[Andrew]

deadbuggy – Very cool! I like the subtle melody lines you threw in. My advice is to continue to work on fine-tuning the finesse of phrases and transitions. Let me point out an example. Listen to the walk-up melody line from 48 seconds to 50. Contrast that to the same line at 2:23.

The latter has a soft, delicate timbre; while the former is the opposite. So I’d be listening back to your performance and noting spots that stand out like this. Thats what I’d be targeting in your practice.

turkgoose – Well done and thank you for the kind words! I think you’re doing just fine on the chord changes. What I’d work on is keeping both sections at the same tempo. If you listen back, you can hear the fingerpicking section is much quicker than the strumming. So I’d slow down the former to match the speed of the latter. Work on uniformly increasing the tempo for both. Keep up the great work!

[Andrew]

@andracass – Way to go, MT! Fantastic performance! I agree, it is a toughie for jumping up and down the neck on. And I think what’s hard about it, is that you are bouncing between form 1 and 2; and it would be so much easier if it was only the latter. But I don’t see any noticeable dipping of the neck or body, so I think you are doing well on this front.

Honestly, the only advice I can offer you for this performance, is to work on keeping the timing steadier. Which the best ways to do this, is to break it into pieces and focus on one section at a time. Keep up the great work!

[Andrew]

I’ve always bought Hercules. The clips close upwards when the instrument is placed on it. Which helps add more piece of mind.

[Andrew]

Way to go, Brian!

[Andrew]

@oldan_ – Thanks for the kind words! I look forward to watching your performance 🙂

[Andrew]

@givingtree89 – You deleted your comment/question. Did you figure it out?

[Andrew]

@oldan_ – I’d simplify the strum technique and count the rhythms as you play. Try this:

[Andrew]

@lildevil – So about that. It’s 19 pages, because I had to use a different style (or layout) format. The problem was the song has 96 or 98 chords and guitar pro (program we notate in) couldn’t handle it! LOL you should have seen page 1, where chord diagrams are normally shown in our music. It was a mess, the charts were appearing halfway on/off the page.

Check out @givingtree89’s idea. Maybe record 1 part at a time and piece it together.

@givingtree89 – totally fine!

@surfnrz – No. Lesson’s are taught without one. Capo made it too hard for me. I didn’t know what fret I was on with all the crazy jumps and the frets got too small on a concert for my hand. No capo is much easier IMO.

[Andrew]

@lildevil – That song is broken into many sections, which is reflected in the lesson videos. I’d recommend working on one section at a time and building it from the start.

[Andrew]

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED THIS MONTH! WE HAD 81 MEMBERS PARTICIPATE! YOU GUYS ROCK!

Stephen and I were truly impressed with everyone’s performances this month. These were TOUGH songs! And you guys rose to the challenge. I’m proud of everyone 🙂

Hope to see y’all in our November Challenge!

Here is a list of everyone who earned an entry for the giveaway. Please let me know if there are any discrepancies.

—-

deadbuggy
deadbuggy
nthibode
nthibode
nthibode
robinboyd
robinboyd
robinboyd
laurasil
johanna2509
johanna2509
johanna2509
peiching
laurakarr12
laurakarr12
joannetala
joannetala
brettboy
brettboy
brettboy
barbecueblack
barbecueblack
lyndallk
lyndallk
planetfink
planetfink
andrewvh
andrewvh
tastyshrimp
tastyshrimp
nosferatu
nosferatu
cyukug
cyukug
nerdjenni
nerdjenni
rickeymike
rickeymike
lisadmh
lisadmh
ripley
ripley
surfnrz
surfnrz
surfnrz
fred21
fred21
jinajupiter
jinajupiter
jinajupiter
karenj
karenj
karenj
becky7777
becky7777
rpina61
rpina61
ealtman
ealtman
gstriph
gstriph
kanae926
kanae926
kanae926
cauer2
cauer2
jazzitup
brenna
brenna
suesbarn
suesbarn
morrieuke1
morrieuke1
miztaken
miztaken
miztaken
wongbrown
wongbrown
ultramom
ultramom
mdugal
mdugal
tiff27
tiff27
coffeemug
coffeemug
annefgodfrey
annefgodfrey
annefgodfrey
turkgoose
turkgoose
willymac
willymac
andracass
andracass
smudge
smudge
dubrova
dubrova
marni11
marni11
gaevdl
gaevdl
kellyblackburn
kellyblackburn
mac1984
mac1984
jonathan_gabel
jonathan_gabel
lisotta
lisotta
lisotta
cyberloh
cyberloh
isabelm
isabelm
isabelm
oldan_
oldan_
oldan_
holly1
holly1
holly1
stinyuke
stinyuke
yukalele
yukalele
lisamcc
lisamcc
mweir1
mweir1
joe150
joe150
ukukelley1
ukukelley1
k_ra11
k_ra11
lildevil
lildevil
kirpuff
kirpuff
kirpuff
puppylovesuke
puppylovesuke
puppylovesuke
timolnz
timolnz
alterin
alterin
mfaske
mfaske
mfaske
givingtree89
givingtree89
givingtree89
kcharles15
kcharles15
kelsey91
ukuleleloo
ukuleleloo
jkulele
jkulele
gardn_gnome
gardn_gnome
chi-_-t
chi-_-t
chi-_-t
santai
santai

[Andrew]

Here are folks on page 19.

