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@mark1256 – You aced the blues one, Mark! Bravo! The syncopated one was very good too! Try playing along with the backing track (slower, working up to speed) to reinforce timing. Awesome work this month!
@brettboy – I loved it, Brett! Great performances and a chuckle in-between tunes 😂I liked your solo too! Love seeing y’all improv!
@anyon1 – Timing was spot on, Adriana! Great job jammin’ with the band! Try the picado technique for those speed runs. You might like it more than alternating with the thumb/middle.
@rafaela – I really appreciate the kind words on my composition. You played it with such joy! Excellent performance, Rafaela 👏
@musiclover – Here is the article/lesson I mentioned in the video below 🙂
@joe150 – I’m so happy to see you are back to 100% Joe! Great to see/hear you playing again too! I think you have a great base established for this tune. From here, I’d work on timing and memorizing. Start with 2 bars. When you have them memorized and can play them with a steady tempo, move onto the next 2. Then go back and work on all 4 bars. Repeat that process for the rest of the tune.
@jeg143 – That was awesome! Great feel and timing! The only suggestion I have is to try a little softer of a strum. Keep up the great work!
@turkgoose – What a way to come back! Awesome jam, loved it! 🙂Congrats, Justin! It’s beautiful and sounds amazing! I’m excited to hear it in future challenge vids 🙂
P.S. Here’s a couple extra pics Kanile’a sent me. Stunning!
@lhamilton – Excellent playing and timing, Linda! The only thing I can suggest is to target the 16th note variation in the A melody. See if you can get that a little bit cleaner.
@deadbuggy – That was awesome! I agree with Gi Gi! Groovin’ take! So happy to see you are all healed up 🙂
@shmu88 – Great playing Sam! You nailed the fun and playful feel of the tune!@katazumiri – Love the bluesy bass lines and the ending was perfect! Well done, Lena!
@protim – Well done, Protim! The thing that I’d work on is tempo/timing. Try taking 2 bars at a time and play them alongside a metronome with a focus on keeping it steady. If you’re a premium member, you could also do this with the on-screen tab player. Try highlighting 2 bars to loop them and slow it down to a speed that’s comfortable for you.
When you can play the first 2 bars steady, do the same with the next 2, then try all 4 together. Continue working through the rest of the song with the same approach.
We had 38 members participate this month! I really enjoyed watching everyone’s performances! Y’all did sooo well!!
So without further ado, the winner of our August Challenge is…
Our September challenge is LIVE and the theme is: Mini Lessons! There’s also a really unique prize for September! Hope to see everyone in the new challenge: https://rockclass101.com/september-2023-challenge
@akukes73 – Beautifully played, Ash! I didn’t think the strums were too loud. I thought the opposite, they had a nice accent and fit the vibe of the piece well. From here, I’d recommend practicing at a slower tempo. That’ll help smooth out the choppy parts. Overall, it was very well played!
@johanna2509 – Excellent pacing and feel, Johanna 🙂
@potter – Very impressive, Jen! I rarely see folks be able to play barres cleanly in the first month. Your form looks great and it also looks like you’re applying the correct amount of pressure to get them to ring clearly. Overall, the piece was wonderfully played. Keep up the great work!
@leb397 – That was awesome, Louisa! 🙂
@denisedistefano – Beautiful performance, Denise! So I noticed when you barre across all 4 strings, you are bending the index inwards:
Try to keep the index straight when barring across all 4 strings:
It’s okay to curve inwards when barring less than 4 strings. For this example, I am playing 9777:
@june2020 – Rhythms sound great! Here’s an interesting thought. Listen to the first 2 notes of your performance. Compare that to the phrase immediately after. Those 2 notes sound rushed, right?I noticed we (me, Matt) do that often too. Where the song starts with a few notes that are too fast before settling into a slower tempo/feel. Try counting in or just practicing the opening a few times before recording. Idk why we all do that, must be some psychological thing with the camera being on lol 😂
As for your performance, I thought it was lovely! Great job this month!
@andrewvh – Welcome back, Andrew! Performance was great! It was a cool reinterpretation into more traditional fingerstyle playing technique. As you keep working on it, jump into the clawhammer course to learn the technique Chris uses to get a more banjo-esque sound.
@nat-uke – Excellent first post, Nat! You played it beautifully 🙂Your barre chord technique looks pretty good! I’d recommend the same advice I left above for @denisedistefano. But I think for you, I’d mostly recommend working on increasing finger strength so the barres ring clear each time. Try running exercises, such as:
I’m just moving between 2000 to 4222 to 5333 and back down. You can do the same for full barres. For example, 7777 to 5555 to 7777 to 10-10-10-10. That sounds nice 🙂
@dianna – Bravo! Technique sounds great! Excellent jam with the band 🙂One thing I’d recommend checking out is Transcribe.
This is an awesome program that is similar to the on-screen tab viewer on our site. Basically, it allows you to slow down and loop audio or video files. It even has a feature that tells you what notes and chords are played and surprisingly it’s very accurate!
But as it relates to this song, put the 100% speed backing track in it and you’ll be able to slow it down by 1% increments. This allows you to find the proper speed that is right for where you’re at right now. And of course, work towards gradually speeding it up to 100%.
