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Note to self, just go slower. I just played it a lot slooower and the notes rang loud, and soft attack was so much smoother. Forget about my self-raised bars, music sounds better when it’s not forced.
Sorry about the rambling to myself everyone. 😆Hi everyone, here is my attempt at the beautiful Explorer. I have an issue with my middle finger of the left hand in Theme 2 and 3. It tends to touch the e string and makes the string buzz. I think shorter nails would help so that I can put the finger steeper on the strings but if I cut them shorter it hurts. I have the sort of fingers where the nails are longer than the flesh. Hope you understand what I mean. Any suggestions what I can do?
Hi RockClass101,
I’m a premium member and this is my 4th monthly challenge. This month I really enjoyed learning the song, Into the Maze, by Andrew.
Self critique and opportunities for improvement: despite repeated practice, I could not get a clean take and tripped up from time to time on the chord transition to Fadd9(1). Also the run on the melody A from G to G(1) can be tighter.
Anyway I enjoyed learning a new flick technique on the first string during strumming. I also practiced the 2 finger taught by Andrew but decided to stick with the 4 finger approach as I wanted to try more flicking technique this time round.
Thank you and appreciate any feedback.
Nelson
Here’s everyone on page 5.
jbmills07 – excellent playing overall! I dig the hammer-on accent you added too 🙂
mark1256 – I think you nailed the B melody! I’d keep working on the A melody. You’ve got a cool phrasing/rubato idea with rushing the first part of it. But as you practice, go slower and try to keep it steady right now.
Also, I really like the slight swing feel you added!
barbecueblack – sounded great! Keep up the good work!
marianne – thank you so much for the kind words!! Playing was beautiful!
johanna2509 – beautiful feel and flow 🙂
neciasnow – Bravo! Excellent performance!
kpurdy – I thought you did great! Here’s what I would do. I would play along with Matt in the tab player. Slow it down to the speed you are currently at. And just do 1 theme at a time. So for ex: start with Melody A (8 bars). Try to match his playing. It’ll help with keeping the tempo steady as you transition from one chord to the next.
When you can match him perfectly start to boost the tempo.
abha-jeurkar – playing sounds great! Only thing I’d say is to replace that open string strum you do at 1:05 and 1:19 with just the open C note.
herbdrawsaline – I thought it sounded great! I don’t think I’m hearing too strong of a strum. I do hear some of the chords are not ringing 100% clear. Form looks fine from what I can tell but it’s hard to see properly from the angle you recorded at.
You can double-check that your form is as we recommend here. Most of the time when notes don’t ring out in barre chords it’s because of form or not pushing with enough strength. But it could also be because of the size of the ukulele. It’s easier to fret barre chords on larger size models (tenor) than smaller (soprano). So if you’re playing a smaller one you may want to visit a store to compare.
gstriph – sounds great, Jerry! What I would work on is timing. Try playing along with the tab player in “synthetic” mode. Start with four bars at a time and try to tap your foot along. When you’re good with that, add the next four. Then practice all eight.
After you can play that in-time, I’d start experimenting with some of the rubato ideas I heard in your current performance.
whollyprofit – love the smile in the “flub”. But you did exactly what you are supposed to do, which is whenever we’re in a performance we always play through our mistakes. Bravo in that regard and your performance had a great feel throughout!
For the last melody, my suggestion is to keep it flowing a little more steady as opposed to drawing it out for suspense. But that’s my suggestion, it’s always up to you guys on how you want to interpret and perform the music.
Here’s everyone on page 6 so far.
terryfallon3 – playing sounds great, Terry! The one thing I would work on is increasing your sustain. In a nutshell, what you need to do is keep finger pressure held down throughout every note and chord for its entire duration. Practice this by doing 1 bar at a time.
lhamilton – gorgeous playing! And I love how you added more emphasis on the last A Melody as well as the variations. Bravo!
bibilele – here is my feedback for you 🙂
nelsonlin2021 – here is my feedback for you and here is the lesson I referenced 🙂
@Andrew Thank you very much for the feedback! I appreciate it very much! I will do the exercises you suggested for Theme 1. Regarding the other topic, I anyway think of testing (and buying) a baritone ukulele. Birthday is coming. 😉 I wonder if I will manage the stretches, but I’m looking forward to trying this song on a baritone.
I was hoping to have a better recording than this one, but running out of time to make another. A bit distracted while doing this on; my relatively new puppy was tearing up a rug during this recording. This is such a pretty song, I really enjoy it. Makes me want to watch the movie again.
Thanks for your positivity and tips Andrew! Left hand form is a work in progress.
Good luck with the last days of the challenge, lots of work cut out for you with such a big class. 🙂The Godfather (Love Theme) was a popular choice this month! Beautiful arrangement, Steven! I really enjoyed it.
Hi,
Here is my entry for March, The Theme song from Jurrassic Park. It was an awesome arrangement. I want to get to know this well enough to play it with some feeling because right now it’s a little stiff. I’ll get there and as usual any advice is very welcome.
I am a Premium member (if we still need to say this)
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