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I seemed to pick this one up quite quickly at the start of the month, but then didnt get chance to get much practice in in the middle and end of the month, so had to try and get as much practice in as possible in the last few days. I also apologise for the dark video! Quite happy i got it pretty good on the first take.😊
Really enjoyed watching everyones entries!
Okay, this is not good because I just started playing about four months ago. This piece was quite challenging for me, but I tried the best I could because that mango ukulele looks so amazing.
Also, I’m not really sure how to post a video, so here’s the link:
Hi Everyone,
Here is my video submission for Waltz in C.
I’ve been learning this song for the last 8 days or so.
Clearly, I require more practice but this is where I could get to by today.It will be fun to see progress over time.
Had a lot of fun learning Allegro. Really enjoyed watching all the other submissions. I also had some welcome distractions on the day I decided to record. My daughter,Skye, was letting me know that it was time to play. Enjoy.
Jason
This is a video of me playing a couple days ago. I was hoping to do some better takes today but I ran out of time. I had some cleaner takes but I choose this one because i was still attempting to do the harmonic. I was having a ton of trouble trying to hit the note with really long nails.
Hope to do better next month
Hey Stephen, thanks for the teaching and arranging this song. This song was one of the reasons I bought the U-bass, it’s beautiful yet not too hard to play! I’m still improving on it. Seems like a fretless is good for learn, as it forces me to rely more on feel rather than looking.
Hey guys! So awesome to see so many submissions come in in the last few days 🙂 I’m running behind on leaving feedback and announcing the winner, as I’ve been super busy with this Friday’s lesson – it’s a doozy! But, I hope to have all feedback left and the winner announced by Sunday. Thanks for your patience and I look forward to watching everyone’s performances!
Sorry again for the delay with leaving feedback. This week’s lesson was a huge undertaking for me and ate up all of my time, totally worth it though, super cool blues tune! Anyways, I had time today to go through everyone’s performances that I haven’t gotten a chance to yet, 24 of you to be exact!
First off, amazing job to everyone who participated this month! Overall we had 35 members participate, and again, I was blown away by everyone’s performances 🙂
So the prize for this month was super cool! A RARE Kala Mango uke from Uke Republic! So without further ado, the winner is…
Our July challenge is live! It is American Patriotic themed, and again we have a super cool prize! Check out the new challenge HERE.
Also, bellow I have left feedback for everyone that I hadn’t yet. Thanks again to everyone who participated!
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carmen-s, very well done! Here’s the thing about speed, it’s better to play it in-time and with great control over feel and Dynamics, then to play quickly and lack these two aspects.
I thought your tempo was very well suited for the piece, and the playing was wonderful. Great job on this tune!
wongbrown, great playing! And I’m happy to hear the lessons are helping you improve! So I’ve got two tips for you, the first is about the slide that happens in bar 4. Make sure that you are not rushing that slide, but playing the first to the second note, as 2 quarter notes.
A good way to practice this is to put the tab player into “synthetic” mode and loop that bar and count the quarter notes out loud.
Secondly, the advice I left for Vida would be very helpful for you as well, as it focuses on showing you which note(s) to staccato and which to sustain.
suzums, bravo! You’re playing is very tasteful, keep up the great work!
mayaqatsi, I wouldn’t worry too much on the finger noise for this one, it sounded very natural to me.
I thought it was a wonderful performance and what I loved most of all is that you really understood what this lesson was about, which is emphasizing Dynamics throughout the piece. An excellent use of that, especially at the end as you began to play louder and harder, which created a really strong ending. Nicely done!
Vida, bravo! You are getting very good at adapting these pieces. I’m super impressed! I thought it was a very solid performance, I’d love to hear it after you put more time into it 🙂
marielayton, Rylee did so well! And I love the smile at the end. I can tell that you are a great teacher, her picking and fretting form are great. The only suggestion I have is to work on keeping the timing a little bit more constant, as some sections sounded rushed compared to others. But really awesome job overall!
lizzieswolf, great job! You have a wonderful feel and tone in your playing. The only suggestion I have is to practice the transition of when one phrase ends and another begins. So in this case, it would be bar 8, going back to bar 1. This will help to eliminate that pause between phrases.
andracass, awesome job MT! I really love that you practice along to the click. I think that you have a really great base established, so I’d focus on tightening up your playing by tackling one section at a time.
And one helpful tips when you are playing the entire piece as a performance, play through any mistakes you make, don’t stop. I heard a sigh of frustration in the beginning. Don’t let it bug you, you can always go back and Target that section in your practicing.
kaizendon, well done! I know Stephen left you feedback already, but it’s really cool to see u-bass in the challenge 🙂
ukuleleloo, excellent playing! Love seeing the follow up from the previous challenge. Here is a video with feedback for you.
jlbross, really great playing! If you scroll up to the first comments I left for carmen, you can read my thoughts on speed.
