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@xerxes – My pleasure!
Wow! 46 members joined us for this month’s challenge! I was BLOWN AWAY by how amazing everyone did! Big round of applause to everyone who participated this month. 👏
Our May Challenge is LIVE and it features brand new songs we’ve released this year! I hope y’all join us again!
Below, I will post a list of members who participated in the April challenge for your first chance to win the Kanile’a Ukulele. Please let me know if there are any discrepancies.
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Note: @frederic was the winner of our March Challenge and has been awarded 5 extra entries. I’ve also given @leihali one extra entry since I mistakenly left her out of the March draw.
frederic
frederic
frederic
frederic
frederic
leihali
deadbuggy
deadbuggy
marianne
marianne
katazumiri
katazumiri
misterbones
misterbones
lynnzo
lynnzo
shmu88
shmu88
clempek
clempek
mickan88
mickan88
ccwuke
ccwuke
planetfink
planetfink
The_Bumble_Bard
The_Bumble_Bard
brettboy
brettboy
nat-uke
nat-uke
alojzy_bomba
alojzy_bomba
anyon1
anyon1
lhamilton
lhamilton
otzepeng
otzepeng
leihali
leihali
terryfallon3
terryfallon3
dianna
dianna
kanique
kanique
karenj
karenj
grannieannie
grannieannie
suekulele
suekulele
maryjanew
maryjanew
leb397
leb397
rgillof
rgillof
hiouke
richard_siegert
richard_siegert
johanna2509
johanna2509
leslieb
leslieb
coffeemug
coffeemug
bibilele
bibilele
henri0
henri0
xerxes
xerxes
janaq1
janaq1
cimarronsailor
cimarronsailor
abster
abster
bohdan
bohdan
sarahd
sarahd
frederic
frederic
riley_ukulele
riley_ukulele
nelsonlin2021
nelsonlin2021
rw1950merritt
rw1950merritt
dividedsky
dividedskyHere’s everyone on page 6.
@abster – Great job on the chord melody Abhay! The duet was wonderful too, but I do notice sometimes you’re fretting the melody notes using the chord shapes from the chord melody. No need to do that. You only need to fret the single note, or the double stops.
@bohdan – I thought you played it really well! Feel, timing, and groove were great! An excellent first post, I look forward to watching more of your performances.
@sarahd – I’d definitely say you can handle advanced pieces b/c that rocked! Let’s talk about the strumming break first. You got a little off at times, so try tapping your foot throughout that section. It’ll help keep you locked in, especially when the guitar is firing off a ton of notes for the lead.As for the rest of the piece, just keep at it. It really sounds like things will tighten up naturally with more practice. But again, you did a great job overall!
@frederic – You aced all 5 patterns, well done! 👏
@riley_ukulele – Perfect performances, great playing all around! Bravo! 👏
@nelsonlin2021 – That was awesome, Nelson! Great job on both the lead and rhythm parts! For the rhythm section, try playing it with down strums instead of plucking. You can still keep the staccato feel, but to my ear, the strums will sound much better and more natural.As for your question, here’s my best advice: practice starting from random points in the solo. I’ve noticed that a lot of students can only jump in at the very beginning of a lead. By training yourself to start anywhere, you’ll build confidence and flexibility in your playing.
@rw1950merritt – All 5 patterns sounded great! Love to hear that you played to a click too, timing was excellent!
@dividedsky – Very beautifully played Jane! All 5 patterns sounded great!Here’s everyone on page 5.
@rgillof – Timing was spot on Rich, great groove too!
@hiouke – Your performance sounded great! I did notice a slight break in the tempo when you play the ghost notes and rasgueado. It’s tough to pinpoint the exact cause just from audio, but if you’re able to share a short video of those two techniques, I’d be happy to take a look and offer any advice I can. 🙂
@richard_siegert – Great job on the chord melody Richard! The only thing I’d work on from here is eliminating the pauses in transitions. Try playing along with Evan in the tab player. Start with 8 bar sections before trying the entire piece.Duet was perfect! Excellent timing and great strumming tone!
@johanna2509 – That piece sounds really nice on low G and I love how laidback you played it! Excellent job on all 5 patterns.
@leslieb – That cough sounds brutal, hope you are feeling better Leslie!Nice lead playing! The thing I’d work on first is making sure you understand the rhythm of the licks you’re playing. Try counting and tapping your foot along like this:
Once you feel comfortable with this, then try putting it onto the instrument.
@coffeemug – The first one sounds great! You’re doing well on the other two too, but for those, I would recommend practicing with a click or the tab player. That’ll help you get it locked in (timing wise) and eliminate pauses.
@bibilele – Aced it! Great timing, feel, and groove!
@henri0 – Wow! That was amazing and it felt like I was sitting in a jazz club! Bravo Rhian!
@xerxes – The first 3 patterns were spot on in terms of timing and feel, well done! For the ghost note, it looks like you are plucking it with your thumb. Kinda like you would do in traditional fingerpicking technique. Instead, try to come down keeping the motion of the strum. I filmed this video to explain this better:
@janaq1 – Groovy Jana! I think you’ve got a great base established. I would work on two things moving forward: cleaning up unwanted string noise and timing (keeping it steady). Both will come naturally with a bit more practice b/c you’re a really good player!
