Share Your (Ukulele) Art!

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@muzikmama, despite that brutal week of blizzarding and minor calamity, I agree, I prefer being too cold over too hot. And I still love snow. Kinda crazy that you’ve never seen it, but also very logical. Actually, I haaaaaaaate, hate being overly hot, I get very cranky. 😂😅 Well, I’ve also gotten heat stroke pretty badly so that affects the anxiety I have getting overly hot. For some reason, I imagined Australia just always being hot, literally year round. I don’t know how weather works. 😂😅 But then it can’t get too cold there if you’ve never seen snow, so that isn’t too huge of a leap.

The song sounded so good and extra impressive that it’s your first ukulele arrangement! I get very overwhelmed if there’s a song with a lot of different chords like that when creating an arrangement of my own, which is why if I do reference chords for a song I usually pick the one that has fewer chords–Then fill in any gaps by ear and/or trial and error. For me, I like to do arrangements by ear as much as possible because that’s what I enjoy doing most. I enjoy the challenge of that and the freeform nature of that. But it’s really good you did your arrangement that way, using all those chords, because it almost automatically gave your arrangement even more depth and richness, I think. I have created a few arrangements but they’re not on the level of RC101’s.

Agreed, there are still some RC101 courses I want to do, too, like the strumming ones and the theory one. It’s pretty obvious which things I avoid with uke, it’s those two things. 😂 That’s also my goal for this year, too, to do those courses.

Your drawing is looking so good!! Such a difference between the first and last picture. I really think you have a natural skill for that. When you shade in a drawing, do you shade by moving the pencil in small circles or from side to side? That might be a strange question but I’m really curious. 😂

There will be more uke drawings in February after I move because I’m in the process of moving, kinda right now, but thankfully I’m fairly prepared now. I’m also hoping I might squeeze in one more, hopefully better, take on the song I did for the challenge.

Thanks for sharing all you have! I do think one creative venture can enhance another. I also think there are certain useful / interesting overlaps between creative skills, such as pressure control with drawing and with playing a musical instrument. Even gradations in visual art versus something like a crescendo in music. There are other examples I’m sure. I’m trying to justify this topic existing but I do genuinely think there is some merit to that. 😅

Sorry, I wrote another novel. I think I’m tired and that’s why. My editing skills get even weaker than usual. 😂

[muzikmama]

Our complaining of the cold here probs
sounds like a man complaining of man flu lol. The chords gave the song more richness I agree. Fewer chords are desirable to me like what you said. Putting your own stamp on it makes it extra gratifying. Though one chord shape I used up the neck – I literally copied from seeing it in RC song tutorials – seemed to work haha. I admit I groaned doing theory but it’s helped me learn the CAGED method (at least for major chords). Blanked out at first. I seriously need it spelled out lol. Definitely worthwhile. When I was able to move a 3 chord song I knew all over the neck..  eureka! (still grappling with the chord shapes).
I’ve pondered how to shade (good question, not strange at all!). Cross hatching?, circular motions? etc. For the black jacket, I went up and down but could see lines. I went over it again, also to even out the dark and light patches. One video about portraiture said to paint as if you are painting the curves of the features. Following this logic, I could have coloured it in a contoured fashion, after I looked at the reference again. Like I did elsewhere to give it more naturalness.
Ps: Thank you for your kindness. You’re an asset to RC and the general community.
☺

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@muzikmama, haha!! Man flu. 😂😅 I won’t lie to you, there is some truth to that. It can be pretty funny when someone finds 50°f (10°C) weather to be freezing when a recent low temperature we had in Wisconsin is -11°F (-23°C actual temperature, before wind-chill, which makes it even colder). 😂 But then all of that is relative and it’s understandable if what we consider mild weather is hard to handle for someone who isn’t used to it.

I think I know a bit about what the CAGED method is because I looked through the RC101 material on that. I need to review that again now though, now that I have more experience. I’ve had some private lessons with Matt and most of what I asked him about had to do with chord shapes and patterns and it was just like you said: to transpose up any song, you just move the shapes up (if all of the strings are covered. If the g string is open in the chord, you have to make sure it still fits with the chord you choose moving up). For me that’s so helpful to know things like that because I memorize songs based on the shapes, movements, and sounds, not as much by the chord and note names. Not sure if that makes sense. 😂 It’s so interesting to know the different ways everyone learns and creates music. You should definitely continue trying to create your own arrangements because it only gets more fun with time. I find the prospect of having total freedom to create a song exactly the way I want it, and whatever way I want, to be very exciting and motivating, and the people of Rock Class 101 have helped me so much to be able to do that. A good part by just learning their amazing arrangements and watching how they play. But yes, I hope you enjoyed creating that and keep going with it. 😊

Very interesting indeed with how you shade your drawings! I’m not sure there’s necessarily a wrong or right way to approach shading. All of those methods could work for sure. Filling in light or dark patches you don’t want and keeping the values even where they should be is probably more important than how you do that if that makes sense. That said, there are definitely benefits and drawbacks to each method. Do you think you’ll post another update on that drawing?

