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After trying the more advanced songs this month I decided to instead work on my biggest weakness: strumming lol
So I learned the Beginner Blues Strumming. I never tried strumming the up strokes with my thumb before, so that took some practice for sure! And my chuck also needs a lot of work, so it was nice to practice that more as well!
@kaski85 and @annemarie well played!I am a premium member.
Wow, this was a hard one! Not perfected, but much better Than I could have done a year ago and not as good as I will be able to do next year.
Hi gang-
I’m really enjoying all the Funk Month submissions! Here is my best take so far on Rhythmic Variations. All the little details were quite challenging to put together, and I think my performance sounds a bit lifeless, but I’m going to keep working at it to speed/perk it up.
Please pardon my super squeaky new G string!! Yikes!Best,
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So many great submissions so far. Then, there’s this… 😂
Funk Jam is an amazing-sounding tune and I really thought I’d abandon all reason and go for it–even though it’s pretty much 100% outside my comfort zone of what I usually play and highlights some of my struggles, like strumming and grasping complicated rhythms and also “being funky.” 😅 And boy, it has been a journey trying to learn it. I watched the lesson countless times, played through the more difficult sections of it countless times, but still needs so much more work.
Thank you to Andrew for creating such amazing tunes and creating opportunities for people to stretch the boundaries of what seems possible. I hope I might be able to rerecord this one if I get another chance, but this is its current “state,” lol. Thank you.
So many questionable things about this video. How many can you spot? 😂
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Hello everyone!
Here is my attempt with “The Chicken”.
This version with Andrew and Stephen, at 75% speed.And again “The Chicken”, this time with drums from the app “Drumgenius”, track “Funky 15”, which refers to Peter Erskine.
What can I say. It’s tricky.
It’s slow, at 60%.
Not everything worked out the way I wanted it.
And yet, here’s what I got.Have a nice day!
Enjoying all the entries! @dividesky thank you for the encouragement 🙂 @leslieb I agree, just seeing improvement after a year is a positive! Nice playing.
@the_bumble_bard another “A” (or E?) for effort! The struggle is real as we all know. I love that you show exactly what we all go through. I think this is one of the hardest challenges we had in the last year.
@katazumiri – so impressed with your “Chicken” and creative touch. Enjoyable.@leb397, hahaha, thank you! I think I’d go with “E” because it’s closer to “F” (the letter grade I should probably get for that performance). 😉😅😂😅 But the struggle is definitely real and I agree; straight up, that’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to learn on uke so far, because so many techniques I have not worked on a lot are required. I hopefully can get a “redemption take” because I know I can play that first riff better than that at least 5% of the time. 😅 But yes, sometimes it can help to show the mistakes. The other two Funk Jams were lovely though! I think it was @marianne and @lhamilton. Very good! 😊
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Hey all
Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to practice this month, so here is my entry with Cissy Strut (without the solo :(, and with many hiccups along the way lol). Thanks!Sam
@lisadmh – Excellent performance, Lisa! First half was perfect!
In the second half, you did a great job showcasing all of the variations. Although I did not see one of them, the rasgueado strum. Don’t forget to add that one in and if you need a little help with it, check out Matt’s lesson from our Next Level Strumming Course.
The last advice I have is to keep working on boosting the tempo of the second half to match the first. But overall, impressive work this month!
@rebeca – Beautifully played! 👏
@muzikmama – Great playing! I thought you did a great job showcasing all of the changes! The one rhythmic variation I would focus on is the first, the fingerpicking section. I’m not hearing the correct rhythm being played there. I’d recommend re-reviewing the lesson and playing along with me in the playthrough.Also, it sounds like your uke is tuned down a whole step. Just a heads up if you weren’t aware.
@anyon1 – Great rhythm playing, timing, and feel throughout! Only tip I have is for the lick at the end. Try to pluck the 1st fret on C on the & of 1 instead of beat 2. Holding that note for a dotted quarter gives it that cliche jazzy-rhythmic ending sound.
@lhamilton – Great job this month Linda! I thought you did really well on the timing. But I’d like to see if we can get it locked in even tighter. One thing I like to do is tap my foot along. And you can hear it in this short video below, as well as, in the background of the original performance.Give that a try, and you can go one step further too by adding a metronome. Focus on getting the muted strums locked in. That’s what I’m hearing needs more work than the notes.
@dividedsky – Great job, Jane! I think you’ve got a great base established, so I’d keep working on each section, individually, to smooth them out before connecting it all together.Also, try to memorize it. There’s a lot going on with the right hand, but also the left with this tune. Memorizing will help you as you can focus solely on the changes.
@lyndallk – Wow! That solo was 🔥!! I’m very impressed overall. Great playing and you were tightly locked in with the band! Well done!I only have one minor suggestion, which is to try to do a little less of a bend. We want it to be more of an “accent” then an actual bend. Technically, they call it a micro bend, since it falls somewhere in between the fretted note and a half-step up.
@annemarie – Great playing! And well done showcasing all of the changes! My only suggestion is to try a slower tempo. Focus on keeping it nice and steady. Then, gradually work towards boosting the tempo to where you recorded at. Everything is there, I just feel like you’re going a little faster than you’re ready for atm.
@kaski85 – Bravo! I will be showcasing your performance in tomorrow’s newsletter 🙂
@jbmills07 – Great strumming and rhythm playing, Justin! I noticed you added a few extra bars to the 12 bar blues form. Double check the form, cuz if you ever play with someone else, you’ll be the only one playing the 16 Bar Blues LOL.
@leslieb – I love the facial expression at 1:25 LOL! Great playing overall! You showcased all of the changes very well! From here, I’d focus on boosting tempo while keeping it steady.
@jody_hendrickson – Excellent performance! Very well played! I think the “lifeless” thing you are hearing is the audio quality. It sounds like it got compressed to a low quality. Which is why it sounds a little tinny. I can tell just by listening to how you played it, that in real life, that performance had a beautiful tone! Well done this month 👏
@The_Bumble_Bard – This has to be the first midway uke change I’ve ever seen in one of our monthly performances 😂I loved it, very creative way to compensate for the lack of frets. It’s very cool to see you tackle this toughy of a tune. When we push ourselves, that’s how we grow! Keep at it! It’s been awesome watching your journey so far 🙂
@katazumiri – Great rhythm playing on the 1st video. Nice and tightly locked in with the band!Second video was amazing! Again, tight & locked in playing on the melody, rhythm, and solo! You even nailed that crazy run in the middle of the solo. Bravo! 👏
@shmu88 – As always, playing was great Sam! 100% speed sounds like it might be a hair too fast for where you’re at right now. I know you said you didn’t have enough time to practice, but, it did make me think of a good suggestion for you. Check out Transcribe.This is an awesome program that is similar to the on-screen tab viewer on our site. Basically, it allows you to slow down and loop audio or video files. It even has a feature that tells you what notes and chords are played and surprisingly it’s very accurate!
But as it relates to this song, put the 100% speed backing track in it and you’ll be able to slow it down by 1% increments. You can then bounce an mp3 at any speed or play along to it in transcribe.
It’s a great tool to help you gradually work your way up to 100%.
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