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@gracme2 – Thanks for making it public 🙂
Your playing sounds great! It was beautifully fingerpicked and an excellent first challenge post! It sounds like a little more practice will smooth out the very minor hesitations. Keep up the great work!
Here’s everyone on page 8.
@ben-j283 – Beautiful playing and excellent ritardando at the end. A fantastic first entry! I look forward to watching more of your performances 🙂
@ksapp92 – You played it beautifully! For that transition, or any transition that you need a little extra practice with, try stripping away the music (i.e. the fingerpicking pattern). And just work on moving between the two chords:I’d also recommend taking it a step further by using a metronome. Set it to a simple rhythm, for example, strumming on beat 1 and 3 (half notes).
@jbmills07 – This was very good, Justin! Excellent clarity in the notes in the H/O & P/O licks. Timing and feel was spot on. You even nailed the fancy rhythm strum at 1:09! I am continually impressed by you!
@dividedsky – Beautifully played, Jane 🙂
@omaon4 – That was awesome, Helga! You played it so well!! My only advice is to memorize it so you can focus 100% on your playing.
@sarahmusic – Even with the underwater audio (lol), your playing still shined through! Great job this month 🙂
@mkstewart67 – What! A double take with both instruments! So cool! I sent Stephen your bass performance, he’s gonna love watching it!Both takes sounded great! I really enjoyed watching them. Keep up the great work, Melissa!
@gisele – Both takes were great! I love that you use a metronome. Keep up the great work, Gisele 🙂
@gracme2 – Your video is showing as private. Can you please make it public? Here’s how to change the privacy setting.
@jody_hendrickson – Your performance was awesome! I was grooving in my chair watching it 🙂And yes, definitely pick up a copy of transcribe. It’s so useful and totally worth it!
Here’s everyone on page 7.
@hannia – Way to go, that was awesome! I do have one suggestion. Try practicing the second melody with a metronome. Work on one bar at a time. Start slow and focus on keeping it steady before working on the next bar. Then go back and connect those two.Do the same thing for bar 3, then 4, then 3-4, and finally 1-4.
This will help iron out the pauses and make it fluid 🙂
@dianna – Great job, Diana! You aced the tempo and timing! The one thing I want you to work on is clarity in the notes for the hammer-on and pull-off licks. Currently, they are all blending into one note. I want to hear more distinction between the three notes. To work on this, slow down the lick and loop it. Just like this:Work on keeping it steady and attaining a clear distinction between each note.
@leslieb – That was awesome, Leslie! I was very impressed by how well you played it! Not only in the tempo and speed, but also in playing with a great feel throughout. And it shows with your laugh and smile at the end 🙂Keep working on that main hammer-on/pull-off lick. I’d like to hear a little more clarity between the three notes. Check out the video I left right above your feedback. Try to match that sound. Practice slow before bringing it up to tempo.
@sarrafina – You really impressed me in the last challenge with a huge improvement in your timing. This month was another step in the right direction. From your performance, I can tell that you have a good understanding of the rhythms that you are playing. But this month, rather it was intentional or not, your performance incorporated rubato tastefully.Therefore, I’d like you to continue experimenting with a rubato approach. But also, work on keeping it metronomically steady. Like you did in the previous challenge.
P.S. Keep an eye out for our new classical music course coming out this Friday. It’s got a lesson on rubato. Check it out, it’s got a lot of great ideas in it 🙂
@evapaju – That was awesome, you played it great! I sent your performance and kind words along to Stephen 🙂
@hiouke – Beautiful playing 👏
@richard_siegert – Great playing! My only suggestion is to target your practice on eliminating the pauses in a couple of the transitions.
@erin99 – Your timing sounded great to me. You’ve got a natural sense for it! Your performance was very enjoyable to watch, keep up the great work!
@mueleski – Love the last two pictures! Playing was great! Only a couple transitions to target your practice on, but nothing major to point out. Keep up the great work and I enjoyed the humor 🙂
@antotonin – That B Melody!!! 😮 so fast, so clean, and you aced the technique! Bravo!!!
