Participate in the October 2018 Member Challenge – WIN a Kanile'a Ukulele!

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Viewing 15 posts - 256 through 270 (of 270 total)
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  • #19797
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Stephen missed a couple before page 13, but this completes everyone up to page 13. I haven’t tallied up the final number, but I know we had over 90 members participate this month, amazing!

    Due to the sheer number of participants, we are leaving feedback for one submission per person. Don’t forget that if you want extra 1 on 1 help, you can book a private Skype lesson with Stephen 🙂

    —-

    benita, fantastic performance! What I’d work on moving forward is bumping the tempo up a little bit. But very good job, very impressive!

    strizaldo, well done! I’d suggest slowing it down a little bit to focus on cleaning up some of the notes that weren’t played cleanly, which is due to the fast tempo. Other than that, watch out with your thumb placement for the second chord, we don’t want to hug the neck in that section. I’d recommend using Form 1 there: https://rockclass101.com/proper-left-hand-ukulele-form/. Keep up the great work!

    mikkel, ohh upside down, lol! You should be able to flip the in the free programs included with PC (Windows Movie Maker) or Mac (iMovie). Your fingertips will hurt for at least a few months, but it depends on how much you play. It’s hard for me to see from that angle if you are pushing too hard, it doesn’t sound like it though. Next time, see if you can record the video with a direct on shot, not angled upward.

    I thought you did very well! I’d focus on practicing the transitions. Break it down to its simplest form, i.e. strumming or plucking the first chord to the second chord. Then chord 2 to 3, 3 to 1, and all 3 in a row. Practice in a time frame – like whole notes.

    Don’t worry about adding the rhythmic fills, you just want to focus on getting the muscle memory down of going from one chord to the next. When you get comfortable with that, you can practice transitions with the rhythmic fills. One last thing, double check the last chord. Keep rocking, it sounds really good!

    ukuleleloo, wow, way to go Lucinda! You know I’m a big fan of your playing, especially your feel on the instrument 🙂 and I think this song is a really good challenge for where you are at. I was super impressed with your performance! I know that you know how to practice, so the only thing I can suggest is to target in on the areas that need a little bit more touching up – so take one phrase at a time and loop, loop, loop.

    springer1, well done! Moving forward, I would focus on boosting the tempo. The key here is gradually; start with 5 or 10 BPM, and when you get comfortable with that, another small bump and so forth.

    #19798
    robinboyd
    Participant

    Thanks Stephen,

    That fret buzz was doing my head in but I was getting so frustrated by my inability to get a perfect recording that I just uploaded it anyway. I just tried the fan strum you suggested, and I think you’re right. It really adds to it.

    #19807
    mayaqatsi
    Participant

    I know this is horribly late, so not an “official” entry…and I’ll understand if it’s just too late for getting feedback as well….just wanted to keep up with the motion of doing the monthly challenges, even if not officially :-PP

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by mayaqatsi.
    #19818
    frenchfries54
    Participant

    Thanks for the feedback stephen….im super happy …nobody tells me how to practice or how iam doing…so your feedback means a lot…i’ll practice slowly…..:D

    #19835
    awiealissa
    Participant

    Did you already give everyone feedback? ‘Cause I can’t find any feedback for my video… 😀

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by awiealissa.
    #19837
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    We have left feedback for everyone up to page 13. We’ll be working on finishing up this week 🙂

    #19914
    becky7777
    Participant

    Same entry as back on page 15 or 16? but got it properly on Soundcloud finally. I’m leaving it on G-Docs till January just to be safe though. Sorry for the double post Stephen, Andrew, and Evan. I can’t edit the original to add this link.

    #19923
    zukulele
    Member

    Thanks for the feedback – will work on it.

    #20043
    Stephen
    Moderator

    Here’s everyone on page 14:

    timstacks – Awesome job getting through the whole arrangement! It’s a tough one for sure! After listening to your version and Evan’s back to back, I noticed how much faster you are playing it! I would recommend slowing down a bit for the relaxed feel, but also to get to the notes (especially in measure 37-38) in a bit easier. You are off to an excellent start, it will just take a little bit of extra slowing down and isolating in a few key spots to get it even better! Thanks for entering the challenge!

    shortman – The look of excitement at the end is the reason I love these challenges and Ukulele in general! There’s no better feeling than executing a great take after working on something for a long time! You did an excellent job of staying in time and getting the fingerpicking down! Even the strum was right in time with the rest of it! Now you can go back in and add more dynamics and expression and think of it like telling a story. Keep working on getting the alternate finger picking as smooth as possible on the A string to really make the notes sustain and sing! Great work, and I hope to hear many more from you!

