Participate in the May 2023 Challenge! You Choose: $1,745 OR $2,900 Kanile’a

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Viewing 15 posts - 121 through 135 (of 145 total)
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  • #57598
    ksapp92
    Participant

    This month’s been absolutely crazy for me, so this is my first chance to look at this challenge. Just got it in in the nick of time!

    #57601
    bibilele
    Participant

    @Stephen, thanks a lot for your kind words! 🙂 And yes, I always struggle with the speed. It seems to take me months to get the songs down at the same pace. But I continue trying. 🙂

    #57602
    lynnzo
    Participant

    Thank you Andrew,
    The longer I play the more I’m leaning towards Blues and classical music but I still love it all.

    #57603
    leslieb
    Participant

    Thank you Andrew. Your feedback is much appreciated. I still am not comfortable with chucking. These challenges are a lot of fun! They get us out of our comfort zone.

    Life is good,
    Leslie

    #57605
    Stephen
    Moderator

    Here’s everyone on page 7:


    @lbilkie
    – You are playing great on this one, it’s just a lot of hard techniques in the middle! I think it’s worth taking each technique in measure 25 through 33 and devoting a week to mastering each tricky technique: especially Rasgueado and Triplet Strum. These 2 in particular can make you sound like an advanced player if you can master them. Keep it up, you are doing well!


    @dorabr
    – Very nicely done! You kept a solid tempo and a nice feel all the way through your performance! The only slight thing I have to add to this is that you left out measure 8 (where it stays on A7 for a 2nd measure). You got it on the second half, though. I’m only mentioning it since part of this exercise is playing the 12 bar blues form. Keep up the great work!


    @jgillard
    – Great job on this tricky rhythmic piece! You have a good feel over all on this, and you are doing pretty well on the rhythm! At the section from measures 17 – 20, the rhythm is a bit tricky: the first time around, you have it correct, then at measure 18 – 20 you start to wait just a bit too long on the 3rd hit in the measure (on the “uh” of “2 e and UH”). It’s really hard to be precise here, but looping just these four measures until it’s second nature might be the best way to go. Other than that, you’ve got it!


    @richard_siegert
    – You have a very nice feel on this, and you are doing an excellent job on the 2nd half! The first half sounds great, too…but it’s not the strum pattern intended for this piece. Rather than playing “island strum” over this section, give Andrew’s strum pattern a try. It’s a bit simpler, and accents the beat just a tad bit differently even though it is very similar. Keep up the great work!


    @karenj
    – You are doing a great job, and I like that you tried every technique! I think starting the song slower and keeping certain sections from speeding up is key: by the time you got to some of the harder sections, you were going fast enough to make them significantly more difficult. Pacing is tricky, but you can base the starting tempo on the speed you do the hardest section comfortably at. As far as where to look, this is tricky: I often look into the camera or at my fingers too much as well. Sometimes looking at the sheet music and having it just a bit offset of the camera can help. Keep it up, you’re doing well!


    @june2020
    – You are actually doing a great job on this one! Your timing, feel, and technique all look great. The only advice I have is to figure out how to make the slaps a little bit louder. Sometimes I have to literally slap (with a flattened hand) to get the percussive quality to come out, though it can be hard to pluck the correct strings afterwards. It may help to do the strumming with the slap over the sound hole rather than the neck. You’re playing this very well, you’ve got this!


    @ukulelee
    – Very nice job on this one! You have a great relaxed feel, and your fingerpicking is very consistent! I like that you added a second Rubato section for the Rasgueado and Triplet Strum measures. It was a nice way to get those techniques in at a slower pace without pausing. Now you can focus on those sections to work them up to speed in addition to being able to do them with the Rubato feel. Excellent Job on this one.


    @morrieuke1
    – I really like that you doubled the bass line at the beginning, that was a nice touch! So was your improvised solo: way to go keeping a good feel throughout that section. I don’t really have too much to add, I like your take on this! Great job!


    @dianna
    – Great job, and your new ukulele sounds great! You’re doing well so far, and if you have more time to spend on this, I’d work on two things: First, playing the song slower will give you more time to get to tricky left hand positions in the first half of the song, then second, try playing the part after the rubato measures with a metronome at a slow tempo. Once you can get the rhythm there, then work on gradually speeding it up. Slowing the beginning down a bit and getting the middle/end sections at the same comfortable tempo will give the piece a bit more continuity. Excellent job, and congrats on the new uke!


    @janaq1
    – You are off to a great start on this one! You are doing a great job of staying with the track over all. With the main strum pattern, you are slightly rushing some of the 16th note strums. It may help to slow the track down so you can tell which strums you are ahead on to develop a more relaxed feel for the higher tempos. Keep it up, you are playing well, and I love that uke cat strap!


    @akukes73
    – You are doing a good job on this so far! The strumming can be a bit difficult, especially with all the extra techniques thrown in. On the first strumming pattern, you have a tendency to speed up just at the tail end of each island strum pattern. What would help the most here is to just practice island strum with a metronome while staying on one chord. Do this for a minute at a time to get some consistency with the strumming. Then play each section other than the rubato measures with a metronome as well, or play with the playback feature at 50% speed and work your way up gradually from there. You did a great job of trying all the techniques and getting through the whole piece. Keep up the great work!


    @zongozongo
    – Very nicely done on this! As far as the first part, I naturally would gravitate towards this way of playing it, althrough Andrew is doing two down strums for the first two strums. This breaks are strumming hand cycle, but it also adds a different accent to that 2nd strum (on the “and after beat 2). It’s a small detail, but it might be worth trying just to have a variety of strum patterns. The 2nd half with the backbeats sounded great! Keep it up!


    @richo_uke
    – I thought this sounded great! Two slight things I noticed were just due to playing the song at slightly faster of a tempo than you are ready for. If you played at 80% of that speed, I bet you could play it flawlessly! Then the transition to the 2nd strum pattern and to the very ending would be just as smooth as the rest of the piece without any hiccups or hesitations. Great job on this!

    #57606
    jbmills07
    Participant

    @andrew your totally right! I didn’t even think of it that way when I added the bars lol. Just thought, “hey, I’ll make this a little longer” lol!

    #57607
    akukes73
    Participant

    @stephen, thanks for the really helpful feedback, I never thought of using a metronome for strumming – I’ll definitely give it a go!

    #57608
    denisedistefano
    Participant

    Darn. I just realized that I didn’t write

    I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

    on a separate line on my May challenge entry. Oh well, I’ll remember next month!!!

    #57609
    dianna
    Participant

    Thanks @stephen for the feedback…..always appreciated!

    #57610
    morrieuke1
    Participant

    Thank you for the feedback @Stephen, it was fun playing along with your awesome bass track!

    #57611
    patdrehu
    Participant

    Thanks @stephen for the feedback…..as alaways, usefull

    #57612
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    @denisedistefano – No worries, you’ll get two entries for this month 🙂

    #57613
    ukulelee
    Participant

    Thank you for the inspiring and helpful feedback. You noticed my 2nd Rubato at the end of the piece. That was strictly functional, lol. Yes, my goal is to speed that part up once I get it smoothed out. It’s such a lovely piece.

    #57614
    lbilkie
    Participant

    Thank you @Stephen for the advice and encouragement. I will try to remember to break pieces down into more manageable bits.

    #57615
    casadot349
    Member

    I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

    Well, I lost track of time this month and forgot to upload my video. I know I’m late but I still wanted to share my performance and hopefully I can still get my two entries. I went with “Funk Jam” for this month.

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