[Andrew]

@katazumiri – Bravo on the duet 👏 The bass line is equally as beautiful!

And metal swan lake is epic! Def gonna share this performance in our newsletter this week 🙂

@dianna – Happens to all of us. The only way to retain it is to keep it in constant rotation. As in, playing/practicing it at least every week. Here’s Matt’s lesson on memorizing that GiGi mentioned.

[Andrew]

@katazumiri – Thanks for letting me know, it’s showing now 🙂

[Andrew]

@jbmills07 – Generally, doing that has placed it in spam. I just contacted their support team to see if we can relax some of these strict rules. Such as that and the ability for ya’ll to post more than one video at a time.

@erin99 – Beautifully played, bravo 👏

[Andrew]

@jbmills07 – Pacing was excellent, Justin. Great job on the accents and dynamics too!

And sorry the post disappeared. It ended up in the spam folder. I think it’s because you tagged Sarah and posted a video. Anytime folks do more than one, tag or video, it puts it in spam. Unfortunately, there’s no way for me to relax the spam protection rules. I wish there was!

[Andrew]

@sarahmusic – Great playing, Sarah! For that pull-off on 8 to 7, try using your pinky to ring finger for it. This way, you assign an individual finger to a fret:

5th fret notes: index
6th fret notes: middle
7th fret notes: ring
8th fret notes: pinky

We call this playing out of position 5 (frets 5-8). I also call it playing out of a box. Doing this makes playing more efficient and eliminates awkward stretches, like playing 5 with index and overreaching to 8 with ring.

Check out this exercise. It’s all about playing in boxes. You can run it as a warm up tool plus, you can do it to a metronome to work on timing 🙂

For this exercise, I want you to focus a lot on using the pinky and building strength and dexterity in it.

@dianna – April challenge will have a different theme and is the start of our Spring Kanile’a giveaway 🙂

[Andrew]

We had 57 members participate this month! I was blown away by everyone’s performances! Y’all aced these mini lessons! 🙂

So without further ado, the winner of this month’s challenge is ** drumroll **

Our March Challenge is LIVE: https://rockclass101.com/march-2023-challenge

We picked 4 songs from our new course, Classical Technique & Style, and we’re giving away a VERY cool ukulele that resembles a classical guitar! Hope to see everyone in the challenge!

[Andrew]

@mac1984 – Beautifully played! Well done 👏

@maryjanew – Playing sounds great, MJ! Only thing I’d suggest is to loop the A Melody with me in the tab player to work on keeping it a little more steady.

@jojoba – Excellent playing! One suggestion, try barring with the index for the 4 (F) and 5 (G) chord. It should make those phrases a little easier to play with your left hand.

Unfortunately, you submitted past our deadline so we won’t be able to give you an entry for the prize. I tried to give everyone a friendly reminder yesterday.

@leb397 – Thank you, Louisa!

[Andrew]

@omaon4 – That was awesome, Helga! Great playing! 🙂

@olemartin – Very well played! Great job on the timing and feel! One tip for the A Melody, try not to pull (tug) the string down too much as you do the pull-off. That makes the note go sharp. Try to keep the string more parallel, but keep in mind that a slight tug down is fine and is correct technique for pull-offs.

@yukalele – Your workaround was fine! The end result produced a good tone for each note, but also your groove was on-point!

And I loved the Jimi pic! Totally fits the vibe of this riff 🙂

@johanna2509 – You aced the tempo and groove! Well done, Johanna 👏

@leb397 – You nailed the playful feel! Excellent playing and with the birds chirping, it’s so peaceful to listen to 🙂

@richo_uke – That was a great performance, Rici! You had a nice swung feel throughout! I’d keep practicing the A Melody to get it to flow a little smoother, but it doesn’t sound like it will take much work. It’s almost there! Great job this month!

@ben-j283 – Very well played Ben! Feel was spot-on! Only thing to mention is that the A Melody repeats the first time through.

And to answer your question, folks are required to mention that for our Kanile’a Challenge giveaways (Spring: April, May, June) (Fall: October, November, December). Premium members get double entries in those months. It’s not required to mention during the other months of the year.

@gracme2 – Wonderfully played, Carmen! The only thing I want to mention is that you’re playing it with a straight eighth note feel. We want to use a swung feel for this tune. Check out this lesson. It teaches the difference between the 2 feels and has a great exercise to practice switching between the two.

@leotenshi – Very well played, Leo! Love the tempo and great feel throughout! Well done 👏

@starry – Great playing, Xin! I have no critics. Keep up the great work! 🙂

@mkstewart67 – Awesome performance, Melissa! 2 things to mention: You skipped bar 8. Check out this lesson, it teaches you the 12 bar blues form. Memorize it and you’ll always know where you’re at 🙂

The only other thing I’d like to hear is a little less hesitation on the transitions between chords (for ex: 1 to 4).

[Andrew]

@gracme2 – Carmen, you may want to add the @ sign followed by the username so folks know who your comments are directed to 🙂

[Andrew]

Friendly Reminder – The deadline for receiving feedback and an entry into the giveaway is tonight at 11:59 PM EST (check your local time zone).

[Andrew]

My pleasure!

[Andrew]

@ukealori – Great playing and well done on the timing, Lori! I have one exercise to share with you to help build dexterity in your left hand when playing out of positions (boxes) like this riff did. This riff assigned an individual finger to a fret, starting with position 5 (frets 5-8) and moving down to position 4 (frets 4-7).

Check out this exercise. You can run it as a warm up tool plus, you can do it to a metronome to work on timing 🙂

For this exercise, I want you to focus a lot on using the pinky and building strength and dexterity in it.

[Andrew]

No worries! Your playing sounds great! But there is something important that we need to correct. Earlier this month, @jgillard and I left feedback for @ksapp92 in this post (and two above it).

I’d offer the same advice for you, but extended for both hands. The linked advice covers the right hand. For the left, try fretting a single note, but apply no pressure. Slowly start to push down and keep plucking the string as you do this. Eventually, the note will ring. Take note of how much pressure is needed to get it to ring. You should notice it’s less than you are applying now.

[Andrew]

@smokealot – Great playing! 👏

@abster – Way to go, Abster! That was awesome!! 🙂

@nelsonlin2021 – Great job, Nelson! I’d recommend practicing slower so you can focus on cleaning up your playing and keeping the tempo steady. Also, take a look at this lesson. Matt shares some great tips to help you perfect the triplet strum technique.

As for your question, it’s just something I do which helps me keep the time.

@delugehound – Very cool to see your progress, Jana! You were able to build it up to speed with fluidity! Bravo!

One thing to point out, is that you are playing it with a straight eighth note feel. We want to use a swung feel for this tune. Check out this lesson. It teaches the difference between the 2 feels and has a great exercise to practice switching between the two.

@jvchong – Your video is showing as private. Can you set it to public?

[Andrew]

@karenj – The uke sounds awesome!! Great performance! 🙂

[Author]

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