Forum Replies Created
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turkgoose – That was a very good take! The only suggestion I have is to target your practice on Theme 2. Keep up the great work, that was excellent!
brettboy – I got a kick out of the 1 minute mark 😉 Killer job on the rhythm, Brett! You’re locked into the groove the entire time.
I dig the poetic license used in changing up some of the licks for the first half of the solo. It’s really cool to see you guys take it and make it your own. Well done!
kkaszuba – Well done, Karl! Your riff is super cool and perfectly fits the vibe of the piece, but I would put it at the very end of the arrangement instead of in the middle of the last theme.
So I think you’ve got a great base established, but I would suggest breaking this piece into sections and mastering each section before attempting the entire piece.
This song is comprised of 4 bar phrases that define an entire section. Apply the three steps from our practice guide to each section and master one before moving on or connecting multiple sections. Watch your timing as well.
jonathan_gabel – Here’s my feedback for you 🙂
brightwing – I thought you did a great job! Pretty cool change to tie the & of 4 into beat 1 on bar 2. The only change I would make is to sustain the first hit of Melody B instead of cutting it short. Keep up the great work!
rockmyuke – Here’s my feedback for you and here’s the lesson I referenced.
Here’s everyone on page 13.
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oldan_ – well done! The only thing playing wise I’d suggest is to work on connecting all the phrases while keeping the tempo steady.
One of the things that I think is making some transitions difficult for you (like the double stop walk up in measure 4) is your left hand form. We talked about thumb placement in the video review of your performance for Canon in D.
I can’t stress enough how important it is that you correct the placement of your thumb. This should be your number one focus as it will drastically increase your left hand dexterity. Check out this lesson for correct placement guidance.
barbecueblack – Great job! What I suggest is to slow the tempo down and focus on increasing sustain in both melodies. Check out this feedback that I left for @mark1256 the other day. It touches on this concept.
rickeymike – Awesome job, Rickey! I can hear that you are improving and that makes me so happy 🙂
Pro tip, don’t forget to tune before you record. Playing wise, I’ve got nothing new for you as I want you to keep doing what you’re doing, it’s working!
One thing that you can add is a pull-off every time you have 0 to 1 on the E string (both melodies). This gives you one more technique to incorporate in this tune. Which by the way, your slide sounds great in the B Melody!
marianne – Great playing! So I have a few comments. First, I’d dial the reverb back. The trick with reverb is always: Less is more.
In regards to your left hand, you want to bring your thumb down so that it’s slightly above the center of the neck instead of sticking out above the neck as it currently is. Proper form will increase your left hand dexterity. Check out this lesson for correct placement guidance.
Lastly, I’d work on your timing. Try playing along with a metronome or if you become a premium member, you’ll be able to use the on-screen tab viewer to play along with Tobias 🙂
jedart – Great job! I thought you did really well with getting everything to sustain, which is a big takeaway of this tune.
What I suggest is to memorize the piece and focus on four bar sections at a time. Apply the three steps from our practice guide to each section and master one before moving on or connecting multiple sections.
ukulelee – Well done! Timing and sustain both sound great. I’d start working on building speed. Push yourself to go 5 or 10 bpm faster. When you get comfortable at that speed, bump it up again.
dryossi – Well done and awesome job on the solo! My advice for you is to use the same practicing approach I recommended above for @jedart. But I’d also recommend playing along with the tab player. You’ll be able to loop the four bar sections and my playing will act as a guide to help you stay locked into the groove.
And don’t forget to add “I am a premium member” for next month’s challenge 🙂
gstriph – Here is my feedback for you 🙂
slr4chums – Hey Sue, sorry for the posting issue! If you post more than one link, the forum automatically puts it into the spam folder for me to approve. I wish I could change that or set a limit, but it doesn’t let me 🙁
I thought your playing was great and the ending was pretty funny! I think if you played along with Tobias in the tab player, it would smooth out some of the timing issues I’m hearing. Which are very minor, by the way. But, his playing will act as a guide and keep you locked into the groove.
And I’m happy you joined us for your first challenge. Hope you join us again next month!
@stianukulele – That was awesome, Stian! Great job on the RH technique! The only suggestion I have is to slow it down a notch. I think the notes will breathe a bit more at a tiny bit slower tempo. Keep up the great work!
Welcome, @pippin105! Glad you found us 🙂
Def start here. The 2nd video on that page gives a rundown on how to navigate the site.
If you ever have questions on the lessons, don’t hesitate to email me or post them on the forum. Always happy to help!
@sgwarren – phenomenal job! You nailed the feel. I’ll send this to Tobias, I think he’ll be tickled pink 🙂
@joe150 – I can hear you are improving, Joe! Great job!
So I have a challenge for you. I want you to memorize it and post another video. Doesn’t have to be within the month’s time frame, any time in the future. From what I heard, you should have most of it down w/out needing to look at the music. But, if you stumble try this approach:
Play 4 bars while looking at the music. Turn the music around and play those 4 bars w/out looking. If you can’t, repeat the process. Approach memorizing this way. Breaking pieces into chunks helps you memorize it faster.
