[Andrew]

gaberdude – Well done this month! Here are my thoughts & this is good advice for all who choose to do “Jurassic Park” this month. 🙂

[Andrew]

Congrats, Josip! Here is the replay if you missed the stream!

[Andrew]

We did it! We crushed the Spring Challenges!

240 members participated in our last 3 challenges and I have been blown away by everyone’s performances! Thanks to each and everyone of you who participated.

Tomorrow we are going live at 12 PM EST to announce the winner of the $795 Kanile’a Ukulele. The live stream link is below:

—-

Here is everyone who participated this month. Please let me know if there are any discrepancies.

deadbuggy
deadbuggy
planetfink
planetfink
lildevil
lildevil
kirpuff
kirpuff
beebee
stianukulele
stianukulele
johanna2509
lisamcc
lisamcc
abaluyot
abaluyot
robinboyd
robinboyd
surfnrz
surfnrz
brettboy
brettboy
jinajupiter
jinajupiter
zukulele
zukulele
brenna
brenna
lisadmh
lisadmh
wongbrown
wongbrown
citznmag
citznmag
rickeymike
rickeymike
jedart
joannetala
joannetala
joe150
joe150
karenj
karenj
en_joy
en_joy
soraya06
soraya06
cyukug
cyukug
llmairalmiquel
llmairalmiquel
noemie
nthibode
nthibode
annefgodfrey
annefgodfrey
yellowrosecottag
yellowrosecottag
andracass
andracass
holly1
holly1
cornishdpt
cornishdpt
aquatopaz
aquatopaz
mfaske
mfaske
lyndallk
lyndallk
hotmilktea
hotmilktea
gstriph
gstriph
coffeemug
coffeemug
smudge
smudge
kellyblackburn
kellyblackburn
sprintingyogini
sprintingyogini
becky7777
becky7777
gaberdude
gaberdude
kumakuma
kumakuma
stinyuke
stinyuke
morrieuke1
morrieuke1
donovan
ukemaniak
ukemaniak
kelsey91
fiat-lux
fiat-lux
marni11
marni11
rufio0
rufio0
timolnz
timolnz
ukukelley1
ukukelley1
santai
santai
gardn_gnome
gardn_gnome
kanae926
kanae926
casadot349
casadot349
aquatopaz
aquatopaz
borjez
borjez

[Andrew]

Here is everyone on page 16.

marni11 – You aced the ending lick, that was awesome! I thought you did really well overall. But, let’s talk about a couple of things to work on:

1) check out your thumb when you’re playing the C chord section. It looks like it’s bent at the joint. We always want to keep it straight, aim for placement that is slightly above the middle of the neck. Check out this guide to see exactly where that is.

2) watch the timing during the melody. I also heard a few notes here and there that were not played cleanly. So slow it down a bit and focus on both of those aspects.

3) the percussive rhythm section has been hard for a lot of folks. I’d recommend simplifying it for now. Practice counting the rhythm as you play to a metronome. Check out this post for ideas on simplifying it.

rufio0 – Oh my gosh the ending was hilarious. And dang, your wife is quite the accomplished kazoo player. 🙂 So your playing is quite nice, which means that we need to focus on the subtleties. Let me list a few things that I heard and you can let me know what you think.

1) Triplet strum – rhythm sounds correct, but I’m not hearing enough separation with each of the three strums. I’d like you to try a few different approaches for strumming, check out this post to learn them. See if one of them helps you hear more separation in each strum.

2) a little bit more practice will help with pauses, like the one at 30 seconds. An interesting way to work on this (and to help memorization) is to start the piece from a random bar. Most of the time when we practice, we always start at the beginning of the song or at the beginning of a section, such as bar 1 of the chorus. Try and start on bar 3 instead.

3) For Melody B, work on sustaining the chords and notes more. Check out this video for help with that.

timolnz – Well done! The big thing that I would work on is lightening up your right hand attack (picking and strumming). Check out last month’s live lesson for help with that.

Ohh, just read your comment after I left feedback. I suppose that means I left this same advice for you previously. If you need a little extra help, we do offer one-on-one Skype lessons. That may be the best approach to help since we’ll be able to work with you one-on-one, in real time.

ukukelley1 – Way to go! Here’s a video with two tips for you.

santai – santai – no worries, perhaps for July’s Challenge you’ll be able to do a video. 🙂

Your feel is fantastic. The only advice I can offer is to continue practicing, that should prevent things like the little mess up in the middle.

gardn_gnome – Great job! So couple of suggestions, first I’d recommend the same advice I left about for, timolnz. Second, I’d recommend picking an easier piece. If you join us for July, give “Jurassic Park” a shot 🙂

kanae926 – Hey Kanni! Have you tried this approach: use synthetic mode with the click on, play to that, but only 4 or 8 bars at a time. Then turn a regular metronome on and record yourself playing the same section, but all by yourself. Listen back and see if you stayed in time.

So the point here is that it’s only a crutch if you always play with the guide. But I think this will be a good way for you to practice.

And the metronome is your best friend for developing a sense of timing. But once it’s developed, it’s always best to record and perform without it. Because as you said, robot.

casadot349 – That was awesome, you’ve got some serious speed! But there are a couple things that I would recommend you work on which are fundamental areas.

1) form: Let’s start with left hand form. I’d recommend scooting your thumb down so that it’s slightly above the middle of the neck, and not hanging over the fretboard. Check out this lesson to see the placement.