    cyberloh – I understand the frustration! It’s hard to get those transitions smooth! You are doing a great job on it, though…it just takes work. I notice a little bit of tension in your left wrist. Try relaxing that hand a little bit more to avoid injury! Besides just a little bit more slow practice isolating certain parts, I would recommend working on holding the pinky note on the first phrase out a little bit longer and focus on making it sustain just a tad bit longer to add a lyrical element to that section. Great job on the dynamics, and I hope November’s challenge is slightly less frustrating!

    cconuku – The first part was very clean! I think you got very good at that section! Some of the finger picking patterns in the second and third sections are a bit tougher, but you are getting there! The part in measure 9 is certainly a tricky section, and I feel like using the thumb this quickly might be new to you. Work slowly to evenly space the notes plucked with the thumb, and the song will flow a bit smoother. Try isolating the section from measure 9 to 13. You have a wonderful start! Thank you!

    hlglazi – You are doing awesome, especially for your first finger style piece! A few things I noticed to make it even better: Now that you have the patterns down, try playing each measure (square of music) back to back with no extra space at the end. Each note in each section of this song should be evenly spaced (with very few exceptions). At 0:55 into your video, I noticed that you played the chord as an up strum, but it’s actually supposed to be a down strum with your fingernails hitting the strings. I hope this helps you understand how this works:

    lynettejd – You’ve got the notes down, and it sounds very evenly spaced within the sections! Now that you have that part out of the way, add to it by trying to hold each fretting hand finger down longer to let each note ring out longer. This will make the whole song sound more lyrical, and less choppy. This is especially hard with the pinky on the first section, but you can do it! Great job on each section! Thank you for being part of the challenge!

    bklynsoul – While I appreciate the Walking Dead pun, your performance was not lifeless! You did a great job using the dynamics and getting a smooth lyrical quality out of each note! The finger picking pattern at measure 9 might need a little more practice, but it’s a tough pattern, especially with the seemingly backwards finger order! You are doing great, and I hope to hear you more in the challenges to come!

    edward – I love the reverb you added! Was that an effect, or are you recording from a cave? Spooky either way! You’ve got the notes down, it just takes a little work to get them a bit more evenly spaced. Fingerpicking is tricky, but you are off to a wonderful start! I hope life lets you play more Uke! Thank you for making the time to enter!

    karenj – Very fast and smooth fingerpicking! You certainly have the patterns in each section down very smoothly! The transition to the chord at measure 5 is super close! Just isolate measure 4 to 5 slowly for a bit to really master sliding to the Abm chord! Measure 8 is the other challenge left to go, I would say play it slowly over and over and you will get there! And you are right…there’s something about that record button that makes everything more of a challenge! Awesome job, and thank you for your submission!

    #20044
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Here is everyone on page 15

    —-

    houmar, nice job! Glad that you joined us and hope you participate in more challenges 🙂

    I liked the accents that you made such as, hitting some notes harder than others, doing things like that really helps to add to the feel of the music.

    Now I also noticed that you struggled a little bit getting to the second chord, and if you watch the video, you’ll see that your entire body re-positions to grab it. This can be avoided if we fix how you are holding the ukulele. Check out this lesson and this one for our guide. But overall keep up the great work!

    john21403, great job! Timing and Clarity of the notes sounds great! What I would work on though is trying to add some of the Dynamics that were taught throughout the lesson; because right now everything sounds very straight and rigid – now don’t take this too negative, because on the other hand it shows that you put a lot of work into practicing the piece. But here’s a good lesson for you to check out, as it opens up the thought process into how we should perform the music.

    ourmaninjapan, loved it, well done! Great use of building and decaying dynamics! And super happy to hear that you enjoyed learning the new technique. Picado is super useful!

    becky7777, great tone and I like the Reverb 🙂 Your playing sounds great, practicing paid off! What I would focus on moving forward, is adding Dynamics to your performance. This is a really great piece where we can build sections up, as in a crescendo, or the opposite. Go back in the lesson to check out some ideas for Dynamics and try and incorporate them into your playing. Keep rocking!

    toastedbrains, great job! I like your use of Dynamics, it had a pulsating feel with you playing 2 patterns strong and then 2 patterns lighter. The one area that I would focus on though is timing. The first chord was a bit faster than the second and the third, try to even the tempo out. But overall, keep up the great work!

    ukukelley1, that was awesome Sheryl! I really think that was some of your best playing that I have seen. What was your practicing like? Def sounds like you put a lot of work into it!

    So a few things I do want to point out; first two I think we’ve talked about before, which is the slight Bend of the right hand wrist and playing notes with the first joint of the left hand finger bent. So friendly reminder on those two areas.

    But you had a comment about turning the camera on and it sounding less like music. It definitely sounded like music, so no worries there! But I think I know what you’re hinting at and it is timing. So all the pieces are there and your playing is great, we just want to work on your flow – getting it a little bit more steady.

