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@incywincy – Oh, that’s a tough one to answer. It’s really up to you. Last year I focused a lot on improving my timing – which is an area I’ve always struggled with. But sometimes it sounds nice to cut loose and play by feel – which is something my friend Dan does extremely well. Here’s a tune that I transposed from his arrangement. But if you listen to it, the intro is rubato and when he kicks into it, he gradually builds speed. I love his interpretation.
Robert, you can also switch it to “synthetic” mode and activate the metronome. This way it will playback the music alongside the click, which acts as a guide. 🙂
There’s a guide on how to do this half-way on this page.
Here is everyone on Page 9.
casadot349 – great job, you’ve got some speed! Here’s the thing with playing quickly, we want to make sure that even though we have the dexterity to play fast; that we try to keep the tempo steady. Try and play along with a metronome or the on-screen tab viewer. Take a section at a time and follow the advice in our practice guide.
The big thing that I want to point out in your video is your form. First, the way that you are holding the ukulele is incorrect. Check out our guide for proper holding posture in these two lessons:
1) proper left hand form
2) how to hold the Uke (from our Beginners Course)For your right hand, I’d recommend to scoot your hand back a bit. Check out this lesson for our placement recommendations.
marni11 – very beautiful playing! Great timing and excellent form. The only suggestion I have is to scoot your left hand thumb a little bit down the neck, so that it is slightly above the middle, instead of hanging over. Check out form 2 for a better look at this.
strizaldo – bravo, well done! The only suggestion I have is the same as I left for Marni above. Keep up the great work!
benjamin – you are doing so much better with timing, I am proud of you! For the next challenge, I want you to choose an easier song. You have a habit of choosing the most difficult ones, which is totally fine; but for the next one, I want you to pick an easier one and continue focusing on timing, but also focus on clarity of the notes. In other words, getting each note and chord to ring crystal clear. Keep up the great work!
incywincy – here is a video with some tips for you.
springer1 – cool idea to start with that intro 🙂 I think you’re doing an excellent job, I can definitely tell that you’ve put a ton of work into it, as well as your playing in general. Form, tone, and feel are awesome. Keep up the great work!
lynettejd – Very nice! Sustain sounds lovely. The only suggestion I have is to revisit that section you stumbled a little on. Keep up the great work!
lisamcc – I loved it! Vocals, brisk tempo WITH clean playing and great timing! Wow – especially since it was barre chord heavy. And to top it off, that sweater 🙂 I must hear you sing more!
gstriph – Well done, Jerry! So couple things I noticed:
1) it looks like you were reading the music. Try to memorize the piece, this way you can focus on how you are playing it – which was the topic of this lesson.
2) in a previous feedback post (page 17), I left a video titled “thumb attack”. Check that video out, it talks about subtle and strong ways to strum. Changing the attack creates dynamics, which simply means changes in volume. This helps to create more emotion in our playing.
3) last little thing, I heard a few notes buzz. This usually happens if we lift up prematurely. So keep an eye out for that.But overall really good job this month, keep up the excellent work! And thank you for your donation, you rock!
wongbrown – Beautiful playing and great tone! I definitely wouldn’t agree that it needs lots of improvement. I thought it was one of the best ones I’ve heard from you! Your form is looking great too, I believe we’ve talked about that in the past. The only thing that stood out to me was the little pause in the middle, no big deal. Keep rocking, it sounds like you’ve been practicing, Sheila 🙂
felixpitterling – Dude, congrats again on winning! I should be swinging by UR to drop off the Kanile’a for Mike to ship this coming week. I meant to do it last week, but things got a little crazy trying to get the Reading Course ready for a release on Friday.
So onto your performance, awesome job! The one big thing I would work on is timing. Break it down section by section, use a metronome or play along to the on-screen tab viewer, and follow the steps in our practice guide. Tackling chunks at a time is the most efficient way to improve timing, as well as, learning songs quickly.
timstacks – Tim, that was awesome! I can definitely tell that you put a lot of work into it. I’m going to shoot a little video for you with one tip, but here is a copy and paste of feedback I left the other day for extra help on 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.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.