Thank you so much for saying that! I think it’s fair to say that interacting with people on RC101 is just as much a fun hobby for me as my other hobbies. 😂 But certain topics no one else I know is interested in, so it’s really nice to be able to share. Thank you so much for your encouragement and also the lovely conversation! 😂

[muzikmama]

@TBB I’m glad you got the joke lol. I know humour/intent can be easily misread, especially by strangers. Did Matt mean any chords or only the CAGED chords can be moved up? Not to bother, I should look into it myself more to have a better idea. I am working on another arrangement alongside the learning stuff. I might post an update re the drawing, if I change it. I think adding subtle definition should work in its favour – that’s if I can pull it off.
We co-authored a novel of a thread here 😂. Tbh, I’m embarrassed about hogging the thread which was never my intention from the start, oops. I want to let others have a turn. 👍

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@muzikmama, haha, no worries about that! I feel like that kind of joking around is harmless. Also, sorry for the delay, I think I mentioned I just moved about a week ago so steadily (very slowly) trying to get my life back in order. 😂

I need to ask him about that, but I’m pretty sure that it can be any chord moved up the neck to transpose to different chords / keys, as long as you’re fretting all four strings OR the open g string fits with the chord you’re playing, wherever that might be on the uke. I also need to review the CAGED method again because I think that’s so useful once you get it. It makes it so easy to modify any song once you get that. Honestly that really made me feel so much more in control of what I’m playing, especially if I’m trying to create or modify a song.

Oh awesome that you’re working on another arrangement! Please share it here, if you feel comfortable doing do; I’d love to hear it. And your drawing, I’d love to see an update on that too! 😊

Haha no worries about that at all! But it would be lovely to see more uke art from other people too. No question I will share more, too, life has just been nuts lately! Hope you’ve been doing well, my co-author friend! 😂

[muzikmama]

Hey all
TBB: Just a bit of uke stuff which you might already know.. I realized CAGED is replicating the usual chords & including the nut in the shapes, covering any open strings (echoes what Matt told you). Makes sense – I didn’t know the idea behind it before, unless I missed someone explaining it. It may be obvious but it was cool figuring that out. I tried it with the major and minor chords, A to G.
Been busy on several songs since, and theory overload. Need a break lol. No new drawings or updates at this time.
Good you got the move out of the way. It’s staggering the number of boxes one can end up with when moving. Hope all is good with you.
🙂

[The_Bumble_Bard]

(Very delayed reaction) Yes, I think that’s right! I think the main thing is, whatever chord shape you choose to move up and down the neck, you just have to makes sure all the notes “go together,” as in, are part of whatever chord you’re playing. I’m not 100% sure, but I think the chords in the CAGED method are just five shapes you can play anywhere on the fretboard and they work as a complete and “correct” chord. Other shapes you have to pay more attention to the open strings and if they always “fit” with a given chord shape as you move it up and down the neck. I’ll have to go back to review information from my lessons with Matt and find you an example of that because I have talked about that specific topic a fair amount with him because I’m obsessed with learning about chord shapes specifically – because that’s the way I find easiest to learn the chords, is by shape. Yes, I also was so excited to learn that! That really changed the way I view playing uke overall, learning the CAGED method from here on RC101 and learning that extension of that method from Matt, how other chord shapes can be moved in the same way (again, paying attention to the open strings).

Are you creating more arrangements, or working on some songs from here or elsewhere?

Oh yeah, I should record an update of the Chopin arrangement and share it here! I also am always working on new arrangements, learning them from here but also creating my own because I love to do that. Oh my gosh, yeah, with the move, it was crazy how much stuff I had, even though it’s just me, lol. I’m finally getting to the point where I’m working on my “uke / craft room,” which I’m so excited that I have that. So I can finally start messing around and share some more “uke art” here and recording more, I hope. Hope everything is going well with you! 😀

[The_Bumble_Bard]

Heeeeelloo! Perhaps you thought I’d never post any uke art here again but nay, I have finally created more. Well, it’s all good, but I’m glad I got to paint again.

Yesterday I was at a birthday party, a painting party, and I made this little thing. For some reason this is an image I had in mind for a while. I’m slightly disappointed by the execution of it. I may go back and correct a few things. It’s hard to paint amid the chaos of a party that includes multiple small children and two crazy dogs. Those are my excuses. 😅😂

I actually have multiple ideas like this, involving visuals of ukuleles and flowers. I may start painting more at home and not just at parties…

Thanks to anyone who looks at it! 😊

Anyway here it is (sadly had to crop it because the file size was slightly too big):

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