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My pleasure Jennifer! Check out our course on fingerpicking, it’s a great resource for learning fingerstyle playing. If you ever have any questions or need help on the lessons, don’t hesitate to email me or post on the forum. I’m here to help 🙂
Great playing James! I’d be happy to give you feedback 🙂 First, I would remove the vibrato from the riff. I think it flows better with straight fingerpicking. Also, watch out with pulling the third string down on those chords. It will cause the chord to go sharp. So we always want to keep the strings straight when fretting notes to create chords.
In our beginner’s course, there’s an introductory lesson on strumming. This would be a good reference for you, as I noticed your strumming hand seems to be quite rigid. The lesson teaches you a couple of approaches for strumming and this will help to soften up the tone you produce.
Your timing is excellent and you’re doing extremely well, keep up the great work 🙂
Looking forward to watching your performance James! And yes, your best bet is the 5th fret, string 3.
Love seeing entries this early in the month 🙂
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jakeypoo – excellent playing and great timing! Keep up the good work 🙂
ookulee – good job! How did you approach practicing this piece? I would recommend to play with a metronome or the on-screen tab viewer. I would also recommend to count along while you play, this will help tremendously in developing great timing.
Start out working on a small section of the piece at a time (2 or 4 bars), before trying to tackle everything. Also, if you’re new to counting and timing practice in general, check out our lesson on understanding rhythmic notation.
yoavlan – great job on the timing! I would recommend to memorize the piece, this way you can focus on how you’re playing it, i.e. developing feeling. Try to add subtle dynamics to your performance, such as vibrato. A little goes a long way with dynamics. Keep up the good work!
All right guys, here it is my advice for everyone who submitted on the last 2 days 🙂 please let me know if you have any questions.
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mkpruss – great job! I can definitely tell you put some work into it 🙂 I would only suggest to continue working on the transitions.
lisathoyt – no worries I’m being nervous, everyone gets that way. Great playing by the way! I agree with what you said, I’d continue to work on the timing, but break it into sections. So nail the first four bars with perfect timing before working on the next part of the song.
carrie – I love the ending! Your playing is great, keep up the good work!
hyzenthlay – wonderfully played! You have a great feel and tone in your playing.
cait23 – good job Caitlin! This is a tricky tune. You’ve got a great base established in that you know the entire piece. I’d break it down and work on section-by-section if I were you. Try and play along with the on screen tab viewer, it will help keep you in time and help you get the feel down a little bit better. Give that a shot and let me know how it goes.
ukulelesam04 – great job Sam! I can hear you improving with every challenge 🙂
awiealissa – wonderful playing Alissa! I too can hear you improving, that’s awesome! You put some work into this, didn’t you? The feel and the tone in your playing is great. I’d only suggest to work on the transitions to tighten them up a bit. Keep up the good work!
rillke – great job! This is what it’s all about, getting the feel and the timing down and doing it at a pace that’s within your current ability. You’re doing great, keep it up!
yiling – excellent playing! My only suggestion is to watch the timing when you transition to the chorus and the outro.
th1234 – good job! A few of the bars were a little off in the verse, so do go back and double check those sections. A great way to practice is to work on a few bars at a time, and when you think you have it down, turn the sheet music around so that you can’t look at it and try to play it from memory.
niru95 – that was excellent! You are doing great, keep it up!
antony945 – great job figuring that out with only basic membership, very impressive! You playing is great on the first part of the song, I would suggest to work on the higher voice chords and cleaning them up a bit.
A great way to practice that section, is to only play the chord changes by themselves. So there are four chords in that section, you could play the first chord and hold it out for a whole measure, then play the second chord, and again, hold it out for a whole measure. Then the same with the 3rd and 4th chord, and loop it.
jacobturner127 – great job! I do have some advice for you. While you have a great speed, what I think you need to work on is finesse. And this is the hardest part of playing, the challenge is to make every note count.
So I would suggest to slow it down a little bit and tighten up some of the transitions and the timing. But really focus on the tone that you’re producing. Some of the chord strums you can hit a little bit lighter and it will produce a softer and sweeter sound. You can also incorporate more of the hammer-ons and pull-offs into the piece. This will help to add dynamics and will break up the monotony of plucked notes. Overall you are doing great, keep it up!
krasimirka55 – Excellent! I’d recommend same advice as I gave for rillke.
yoavlan – that’s some speed you got there! But it’s always important to note that speed isn’t everything. When we think of music, we have to remember that it’s formed from three basic elements: Melody, harmony, rhythm.
What you want to work on is connecting these three elements. So I would suggest to slow it down and work on playing everything cleanly and in time. Once you can do that perfectly at a slower tempo, then you can start to increase the speed. So keep up the good work, you’re on the right path!
klapaucjusz – excellent job, I’m not sure I believe you are a beginner only 🙂 where I would go next in your playing is to focus on the performance as a whole. You’ve got a great speed and technique established, but I would focus on cleaning up the transitions and clarity of some of the sections. But man you’re kicking butt keep it up!
bjblue2 – great job! As I’ve advice to other members in this challenge, a great way to approach practicing is to break sections into pieces. Try and take two or four bars at a time and focus on playing every note with clarity, while watching your timing. Then do the same with the next 2 or 4 bars and then try to put those two sections together. This will cut down on the practice time required to learn the song and will help you get it down easier.
ukuleleloo – Wonderful playing Lucinda! I’d recommend same advice as I gave for rillke.
lisamcc – it’s crazy how good you are for 6 months! Your tone is great! The speed is also very good. What you want to work on is ironing out everything. So what that means is that your goal moving forward is to make sure that your performance flows evenly.
