only technique too.
@lhamilton – first of all, well done for challenging yourself with the harder song this month. Even though this is probably one of Evan’s simpler arrangements it’s still really hard to play! I’d probably just suggest slowing down a bit. That will make it a bit easier to keep the rhythm and it will also give your performance just a touch more of a laid back, bluesy feel. Keep up the great work though.
@tric_o_tronic – This is sounding really good. Well done for memorising it. This is the first step in truly mastering a piece of music. The rhythm of this arrangement is deceptively difficult though. I’d recommend trying to play it a bit slower and if you have access to the online tab player, I’d definitely suggest playing along with that, maybe at around 70% speed. This is a great way to really get to grips with the rhythm.
@lynnzo – This is sounding great! Those transitions will become quicker as you practice. It’s good to memorise the music as this then allows you to always be thinking about what the fingers need to do next. Also, don’t be afraid to practice JUST the transition on its own over and over again. This will help build up the muscle memory and ultimately speed up that transition when you play the full piece. I think you’ve done a great job overall though. Just be careful on those down strums in measures 1 & 2 not to hit the A string as the melody notes you want to hear are all on the E string.
@concan – Well done for challenging yourself with the harder song. Pushing ourselves in that way is key to improving and moving forward and you’ve done a great job with this performance! I think this arrangement is rhythmically very challenging and overall, you’ve done a good job with your timing. Playing a little slower and practicing along with the online tab player (if you have access to it) is a great way to really master the rhythm. Your strums at 1:15 sounded amazing! 😊
@lynnwatson – That was a really solid performance! All those barre chords sounded great and your accuracy overall is excellent. Now that you can play it so well try practicing it with more of a swung eighth note feel. This will really take your performance to the next level! Great job 😊
@nelsonlin2021 – Congratulations on your second monthly challenge! This is a tough arrangement for a beginner and I think you handled it really well. Also, there is absolutely nothing wrong with playing slower to improve the accuracy of your playing. That is absolutely the best way to improve! It sounds like there are a few pauses in your playing that are a little longer than they should be (such as 0:13 and 0:15). I’d recommend playing along with the online tab player at around 70% to really get the rhythm nailed on. Keep up the great work though!
@nicholasliddeke – This sounds really good! The notes are all ringing out really cleanly, even on the barre chords so well done on your technique. To really prefect your performance I’d suggest working on the rhythm so that it flows a bit more smoothly. If you have access to the online tab player this really is a great tool for helping master the rhythm. Try slowing it down to around 70 or 80% speed and count in your head (or even out loud) as you play along. Great job overall though!
@morrieuke1 – Awesome job Mike! You have absolutely nailed the rhythm and tempo. Your performance had a lovely, laid-back bluesy vibe to it – I was tapping my foot all the way through your performance. Great work!
@richard_siegert – Great job this month! I think that sounded really good. You have played it at a good steady tempo to help maintain accuracy and keep a good rhythm so well done for having the discipline to do that. Those rhythms in the strumming part are deceptively tricky but you have handled them really well. Your triplet strum towards the end sounded great too. It could have done with being just a little faster but that will come with practice. Keep up the great work!
@johanna2509 – Awesome performance! You’ve kept a nice steady rhythm and tempo throughout and you’ve nailed that swing feel too. You may have found those barre chords more difficult on the tenor uke but they sounded great to me. I’ve got nothing but love for this performance! Well done 😊
Here’s everyone on page 10:
@andrewvh – Well done for memorising the music this month. I think it really helps to master a piece when we commit it to memory. This was really clean performance with a really nice feel to it. To take your performance to the next level, it would be good to tighten up the rhythm in places. If you have access to the online tab player, try playing along at a tempo you are comfortable with to really get that rhythm down. Great work though!
@akukes73 – Excellent job! I think this sounded really good. It can be tempting just to revert to what we are more comfortable with so well done for sticking with the thumb only technique. Pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone is how we really accelerate our progress and I think your thumb technique looked and sounded great. Keep up the great work!