    Try and take a 4 or 8 bar phrase and play along with the on-screen tab viewer or metronome. This will help keep you in check with timing, after that it’s just looping. But try and start at the tempo you’re at right now. I think it’s a good starting point for you to work on. Don’t worry about trying to play the entire thing in time, just focus on one phrase at a time. Keep up the excellent work!

    der-binni, well played! Excellent picking form! My suggestion for you would be the same feedback I left for becky7777.

    lyndallk, I love your groove and that muted accent hit that you have throughout, that’s like the icing on the cake, love it! I’ve got to share this on our facebook page at some point, it was too good not to! I look forward to hearing you rendition on, “Moon”. But feel bad that you have to practice on high G, sorry to your ears LOL!

    peropata, great job! You’ve got some speed! But definitely do slow it down a notch so you can focus on cleaning up the transitions. Also, take a look at the advice I left for becky7777 about Dynamics.

    stevenflautner, well done! Actually we’ve had a few submissions for Bad Moon Rising, which is super cool to see! I thought you did really well on the overall feel and getting the rhythms down. That’s definitely the hardest aspect of this tune. But what I work on is your left hand form. There are few things that we need to fix:

    1) notice how your pinky sticks straight out a lot of the time. It should always remain curved, relative to the other fingers, this way it’s in position ready to be engaged.

    2) on the G chord, your index finger bends in at the first joint, we want to keep that curved and on the fingertip. Now you probably did this because it has the awkward stretch to the 5th fret on string one, check out this lesson for help with increasing reach.

    3) you pulled the string(s) down sometimes when fretting a chord. for example, the third string at 55 sec. Again the reason is probably the same as above, but try to keep the strings parallel, because if you do pull one or more down, they will go sharp, and the chord will sound out of tune.

    But overall I thought you did Super well, keep up the great work!

    #20045
    robinboyd
    Participant

    Hey Stephen, my wife has exactly the same uke as you used in the video!

    #20070
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    We are still working on page 16 (there’s a lot of entries on that page). But here is everyone on page 17!

    —-

    uku_on, well done! Here is the video with my feedback for you 🙂

    ambera, great job! Here’s a video with feedback for you 🙂

    malachi, nice playing! Here is my feedback for you.

    apassionateplayer, I loved it! Very well done! Here are my thoughts.

    benjamin, great job Ben! Here is a video with the special challenge for you 🙂

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by Andrew. Reason: Correct Pages Listed
    #20071
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Whoops – sorry got the pages wrong.

    We are still working on page 16, above is for folks on 17.

    #20073
    Stephen
    Moderator

    Here’s everyone on page 16:

    jenaenlaxson – Great playing and tone! You are playing this one smoothly, so I would recommend adding the challenge of the alternating finger picking pattern on A string notes. It will allow you to stay smooth, even if you play it faster! The only other spots are the transitions to the new chord shapes. Just isolate one measure before each shift and play through one measure after the shifts. Practice doing this a lot, and it will no longer slow you down at all when you do a full play through! Congratulations on your first challenge!

    awiealissa – Awesome job on a challenging piece! My only suggestion to make it even better is to really focus on those tricky pull off sections! They are hard to get definition on, especially if your action is high. Also, I notice that you are using your ring finger to start the pull off in measure 9. While Andrew does play it this way, it might benefit you to use the middle and index finger to gain clarity since these fingers are stronger until you build up the dexterity in the ring finger. The rest of the piece sounds great! Thank you for your entry!

    suzie1 – You’ve got the notes down! You are off to a wonderful start, and I love the vibrato you add on certain notes! The hardest part of this song is keeping the relaxed yet consistent swing feel throughout the whole song. One thing that helps is to play along with a drummer and really lock in on the rhythm. Try playing along to this video and see if it helps! Great job, and I’m glad you didn’t break your A string!

    yukalele – Nicely done, David! The only spot that took you out of your very consistent timing was the measure with the strum! It’s a tricky shift, but after practicing that transition some more, you’ll sound almost perfect! The only thing to add after that is some exaggerated dynamics (volume changes) to set the mood of the song! Very well played, and congratulations on entering your first challenge!

    josephus – Great work, Joseph! I like that you didn’t let the shifts slow you down at all! And the volume swells were nice! I would make the strum at bar 13 a little slower, or make it more of a fan strum for some added excitement! Then it’s just picking the notes a little more evenly, and you’ll be close to Andrew’s performance! Thank you for joining the challenge!

    lisamcc – That was wonderful, Lisa! There might be a few spots that weren’t perfect, but you were also playing a much faster version! I would slow it down and really dig into certain strums a bit more to accent the swing feel! Then you’re ready to add your own touch to it like Evan did (with embellishments in between the strums). You are on your way! The pull offs were very smooth towards the end as well! Thank you for your entry!

    ineonfox – That was fast! Great work on getting it up to that speed! You are ready to add the dynamics in…make sure to start quiet so you have room to grow in volume. To do this, just pick lighter at first, and dig in more when you want it to be louder. Also, I would hold the Ukulele a bit differently to avoid the angle on your right wrist. holding the neck at a 45 degree angle instead of horizontally will help you get a better angle. Thank you for being part of the challenge!

