Participate in the January 2024 Member Challenge – You Decide What To Work On!

[leslieb]

Evaluation

Concentrating on a particular skill instead of a particular song has worked very well. I will need to continue focusing on not only songs, but skills/techniques. Thank you Andrew!

Life is good,
Leslie

[mark1256]

Here’s where I am:

After continued listening, I decided that this song needs emotion and playing at tempo just sounds too mechanical.
So in my first video below, I have tried to concentrate on tone and emotion. Hopefully without too much rubato. In this video I am still using a capo to play in D.

In this next video, I have removed the capo and am transposing the tab from C. I’m really getting a workout for my pinky. My goal is to sound as good as using the capo. Long way to go but I still have a couple days.

[nat-uke]

@anyon1 – love to see & hear another person learning Clawhammer this month! Nice playing 👍 I appreciated your comment about the arm guard and some discomfort using the banjolele that you borrowed. I have been intrigued with the banjolele sound and after working on Clawhammer this month, I decided to finally go ahead and buy one.😁 Sadly I’m still waiting for it to be delivered (hopefully here Monday because I wanted to record one take on std uke and one take on the banjolele to show the difference). Anyway – I ended up buying an Aklot banjolele – final swing point for decision on this was the Aklot had arm guard which none of the others I looked at had. I wasn’t sure if it would make that much of a difference, but based on your experience, I think, for me, I’m going to be happy that I got this one with the arm guard. Hope to see it delivered tomorrow!
-Natalie

[sarrafina]

Hi everyone! I made it to the other side. This has been a big challenge this month.

My project was River Flows in You by Yiruma. To complete it I needed to transpose and write a new arrangement for it. There is a version of it on Rock Class however like most it is incomplete.

This is due in part to the fact that the original piece is written for piano with quite a few notes in the lower register. Tackling it on classical guitar is a lot easier because you have those two extra strings to handle the bass lines.

I started out by downloading MuseScore which has been an amazing tool in helping me create this arrangement.

In the middle of all of this were my HS Midterms so I have been doing this for an hour here and two hours there attempting to get a finished product.

We recorded it straight to camera with an LR Baggs pickup in a bamboo Kala Uke using a Canon XA35. My Dad did the final editing on Divinci and did no retouching of the sound.

We even figured out how to link the PDF for the arrangement in the video description.

I would love your comments and feedback!

Enjoy,

Sarrafina.

[gi_gi_]

Thanks @The_bumble_bard and @Leb397 You guys are too kind. Thanks so much. I’ve been working on learning to sing over the past 7 years. I’ve come a long way but I still have a long way to go. I will keep practicing and pushing forward. Thanks for the encouragement because it’s sooooo scary to do in front of people lol 🙂 and by no means do I want to be “famous”….just a friend of God ☺️☺️☺️

I’ve loved everyone’s submissions so much. Just want to add:

@malku2603 you did an amazing job and the progress was so evident.

@maryjanew love that tune. Nice job.

@morrieuke1 what a beautiful song. Great execution. Impressive how you graphed all the music out.

@The_bumble_bard Incredible song w/video. Your beautiful pictures and the transitions took me to an ethereal space. Loved it. You are so talented. Thanks for encouraging everyone. Means so much.

@abster you’re playing is so impressive. Good timing and rhythm. Your playing is so mature for your age. You’re hard work truly shows. Keep it up.

@wannabgood that was so cool.

@rgillof the tremolo is so hard. Yours looks legit. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

@ccwuke great Star Wars medley. I so enjoyed it.

@nelsonlin2021 that was so enjoyable. I remember learning crossing hemispheres, and it was so hard. You did a great job. You make me want to play it again. Keep up the good work.

@mark1256 that was so beautiful. Feels like a pretty lullaby.

@Jedart it was nice to have two Summertimes on here this month. You have a nice voice.

@jody-hendrickson wow! That was so good. I loved it.

@Katazumiri your submissions are always stellar. Thanks for sharing your love of music with us.

@marianne I love Malagueña. You did awesome as usual. Loved it. Your baritone sounds amazing. You have a good tone.

@ukeandrea wow! Beautiful medley composition. Love the song and execution.

@lhamilton wow!that was amazing. loved it.

