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Here is everyone on page 9:
edward, nice job! Your notes have a nice clarity to them. What I’d work on is breaking it into sections and focusing on one section of the time. Follow the steps in our practice guide, and it will help you get it down quicker and flow smoother.
hotmilktea, very lovely! I literally said “nice” in the middle of your performance! You are doing a really good job, keep up the great work! The only tip I have is to try a little bit of a lighter tap for that harmonic hit.
nggnmm, I thought you had a really solid performance! There are some subtleties that you can brush up on, but have you and your wife tried to play together? She has great timing mixed with a natural feel, practicing alongside her is literally the real life equivalent of playing alongside the on-screen tab viewer.
I also want to bring up an interesting point: You mentioned saying that you will work harder next month. Again, I thought you did very well this month but imagine where it would have been if you had put in the extra work 😉
russellbarnett, here is a video with feedback for you 🙂
coffeemug, nice job! You’ve definitely got some speed, but I think this is a piece that sounds better at a bit of a more moderate tempo. Now keep in mind that this is my opinion, because the interpretation of music is always up to the performer.
But I’d encourage you to slow it down a notch and to play alongside the on-screen tab viewer. This will act as a guide and help keep you in time. I’d also recommend to lighten your attack of the right-hand a little bit, this will produce a sweeter sounding tone.
timolnz, great job Tim! So I’d actually recommend the same advice I left for coffeemug above, but also check out the advice I left for edward in reference to referring to our practice guide and tackling sections one at a time over playing the entirety of the piece.
gstriph, you have a really nice tone to your playing 🙂 so I can see that you were reading off the sheet music, and the first thing I always recommend is to memorize the piece. The reason why is that you will be better able to focus on how you are playing it, which is what we talked in great detail about in this lesson.
I’d also recommend the same advice I left above for timolnz. I think it will be very beneficial for you too.
rpina61, here is a video with some feedback 🙂
Here is everyone on page 10 and 11:
uku_on, nice job! So I want to bring up a point that you made, which was: “I think I’m hitting the strings a little bit too harshly.”
This is a really good thing because if you are critical of your playing, it shows that you care.
So you’ve already evaluated you’re playing and given yourself feedback on what to work on. But I’ll go a step further and recommend to check out the advice I left a couple posts above for gstriph. Check out the lesson link I left for him, it will be good for you too.
mheiden, well done Maureen! So there are a couple things I’d work on. First, I’d turn your focus towards getting the peace to flow a little smoother. And the best way to do this is to tackle one or 2 sections at a time, as defined in our practice guide.
Second, with the rasgueado strum, you want the fingers to roll independently of each other. So, pinky hits the strings first, then ring, middle, finally index. Try to practice each hit slowly as demonstrated in the lesson. Your goal is to gain independence in each finger before trying to speed it up.
zukulele, great playing Zion! One thing I’d like to hear more of is the unique attack sound provided by rasgueado. Check out the advice I left above for Maureen. Everything else sounded great, very solid performance!
stinyuke, here is a quick video with feedback 🙂
Here’s our lesson on proper right hand form and also check out the beginner’s course for additional lessons.
casadot349, here is a quick video with feedback 🙂
Here’s our lesson on proper right hand form and also left hand form.
kanae926, so I already sent you a message saying how awesome this was and it truly is. I’m really impressed with how your playing is developing. I don’t have any constructive feedback because the truth is you’re already doing what you’re supposed to. Keep up the great work 🙂
andracass, nice job MT! I’d like you to give picado technique a shot, it’s super useful and it’ll break you out of using only one finger for picking.
One thing I’ve noticed throughout the months that you’ve been posting is that it sounds like you struggle to get through pieces. Now I can tell you to go read our practice guide, but you already know all this stuff. My assumption as a teacher is that you are not devoting enough time for practice.
I hope you realize I’m not trying to be harsh rather I want to push you, because I know you can do better. So let me know if I’m right or wrong.
Thank you Andrew!Oh, the “on-screen tab viewer”…I got that, will try to have more dynamics next time.
