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Here’s everyone on page 10:
@richo_uke – Excellent job Rici! You’ve nailed the right hand technique in terms of the rest stroke and alternate picking. It looked really relaxed and comfortable. In terms of the higher notes it may not be anything to do with your playing. Have you ever had your ukulele ‘set up’ by a luthier? If the strings are quite high above the fretboard at those higher frets then you may just need to lower the action of your ukulele. A high action will make it much more difficult to get good clean notes high up the fretboard. Due to the extra pressure you have to apply with your fingers the notes are much more likely to buzz and ring out of tune.
@brettboy – Really enjoyed that Brett! Great pacing and lovely tone throughout. A really expressive performance too. Just watch out for the rhythm in the B melody. That G chord on beat 1 of bars 9 & 10 should be left to ring for a full beat. It sounds like you’re coming in a bit too quickly with that double stop on beat 2. Same goes for bar 13. Fantastic performance overall though!
@june2020 – Great performance and your new Mainland ukulele sounds wonderful! As I mentioned in the lesson ‘dynamics’ isn’t something you can just sit down and learn. It improves the more you play and practice. Having said that I clearly heard your use of dynamics in your performance, especially in the B melody and C melody sections. Great job!
@laurakarr12 – What a beautiful and expressive performance! I think you’ve absolutely nailed the use of dynamics in this performance. Loved it!
@The_Bumble_Bard – I thought that was a lovely performance! I enjoyed hearing it played on electric uke too! Yes, that transition from the B chord back to the Em is a tricky one. Don’t worry about trying to hold the full Em chord before you start playing. Just build the chord up note by note and that should help smooth out that transition. As for performance/recording anxiety I hope you don’t feel like you’re alone because you’re really not! If any of you lovely Rock Class members could see the endless failed takes that happen before my final performance videos then I would be exposed for the fraud I really am!! As soon as that dreaded record button is pressed my heart rate elevates, my hands start sweating and my brain seems like its actively trying to sabotage me!! I haven’t found a solution yet but the more you do it the easier it gets – I promise!
@bibilele – I would call that much more than a work in progress, and what a lovely, tranquil setting for your performance. I think you’re doing really well with this. Your performance had a lovely feel. This is a deceptively challenging piece with some VERY tricky sections which I think you handled really well. Just keep doing what you’re doing!
@smokealot – Fantastic performance! Perfect pacing, wonderfully expressive and you highlighted the melody beautifully. Nailed it!
@lynnzo – I think this is coming along nicely. I really like the tone of your playing. A bit more practice will just help smooth out some of those transitions. At the start of the C melody I noticed you played all 4 strings with the thumb. If you can stick to the ‘PIMA’ approach here it will just help keep the picking fingers in the correct position throughout the piece.
@olemartin – Fantastic performance! This lesson was all about the right hand technique in terms of rest stroke and alternate picking and you have absolutely nailed both of those techniques! As a result your notes sound really clear and punchy and I loved your use of vibrato too. Great job!
Here’s everyone on page 11:
@karenj – Well done for persevering with the right hand technique Karen. Watching you play it looks like you’ve been playing rest stroke technique your whole life! It looks so comfortable and relaxed. I liked it played at a slightly slower tempo too. Great job!
@tim0721 – I got a sense of frustration from your performance. Hopefully this was aimed at the camera and not yourself because your performance was excellent. I think you played the trickiest measures in this piece really well. Your melody notes had great clarity and sustain throughout and you were able to achieve that all importance ‘legato’ sound. I loved that pull-off onto the open G at the end of the A melody too. Great job!
@terryfallon3 – Glad to hear you’re enjoying the course! Looks like you’re progressing through it really well. Your free stroke picking technique is looking really good. I see you’re playing the Bm chord with your 3rd finger barring the C and G string. I think because the action on your ukulele seems quite high it’s difficult for you to generate enough pressure to hold that C string down. I would recommend lowering the action on your ukulele if you can as it will make everything so much easier to play. Keep up the great work!
@tessiert – Your performance had a lovely feel with excellent sustain throughout. I enjoyed the slightly slower tempo you went for too. You could probably start to push those dynamics even further in your performance. A good place to start with this is by consciously playing the C melody section more loudly than the other 2 sections. Great job overall!
@niean01 – Great performance! Very well paced with excellent sustain throughout. Well done!
@mepasha – This was a very good performance. Your picking technique is spot on and your left hand fingering looks perfect. If you wanted to take things further with this piece you could try to up the tempo slightly and also concentrate on playing the harmony notes a touch softer to help highlight the melody a little more. Great work overall though!
@concan – Excellent performance! I think you’re being a little hard on yourself. Most of your notes had good tone and sustain. I had to listen really carefully to hear any of the “choked” notes you described. I think those notes (of which there were only a couple to my ear) were caused by the timing of your left hand fingering. When you lift your finger off the fret a fraction too soon it cuts the note short. Similarly, if you place your finger onto an already ringing string a fraction too soon it will also cut the note short. Just be mindful of this when you’re practicing and you’ll be fine. Having said that we are all overly critical of our own performances. I really didn’t think this was much of an issue in your performance.
@nelsonlin2021 – Fantastic job! Alternate picking with rest strokes is a deceptively trick technique to learn and I think you nailed it. I particularly like how you fire those rest strokes through the string producing wonderful punchy notes. Keep up the great work.
@omaon4 – Well done for getting all the way through this challenging piece. With a piece like this I would definitely recommend trying to memorise the music so you can really concentrate on what the hands are doing. Check out this lesson for tips on how to memorise music:
WOW! We had 54 members participate this month! This challenge was a lot of fun! Steven and I thoroughly enjoyed watching everyone’s performances. Bravo to each of you who participated! Everyone did an amazing job!
This month’s prize was a $249 Ohana TK-70R. So without further ado, the winner is:
Our April Challenge is LIVE: https://rockclass101.com/april-2023-challenge
The theme is Original Music and it’s your first chance to WIN your choice of a $1,745 Kanile’a K-1 Ukulele OR a $2,900 Custom Build Kanile’a Ukulele! Hope to see everyone in the challenge! 🙂
Congratulations @dianna
What a pretty tenor Uke that is… jealous. 😉
Everyone was amazing and we all know and share how hard we worked.
Thanks Andrew and Steven.@Rockclass101 and @Andrew, Wow what an amazing surprise….I don’t usually win things! Thank-you so much! I can’t wait to play it.
Thank-you leb397 for all of your support within this community♥️
@Steven, thank you so much for that! That seriously means so much. I feel far less alone in those anxiety struggles because of the encouragement and solidarity from everyone here. I can’t even say how much that has affected me and touched my heart, to be honest. It means a lot to know that even such incredible musicians like you and the other instructors here–along with most students here–share in that specific struggle, which can be such a heavy and shameful feeling at times. It’s good to know that y’all have flaws, so that I’m less convinced that you’re beings from Greek mythology. 😂😅 But then they’re pretty messed up, lol! ……….. Anyway, thank you! I’ll try to fix that transition that way. 😊
@dianna, congratulations!!! That’s amazing! Really enjoy that beaut of a uke. 😊💕Heartiest congratulation Dianna!
lovely entries guys especially @jgillard and @marlongas.
thank you @Steven for your lovely comments for @abster. thank you for your encouragement.
Thank you @Steven for the feedback!
And congrats Dianna!@Steven
I hoped that you or Andrew would say that the squeezing is the ukes’ fault. 😉
Thank you for your kind feedback,
I’m looking forward to the rest of your course but the april challenge will take a lot of my time I guess. Have a great time.
Rici
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