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Hey @joe150 – You need to post the video on a site like Youtube and then post the link. I hope you get it up in time.
Here’s everyone on page 11:
holly1 – You have a great sound and a great feel on this one! My main suggestion to make it sound even better is to focus on the rhythm just a bit at the beginning of the piece. The first chord of measures 1 and 2 are dotted half notes, which get held out for 3 beats instead of just two. Try playing the song with a metronome just to make sure your rhythms stay in 4/4. Aside from this small detail, the whole thing sounded great! If you wanted to add even more to it, you could experiment with dynamics (volume swells into certain sections: try starting piano and build up to forte by melody B, then bringing it back down a bit for Melody C). This is just a suggestion, as you can add your own touch this way. Thank you for your entry!
benita – You did a great job in spite of having no AC! Sweaty hands during recording is the bane of my existence, so I totally understand! The main section to spend a little bit of extra time on is measure 4 through measure six. The trick is waiting for three beats after the first chord in measure 4, and then holding the dotted quarter notes out in measure 5, and knowing which notes are short. If you need help understanding those rhythms, check out the rhythm portion of Andrew’s reading course, or play along with Matt until you can get the rhythm by ear. You sound great, keep it up!
iyers408 – You are doing a good job on the notes, now it’s time to focus on the rhythm. Try taking each phrase of no more than 4 measures at a time, and break down the rhythms (use the Reading course if you need help understanding how) until you can practice along with a metronome at a slower tempo. Then gradually speed it up, only raising the tempo when you are confident you are in time and accurate at the slower speeds.
sprintingyogini – The little spongebob on your thumb is a nice touch…and so is the pineapple ukulele! 0:36 to 0:47 is the only spot that might benefit from a little bit of extra finger-picking practice working with the metronome to get that section up to the speed you play the rest at. The other option for a performance is to slow down the whole piece to the tempo you can play the difficult sections at comfortably. It’s either that, or that Spongebob is slowing your thumb down slightly! You are doing a wonderful job! Thank you for your entry!
mfaske – Great job on this one! Even though it’s a finger-twister, it sounds like you were up to the challenge! The rhythm sounds very close, and the notes sound correct. Throughout the video, I noticed that your fretting hand wrist is almost at a 90 degree angle several times. Try to lessen that angle by keeping your wrist almost straight or with a much more gradual angle. This will help your hand relax a bit as you play, and will prevent your wrist from getting sore when you play for longer periods of time. In addition to this, just keep working to keep your pull offs and hammer ons in time by practicing slowly with a metronome to build up the strength while staying as relaxed as possible. Thank you for entering this challenge!
cyukug – You have a very nice sound and relaxed feel on this one! My main suggestion to make it even more like the original is to hold out the dotted half note rhythms (like the first chord in the song as well as several others) for a full three beats. When you listen to Matt, even though he plays the song slightly rubato…with a very natural flow, he’s hovering around a set tempo. I think playing this song to a metronome to see how long those notes really are will help the song to breathe a bit more when you are performing. Then it’s just a matter of getting melody C a little stronger with just a bit more practice. Great work! Thank you for taking part in this month’s challenge!
tastyshrimp – You are off to an excellent start after only 3 days! There are several sections you are hesitating on right now, so the best way to tackle these is one at a time. For instance: Start with the first 4 measures of the song, and play this phrase until you can get each shift smoothly and in time. Then try the next 4, and then put those 8 measures together. You’re on the right track, it just takes a bit more time to smooth out those transitions! Keep up the great work!
ripley – I was very impressed with your sense of rhythm on this one! Even though you are playing it at a comfortable tempo for you, you are sticking to it very well, and I can tell that you know the rhythm of the song. Most of the transitions were very smooth! Melody C is the hardest part of the song to play smoothly, but you are on the right track! To get the transition smoother from the 3rd fret to the 10th fret, try sliding up to the 10th fret as a glissando (push down as you slide) to create a connection between the notes, or just practice jumping from 3 to 10 while focusing on not cutting the 3rd fret note short. Awesome job! Thank you for your entry.
willymac – You did an excellent job on this! I noticed that you are playing a low G ukulele, which in general works well on this song, but I have a suggestion or two to keep the melody notes from being split into 2 different octaves: The last note of measure 6 is a 5th fret on the G string…on your ukulele, replace this note with the 8th fret on the E string to get the same note up one octave. This way all of the melody notes remain in the higher octave like they would on the standard tuned ukuleles. Great job on already fixing melody C to keep the melody notes away from the open low G string! I also noticed that you changed one chord in measure 9 (on beat 3, you changed the 0 to a 2nd fret), but I like the way this change sounds. Did you do this one on purpose? You seem to have some knowledge on how to arrange and move notes around and a good ear. Once again, awesome job! Thank you for participating in the challenge!
I know I am too late to participate in the challenge but I would still like to submit Star Wars Medley hoping for some feedback. Thank you guys for making ukulele playing so fun and challenging, xx Sheila
Hi Joe! It looks like the thing that’s uploading is a .jpg file. (I think that can only be a picture? .jpg, .bmp etc)
You want to post your video by hitting the “share” button under your video on YouTube.
Take that link, copy it, and paste it on it’s own line here on a post, and it will magically appear as a video here. No attaching needed.
