Participate in the September 2026 Member Challenge – WIN $549 Kala Ukulele

[jody_hendrickson]

Hi all,

I worked on the Travis picking lesson this month. Please pardon the errant note at the start–I was doing one take after another and didn’t leave enough space to get a clean edit with my pretty basic skills…

So many great entries this month, inspiring as always. And lovely to have Brett back!!

I am a premium member.

[The_Bumble_Bard]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell, howdy there, ukulele friends!!

With only an hour and a half left of this month’s challenge, I’m coming in clutch! Is that a phrase? Welp, it is now. 😆

I learned, recorded, and am posting The Travis Picking Etude tonight! This has become my “new normal” with these challenges is waiting until literally the last day of the challenge to even start learning a tune, LOL. On one level, it’s really funny because of the pure chaos (of joining the challenges that way, but also life is chaotic, as well), but on another level, I know I’m not challenging myself with the music itself as much that way. I think it is definitely a skill I have honed even more is to learn songs very quickly, put them to memory, and attempt to clean them up. I didn’t even trim my nails for this one; that certainly didn’t help matters (not even on my left hand, fretting hand, whoops). I do love this tune. I struggled *way* more than I expected with the swing feel of this tune. I think I did okay with it, but that was definitely part of the struggle.

Oh yeah, and then a spider attacked me just as I was finishing up the tune – NOICE! 😆

I got to hear a few of the entries – some really amazing ones! @leb397 and @mysticrick, AMAZING job on that duet! I loved that so, so much. @otzepeng your take on St. James Infirmary was fiah (fire)! That had such groove, such swag. Can I say swag? Help me, lol. And @brettboy, so glad you’ve returned, you’ve truly made up for lost time with those tunes and so glad your wrist is doing better and better! I really loved the second Hawaiian tune you did the most (Loki Lani? Really hope that’s right – I’m so tired, lol), but they were all fun! And I caught little glimpses of a few of the others – all amazing, as always! 🥰

Admittedly, lately, I have gotten *very* into playing piano again, which was my first instrumental love. I’ve learned some tunes I never thought I ever could and am really challenging myself with that. But I think if I had not spent 5 years (is it 5 years?) playing ukulele, I never would’ve had the courage to try some of the things I am now on piano. I owe so much to the time spent in this community and the people here and the great education RC101 provides. And I still play my uke, but admittedly have spent less time reading tabs to learn new tunes. Not sure if that makes sense. But whenever I do it’s RC101 tunes or Matt’s arrangements on his Patreon and YouTube, lol. Good times…

By the way, I did end up finishing editing that book last month! I did the entire thing, almost, in one almost 9 hour sitting. I am definitely okay (maybe not). Thank you all for your encouragmement with that and my ongoing chaotic entries here, lol. I will try so, so hard to not start learning the tune on the actual last day of the challenge next month, but we’ll see.

Y’alls are the best! Please get blessed! 🥰

The still image is one of a flower I took a few years ago. 🙂 For some reason, the video editor made it look incredibly blurry, but the original photo is not (unintentionally), lol. Any respectable-ish photographer has to say that. 😉

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[takuan]

@mysticrick Thank you for the kind words. I really enjoyed your Misirlou performance too. You nailed the tremolo technique!

Yeah, at this stage of learning, I’m “forcing” myself to use the 4-finger approach to develop some dexterity and get a better feel for it. So far, I’m liking it, but I’m not committed to it yet, so I might give the 3-finger technique a try in the future.

[takuan]

I’ve just realized that somehow I managed to delete a few sentences from my original post when I submitted it. What I was going to say is:

I found this Travis picking very interesting. It seems to be a very versatile technique that can work with many songs. Just switch the chords and voila. It makes things a bit more interesting than regular strumming.

So, thanks for this lesson!

• This reply was modified 3 weeks ago by takuan.

[leb397]

@the_bumble_bard AGAIN, by the skin of your teeth. Glad you made it and nailed the Travis picking. Also amazed you finished your book edit last month.
Funny, I was about to fall asleep and thought, Bumblebard hadn’t posted? And this morning you made it. RC does care about our community ❤️.
Thank you for liking our duet. We practiced a lot.
I can tell you are very musical since you play the piano. You pick up a song so quickly.
Always enjoy your posts.

So many great entries. The St James entries were crazy good.
Happy October everyone. Time flies.
Ps thanks @Andrew, love the Pathways course and have told others it’s a great way to learn/improve through music. ❤️

[Andrew]

Wow! 39 members joined us for this month’s challenge! A BIG thanks to each of you who participated and bravo on a job well done! 👏

Our October Challenge is LIVE and is your fourth chance to WIN a $2,095 Kanile’a Tenor Ukulele. I hope y’all join us again!

Below, I will post a list of members who participated in the September Challenge for your third chance to win the Kala Ukulele. Please let me know if there are any discrepancies. The winner of the ukulele will be announced on Monday as a follow up post in this forum 🙂

—-

otzepeng
brettboy
marianne
lhamilton
cyman_t
anyon1
jdouglas
jedart
carynjoy
uketime
annyuke
katazumiri
ccwuke
grannieannie
misterbones
patizon
dianna
joe150
ldarrow
leihali
nelsonlin2021
leb397
uke_andi
tessiert
shmu88
monika101
lynnzo
mysticrick
karenj
jasdel
takuan
heike_uke
bearregi
maryjanew
rgillof
yukalele
beelyhol
jody_hendrickson
The_Bumble_Bard

[uketime]

Good luck everyone!!

[Andrew]

Congrats to our winner!!! Thanks again to everyone who participated 🙂

P.S. If you’re wondering which song is playing in the background, it’s this one.

[monika101]

@clempek
Congratulations! Enjoy your new uke! 🎸👏

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 2 days ago by monika101.

[clempek]

Wow, I feel really lucky! I was actually thinking about buying a ukulele to set up with a low-G tuning, and this one is absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t have asked for a better one!

[annyuke]

Congrats @clempek. You’re the lucky one. Enjoy your new beautiful Uke… 😃

[lynnzo]

@Clempek Congratulations!

[nelsonlin2021]

@clempek Congrats on the new uke!!

[leb397]

@clempek congratulations, what a lucky streak! Enjoy, can’t wait to hear it

[clempek]

Thank you everyone, you’re all lovely 🙂 🙂

[Author]

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