I love the feel of the first two melodies, great use of knowing which notes to staccato verse sustain. 1 Thing I would work on is the third Melody, try to match the feel that you used in the previous Melodies to this one. It can be tricky with the first hit being the open strings.
carollaj, i’m just blown away! I can’t believe you are playing this well for ONLY 3 months and no previous instrument experience. Everything is on point, from feel to form. Keep doing what you’re doing, it’s amazing!
ourmaninjapan, so glad you joined us for your first Challenge and you did very well! So I noticed you mentioned working on getting a more natural feel. I have one suggestion that I want you to try, and it’s to try to loosen up when you are playing. If you are very tense in your arms, it can come across as sounding very rigid. We should have no tightness in our arms/hands when playing. Give that a shot and you should hear a more relaxed sound.
marni11, great job! I would definitely make it a goal to memorize the piece, because then you can focus on how you’d like to play it, i.e. What Dynamics you want to incorporate and when. Check out this lesson, as it talks about the importance of focusing on our performance: https://rockclass101.com/copying-good-thing/.
evevev, nicely done! 1 tip, I noticed your right hand looked pretty tight. Try to loosen it up a little bit, a relaxed hand will help with dexterity. I’d also recommend to lighten up the percussive tap at the end of the song and try not to lift up so much to do the hit, as it creates a pause between your ability to tap and then to fingerpick the next section.
benjamin, bravo Ben! Excellent feel! One tip, double check the form of the song, unless you purposely wanted to repeat sections, which is cool 🙂
cyberloh, so your comment was exactly how I felt about this week’s lesson. But you know the thing is, it’s not always about that one performance. It’s about being a consistent and quality player.
I thought you did well on this month’s challenge. The only thing I can suggest is to loosen up a little bit. Which is something I’ve seen in a few performances now if you read through some of the previous comments I left for folks.
By the way, you definitely are a consistent player! I always look forward to listening to your performances.
cornishdpt, LOL that intro, Cory! Gross, yet funny at the same time. So I can’t give you any crap about your uke being out of tune, as I can relate. I once played a wedding, in the middle of a Georgia summer, in direct sunlight.
It was a nightmare, my guitar Was Out Of Tune every 30 seconds. And it didn’t help that I brought a nylon, bad idea. At the end of the gig, I looked as if I had jumped into the swimming pool. Fun gig, but definitely not one of my favorites…
So now that i’ve rambled, let’s talk about your performance. I think you’ve got the feel down, which is the biggest thing with this piece. So I’d just work on slowing down the tempo a little bit and cleaning up some of your playing. You know the drill, looping and tackling section-by-section. But great job, i’m glad it was a fun challenge for you.
kayleighb, I think setting speed as your goal was a perfect challenge for you. I think you did very well, all of your notes were crystal clear and the timing was consistent. So I’d work on piecing the sections where you paused together. Good job, you should be proud of that performance 🙂
smartinuk, don’t you love it when you nail it on the First Take! I wish that happened more for me, lol! I thought it was a wonderful performance, scott! The only suggestion I have for you is to try to hit the body of the uke directly with the hard part of the knuckle. That should give you a louder and brighter pop for the percussive hit. Keep up the great work!
missmelaniemaus, amazing job for 4 months! You’ve got great form in both hands and great control, that’s really impressive!
What I would work on is to tighten up your performance. So this means, getting it to flow a little more smoothly. And this all comes down to practicing, but not just practicing… knowing what to practice.
First off, check out our guide on practicing: https://rockclass101.com/practicing-the-correct-way/. It’s going to talk about breaking the piece into sections, looping them, and mastering that before moving on to the next section. Then you will work to slowly piece the entire song together, phrase by phrase. So this could mean, 2 or 4 bars at a time.
This approach will help you get it down faster, cleaner, and more smoothly. But, you are doing so well, keep up the excellent work!
mheiden, awesome job for 8 days! I think you have a great base established, check out the tips I left above for smartinuk as I think they will be very helpful for you as you continue to practice.
surfpimp9er, excellent job on the speed, jason! You kept the tempo constant and each note was crystal clear, very impressive! 1 tip, for the tap harmonic, lighten up the attack of the hit. That should help to make that harmonic ring out.
Also, watch the tempo at the end of the Piece, where you incorporate the percussive hit. You shifted tempos rather abruptly, so I’d suggest to either keep it constant with the rest of the piece or begin a ritardando.
uku_on, great job! I thought you did very well, and I really dig the tone that Nails give you. And I agree with you, that harmonic will be very hard for you to hit. I do have one suggestion for you, check out the very last paragraph I left for surfpimp9er (above you). As that feedback will be helpful for you too.
Thanks for the feedback Andrew, having a lot of fun doing these challenges, such a good idea to keep up the motivation. Big congratulations to Kaizendon, you lucky thing you! What an awesome prize, enjoy:)
Carol
Thanks for the feedback Andrew! I now have the song memorized, and I am working on getting it down smoothly. I love these challenges! Great idea! They have helped me so much.
kaizendon,
Congratulations!Hey Andrew,
I just was looking through the list for June’s winner and I noticed that my name was placed on the same line as another uke player, so the list on the screen looked like “cornishdptkayleighb” instead of:cornishdpt
kayleighbI don’t know if that the typing on the list affected the outcome or not, and I want to be clear that I am NOT asking for you to pick another name so I want to say a formal congrats to “Kaizendon” and enjoy the new Uke! I just wanted to bring it to your attention so that it is not an issue (if it even was this time around) in the future. Also… I’m sorry if I just opened up a can of worms…
Wow, I screwed up! I’m sorry. The best thing I can think of is to give you and Kay a double entry for the next challenge you enter. Let me know if that is okay, and my apologies. I’ll be sure to double check the list from now on.
Thank you for the offer Andrew, but I’m good here. Got some gifts cards for my birthday the other week to upgrade my uke anyways and buy some new cymbals for the drums. For now, just working on Yankee Doodle…
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