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Wow, we had 65 members participate this month! We absolutely crushed our participation goal, but most importantly, everyone did an awesome job and should feel super proud of their work this month!
So without further ado, the winner of our July Challenge is…
Congrats! I hope you enjoy the custom Islander uke 🙂
Our August Challenge is LIVE: https://rockclass101.com/august-2019-challenge. We’ve got a BRAND NEW Theme for this month and we’re giving away a $100 Gift Card to Uke Republic! Hope to see everyone in the new challenge!
@morrieuke1 – Cool! Next month’s challenge is a new theme we’ve never done before 🙂
Here is everyone on page 12. (Stephen’s working on page 11 and will post it soon.)
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kellyblackburn – Kelly, that was awesome! Great feel and tone. There are two things that I would work on:
1) Transitions. Notice how you pause between phrases (bars). Practice the end of one bar into the intro of the next. That will help you eliminate the gaps.
2) Bar 12 – the second note is a half note. Double check the rhythm here and make sure you hold it out for the entire length.
morrieuke1 – Michael, wow! You put a lot of work into this one; so much fun to watch! So the first thing I noticed was that in the 4th bar, the second note, you played it as an open A, it should be a B. Double-check the music there.
I think you absolutely nailed the feel of the first, second, and fourth melody. What I would work on is the third. This section has a real drawn-out feel, and one way we can get that sound is to slow the tempo and use a little bit of rubato. But overall, killer month! Keep up the great work 🙂
kelsey91 – Great job! I made a video for you. Here is the live lesson to check out.
Here is the video I mentioned on Sustain that I made for another member this month and our lesson on increasing left hand reach.
Lastly, double check the first bar of Melody B (which repeats), the 3rd beat is played incorrectly.
riley_ukulele – Well done, and no worries on the intro. Check out this video that I made for another member. This is the same feedback I would leave for your performance.
tiff27 – Hey Tiffany, that was awesome! Great sustain! 2 things that I’d work on:
1) Memorize it. This way you can focus completely on how you are playing it. I’m sure you’ve seen this, but for others reading this feedback, this is why.
2) The last Melody, try to boost the tempo of it so it keeps with the flow of the rest of the piece.
coffeemug – Definitely not a mangle, you play very beautifully. But I think what you want to work on is the feel. Check out this feedback that I left for another member earlier this month. Try to incorporate that laid-back feel into your performance.
akshxd – Great performance! Your uke sounds like it was a little bit out of tune, so friendly reminder to tune up before recording. 🙂 Other than that, great job on the subtleties, like a tasteful vamp of the intro and middle chord and a natural sounding fade out.
rufio0 – Great job, your fingerpicking has a wonderful tone! So there’s one note that you want to substitute, you play the open A in the walk up at the end of bar 2 and again when it walks down at the end of bar 4. That note should be a B. Also, double check the form, it was incorrect in some spots.
I’d also target the tricky sections (and their transitions – i.e. the bar going into it and coming out of it) and loop those in your practicing, for example the plucked chords. Work on keeping the flow a little bit more steady.
As long as there are no issues with the uke (has a proper set up / craftsmanship), what you would be hearing is a unison pitch but with a different timbre. Matt spoke about this and demonstrated it in this live lesson.
Welcome, @tastyshrimp! Glad you found us 🙂
Great feel, Matthieu! I think your tempo was fine. This song can sway, which gives it that natural feel over being super steady. I’d ritard a lil more in the outro. But everything else was brilliant 🙂
@lisadmh – Def the Force LOL
Welcome, drefrank! Looks like everyone answered your ? – It’s suppose to keep you logged in, but sometimes I think it times out.
Have fun with Fur Elise! I’m always around if you need help on the lessons 🙂
Here is everyone I hadn’t gotten to on page 10.
erino7 – Courtney, that was a great take 🙂 I saw your comment on timing, and I agree, that would be the biggest focus that I’d recommend for you. Slow it down and work on keeping it steady, especially in some of the tricky transitions, like when you pluck the chords.
nthibode – Wow, bravo! Couple minor things, watch out for pulling strings down when fretting barre chords. For ex, the first barre chord in bar 11 (42 sec in your perf), this chord goes a little bit sharp.
