Participate in the September 2019 Member Challenge – Next Level Strumming!

[surfnrz]

This one was really hard to master for me. Not sure if it’s entirely correct but here it is! Lol I was so impressed by everyone who nailed this technique this month. Now, onto 5 foot 2 eyes of Blue. I am a premium member.

[gaberdude]

thanks @ripley, nice of you to say!

[laurasil]

I tried it on Cups by Anna Kendrick (from Pitch Perfect)!

[jinajupiter]

Hey Andrew,

is there an audible difference between triplet and fan stroke? I understand that triplet stroke is
index down, thumb down, index up and fan stroke is
pinky down, thumb down, index up,
so the only difference is the first of the triplet.
But is that audible?

Another question I asked earlier in this thread, how do I make the melody pop out,
especially with the triplet strum? With me it gets buried under the other chord notes.

[lisadmh]

I never would have attempted this without the challenge. I’m glad I did! It looks super hard. It had taken intense concentration and I’m not quite there yet but next weekend is uke fest so I won’t be able to practice much more.

It’s such a high energy song, I get tired!

I didn’t do the island strum – switched that up a bit. I also added a second chord progression. Minor tweaks.

[planetfink]

I am a premium member.

I am left handed, but have always played guitar and ukulele right handed. This really hasn’t been an issue for me until I attempted this pattern. Very challenging to learn with my non dominant hand.

[nthibode]

@laurasil I’ve been trying to find songs that work well with the drum-like rhythm strum. That’s a good one! Nice work.

[jlbross]

Here is my September challenge.

[andracass]

@Andrew I understood what you meant and saw the third part. It’s not good yet, but I understand.

Five foot two, Eyes of blue – second attempt

[Andrew]

@andracass – You’ve got it now! Technique looks great 🙂

[Andrew]

gaberdude – Bravo, Gabe! Great feel and great job on getting the techniques down. I’d continue working on theme 3 and 4 to get it a little smoother and watch out for bending inward at the first joint, in 2 spots: pinky at 41 seconds and ring at 45 seconds. But really, that was so good! Nice work this month 🙂

surfnrz – Hey Ray, so your rhythm and timing sounds good, but it sounds like you’ve got some of the hits in different spots. So this technique plays out of an 8th note pattern, and what you want to do is memorize on which beat you:

1) tap with the thumb
2) tap with the index
3) strum up
4) strum down

Check out this video I made last week for another member, which broke down when each hit occurs. But for the best clarity, re-watch the lesson, as I broke it down in great detail.

laurasil – Perfect performance, bravo! And great job using it in a different tune 🙂

@jinajupiter – I think he wanted you to use the pinky as it creates more showmanship when doing the technique. But you could use the same fingering as the eighth note triplet.

When you post your performance, i’ll keep an ear out to hear if the melody pops. But it’s hard for me to give advice unless I can see / hear what you are doing.

lisadmh – You’ve got it down, great job and neat changes! The only thing I can spot is that your right hand looks a little tense/tight, try to perform the technique with as much elasticity in your hand as possible.

planetfink – To me, it looks like you’re ambidextrous! Pattern is great, you’ve got it down. The only thing I can suggest to work on is to slow it down and focus on the down strum hits that are made with the thumb.

If you listen back to your performance, most of the time you hit just string 4; or if you hit multiple strings, they are not evenly hit… i.e. 1 rings louder than the other. So practice slow and see if you can get an even hit across string 4 and 3 (at least).

jlbross – Well done, Jennifer! So you’ve got the pattern down and it sounds great overall, but there are two things that I think you can work on to get it a little bit tighter.

1) if you look at the advice I left above for Kathy (planetfink), you’ll see a comment about getting consistent hits. Listen to your performances from 18-22 seconds and 22-25 seconds. The latter has smoother, even hits. Try to make the entire piece have that same consistency.

2) Watch the timing in Beat 2. Try to tap along when you get into that section to help keep you in-time.

[surfnrz]

Thanks Andrew. I didn’t think it was quite right. I’m going to revisit the lesson.

[jonathan_gabel]

Here’s my entry for this month’s challenge, I was hoping to get to 5 foot 2 but the exercises kept me busy enough for the last couple weeks. Videotaping each week has been a great help, I realized I have as much work to do on my left hand as my right.

[Andrew]

jonathan_gabel – Well done! Every technique looks and sounds great! The only thing that stood out to me was the claw stroke. Try to spread your hand out a little bit more (in the fingering), so as when you come down with the stroke, we hear more distinction in the hits.

[jonathan_gabel]

I’ll keep practicing that, thanks Andrew!

[Author]

Posts