@henri0 one of my favorite songs. That was great! That song is difficult. You did a great job.

@misterbones you’re an incredible player. Wow! That was so cool.

@leb397 very nicely played. pretty Uke. Is it new?

@anyon1 the claw hammering was so cool. Wow! Sounds great.

@leslieb nice bluesy feel. I enjoyed it very much.

@sarrafina I always enjoy hearing and seeing you play. You are amazing. Keep it up.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by gi_gi_.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by gi_gi_.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by gi_gi_.

[lhamilton]

Wow! Thanks, @gi_gi_ !

[bibilele]

Hi everyone,
everyone did such a great job this month. I’m not yet through with listening to all of the submissions, but what I heard so far is really amazing.
My goal was to write an own tune and perform it. So that’s what I did. I couldn’t decide on what to use as an background, strumming or picking, so I just played it twice. 😀 Funny thing is, though I wrote it myself, it still took some time until I could play it without looking at the music sheet. And at first I didn’t like it too much, and now I have an earworm.
I’ll try to attach the sheet later. I scanned it as pdf but I need a jpg or similar.

Hope you enjoy it!
Best,
Bianca

[bibilele]

Now here are the music sheets.

[jedart]

@gi_gi_ thank you for your encouragement. Like most people, I don’t like the sound of my voice in a recording.

[brettboy]

Hi Uke Friends 🙂

This month I challenged myself to improve my artificial harmonics and tapping technique skills. For some harmonics practice I learned RC101’s Amazing Graze and posted it on my IG.

I spent most of my January trying to learn the tune “Love” by Matt White as arranged by our awesome teacher Andrew. Here’s my best attempt at that fun and TAP-Y piece!

[morrieuke1]

I have to say, I love this Rock Class community-what a great place to learn, and grow musically, and support each other-just awesome!
@Brett Boy, fantastic as usual 🙂
Andrew, I will look into Guitar Pro, thanks for the tip.
Here is my first ukulele composition, Heavenly Light. It is in A B A form, going from G Major, to the parallel minor, and then back to G Major. I have always wanted to try composing, and this challenge held me to task. I am enjoying following everyone’s progress this month! Mike

[leb397]

Had some extra time to go back and listen to other entries. I could comment on EVERYONE because you are all amazing. Really showing your talent and progress. Hope we have this challenge again. It shows the stages of each member.

@The_bumble_bard your composition sounds like a harp! So lovely. Impressed with your finger picking speed.👏😁

@jody_hendrickson I love St James Infirmary. Nicely done. Wish I could memorize the verses – so many.

@mark1256 I’d say you were successful. I like it.

@anyon1 I still have claw hammer on my to do list. I’m glad you shared issue with arm. I’m going to keep in mind. Nicely played. Look up wildwood flower by Carter family. Easy cords but pretty claw hammer tune

@leslieb you definitely have the chuck down! Someday I’ll get there 🧐

@sarrafina impressive. Very pretty song. You certainly have a future!

@bibilele wow I love it.

@brettboy what a fun, happy LOVE song. You always look so relaxed but I’m sure you put a few hours in to get those harmonics. 👏
Don’t mean to leave anyone out but EVERYONE nailed this month
PS to those that sung, men and women EXTRA kudos. You all sounded great

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by leb397.

[nelsonlin2021]

Bravo!!! This is such a talented group. I’m in awe of everyone’s musicianship.

@TBB: haha. loved Mattxim which I heed closely now 🙂

@gigi: thanks for the words of encouragement. Your Summertime performance is out of this world !!

@andrew: thanks for your advice on the areas to work on. Having a mid-month progress report and check-in really helps. Here’s my performance at 70 BPM.

[Andrew]

Here are the folks on page 10 I haven’t left feedback for 🙂

@ukandrea – Wow, Andrea! An incredibly beautiful duet. I’m def gonna share this in our newsletter this week. So so good! 👏

@lhamilton – Very beautiful arrangement. Great use of movement throughout the piece, which gave it a great flow Linda! My only suggestion would be to work towards establishing a more steady tempo. Perhaps playing along with this recording would be a great way to practice.

[bibilele]

@brettboy Wow, well done! Now I have a new goal – I want to try this technique. 😅

@leb397 Thank you so much!

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