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Here’s everyone on page 4 and 5 that I hadn’t gotten to yet.
laurakarr12 – Sounds great! Only suggestion I have is to work on 4 bar sections at a time. This way you can focus on timing and keeping it steady. Should help eliminate any pauses 🙂
mademoiselleannette – Well done! Playing sounds great, but some of the rhythms you played were incorrect. For example, the last strum in measure 1 should be a quarter note.
Check out this lesson. It’s got 11 exercises to help you with counting and playing rhythms. But if you want to go for gold, the best way to really understand rhythm and timing is by learning to read music.
Friendly Reminder – The deadline for receiving feedback and an entry into the giveaway is tonight at 11:59 PM EST (check your local time zone).
@robinl – You nailed the feel good vibe! Well done!
@gstriph – Great job, Jerry! For the triplet strum, try practicing with a metronome. You can even subdivide the beat like this video shows. Working on it this way is essentially looping – which will help you get the motion and timing down so that you nail it each time.Furthermore, I’d work on 4 back sections with the goal of playing it steady in time. Don’t worry about speed, just focus on note/chord clarity and timing.
@qiuyan – Nice job on the triplet strum! Performance was great overall! Looks like some of the transitions were a little bit tricky. Target your practice there and make sure you have it memorized so you can focus on building muscle memory with your hands.
But for real, great job this month! Keep up the great work 🙂
@andrewvh – It’s a pretty night and day difference between the two videos! I’m very impressed with how much progress you’ve made, Andrew!So here’s an interesting thing I picked up on the new take. If you watch your performance all the way through, take note of how you’re playing lighter/softer in the beg to middle and then towards the end you are plucking very strongly. Sometimes this happens when we play songs that are lengthy and/or challenging. Just something for you to be aware of.
What size is your Uke? I think it’s a concert? I wonder if you tried it on a larger size, you’d find this song easier to play because of the larger frets. If you find yourself at a music store, maybe cycle through this song and see what you think.
@debb1985 – Fantastic feel. You aced the vibe! I want you to work on the 4th bar of Melody B. See if you can grab that last chord a little bit quicker so the tempo stays a bit more steady. That’s the only thing I can nitpick lol. Keep up the great work!
@june2020 – Bravo, June! That’s really amazing for such short playing time. Your form for both hands looks great. The best advice I can give for you is to try to memorize the piece, that way you can focus on just playing it. Start with four bar sections at a time. Play while reading the music, and then turn the music around and try without it. Don’t move on to the next four bars until you can play by memory. That’s always been the way that worked the best for me.And totally normal for the low G to be pronounced. It’s the thickest string and will ring the loudest. So while you’re playing, just be aware of how hard you’re plucking/strumming it.
@ccwuke – Beautifully played, Chris! Keep up the great work 🙂
@bomarkt – Well done, Bo! So the big thing I’d suggest working on is lightening up your attack. Here’s a video I made awhile back for another member that touches on this subject. While it references a different song, everything I mentioned can be applied towards this song or playing in general.
@wongbrown – I think this is your best performance to date. Beautifully played, excellent job!Playing sounds great, Andrea! Only thing I’d suggest is to work on timing – some of the notes/phrases are a little rushed. Try to count the rhythms while you play or you could sing the lyrics along too 🙂
It might be due to how you’re holding the uke. Here’s a video I made to help another member out. I’ll also paste additional lessons that touch on this topic. Here is the first and second lesson I recommend reviewing.
@barbecueblack – Fantastic performance! I only have a couple suggestions for you. First, I’d work on cleaning up your playing a little bit, specifically eliminating buzzy notes. And there’s a few pauses, so target your practice in those transition areas.
@morrieuke1 – I love that tremolo/reverb sound. Fits this song perfectly! And your performance was excellent, you aced this one! Well done!
@bethany_guardiani – I think that’s one of the best fingerstyle performances I’ve heard from you! The best advice I can give is to keep doing what you doing. It’s really cool hearing you progress 🙂I do have one suggestion: try to keep the ending ritardando a little bit more linear in its flow. Again really good job this month, keep up the great work!
@brettboy – This has to be one of my favorite performances from you! The changes you added were very tasteful, and as always, the feel/vibe is spot on. I’m definitely going to share this this week!
@biancak – Excellent performance! And great feel to your playing too!
@shmu88 – Your take was great, Sam! One of the reasons we do so many band arrangements is because it’s a great way to work on timing and groove.While this arrangement was presented as a solo piece, there’s usually an array of backing tracks you can find on YouTube. Here’s a great one that I’d practice along with. It’ll help you develop both of those areas:
Traditionally it ends on i (Dm), so the last few notes play out if it in my arrangement to stay true to it.
If you swap that note to C#, you’re creating more tension. I’d play it on string 1, fret 4 and end with an octave of the D note: X2X5. Sounds cool though!
Sounds great, Lisa! One suggestion, that section that starts at 1:26 (and earlier in song, too), try to ramp up to full volume instead of start at full volume. Here’s an analogy: If I say run, you don’t just start at full speed, you got to walk – jog – run to get there.
@lyndallk – That’s much better IMO! That tempo gives it vibe! Well done 🙂
@stianukulele – Sometime’s one take is all you need! Well played and I dig the subtle changes on the solo 🙂
@johanna2509 – You played it beautifully, Johanna! Keep up the good work!@lisa-k – sounds great!
@sebi75 – Nicely done! So I’d suggest a couple things as you continue working on it. First, check out this lesson for help on the triplet strum. Focus on getting the rhythm of the 8th note triplet down.
Second, slow the tempo of the piece down so you can focus on cleaning up your playing. I’d work on 4 or 8 bar sections at a time.
But overall, it was great! Work on these two things and you’ll be rockin’ and rollin’ 🙂
@lisadmh – Your finesse is so good these days! It’s really impressive how far you’ve come in that regard. I think it’s cool that you mix different attacks. It’s kind of like mixing spices in a dish. But I think what you may be looking for is this:I made this video for Robin a couple years ago and it talks about how you can use a uniformed approach for dynamics. It kind of creates a swaying effect. And I think this is that next step for you to experiment with. Let me know what you think. Oh, and you can also mix rubato in with this too 🙂
@lyndallk – I think your new video perfectly demonstrates the biggest benefit of memorizing a piece: You get to focus 100% on how you’re playing it. And for those of you who are reading this feedback, check out this lesson as it discusses why this is so important.Your new take has a lot more emotion and dynamics. And I really like the slide effect too! My only suggestion for you is to slow the tempo down. To me, this has always been a slower-paced song.
@lisa-k – You asked a great question on how strum attacks relate to timing. Here’s a video showing you just that 🙂
@dennisdickens – Very nicely played, Dennis! Only thing I’d say is continue working on the B Melody. Keep up the great work!
@nthibode – Beautifully played, Nathalie! Love the ambience you created too 🙂@misterbones – Very well done, Michael! Timing and playing sounds great! Only thing I’d point out is the 3rd and 4th bars in the solo. Those hits should be more staccato-y since they are grace notes sliding in on the &’s and resting on the down beats. Plus playing them like that just sounds really cool. Gives a neat texture to the note.
But dude, A+ this month! It was VERY good!
@robinboyd – I’m with Rickey, your playing touch is much more refined. Well done!