Participate in the June 2026 Member Challenge – WIN $2,095 Kanile’a Ukulele

[jody_hendrickson]

I am a premium member.

Hello uke friends,

This month I chose Sakura Sakura. I found it really hard to memorize, and wonder if it was due to being unused to the sound of the pentatonic scale. It somehow didn’t flow together in my brain…quite challenging, in a good way.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer so far. Happy July 4 weekend!

Best,
Jody

[The_Bumble_Bard]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

This month has been absolutely insane for me, but somehow I managed to practice Red is the Rose enough to get it fairly passable, as I throw this together last second (as per usual)! Such an incredibly beautiful version of this tune by Andrew (as @Gi_Gi_ described perfectly) and quite tricky to play, honestly! But this is definitely one I am going to keep playing and perfecting.

A few notes (not entirely musical ones):

– Wow, was my lens ever smudged or something! It also was incredibly hot and humid in there and you can almost see it on camera. Also I recorded that over Zoom, so hopefully it’s okay…
– Watching the video back, my finger positioning on the fretboard was pret-ty wild (in a bad way), LOL! Have I learned nothing from Matt?!?!?!? I was fretting on the upper end of the fret (from underneath!), especially noticeable on the 2020 chord. I need to pay more attention to that; I’m getting rusty.
– Sorry for the pauses, but considering I was sight-reading parts of it and some mega-fumbles, I think it sounds pretty a’ight (alright)!
– However, in my opinion, I nailed the trills at least!
– I really look forward to going back and listening to some of the entries this month. I could see just by the descriptions that there’s some great ones to hear! Wonderful work by everyone! 🥰

‘Kay, here it is! Thank you so much for these challenges and so glad I could still make this one, despite the insanity of life! 🙂

I didn’t realize, but now you can generate custom thumbnails directly on YouTube itself! So, I used a creepy AI-generated version of me that looks kinda like me. How did it know, my face wasn’t visible?! :O

Anyway, thank you for listening and for these challenges that keep me connected to uke in the best way! Hearts to you all! 🥰

[gi_gi_]

@the_bumble_bard That was awesome. Loved it esp the piano part at the end.

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@gi_gi_, thank you so much, my friend!! Your take was so beautiful, definitely a lot more fluid than mine was! Very pretty! Thank you, having piano back in my life, too, has been a very special thing! But it certainly hasn’t connected me to so many lovely people the way ukulele has! 🥰

@leb397, your duet was very magical!! Beautifully played! 😀

I know all the other entries are equally amazing! Soon, I shall have more time! 😂

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 6 days ago by The_Bumble_Bard.

[sarahd]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

Wow there are some amazing entries out there this month, unfortunately this isn’t one of them. I wanted to do Cielito Lindo or Red is the Rose as they both bring back fond childhood memories for me, but I ran out of time and only started today! So Jasmine Flower it is, which is actually good since I’ve got a cold at the moment and can’t go for more than a minute without having a crazy coughing fit!

[maryjanew]

I am a premium member

as you listen to this video, my problem still exists! as I was trying listen to my video, I sped it up to get thru it faster. I was pretty sure I changed the speed back before loading it on You tube! that’s when I tried to change the speed and reload at 11;59 BUT IT DISAPEARED then I tried to reload again but it is still Mighty Mouse speed! sorry! Kinda funny I guess 🙄
I just watched the whole thing and I guess I only slowed down the second half of the video 😩

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 6 days ago by maryjanew.
• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 6 days ago by Andrew.

[sarahd]

I love your video @maryjanew! Because that is totally me as the deadline looms every month. 🙂 The panic and frustration of trying to record yourself when you KNOW you can play it much better than you just have. And then you have to load it up to YouTube, which inevitably takes forever and goes horribly wrong when you really don’t have the time to deal with it. My video above was upside down when it loaded but fortunately for me it corrected itself. Personally I think yours sounds great at Mighty Mouse speed!

[Andrew]

@maryjanew – No worries, I saw the original post got caught in spam. It’s live now and I deleted the replacement post 🙂

[takuan]

@katazumiri Thanks, that’s good to know. Sounds like it’s going to be a busy summer then. 😊 I’ll definitely keep an eye out for the summer challenge announcements!

[gi_gi_]

@the_bumble_bard Thanks friend ☺️ Red is the Rose was more difficult than it seems. I had a hard time with it.

[abster]

@leb397 thank you very much!

[abster]

@misterbones beautiful!

[misterbones]

@abster: Thanks 🙂

[maryjanew]

– @Andrew – thank you so much! I’m glad there was proof that I got it in with 2 minutes to spare! If I was not laughing at myself so hard, I would have been crying 😭!
I really was working on the tune on and off all month but I was also distracted. I want to work on it more and maybe do the duet thing you mentioned in the part 2 lesson.

– @sarahd -thank you for the kind words Sara. I’ve been a hot mess all month and been working too much! And when I’m in a hurry, stuff hits the fan! 😝 I died up the the video in iMovie so I could find parts to delete. I restarted sections because of mistakes but apparently forgot to “select” both sections of the video to return to normal time. I got hilarious that my normal time was pretty slow because I wasn’t smooth yet, but the fast time was pretty much what the song should be played at lol!

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 5 days ago by maryjanew.

[maryjanew]

@sarahd that was awesome! Very clear and concise! Great job for just starting it, especially being sick. I hope you feel better soon 🤗

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