@karenj – Great stuff Karen! It’s really hard to switch between all these strumming variations so quickly but you nailed them all and you clearly had great fun playing this piece. I really enjoyed your performance. Keep up the great work. 😊
@lisamcc – Just wonderful! Your performance really embodied the joy and happiness that playing ukulele is all about! Some of those strumming techniques are difficult enough just on their own so to play them all so well in succession like that is quite an achievement. Well done! (I love the sound of your new uke too 😉)
@leslieb – Well done for performing this one from memory. It can be hard to do but I always feel my performance improves exponentially once I have memorised the music. I did notice a couple of little pauses here and there as you were trying to remember the next bit but that will all be smoothed out with a little more practice. I think you did the right thing playing it at a slightly slower tempo too. It looks like you struggled a bit with that 3rd fret barre in the B section. A good tip here is to use your free second finger and stack it on top of your first finger. This will allow you to get a bit more pressure to help that barre ring out a bit more cleanly. Keep up the great work!
@lbilkie – You should be pleased! I think you did a great job on this and well done for challenging yourself. This is a crazy hard tune to play! I know you stumbled a little at the end but actually your second play through of the A section sounded particularly good. Your thumb and forefinger technique looks good and those rhythmic down strums on beats 2 & 4 are coming through loud and clear. So, you’ve got the technique down. The rest just comes with a little more practice. Keep up the great work!
@tules14 – Excellent job, especially considering you’ve only been playing for three months! I like that you’ve set yourself a couple of things to focus on – that’s a great way to improve. The rhythm sounded great to me as did the barre chords. They will improve further with practice as you build up strength in your fingers. It looks to me like you’re doing everything right so keep doing what you’re doing! 😊
@jbmills07 – I think you did a great job with this one and I could tell you really enjoyed playing it. You handled some of those tricky rhythms, especially in the strumming section really well too so well done for that. I also really liked your triplet strums towards the end. They sounded nice and clean. Great work!
@taylor22jane – Great performance this month! Great rhythm & tempo. I feel like your performance really embodied the spirit of the song. Keep up the great work!
@mkstewart67 – This was a really competent and relaxed performance with a great vibe! The B section in particular sounded great and all those barre chords are ringing out well. I loved it! 😊
@kidelozzi – Awesome stuff! I’m not sure if it’s a metronome I can hear or just you tapping your foot but I can see you have really concentrated on the rhythm with this one and its really paid off – you nailed it! Great tempo too. Loved it! Well done 😊
Hi Steven,
thank you for your very nice feedback :D.
Yeah I still need to practice my triplet strum for some extra speed!Here’s everyone on page 11:
@tali_bleh – Nicely done! Your performance had a really lovely feel to it. I think this was a good tempo for you and you handled those tricky barre chords very well. Overall, your rhythm was very good. Just be careful of playing some notes a bit too fast such as in bar 12. You want to hold that open C string note on beat 3 for a full quarter note so don’t rush into playing the next note. Other than that, keep up the great work!
@jiritrnka – Congratulations on your first monthly challenge! Hopefully it is the first of many 😊. I think you did a great job with this. This is a deceptively difficult arrangement, both technically and rhythmically so well done for challenging yourself. The verse section sounded great and the chorus is getting there too. It just needs a bit more practice to smooth out the rhythm. You want to play those strummed chords just a little quicker to keep the rhythm consistent. Great work overall though.
@mfaske – Ha ha, I think most of us hate the camera! I think you did a great job with this. You’ve really got that swung eighth note rhythm going, you handled the barre chords really well and the whole thing sounded clean and accurate. I know you had a couple of short pauses here and there but we all know they were the camera’s fault, not yours 😉.
@xavierrahfael – There it is – the signature hat flip! 😊. Great performance Rahfael! You are really feeling the vibe of this tune and I can tell you really enjoyed playing it. You have a great sense of rhythm and those body slaps sounded great. What a beautiful backdrop too. It’s great that you can play it so accurately at that tempo but I don’t think it would hurt to slow it down a bit. That would give the whole thing a bit more of a laid-back, bluesy feel. It would also give you a little more time to get your fingers into some of those tricker chord shapes higher up the neck. Great work overall though. Loved it!