PS, nggnmm has a big plan for the next challenge!Andrew, Thanks so much for the great challenge and thoughtful critique! It was a mighty challenge working out how to play Moon on my Bari but I’m happy with the way it came together. I see what you mean about pulling the strings too hard. It took so much strength to grab some of the these chords (especially that B7 that I fingered as 9875). You’ll notice that I actually played that one E-minor in the open position halfway through just to give my lefthand a short rest 🙂 I know I could have gotten this piece smoother and the tempo less sluggish if I’d given it another solid week of dedicated practice… but, alas, my Rockclass101 time has recently been nearly nonexistent because I’ve been taking a 10 week Hot Club Jazz class that I started back in September. Actually my recital is tomorrow evening! yikes! The Hot Club Class has been Amazing. I will post of video of my recital on youtube in a few days (unless it’s a disaster of course… knock on wood) But I’m also really looking forward to getting back into your lessons!
That sounds really cool, Brett! Def share a video 🙂
We’ll be leaving feedback for everyone we haven’t over the next week and will announce the winner of the Taimane lesson and uke in a special end of year video which will come out next Friday! Thanks for baring with us.
Fabulous, just fab, Brett. What fun. AND your video started with an all time favorite of mine, way before I started “playing” Here’s a video from my personal playlist. Isn’t that a ukulele the musician is playing during the interlude?
Thanks Rickeymike!! It is a beautiful song! Cool video too. Thanks for sharing. It’s hard to tell if that guy was playing a big uke or a small guitar 🙂
Here is everyone on page 12:
dreadhead – Very well done! The only spots that could use a touch of extra practice are the pull offs. measure 21 in particular has the toughest ones: pulling off from the 3rd fret to the 1st fret. To make the second note in each pull off sound louder, I sometimes pull my ring finger (on the 3rd fret) down slightly as if I’m actually plucking the string with my left hand ring finger…rather than just lifting it up. Then the only challenges are keeping the other finger down as you do this motion and not hitting the other strings. Great work on the timing and over all feel!
kellyblackburn – Over all, your timing and technique is great! There are just a few spots where the rhythm is a bit confusing; measures 6-8 are a bit tough: after strumming beat 2 in measure 6, you immediately play the first fret on the C string without pausing. Then the next 4 notes after this are straight 8th notes until you reach the first open e string in measure 7. Then the open A string is on beat three in that measure, and the rest are just straight 8th notes until beat one of measure 8. I would highly recommend practicing measures 6-8 slowly with the tab player. Then the song will flow smoother. Thank you for entering the contest, and for being the first premium member!
incywincy – Great Job, Deb! There may be one or two spots with rhythm here or there, but I’m convinced that you just slightly rushed them, and that you know what they should sound like (as you play them right on after the D.S.). The slapped artificial harmonic is tough! it requires you to flatten your pointer finger on your plucking hand out a bit more in order to make contact with multiple strings. Then it’s the accuracy of being right over the intended frets! It’s super tricky, but you did well to get it on one of the strings! Keep working, you’re doing great! Thank you!
felixpitterling – You are playing well, and very fast! Every now and then the rhythm gets away from you, so I would recommend playing it slower, though you are doing a great job on the Rasgueado! Focus on measure 19 slowly with a metronome to get each note in the pull offs on the right beat. Keep at it, you are off to an excellent and authentic sounding start! Thanks for your entry!
annegodfrey – Anne, you are doing very well…it’s just a super difficult piece with lots of chord shapes and challenges! You are playing great, so keep at it! I can tell you have spent a lot of time on this. I think isolating each transition to a new shape would help a lot. Start with just measure 14-15 and getting the transition and every note as clean as possible in time at a slow tempo. There are so many transitions, that this might be a tedious process to do for the whole piece, but you will get there! I will keep your husband in my thoughts and I hope he is getting better each day! I’m glad that the Ukulele can provide a bit of light in such hard times! Thank you!
lyndallk – Wow, that was awesome! Your fingerpicking is wonderful, and your feel is great! Over all you did a wonderful job on dynamics as well. There were a few sections towards the middle that you could exaggerate a crescendo here or there for a little more expression…but honestly, it’s absolutely wonderful the way it is! Great work, and thank you for your entry!
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