[Andrew]

@elixir – Please read the first post in this topic. It answers your question. 🙂

[Andrew]

Overall, we had 34 members participate in this month’s challenge! And I’ve got to give each and every one of you a big round of applause, as this month’s challenge was CHALLENGING! It’s not easy to learn new strumming and playing techniques, but you rose to the challenge and did it! 🙂

So without further ado, the winner of the adorable Islander Ukulele is:

Our October Challenge is LIVE and it’s your first chance to WIN a $1,500 Custom Kanile’a Ukulele! Hope to see each and every one of you in the October Challenge: https://rockclass101.com/october-2019-challenge

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Here are the last couple folks I hadn’t left feedback for. 🙂

ukukelley1 – Way to go, Sheryl! You’ve got the techniques down 🙂 That’s awesome that you memorized it! That allows you to focus more-so on your performance, which you played brilliantly.

The one thing that I would continue working on is the 3rd theme. Everything looks great: left hand form, technique. But what you want to focus on is pushing yourself to transition faster between the chord changes. Which some of them are quite difficult.

When I taught private lessons, I noticed a lot of folks would move at a slower pace from one tricky chord to the next. Watching your performance, it shows me that you’ve got the shapes down, so what I’m suggesting is to push yourself to transition faster than what is comfortable (which is the speed that you’re doing it at now).

This should challenge you and help you get that section to flow a little bit smoother when you get the muscle memory down.

joe150 – That’s a great start, Joe! For these exercises, I would suggest getting comfortable with the mechanics behind executing the technique first. Then try the first exercise in the course (mechanics breakdown lessons). Work through this exercise with the goal to memorize it.

So as I watch your performance video, I can see that you are reading it and playing it. Which is definitely what you want to do when you first start working on it. But with practice, you want to get those exercises memorized, so that you can focus on how you are playing it.

So take one of these techniques, and get the exercise completely memorized, and shoot for a performance tempo of at least 90 BPM.

@elixir – Uke tone sounds great! But that song was not part of the challenge for this month. Regardless, you played it well! I sent it to Stephen to check out since he wrote it 🙂

[Andrew]

@becky7777 – Yes, you can. But I like how Picado sounds much more.

[Andrew]

@stinyuke – Yes, I’d sub the last hit (half note) in bar 10 with X 8 10 X.

[Andrew]

isabelm – Great job on getting the technique down and using it on a diff tune! 🙂

So there are 2 things that I’d work on. First, target your practice towards “beat 2”. Seems like it tripped you up a little bit. Slow down the pattern and try to tap your foot along and count out the rhythms. That will help a lot for keeping that section at a steady tempo.

The second thing that I’d work on is cleaning up your chords. Sometimes they’re not ringing out completely, so check out this video that I made for another member earlier this month. It’s got tips that will help you as it talks about finger placement being close to the bar, but not on top of the bar (prevents notes from ringing out).

[Andrew]

@jedart – okay, so your last hit, you are holding it out longer than the other hits. Keep in mind that every hit is derived from an eighth note pattern, therefore every hit should last and equal length of time. I’d work on practicing by playing alongside my performance using the tab player to slow it down to a speed that you are comfortable with. But overall, this is a step in the right direction and an improvement. Keep up the good work!

willymac – Aced it! Love the laid back feel you gave it. I’m gonna share this on our social media today. Excellent playing! 🙂

[Andrew]

Here is everyone on page 7 I hadn’t gotten to yet.

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jinajupiter – Bravo, Jina! Playing and technique execution is excellent! So at this stage, I’d be listening for the subtleties that you can improve upon. For example, I’d work on cleaning up (eliminating the buzz) the G7 chord in bars 21 and 22. Keep up the great work!

erino7 – well done, you’ve got the technique sounding great! I saw your comment on rhythm and I understand where you’re coming from. Here’s what you want to work on:

Also, check out the video in this post. It talks about keeping your fingers curved at the first joint when fretting basic chords.

@nerdjenni – yes, the claw sounds more pronounced! Keep up the good work 🙂

nosferatu – Perfection, well done!

coffeemug – Well done! Here is my feedback for you. And here’s the lesson I referenced.

kirpuff – I think you have a great base established, so what you want to work on is keeping the tempo steady, as it jumps around quite a bit when you transition from one technique or section to the next. This song is split into four, so I would work on one section at a time and play alongside the metronome or the on screen tab viewer set to synthetic mode.

[Andrew]

Thanks for the kind words, Roman and welcome! 🙂

[Andrew]

No, it is for high G.

All low G lessons can be found here.

[Andrew]

@surfnrz – Much better, great job Ray!

mac1984 – Here is my feedback for you 🙂

[Andrew]

wongbrown – Love to hear you guys playing to a click! 🙂 The first two exercises you have down, so I’d say it’s okay to play them at that tempo. But, I’m not seeing or hearing the claw stroke. So I’d recommend reviewing that lesson and working on executing the technique as Christopher taught it.

I’d also recommend slowing the tempo down for the last two exercises.

annefgodfrey – Great job, Anne! First off, don’t be afraid to tap harder, so that we get a louder, more pronounced percussive sound. So the big thing with this technique, is that it’s a pattern, set to an eighth note rhythm. It looks like you have the pattern down, so your focus should be on keeping the timing steady. Remember, each hit in the pattern lasts an equal length of time.

I’d recommend playing alongside my performance, but using the tab player to slow it down to a speed you feel comfortable with.

[Andrew]

Welcome, @f0urstrings! Glad to have you here 🙂

[Andrew]

@cyukug – Okay, I’d say practicing at a slower tempo should help you focus on those 3 points.

For stability, have you tried form 2?

[Andrew]

cyukug – That was awesome! Here is my feedback. We’ll playback your performance and offer advice on What to work on and How to work on it 🙂

[Andrew]

santai – Awesome job! Here is my feedback for you 🙂

[Author]

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