@ukandrea – Great job Andrea! This is a really difficult arrangement so well done for challenging yourself. I think it’s sounding really good but I think it could sound even better if you slowed it down just a touch. This would help you get your fingers in position a little easier and it would also give it a bit more of that cool, bluesy feel. Keep up the great work though.
@isabelm – I think this is coming along really nicely. If you are able to, I think it really helps to memorise the music. I find that once I have memorised a piece of music I can then really concentrate on the rhythm and the performance overall. This was a great love lesson Matt did on how to memorise music:
I really like how it’s sounding though. keep up the great work!@biancak – This is a great example of practice paying off. You absolutely nailed it! I love your comment about running away from Evan’s arrangements too – we’ve all been there! I think you should be really proud of this performance. You’re clearly feeling the vibe. The rhythm is spot on and your accuracy is really impressive considering this is such a difficult arrangement. Really well done!
@lynettejd – Really great job! I think this was an excellent performance. Your timing was spot on and you’ve nailed that swung eighth note rhythm too. All the barre chords in this arrangement make it quite a tricky piece to play in places but it sounds like you’ve handled all those chords really well. Keep up the great work!
@sarahd – Great stuff! I think this is sounding really good. Your combination of picking and strumming sounds nice and smooth and your rhythm is very good. You could do with just speeding up slightly on that picked section in measure 20 but I can see that will come with a bit more practice. Looks like you’re doing everything right. Keep up the great work!
@ajk101 – This is coming along nicely and you’re absolutely right to focus on progress. Oftentimes it’s too easy to focus on what we haven’t yet achieved instead of looking at where we’ve come from and appreciating what we have achieved! You’re doing really well with this arrangement but a couple of tips just to improve the rhythm a little is to avoid those pauses after you play the A string on each of those chords (0:34 – 0:37). You may find it easier to pick those notes with your fingers instead of the thumb. Similarly, try to avoid those pauses after each down strum on the section between 1:17 – 1:22. Other than that, keep doing what you’re doing!
@madamoiselleannette – That was a really lovely performance. You’ve got that swung eighth note rhythm down and I like some of the subtle rhythm variations you added. If you’re able to I’d definitely recommend trying to memorise the music as I find it really helps me to focus on my performance once I don’t have to look at the music. Great work though, keep it up!
Thank you Steven for the feedback. Much appreciated. That was indeed my foot tapping in the background. Perhaps I need to play on carpet to muffle that a bit 🙂
Here’s everyone on page 12:
@sarahmusic – You did a very nice job on this one! You seem to be getting the hang of fingerpicking very quickly! Just as a general suggestion, you may want to fingerpick closer to the sound hole of the ukulele and not over the fretboard as possible to keep your fingernails from tapping the ukulele itself. Great playing on this song!
@yukalele – You are off to a wonderful start, and you did a great job of rising to the challenge of such a difficult piece! I noticed that your left hand thumb ended up sideways over the top of the ukulele at times, and working on left hand technique might make some of those passages easier to play. Keep working at it, you’re doing a great job!
@kirpuff – You’re doing great on this one! You have the notes down and are very close on the timing. There are a few spots where you are holding notes just slightly too long: in the first measure and other measures like it, the last note comes in on the upbeat rather than waiting for the downbeat of measure two. Once you incorporate that rhythm, it will feel much more like the original song. Keep up the great work!
@mac1984 – Very nicely done! You played the song great, with the rhythm exactly as it’s written. In Melody A, measure 6 will sound more like the original song if you play the first and second note of the measure as swung 8th notes instead of a quarter note followed by two 8th notes. Also, it sounds to me like when he returns to this figure at the end, he plays those notes as triplet quarter notes instead of the rhythm written. I can tell you are good at reading rhythm, as this is the first performance I’ve heard that has that rhythm as written instead of how it is played in his performance. You did a wonderful job! My only other suggestion is that playing with the thumb of the picking hand like Matt does might give the song a more relaxed feel with a softer attack on each note.