@jody_hendrickson – Beautifully played with great feel!
@nelsonlin2021 – Honestly, I felt the opposite. I think this is the most expressive, emotionally, that I’ve heard you play. It was very well played, Nelson.
@maryjanew – You played it beautifully MJ! I’d recommend 2 things, one is to memorize it and second, always play through your mistakes. Most folks will never realize a mistake was made unless we stop and start over.
@gi_gi_ – Wow, you have a beautiful voice Gi Gi! The second half was flawless! The chord melody was very good too. I think if you had those extra 2 weeks, it would have been as smooth as you wanted. But again, you have a stellar voice. I’m a bit jealous I can’t sing like you lol.Friendly Reminder – The deadline for receiving feedback and an entry into the giveaway is tonight at 11:59 PM EDT (check your local time zone).
@katazumiri – That was done for stylistic effect and was one of the focal points of the etude. In the context of “Cielito Lindo”, the tempo change sounded abrupt to me. Music is subjective, if you like it, then by all means it’s fine. Personally, I would keep the tempo steady or start to gradually speed up near the end of the fingerstyle piece to the start of the duet. I think that would make the transition sound more seamless. Again, these are just my opinions. There’s no right or wrong in this situation.
@katazumiri – Your timing is great! I just meant that the fingerstyle part was at a different tempo than the duet. I would suggest to slow the latter or speed the former up so the tempo stays consistent. If they were played independent of each other, then they are perfect as is.
@dorabr – Fantastic take, Dora! Excellent feel, finesse, and pacing! I really enjoyed listening to your performance 🙂
@The_Bumble_Bard – Great start! Keep at it, Rachael! 🙂
@karenj – Bravo, Karen! Technique and timing was excellent! You got the shirt and the playin’ skills to back it up 🙂
@misterbones – That was awesome, Michael! I sent your performance to Christopher and he said: “Man, this is incredible for a month! He’s grooving right along and that right hand looks very fluid. The only minor thing that might make it a bit better is to bring back the brush strokes a little bit so they’re more of a brush than a strum; think of a snare drum with brushes in the background but really great playing through and through.”
@rgillof – That was a beautiful performance, Richard. The only thing I noticed was that the verses had an elegant and effortless flow compared to the bridge. And the reason why is because you’ve got that section memorized and can focus 100% on playing as opposed to reading and playing in the bridge. So my only advice is to memorize the bridge.Excellent take overall. Great feel in your playing too!
@lynnzo – You played it so beautifully, Lynn! Well done 🙂
@richo_uke – Lovely performance, Rici! You played it with great feel. My suggestion would be to memorize it and then experiment with pacing and rubato. If you listen to Matt’s performance, you’ll hear his interpretation is drawn out with a longing, heartache feel/vibe.@shmu88 – Beautifully played, Sam! My only suggestion would be to play a touch slower. I think it breathes better just a hair slower. I’m guessing by the uncut 4th string that you changed strings recently cause it sounded a little outta tune. I think the break-in period is the bane of all uke players lol 😂
@morrieuke1 – Beautifully placed, Michael! Brilliant performance 👏
@ccwuke – Very well played, Chris! My only suggestion is to memorize it so you can focus 100% on your playing. Keep up the great work!
@abster – Bravo! Y’all sound so great together and I loved the ending LOL!!
@bibilele – Wow, Bianca! Beautiful playing with a perfect backdrop! Loved it!
@anyon1 – Lovely performance, Adriana! Double check the B section, I didn’t hear the last 2 bars where that phrase gets repeated again.As for the mic, it sounded great! Try moving it closer and lowering the volume. That should cut down on white noise, as well as, picking up unwanted sounds.
@The_Bumble_Bard – Love the creative ending, Rachael! Your progress has been nothing short of impressive! It’s amazing to see how far you’ve come in such short time. Especially in regards to some of the hardest aspects of playing, such as feel and finesse! Keep up the great work!Ohh and double check the B section, there were a couple bars missing there.
@katazumiri – I loved it! So cool to hear the melody on bass! My only suggestion would be to work on increasing the fingerstyle tempo to match the duets. Again, amazing job! I always look forward to watching your performances, Lena 🙂
@ldarrow – Fantastic take, Linda! I wouldn’t worry too much about the buzz. It happens to our recordings too, we just mask it with a little EQ, but don’t tell anyone we cheat 😉I see what you mean with the hesitations here and there. They sound very minor to me and I think you’d knock them out with a little more practice. Honestly, sounds like you are almost there! Keep up the great work!
@brettboy – Dude that was awesome! And that key works really well for your voice! Beautiful singing and playing 👏And I loved the ending!!
@mark1256 – Beautiful take, Mark! Great flow and pacing 🙂
@leslieb – Your form looks much better this month! It’s a night and day difference with the clarity I’m hearing in the barres now. Very impressive work, Leslie! A beautiful performance overall 🙂@leb397 – I agree with you! Playing slow is def as hard as playing fast. With that said, I thought you did a really nice job pacing the piece. It had a very natural flow and feel. Beautiful playing, Louisa 🙂