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Sorry, it was so fast, the other one I tried to submit exceeded the allowed file size. Am I entered? 😀
It was so fun to learn this! I’m still working on it and I’m still going to be working on it after the winner is announced. Thanks, Andrew for this song and the challenge and good luck to everyone entering!
Hi Everybody,
I’m having a crazy busy March and didn’t have much time to pick of the uke this month, so I decided to learn Chopsticks instead of my initial thought of learning The Irish Washerwoman. Still need some work on moving up and down the neck smoothly and the harmonic.
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.
Sorry this chopsticks isn’t more polished. Andrew, do you recommend trying to keep the rhythm and play past mistakes or redoing?
I didn’t get much practice in this month. Spent a week with the stomach flu and a couple of weeks fighting some mild seasonal depression. I think I managed to get a passable version of Chopsticks together anyway.
I can hear a lot of little nuances I’d like to clean up, but I didn’t feel up for recording it over and over again to get a better take.
Here is My March challenge. Tuff March shift change at work. days to Night work. Little time to practice.Excuse, Excuse. So Like Pat Benatar said “”Hit You with My Best Shot” . Happy Spring Everyone.
Wow guys, we had 20 members participate this month and I was blown away by how great everyone’s performance was! Really cool to see so many people play “Chopsticks“, it’s such a fun song and a great one to play when someone asks you to play something!
So this month prize was pretty unique, if you haven’t already please check out our review on The Populele. So without further ado, the winner for this month’s challenge is:
Our April Challenge is up and the prize again is super cool as well as the song choices 🙂 Be sure to check it out! And last, I’ve left feedback for everyone who I haven’t yet below. Thanks again to everyone who participated!
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lisamcc – wow Lisa, awesome job! Here’s what I would work on, is actually to slow it down a notch and focus on the overall feel of the piece. To me I hear a playful, upbeat and jolly swung tune. Your performance felt a little rushed to me, but I think if you slowed it down and worked on the above, you’ll get a good match between your awesome speed and a better matching feel. Let me know if that makes sense.
Vida – brilliant! And your adaption, very well-thought-out! I love your staccato and overall feel, keep up the great work!
iris_peterson – absolutely lovely! I didn’t hear any issues with the timing when you went up the neck, I thought it was great. I think it’s cool how your interpretation is very different than Vida’s above, in that it sustains and is drawn out. It’s very cool how you can take the same song and play it in very different ways 🙂
borealis – great job on the first Melody! Keep working on the second half and remember that it’s always better to take a couple bars at a time, loop them, and to start slow and work it up to speed. And also try to memorize it.
andracass – MT, great job on the speed and Clarity for the first half! I think if you do the same approach with practicing the second half, you’ll get it down just as good as the first half. But I’m really impressed, some of your best playing that I’ve heard! Keep up the good work!
awesomestrings – well played! Only thing I can suggest is to watch your timing a little bit as it fluctuates. By the way, I think for the April challenge you should try Fingerpicking etude 11. Will be a good challenge for you!
kmelton – nicely played! And definitely keep working on the other song. One thing I can suggest for this one is to practice performing the piece at an even tempo. I noticed that different sections were at various speeds, so I would start slow and tackle the first Melody throughout, then the next Melody, and then piece it all together.
karenj – I thought you did very well, I always say slow and steady wins the race. Speed comes in time and it’s best to instill proper Rhythm and Clarity in your playing before jumping the gun and playing too fast too soon. Keep up the good work, it’s paying off!
hannah_lee – wow, amazing for 2 weeks of playing! I’m guessing your background is in guitar, correct?
tessa84 – well done! With just a little bit more practice, it will be perfect. I’m always impressed by how well you play 🙂
lisadmh – big improvement! The rhythm is coming along so well and awesome job on the solo! I’m going to share this on our our Facebook page and it’s so cool that you are in Cuba! Chaz, who played drums on that track, is currently in Cuba giving a music tour with his tour company. So so cool!
surfpimp9er – wow Jason, you’ve got some speed! Love it! Great timing and interpretation of the piece!
sandigirl – Sandra, that was such a great performance! You have a wonderful feel in your playing. I absolutely enjoyed watching your performance 🙂
benjamin – Ben, congrats on being one of 2 brave enough to tackle this tune! I thought you did very well! One thing I wanted to point out, is that this song has a swung feel. Check out this lesson, which describes the difference between straight and swung eighth notes. And check out our lesson on the Spongebob Theme, that’s a great song to practice this with.
ukuleleloo – I’m always a big fan of your playing Lucinda 🙂 I love your feel. I think with just a little bit more practice you’ll have it down, keep up the good work!
pup123 – I thought you did very well! To answer your question, always practice the entire piece as if it was a performance. You never want to stop and start again; play through the mistakes, but recognize where they are so that you can go back and practice those sections. A good analogy is to pretend you are playing with a band, if one member makes a mistake does the entire band stop and wait for them to catch up? No, they keep going.
tonydismukes – I thought that was a great take! What are some of the nuances you hear that you are working on improving? And sorry to hear that you were ill, glad you are better now!
edward – nice job Edward! I think you have a great base and what I would work on is some of the tricky sections. So take one phrase and start slow and loop it, then do the same with the next phrase and so on. This way you can piece it together slowly, so you can focus on the timing and transitions.
“I thought that was a great take! What are some of the nuances you hear that you are working on improving? And sorry to hear that you were ill, glad you are better now!”
Thanks. I’m hoping I stay well for the rest of the month – April’s challenge looks to be the hardest one I’ve tried yet.
As far as the nuances:
I’d like to have better control of dynamics, to keep the attack more consistent from one note to the next. I can hear moments where a given note goes soft or jumps out for no good reason.
My first time through on theme 1 sounds a bit stilted to me. I think I started to flow more around the time I hit theme 2.
When I go up to the high frets it sounds like there is a tiny delay. Not sure if I actually got behind on the beat or if I just dropped the preceding note early. Either way, it hurts the flow. Also the tone on those high frets isn’t ringing as clearly as I would like.
A lot of this has to do with general right and left hand technique, not necessarily particular to this song.
Woo hoo! That’s awesome! And thanks for the tips, will keep practicing until I get that tempo right! Great job all!
Tony, you’ve got a great ear. This was the same feedback I was going to leave you:
“I’d like to have better control of dynamics, to keep the attack more consistent from one note to the next. I can hear moments where a given note goes soft or jumps out for no good reason.”
I have an idea for you, a challenge just for you. I’d like you to learn this song, it’s easy, but your focus will be on working on the above. If you’re down, post a video and I’ll give you feedback and see if there’s any way I can help get you there.
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