That lesson also talks about posture and how to hold the ukulele properly. If you watch your performance, you can see that you are slouched over it. You want to sit straight up as you play.

For right hand form, try to keep your wrist parallel and not bent downwards. I’d also recommend moving your hand back so that you are picking and strumming over the sound hole. Check out this lesson to see the placement.

2) Timing: So the melody was fast! But the percussive section was at a slower tempo. Try to make them even.

aquatopaz – Great job! So I would target your practice to focus on the areas that were tricky. Some of those areas that I heard included the transitions; so for example in the melody, one area would be transitioning from C to G.

The other thing I’d recommend is to work on timing. Again focus on small sections at a time. For example, connecting 2 or 4 bars in the percussive section, so that you eliminate pauses. Remember to start slow. Slow and steady always wins the race.

borjez – Awesome playing! I’d experiment with adding accents and dynamics to your playing. For example, in my performance of that song, in bar 14, I really accent (hit hard) the G chord on beat 3. Doing things like that help to add texture to our playing.

[Andrew]

As long as the strumming technique you use for triplets plays the correct rhythm, you are good 🙂

[Andrew]

Here is everyone on Page 13.

yellowrosecottag – that’s awesome that you gave it a go! Left hand form looks solid, but watch out for things like at 50 seconds, you tucked your ring finger behind the neck. Always keep it above the neck so that it’s ready to be deployed.

I’d also recommend trying an easier tune. This month’s (July) challenge has “Jurassic Park” as a choice. Give that one a shot 🙂

andracass – the melody was great, MT! Just watch the timing a little bit. For the percussive section, start with a simpler rhythm. Check out this post for ideas on simplifying it.

holly1 – That was an excellent performance, Holly! And I love the kazoo 🙂 It’s clear to see that you put a lot of work into this piece, and it shows! Well done!

One thing I do want to point out, I noticed that your finger bends at the first joint (for ex: pause at 53 seconds – ring finger). Not all the time, but if you watch your performance and look out for it, you’ll see it happen a few times. Try to keep it curved so your finger is placed on the string on the fingertip.

cornishdpt – Cory, I thought your fingerpicking was solid, actually I think the area that you should focus the most on for practicing is the triplet strum. Your strumming hand seems a little tense, try to loosen up a little bit. But I think you should experiment with different ways to execute the triplet strum. Check out this post, which has a few videos, each showing a different way to do it.

aquatopaz – aquatopaz – sorry to hear you had trouble with SoundCloud, but glad you got it uploaded! Great job overall, but there are a few things that I would work on:

1) Listen back and target the areas that you struggled on. So in the beginning, it kicks off on C, and you’ve got that section nailed, clean notes and timing. But the transition to the next chord, F, isn’t as smooth. Same with the transition to the 5 chord (G). So you want to loop those transitions.

2) The percussive rhythm breakdown, I honestly had trouble trying to figure out the rhythm you were playing. I’d recommend simplifying it for now and practicing counting the rhythm as you play to a metronome. Check out this post for ideas on simplifying it.

mfaske – Great job! Here’s a little feedback on hammer-ons and here’s our overview lesson on the technique if you want to dive deeper.

[Andrew]

@becky7777 – the strum has a diff timbre there. The blues cats, like SRV do that a lot. And they are who I copied.

I’d say it’s up to you. You can do it over the sound hole. No right or wrong.

[Andrew]

@gaberdude – LOL @ the ending haha

[Andrew]

@lisadmh – Prob. Our team is working on a lot of original content 🙂

[Andrew]

I think you mean the next bar (5th from last). It’s 16th note hits.

1 (2) &a 3 (4) &a

1 2 3& (123)

I understand what you mean, but they are quite different. Try to count and clap the rhythm above with metronome or on-screen tab viewer. Post video here and I’m happy to listen to make sure you understand the difference.

[Andrew]

My pleasure!

[Andrew]

Friendly reminder, the deadline is tonight at 11:59 P.M. EST. Anything submitted past the deadline will not count for the giveaway or receive feedback. (check your local time zone)

Below are the last two folks on page 12.

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annefgodfrey – Way to go on nailing the percussive rhythm section! So good!

So your comment about consistency tells me that you know exactly what to work on. Take 4 bars at a time and focus on keeping the timing steady. The hardest part is the transition from one chord to the next. So focus on that area.

When you get the four bars down, target the next four, then work on 1 through 8. Then do the last four. And try 1 through 12.

jedart – July’s live lesson will be all about playing & practicing with a metronome. Hope you can tune in for it 🙂

Fingerpicking section sounds good! Try and work on boosting tempo, 5 BPM at a time.

[Andrew]

Welcome, Tony! Really cool that you build. That’s something I’ve wanted to try, but just for fun. I really enjoy the process of creating something.

From what you wrote, it sounds like putting a practicing plan together would benefit you greatly. Start here. But, from what I gather, you are most interested in:

1) Learning to jam. You can write the theory (scales), but you need to work on translating it into your playing. Knowing theory without being able to apply it, unfortunately doesn’t help much in the real world (jamming, improv). This course will help you connect the dots.

2) I’m sure you’ve studied CAGED. But a refresh & focusing on applying it will help. This lesson (at the end of it) shows you how to do that.

3) Concept lessons are good to check out too. They are all related to jam scenarios.

Start with these and let me know if you have questions/need help on the lessons 🙂

[Andrew]

This should help 🙂

[Andrew]

@nthibode –

And I really love the slide sound, sliding up from the 3rd fret. Nice touch and awesome performance! 🙂

[Author]

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