@mheiden – The first thing you mentioned is sight reading – which is just as we would read a book. Pick it up and read, or for music, open it up and play immediately. This takes diligence to achieve.
I would suggest to study 1 bar at a time. Get the notes down, i.e. what note it is, where it is on the neck, & what rhythm it is. Practice that bar and then move onto the next. Then follow the steps in our practice guide to piece it together. Over time, you will be able to move faster, as it starts to become intuitive.
Aww, you should have entered! We give feedback for everyone who enters the challenges 🙂 I hope you join our challenge this month and welcome to the community!
NM – clearly didn’t see it. Can you try using Chrome. I’ve noticed folks have issues using Firefox and IE. Anyone reading this, please do not use IE anymore as it has been discontinued. I don’t know why Firefox causes issues sometimes 🙁
Hi Andy, that looks like this lesson, correct?
That error should only show up if the video settings are incorrect, which would be an error on my part. But, I double checked and everything is set correctly to display on our domain. Can you clear the browser’s cache and reload the page. Let me know if it works. If it still doesn’t, I will need to reach out to Vimeo support as something is wrong on their end.
Lisa, G is the root of G7: G (1) B (3) D (5) F (b7). The other note in the bar is D (5).
C7 is: C (1) E (3) G (5) Bb (b7). The 2nd and 4th notes are E (3). The other 2 notes are non-chord tones, but work over C7. This is a good visual explanation from my favorite theory site of NCT.
I’d recommend reviewing this lesson from our Music Theory course to see how 7th chords are formed. And if that is confusing, to start at the beginning of the course. But, with your interest in understanding harmony, there is no better resource than this eBook.
Another note: In the past I’ve used Sibelius – but it’s for much more serious composing (think multi-instrument). And it was very nice. Other peers have used Finale – which has a very steep learning curve.
I’d go for GP7 if I were you.
Hi Rickey, you are definitely committed to learning and playing. So yes, I would encourage you to invest in a higher-end ukulele.
As far as the course, 3/4ths of it, basically up to module 2, unit 10: Natural Notes on the G String, can be learned using a high G ukulele. While there is an overwhelming interest in lessons for low G ukulele, I realize that not everybody has one or wants one. So it was important for me to write the course with this in mind. High G players will still be able to gain the benefit of a greater understanding of rhythm and timing, as well as, learning to read music up to the C string.
Low G ukulele simply means that the 4th string is an octave lower than high G. One of the benefits of this, is that it provides 5 additional notes that are lower in pitch then what can be achieved on a high G ukulele. This is discussed in detail in the first lesson of the course.
My pleasure, guys! Rickey, it’s like syrup on pancakes – it’s up to you how much you like, I prefer the “less is more” motto.
Here is everyone on page 7.
stinyuke – well done! I too, am a soft player. The thing that I think would make your performance pop more, would be the focus on dynamics. I left a video feedback yesterday titled “light vs. strong thumb attack”. Watch that video, and think of how you can use the ideas taught in it to make some of the chords/notes pop (hit louder) and some softer.
A good analogy: when someone delivers a speech sometimes their voice raises or lowers depending on the context of the material. It’s the same with music, we want to accent some parts and others perhaps not so much. This will add more expression to your playing.
curlyuke – you did so well! 🙂 I want you to check out the feedback video I left yesterday titled “light vs. strong thumb attack”. Now you’re doing both strum attacks taught in that video in your performance – one is strumming quickly so that the chord is heard in unison and the other is to arpeggiate the chord. The latter is what you did the most. My recommendation is to use that strum attack more sparingly, as it has a more “distinguished” effect. Keep up the great work, you are sounding awesome!
annefgodfrey – this video has a tip that I believe will be a breakthrough for your playing.