@cimarronsailor – Your timing was great, in my opinion! Nothing fell apart, and I never heard you drift beyond an acceptable measure. If you’re feeling any frustration, it’s probably due to the slower tempo. It can be tough to feel the beat at that pace. As you continue practicing this tune, I’d suggest gradually boosting the tempo.A tool like Transcribe can really help. It lets you adjust the tempo in small increments so you can build up at a pace that feels natural.
Welcome Bohdan, glad to have you here with us!
I’d recommend starting here. That page helps you figure out where to start with our lessons 🙂
Let me know if you have any questions on the lessons. Always happy to help!
Friendly Reminder – The deadline for receiving feedback and an entry into the giveaway is tonight at 11:59 PM ET (check your local time zone).
@anyon1 – That was awesome Adriana! Your feel and timing was great! Only thing I’d do from here is work on gradually speeding it up. Try alternating between playing with and w/out a click when working on this.
@lhamilton – All 3 sounded great! Excellent playing Linda!
@otzepeng – Beautifully played, you nailed the feel and vibe of each! One tip, watch out for pulling down on strings when fretting chords. For ex, if you pause your video at 35 seconds, you can see that happening. I noticed it happen a few times in the performance. Try to keep the string as parallel as possible. Pulling them down is essentially a “bend” that sharps the pitch.Friendly reminder, don’t forget to re-tune inbetween tracking both instruments. I’m hearing the tuning of the lead uke sound a lil off. And TY for the kind words, we appreciate it!
@leihali – Your strumming technique is sounding really good now Kay! Very soft and sweet, perfect for a tune like this! All 5 patterns sounded great. The only thing I spotted was the chunks. Try not to come down so hard when doing them. It should feel like the same motion as your regular strum, no extra force needed.
@terryfallon3 – You got those licks sounding good Terry! From here, I’d jump into playing them along with the backing track. Which is also a fun way to work on timing. You can use a tool like Transcribe to slow the backing track down to a speed that’s good for you.
@dianna – Rockin’ Dianna! The one thing I’d focus on is timing. Try practicing with a metronome, or play along with me in the tab player with the click turned on. You’ll notice even I wasn’t perfectly in time in every bar. This kind of lead-style solo playing is tricky to keep perfectly tight without a backing track giving you that beat and rhythm context.
@kanique – You aced both of them, Dorota! You nailed the feel and vibe of each. Excellent playing!For the duet, the only thing I’d adjust is lowering the volume of the rhythm uke a bit, that should help with balance. Also, keep an eye on recording levels for the lead uke. I noticed a couple notes that clipped (they were recorded a bit too hot, which can make them sound fuzzy). Just to be clear, this is all feedback on the recording side of things, not your playing, which was great.
@karenj – I thought you played both of them extremely well Karen! Great feel throughout and you nailed the vibes of each 🙂
@grannieannie – Bravo on both parts Annie! It’s amazing to see how much you are progressing. This is not an easy tune to play and you are rockin’ it! One tip for the chord melody, try not to hit the open G as loud. That’s more of a filler harmony note that almost creates a drone-like sound to help fill out space. Playing it a lil softer will sweeten the sound of the piece overall.
@suekulele – That was amazing Sue, you rocked it! Great job on the tempo and nailing the feel/vibe of each piece. 👏
@maryjanew – Your timing was spot on MJ! Great playing! And love to see you playing bass! We’ve got a real fun U-Bass lesson coming out this Friday 🙂
@leb397 – Check out the link for Transcribe that I left in @terryfallon3’s feedback above. It lets you slow a track down in 1% increments. I’ve been using it for over 15 years, and it’s been incredibly helpful for both learning and practicing.Your performance was great! Both parts were really well played. As you keep practicing, I think it’ll naturally lock in even tighter, but it’s already sounding really good!
Here’s everyone on page 3 that I hadn’t gotten to yet.
@brettboy – You play with such groove and feel, loved it!
@nat-uke – Both performances were beautifully played, Natalie! You nailed the feel and vibe of each. I really enjoyed watching and listening to them 🙂Check out this lesson, it’ll give you a few more ideas to help kickstart your songwriting. Please do share your first tune with us! Would love to check it out!
@alojzy_bomba – That was awesome Michael! An amazing first performance! I’m really looking forward to hearing more from you 🙂P.S. Your music studio is really sweet!
@The_Bumble_Bard – I love the changes you added to the solo chord melody version. It gave it a beautiful flowing feel 🙂
Duet was awesome too, as well as, Mowgli’s contribution 🙂
I hope you get that apt. and are able to resolve the dental issues. They are no fun! And TY for the kind words.
@planetfink – I too love how it has a completely different feel played slow/solo vs. fast/duet. You nailed the feels of each performance! Excellent playing, Kathy!
@misterbones – That was awesome Michael! Fantastic playing and audio/video editing too!
@katazumiri – Loved both takes! Great playing Lena!
@marianne – Great feel and groove on all 3 Marianne! Nicely played 🙂