When you have it memorized, you can focus more on your playing. That’s what I want to hear.
@johnnyrotten – my pleasure! As for your question, it comes down to right hand form. Check out this lesson for placement and fingerpicking/strumming advice.
If you’re still having trouble, email me a video of you playing or post a new topic on the forum. Happy to take a look and make sure everything looks okay 🙂
My pleasure guys!
johnnyrotten – Here’s my feedback for you and here’s the course I referenced. 🙂
alisefrenchyuky – I thought you did a great job! So I’d actually recommend the same advice I left for @funtime2018 in my previous post (above this). I talked about lightening up your right hand attack and linked a video that explains that concept. Def check it out 🙂
morrieuke1 – First off, awesome shirt! But seriously, I think this is the best performance I’ve heard from you! I think you aced the A melody – especially the triplet picking phrases. They sound perfect! You got the melody to pop over the harmony and kept the rhythm fluid.
Rubato was spot-on in this section. There’s one section in theme 1 that I would have changed. Listen to the first A to Dm (7-12 sec) phrase and contrast that to the second time (13-18). The latter gradually builds speed into it and declines, while the former sustained speed for too long over the Dm. Am I nitpicking your performance… you bet ya! But, the latter def does give it a more natural feel, so I’d duplicate that for both times thru.
For the second theme, I’d decrease the tempo and work on getting everything to sustain a little bit more. But the big thing is the tempo, I think if you drop it a bit it’ll create a nice contrast over the “action packed” sound of the other themes. And lastly, I really dig the slide lick you threw in there and the harmonics at the end. Nice touches!
taylor22jane – I loved it! You guys are so much fun to watch! And major props to your bro on the bass lines!
As far as critiques for your playing, I’d focus your practice on cleaning up the rhythm part. You want to work on getting the hits (strums, chucks, single notes) accurate and defined. Which you can totally do, because I hear it in the solo part, but as you know, it’s much harder to get it consistently clean while having to sing on top of it.
Speaking of the solo, you did a great job! There’s one lick I want you to work on, which is the A minor rake. I made a video for Nathalie earlier this month with some tips on it. Check it out, it will help you execute it better. Keep up the great work!
janett75 – I’m excited that you joined us for your first challenge! 🙂
Your playing has a beautiful tone to it. One tip, try adding a pull-off every time you have 1 to 0 on the E string (for the A melody). You did do this for the B Melody and it’s a really simple way to add a subtle texture to your playing and create contrast in the melody notes since the timbre is different with a P/O vs. plucked note.
mark1256 – Fantastic job, Mark! Your tempo is fine – honestly, this is a song that would still sound great even if it was played much slower than what you did. I do have one tip for you, which I put in this video (and here is the lesson I referenced):
Here’s everyone on page 7 I hadn’t gotten to yet.
tim0721 – Overall, that was a fantastic performance! I think you aced the first half of it. Therefore, my suggestion would be to target your practice beginning on the last phrase of the first theme (starts at 1:10 in your performance). I remember that phrase – it’s a toughy, real finger frenzy!
I’m impressed that you tackled Evan’s version for the second theme, but what’s difficult about that is that it has so many four string chords PLUS some of the jumps are a bit ridiculous (like bar 43).
If you take a look at that measure in my version, I made it much easier by rewriting it to stay in the 7th position. So my suggestion would be to take a look at both versions and see if a few of the measures can be substituted with what I wrote to make it easier to play.
As you work on that, focus on getting each phrase to sustain. To me, that’s one of the focal points in theme 2.
funtime2018 – Well done! So I have one suggestion for you, which is to lighten up your right hand attack. If you pluck or strum with less force, it will produce a softer, sweeter tone.
I talked about this concept in this feedback video from a previous challenge (on “La Gitanita”).
andrewvh – That was a solid take, Andrew! Rhythm sounds great! For the solo, I’d take it phrase by phrase and play along with me and the band. That will help you stay locked in since you’ll have my play along acting as the guide.
Master one or two phrases, then play it without the uke on the track. Record yourself and listen back to make sure you’re locked in. If you’re not, repeat the play along practice.
1) No, you can hit the full chord.
2) He wants you to highlight the melody note on the 2nd string, so if you mute the 1st string that helps ensure this happens. To do this, curve your index finger of left hand down a little to lightly touch the 1st string. This is the same light touch you use for a muted string hit.
Let me know if this all makes sense 🙂
@verity2003 – It worked this time, Cecilia! Your playing sounds great, but I wanted to let you know that the challenge requires submission of the chord melody version; either the easy version taught in the video lesson or the jazzed up version from the performance.
Unfortunately, the “melody only” version will not count towards the giveaway. BUT, it’s not much more work to turn what you have into the chord melody version 🙂
@verity2003 – Copy and paste the soundcloud link in its own line. For ex:
Soundcloud URL
It will self-embed 🙂