I talked about the three elements of music in the feedback for yoavlan. This advice can be applied to you too. When we listen to this song, we notice that the first half builds up to a climax heard in the last half, or when the piece goes to those higher voice chords. So listening to how you add dynamics to the piece is something that you want to focus on.
This could be accomplished by playing the first part of the song lighter and accenting the second half of the song to help create that climax.
Also, go back and review some of the sections that were tricky, most notably at the end of the performance. But truly great job!
owllady – great job Naomi! I have a feeling you know what I’m going to tell you 🙂 first off, try to memorize the piece. Focus on getting the transitions down smoothly and brush up a little bit on your timing. It’s great to hear you play again, keep up the good work!
annemarie – great playing Anne! I would only suggest to review the chorus section. Slow down a little bit, loop it, and you’ll have it down in no time 🙂
tommyn – great job Tommy! I’d recommend the same advice as I gave for bjblue2, but with four bar sections. So what you working on is cleaning up the sections and smoothing out the transitions. Keep up the good work!
I wrote this solo for Gravity years back, would be cool to transpose it to uke! And enjoy how awkward/unnatural I used to be in front of the camera in the video below haha
Slow dancing has been requested a few times now, I really dig that song. What about Gravity? You guys like that too?
As Dennis said, this technique is used in our arrangement for Mr. Sandman. Here is a short video to help you out, ignore the first few seconds, as they’re quite silly. Let me know if you have any questions 🙂
Hey guys! First off, awesome job to everyone! We had 47 submissions overall, that’s insane! I haven’t gotten around to reviewing everyone’s performance yet, but I will be working on that over the next few days. So check back on this post to get your feedback soon 🙂
Here is the video announcing our winner. I’ll be sending you an email soon, so be on the lookout for that 🙂
I wasn’t familiar with Jill, so I checked out that YouTube channel. The reason you find it difficult is the same reason that people struggle with lyric sheets that contain chords above them. That type of “sheet music” does not tell you how many measures to play each chord for.
The strum pattern you described is this rhythm: 1 2& & 4&. Does that make sense to you? If not, I would suggest you check out our beginners course. There’s a lesson on understanding rhythmic notation which will help you understand how beats fit into a measure and how to count them. That lesson is followed by a lesson that has you fingerpicking and strumming simple rhythms while counting.
As a premium member, you have access to the on-screen tab viewer. So for the above lesson, you can play along with the exercises. You can even turn on the metronome and count along while you play.
Start out with these lessons and let me know how it goes. I’d like to see you participate in next month’s challenge, which will be beginner themed. Details will be released tomorrow, so check back on the forum 🙂 Don’t hesitate to email me or post here if you need any help.
Cheers,
Andrew
Welcome Les! That’s awesome that you make ukes, what a cool hobby 🙂 I’d be happy to help you in your playing. I know what it’s like to feel stuck. So, my first question for you is: What do you do in this hour of daily practice? What does it entail?
Fantastic Brian (freeclmr)! One of the trickiest parts is definitely playing the chord section that is all the way up the neck. It’s hard to fit our finger into those tiny frets, and because of that, we tend to pull the string up, causing the chord to go a little sharp.
A great way to practice that section, is to only play the chord changes by themselves. So there are four chords in that section, you could play the first chord and hold it out for a whole measure, then play the second chord, and again, hold it out for a whole measure. Then the same with the 3rd and 4th chord, and loop it.
This is a great way to help build muscle memory for the changes and to help hone in on playing the chords without bending the strings.
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Glad to have you here Connie! I would play the soprano for now if you are playing a song that has a far stretch. It takes a while to develop the stretch, so don’t get frustrated or try to rush it.
You did extremely well, you should be very proud of yourself! Truly good job. Next month’s challenge will be great for you too, as it will be beginner themed 🙂
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cyberloh – you came a long way since the first snippet you posted earlier this month. I can definitely tell that you put my advice into your practice, as your feel is perfect now. Great job! My only constructive feedback, is to continue working on the outro.
The feel is definitely the hardest and you’ve got a great handle on that now, great job!
James, one suggestion would be to practice the transitions. In a previous video (embedded below), I showed how you can practice the tail end of one bar and the beginning of another (and loop it). This video shows bar 5 to 6. One of the sections I noticed that would be good for you to work on is bars 4 to 5. Try to apply this concept to every transitional bar that you need extra work on. It will definitely make a difference.
Hi Margo (nocnyptak), here is a short video with some help on increasing left hand reach. And by the way, great job, I enjoyed your performance 🙂
And thank you to everyone who has wished me well, I really appreciate it!
Wow Lyndall! Fantastic playing! Please send me a copy of the video, I’d be happy to host a higher-quality version for you. [email protected]
Hey James, glad to hear your thumb is doing better. Don’t get frustrated about this song, it’s very tricky because of the rhythm. How did you approach practicing this song?
Next month’s challenge will be a great one for you. It’s going to be a beginner themed challenge, and with that said, I’d like you to approach it with this goal in mind: To play the entire piece cleanly and at a steady tempo.