    _elizabeth_ – Wonderful job! Your finger picking is very even and you have a nice touch! I would exaggerate the dynamics a bit more so they really come across as you play! Excellent performance!

    carmen-s – Very well played! My favorite part was the beautiful up strum at the end of the song! The dynamics were on point! My only suggestion is to work just a tiny bit more on the transitions to new chord changes so you aren’t having to move slower on those measures…even though you did make it feel natural! Thank you for taking the time to join the challenge!

    kcharles15 – For a brand new technique, you are rocking the fingerpicking! Excellent job! The same transitions seem to be hard for almost everyone: moving into measure 5 and getting into and out of the strum at measure 13 are both just tough spots! Isolate these spots (starting at bar 4 and going to 6, then starting at bar 12 and playing to measure 14). Playing through these parts slowly on repeat will make you unstoppable when you go to play the entire piece!

    jlbross – Great job given the lack of time you had for this after working on the other song! I know recording can be nerve-racking, but I want to hear you play the next challenge without apologizing in the middle! You are doing great! Try adding the fingerpicking pattern that Andrew plays on the first 4 measures (using index and middle fingers alternating on the A string notes). This addition will allow you to increase speed greatly. I love how the hood on your costume is perfect for looking down at the tabs! Thank you for your entry.

    #20075
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED THIS MONTH! WE HAD 93 ENTRIES! YOU GUYS ROCK!

    Hope to see everyone in our November Challenge!

    Here is a list of everyone who participated. Please let me know if there are any discrepancies.

    —-

    BONUS ENTRIES (From our Q&A with Kanile’a):

    timstacks
    kayleighb

    Count: 93

    jakeypoo
    deadbuggy
    deadbuggy
    flora-
    kmelton
    kmelton
    cncamacho
    cncamacho
    pauvaliente
    hafeez3115
    hafeez3115
    leahwoosley
    leahwoosley
    brettboy
    brettboy
    mheiden
    mheiden
    rickkhan
    rickkhan
    nggnmm
    timolnz
    timolnz
    mweir1
    mweir1
    willymac
    ukulelethemes
    rickeymike
    rickeymike
    felixpitterling
    felixpitterling
    laurasil
    ryzeonly
    lisadmh
    lisadmh
    sprintingyogini
    sprintingyogini
    hotmilktea
    hotmilktea
    gstriph
    gstriph
    brenna
    brenna
    lyndallk
    lyndallk
    hondamom
    hondamom
    mycb3tm3n
    mycb3tm3n
    andracass
    andracass
    arbuscula
    arbuscula
    coffeemug
    coffeemug
    mycaptain
    mycaptain
    annefgodfrey
    annefgodfrey
    hzhuodie
    incywincy
    incywincy
    kayleighb
    kayleighb
    cmab81
    cmab81
    awesomestrings
    awesomestrings
    crazihippichic
    crazihippichic
    curlyuke
    curlyuke
    robinboyd
    robinboyd
    frenchfries54
    frenchfries54
    benita
    casadot349
    ultramom
    ultramom
    cinichol
    cinichol
    mr_moltes
    zukulele
    zukulele
    strizaldo
    poopsies
    rpina61
    rpina61
    suzums
    suzums
    kanae926
    kanae926
    kellyblackburn
    kellyblackburn
    akshxd
    akshxd
    mikkel
    mikkel
    ukuleleloo
    ukuleleloo
    springer1
    springer1
    timstacks
    timstacks
    shortman
    shortman
    cyberloh
    cyberloh
    cconuku
    cconuku
    hlglazi
    hlglazi
    lynettejd
    lynettejd
    bklynsoul
    bklynsoul
    edward
    edward
    karenj
    karenj
    houmar
    houmar
    john21403
    john21403
    ourmaninjapan
    becky7777
    toastedbrains
    toastedbrains
    ukukelley1
    ukukelley1
    der-binni
    der-binni
    peropata
    peropata
    stevenflautner
    stevenflautner
    uku_on
    uku_on
    ambera
    ambera
    malachi
    malachi
    apassionateplayer
    benjamin
    benjamin
    jenaenlaxson
    jenaenlaxson
    awiealissa
    awiealissa
    suzie1
    yukalele
    yukalele
    josephus
    lisamcc
    lisamcc
    ineonfox
    _elizabeth_
    carmen-s
    kcharles15
    jlbross
    jlbross

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