Four of you submitted past the deadline. I tried to give everyone a friendly reminder yesterday about the deadline. Unfortunately, deadlines are strict this year. I’m sorry guys.

—-

ukukelley1 – Great playing, Sheryl! The only thing I can recommend is to memorize it so you can focus on how you are playing it.

k_ra11 – Beautiful playing! I like the slow pace, it’s got a great laid-back feel to it. You’re playing is great, the only thing I can suggest is to work on the section towards the end, that’s the only part that was a little spotty. Other than that, keep rocking and thanks for the kind words!

lildevil – Great playing, Barbara! I see what you mean with memorizing issues. It sounds like you have the majority of the B melody down. So what I’m seeing is that you are struggling with the transitions of phrases in the A melody. Now this song is really convenient, because it breaks down into 2 bar phrases. So I’d be focusing on looping the transitions, which would look like:

Bar 1-2 (phrase 1)
Bar 3-4 (phrase 2)

Practice bars 2-3 and 4-1. This will target the areas that you struggle with. Let me know how it goes 🙂

kirpuff – Way to go! Here is my feedback for you 🙂

puppylovesuke – First off, I’m amazed you can play it that well on a sopranissimo! Bravo! Second, I disagree with your comment at the end of the video. And that’s an honest response, not me trying to be polite.

Your playing is fantastic. Great Sound and the fact that you kept timing so consistent is extremely impressive. With where you are at in your playing, your focus should mostly be on expressive dynamics and accents. In the video feedback I shot for Sara right above you, I talked about implementing these aspects into the song. Check out my advice from that video, because it’ll be very helpful for you as well. Keep up the great work!

[Andrew]

Here is everyone on page 17 that I hadn’t gotten to yet.

—-

lisamcc – Way to go, Lisa! I think you’ve got a great base established, but it does sound like you jumped the gun from practice level to performance ready. You know the spill on practice, slow it down, one section at a time, loop, etc. One thing I would suggest, is to give picado a shot for the melody notes on string A. It looks like your ring finger is working overtime. Try the other technique, see if it makes it easier on your right hand.

mweir1 – Beautiful playing! You have a great tone to your playing. 🙂 So I noticed that a few times you skipped notes, or perhaps it’s better to say, that you cut notes out of bars. For example, 27 seconds in to your performance is the start of bar 12. The last two notes from this bar are missing, therefore bar 13 starts on what would technically be beat 4 of bar 12.

Another thing to be aware of is when there is a change in the rhythm. For example, bar 16 has a quarter note thrown in the middle of it. Oftentimes this can come out of nowhere and folks will play it as if it was all eighth notes.

So what does all this mean? I’d like you to add counting rhythms as you play to your practice schedule. So count out a steady 8th note rhythm as you play, and that should stop all the above from occurring.

joe150 – Great job, Joe! So I think this song is a little bit beyond your current playing level; and I also realize that this month’s challenge did not have a true beginner level piece as an option. Therefore my suggestion for you, is to work on a beginner level piece from our “beginner series” (top of page).

I’d suggest tackling “Our First Song”. In the video you mentioned memorizing, and that’s an awesome! So for this song, I’d approach it by learning and memorizing one section at a time. Start with the riff, move to the chords, learn the outro, then put it all together. Try to count out the rhythm (8th notes for riff & quarter notes for the chords) as you play the piece.

Learning these easier songs will help you as you work your way up to the more difficult ones.

[Andrew]

@bklynsoul – Can you change the setting on your video. It’s set to private.

[Andrew]

FRIENDLY REMINDER. Submission deadline is tonight at 11:59 PM EST. (check your local time zone)

[Andrew]

holly1 – I love your costume! And bonus points for being able to play in that LOL. I thought your performance was great. You’ve got a great touch, meaning the tone you produce is sweet. Honestly the only thing I can suggest is to focus on the parts where fluidity stopped. Other than that, keep up the great work!

stinyuke – I didn’t realize it had been a year, your progress has been truly amazing! If you go back and watch the video where you’re outside, on that mountain top, to where you are now, wow!

I think you hit all of the key points of this arrangement: rubato, picado technique, sustaining notes, etc. But the thing I would focus your practice on is implementing more accenting and dynamics. Check out this video I made a couple days ago for another member. It’s got some great suggestions on how to do this. See what you can do with it 🙂

yukalele – Here’s my feedback for you. 🙂

[Author]

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