So the slide licks with the Ebm and Fm in the 2nd Theme have been tough for a lot of folks. The trick to getting them to ring out is to keep an even pressure applied when fretting all three strings. The second and third finger must remain anchored and not move at all. Again, watch out to not push the 3rd string up or down (a little is okay).
The hard part is that your index has to move independently from the other two fingers, but needs to keep the same amount of pressure down as you slide down and back up. Try to isolate these chords in your practice, as I do in this video and then try it in the phrase.
gabrielrabaioli – Excellent playing! I really dig your interpretation of the chord vamp intro and mid section. I like that drawn-out sound. Keep up the great work!
edward – Great job overall! The first part sounded like you may have missed a couple notes or something? May want to double-check the music. The big thing that I’d work on for you is adding sustain to your playing. Take the tips from this video and apply them to this song.
jinajupiter – Well played, Jina! I dig the spacey sound 🙂 Very solid take, the only thing that stood out to me was the break in the tempo during the walk down at 23 seconds.
lisadmh – That was some of your most relaxed playing I’ve ever heard! Actually, if you listen to it from the beginning, the only tense part you hear is at 41 seconds, that tricky walk down. This is a BIG breakthrough for you! Tell me about the changes you made in your playing to get this feel.
Ohh, you’re gonna love our new course which is all about jazzing up your strumming. AND the course introduces a new teacher who lives in Philly 🙂 Should be out end of next month.
And, welcome Shannon! Start here and let me know if you need help or have ?’s. Always happy to help.
allieclaire1 – Check out these 2 lessons as well 🙂
Choosing the Correct Fingering when Transitioning Between Chords
hotmilktea – Well done!
bklynsoul – Great job on the fade out ending, very natural sounding! So you actually left the feedback I would have suggested. When you practice with a metronome, target the areas that are tricky – like the walk up at the end of bar 3 into 4 and the first hit of bar 6 (the strum). Other than that, keep rocking it was awesome!
yellowrosecottag – Great job! I think your focus for practicing should be on developing one section at a time and playing the section with a nice steady, flowing tempo. So for this piece, the first phrase is bars 1 through 4 (not playing beat 4). The second phrase is: beat 4 in bar 4 to bar 8 (again, not playing beat 4).
When you get comfortable with that, put it together and you’ve got the entire A melody. 🙂
lildevil – Actually I’d say the contrary – your timing was excellent! If you’ve got that in check, then I always recommend folks push themselves to help increase speed. BUT – and it’s a big but – timing and clean playing is most important. If these two areas are not in check, slow it down. But in your case, they are. Excellent work!
andracass – Great job, MT! I’d recommend focusing on timing. This song is written in two bar phrases, so that’s what I would focus on. Master timing for:
Bars 1-2
3-4
Then do 1-4Bars 5-6
7-8
Then do 5-8Then 1-8
Breaking it into sections is the best way to practice.
Hey Donovan, Stephen left you feedback for Stranger Things in this post.
You did super well on SpongeBob! So listen to 47 seconds till the end – timing is spot on. What I would work on is the timing for the first part of the song. Slow down the tempo and loop a couple bars at a time. Work on keeping it steady, as you did with the ending of the song.
When you get those 2 bars down, try the next 2 bars, then those 4 bars. So for example, that would look like:
Bars 1-2
Bars 3-4
Bars 1-4Breaking songs down into chunks is a great way to practice 🙂
@santai, that was awesome! The biggest takeaway of this lesson is performing it with a laid-back feel. Well done there!
The one area that I’d work on is cleaning up your barre chords. There are generally two reasons that a barre chord does not ring out properly:
1) finger strength – not enough is applied.
2) form – incorrectly applied.In your case, it looks like the issue is #2. Work on getting the index finger straight, no curve.
We dive into both of these areas (in complete detail) in our Beginners Course lesson on Barre Chords. Review that lesson and see if you can apply these tips to help clean up the chords.
It’s also touched on in this lesson.
@kirpuff – That was excellent! Great feel and timing. I think the “mistakes” you referenced are just little notes or chords that aren’t 100% clean. I’d go back and listen through and target those areas in your practice.
The only thing that stood out to me is the 3rd melody. I’d boost the tempo a hair, it’s very slow atm. Playing sections too slow sometimes makes it sound like it’s dragging.