Anyway, good luck. That’s the best I can explain it.
Stephen,
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I’ve played bass for fun (local rock bands, praise bands at church, pit orchestra, etc.) for the last 48 years. About a year ago I had to stop playing the upright because of hand problems, but I still play the electric. So I took up the ukulele to fill the hole in my practice schedule dropping the upright caused. I love it. My biggest challenge so far is realizing that I’m just a beginner on the ukulele and shouldn’t be embarrassed to be a beginner. So for this challenge I chose the beginner piece and much to my delight I could play it…kinda sorta…but in any event I could play it much better than I played St. James Infirmary last Christmas. So I’ve now learned to embrace my “beginnerness” and can start from the beginning and actually learn to play the instrument. Since I don’t have fingernails on my right hand (for bass playing) I really appreciated the fact that we got to use our thumb to play this song. I notice that you’re also a bass player, how do you handle the fingernail issue? Woo hoo! Thanks for all your help.
Cheers,
BrianThank you for your constructive feedback and positivity @stephen 😊
Thanks for the feedback @stephen! I’m now a premium member, and I’ve started going through the beginner courses, so I’ll keep on practicing.
Here’s everyone on page 13:
karenj – I love how you did the background on your video! What a cool idea! You are doing well on this one, and I know those pull offs can be tricky! On the Em chord, I noticed that when you go to play the 3rd fret before pulling off that you aren’t far enough forward on the fret: make sure your middle finger is at least halfway between the metal frets. It’s buzzing before the pull-off due to being back so far on that fret. I know that Em shape makes this difficult to do, but spending a bit of time figuring how to reach that middle finger a little farther forward during that chord will help a lot in the long run!
nitsur – Great job! you have a good sound and feel on this song! There are a few hesitations here and there, and the way I would work through that is playing those spots a bit more until you have what comes next memorized. You could also add a metronome to push you to get to those chords on time. Also, there are just a few dotted half notes in measures 6 and 8 that are getting cut about one beat short. Just make sure to hold these out for the full 3 beats. Thank you for entering the challenge!
ukukelly1 – You are doing well on this! It’s cool that you played this one finger style and with strumming, but have you tried it with the thumb? The thumb will have a softer touch than the fingernails, which creates a more lyrical quality. It sounds great both ways, but it might be something fun to try! Overall you are playing this one great, and I can tell you are reading some sections over having them memorized. My suggestion if you do this is to look just slightly ahead so that new sections don’t catch you off guard and cause hesitations. It’s a bit tricky to remember where to look further ahead, but it’s a great skill to have! Also, on Melody C, I would just spend a bit more time playing this part slowly to get all of those tricky shifts! Great work, and thank you for participating!
becky7777 – This one’s a bit tricky, but you are doing a good job! The hardest part is to get the transitions between sections smoother: 0:21, 0:29, and just getting the last chord right at the end. It seems like you are actually playing those sections fine, but you are hesitating right before the transition like you are preparing for something big. The secret here is to stay relaxed and act as if those are the easy sections. From what you were saying about grinding your teeth, I think if you are recording and you feel like that, take a break, take a few breaths, and come back to it in 5 minutes. It’s hard to relax when recording take after take. Keep up the great work! Thank you for your entry!
timolnz – Nicely done! The notes and the rhythm sound very clean! I would lighten the strums a little bit, and go back and include the timing. The main thing that I notice is that all of the dotted half notes are getting cut short! Just make sure to count to three before moving on to the next chord on these, and the song will breathe better! This also gives you time to remember to pluck/strum lighter. You’re well on your way! Thank you for joining the challenge!
lauracg – You sound great on this one! But the video seems to cut off before the last half of the song! Was this by mistake or are you still working on that section? I imagine by your playing on the first half that this was just an upload/editing error. Great job either way! Thank you for participating!
mheiden – You have a really nice feel/touch on this one! My main suggestion is to play this one to a metronome a few times to get the rhythm a little stronger, and to see where you are hesitating before the chord strums (here and there). On the rhythm: Make sure to hold the dotted half notes out for 3 beats, and the dotted quarter notes for a beat and a half (count: one and two). If this is confusing, go through the reading course section on rhythm to get the concepts down. Excellent job on getting a nice sound out of your ukulele! Thank you for entering the challenge!
Wow, we had 65 members participate this month! We absolutely crushed our participation goal, but most importantly, everyone did an awesome job and should feel super proud of their work this month!
So without further ado, the winner of our July Challenge is…
Congrats! I hope you enjoy the custom Islander uke 🙂
Our August Challenge is LIVE: https://rockclass101.com/august-2019-challenge. We’ve got a BRAND NEW Theme for this month and we’re giving away a $100 Gift Card to Uke Republic! Hope to see everyone in the new challenge!
Brian,
I have my fingernails almost flush with the fingers so they provide support without hitting the bass strings. I actually prefer the softer sound of the finger tips rather than nails on the ukulele strings as well. Every now and then I’ll grow them a bit longer just for a song or two. Speaking of playing both bass and ukulele, have you tried the U-Bass? The rubber strings are much more forgiving on the wrists than upright and electric bass. I’ve also enjoyed how portable it is!Cheers,
Stephen
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