@themccoys – You are doing a great job! You have a great grasp on the song over all, and are doing a great job with the feel. I suggest trying to let the notes ring out a bit longer, which means making sure the melody notes are held out as long as possible before switching to the next note giving it more of a legato rather than staccato feel. Keep it up, you are doing a great job!
@lovebats – You are off to a great start on this one. I notice that your right hand is moving positions a lot and that it seems like you are holding the ukulele up with that hand, making the song harder. You may want to get a ukulele strap to help free that hand up to stay in one position. Unfortunately, we can’t give you an entry for the prize as the rules state that you have to perform the entire piece. But keep up the great work!
@kpurdy – You are doing a great job so far! This one is a bit tough, and it sounds like you will benefit from memorizing the piece a bit. It seems like you are only hesitating to look up at the music. In certain spots. Keep going, you’re getting close!
@kelsey91 – You are getting the hang of this! It’s a tough piece, but it’s really starting to come together. One thing that might help you is to get a ukulele strap or to sit down while playing so that you don’t have to hold the ukulele up with the right arm so much. With the left hand, I see your pinky sticking straight out from time to time, which might actually limit the motion of your other fingers a bit. If you spend a bit of time working on form, I bet your playing will become smoother just from that. Great work on this one! The edits all went together fairly smoothly!
@charles605 – You’re off to a great start! It sounds like you’re starting to have the notes down. What I would do now is take 4 measure sections and focus on one at a time, trying to keep a smooth flow for the whole phrase. This may require you to memorize a bit more of the song, but it will help you work out all of the pauses. The fire was very enjoyable!
@dividedsky – Very nicely done! You have a very nice, legato feel that is perfect for the song. It seems like the only spot to work on is from 1:17 to 1:24. It seems like you slightly hesitate here and have a slight bit of trouble getting to the last chord of that section from the previous one. Loop this section at a slightly slower speed and work on playing the notes cleanly, and then work it back up to this speed. Your performance is wonderful as it is, this is just a slight detail. Great job!
@sylus9 – You are off to a great start, and it sounds like you understand how to swing, Now it’s just a matter of getting the rhythm and notes under your fingers in time. I noticed that in Theme 1, you have a tendency to pause between measure 9 and 10. The line ends there, but there is no extra pause between those measures. As you get more comfortable with the notes and chord shifts, you will get better at the timing, too. Keep up the great work!
@dottiectrain – Very nice job on this one! You have the notes down, and are super close on the rhythm! When you hit the first chord in each section, try holding it out twice as long before plucking the second note (try counting “one, two” ). It’s a small detail, but it will sound just a bit more like the song with each phrase having that one difference. You are doing an excellent job, keep it up!
@uku241 – You are doing great so far! It sounds like it’s just a matter of getting those chord shifts a bit smoother and learning the ending chords. Your right hand is doing a great job on the techniques!
@puppylovesuke – You have a very nice and relaxing feel on this song. Very nicely played all around! I’m glad you were able to meet the deadline by uploading the compressed version!
@sarrafina – Wow! You have an excellent tone, played very well, and kept the timing and feel very solid! There are one or two spots where a shift may cause the slightest hesitation, but this was a fantastic performance over all. Keep up the great work!
Unfortunately, we can’t give you an entry for the prize as you submitted past our deadline. Andrew tried to give everyone a friendly reminder on the 31st.We BLEW AWAY our participation goal with 96 members participating this month! Big congrats to each and everyone of you! Stephen, Steven and I loved hearing everyone’s performances and you guys did SO well! 🙂
So without further ado, the winner of this month’s challenge is ** drumroll **
Our February Challenge is LIVE: https://rockclass101.com/february-2022-challenge
The theme is Strumming Songs and we’re giving away 2 PRIZES! Hope to see everyone in the challenge!
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