@mademoiselleannette – Beautifully played 🙂
@acornjasper – Kelly! You KNOCKED this one outta the park! Wow! My fav performance from you to date!!Here’s everyone on page 6.
@starry – It was awesome! Great job tackling two this month! Keep up the great work 🙂
@ukele12 – Excellent playing and a great first entry! One tip: try not to bend your ring finger at the first joint (like at 4 seconds in the video). Instead, keep it curved (like at 22 seconds in the video).
@anyon1 – Beautiful playing! I’d offer the same advice I left above for @ukele12, but in regards to your pinky.
@nelsonlin2021 – Wow! I’m just sitting here amazed that you’ve progressed to be able to play a piece of this difficulty so fast! I don’t really have feedback for you this time, other than saying keep doing what you’re doing. It’s obv working! I am very impressed with your progress, Nelson!
@ccwuke – That was a fantastic performance, Chris! About speed. I think most of my speed comes from my subbing out traditional fingerpicking for the pseudo-strumming technique. Which is the same technique I used on this song.Give the technique a shot. It uses more of a claw-shaped strum attack hitting the strings with the nails. Here’s a video showing how the technique mirrors strumming:
@biancak – Way to go on the tempo! Blisteringly fast, bravo! One thing though, I want to hear the pull-off note clearer. I noticed you hammer-on directly down, which is correct, then pull-off directly up. This is incorrect. You want to slightly tug the string down as you pull-off. This will help get the final note to ring out. Check out this lesson for a recap on the fundamentals.
@bibilele – Awesome job on the tempo, Bianca! One suggestion. It looks like your left hand is doing a ton of work pivoting for the h/o p/o then back down to the 3rd fret note (C) on A. Try doing a partial barre instead across both strings on the 3rd fret. It will make that phrase a lot more efficient to play.P.S. You aced the ending lick 👏
@stevencao – That was amazing! I loved your performance!!One tip, don’t forget to tune before you hit record 🙂
@coffeemug – Bravo, Mary! One of my fav performances from you. Great feel throughout! Keep up the great work 🙂
@aletski – Your playing sounded beautiful! And that transition looked smooth to me. I’d say your practice paid off. This was an excellent first post. Keep up the great work!
@karenj – Bravo! I LOVE how it sounds on banjolele!I hear ya on having more options for the backing track speed. But I do have a solution for you. Check out 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!
I’ve been using this program to help me transcribe for over a decade now. Actually, here’s a video from 2012 and you can see me hit stop and play on my laptop. I used the program to transcribe the solo and the rest of the song 🙂
You can try the program out for 30 days for free, after that it’s super cheap like 39 bucks. Totally worth it!
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. You can then bounce an mp3 at any speed or play along to it in transcribe.
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).
Welcome back, @delugehound 🙂
Welcome, @gracme2! Glad to have you on-board 🙂
@richo_uke – You played it beautifully! Try practicing at a slower tempo to a click and gradually bringing it back up to the current tempo.
@brettboy – Wow the uke on the second take really gives it a haunting vibe. I dig it! Great playing on both takes, Brett!@june2020 – Bravo, June! This is one of your best performances to date! My only advice is to practice with a metronome. Work on one melody at a time. And focus on connecting each phrase while avoiding pauses in between.
@leb397 – That was awesome, Louisa! Keep doing what you’re doing, it’s working! And TY for the kind words 🙂
@marianne – Wow! I can’t believe that’s only 3 days of practice. Phenomenal playing and your tone is fantastic! And totally cool on the fingering change!I’m gonna share your performance in our newsletter tomorrow 🙂
@marlongas – #3 was beautifully played!You aced the tempo, timing, and feel with the B melody in #12. Very impressive! The other 2 melodies were well played too. Love seeing you guys challenge yourselves with hard pieces. Keep up the great work, Carlos!
@mepasha – The picking pattern is a bit uncommon with this etude. Which adds to the challenging aspect of it, but also makes it fun to learn as it’s unique. You played it beautifully. Keep up the great work, Peter!@starry – My pleasure and it looks much better now 🙂
@jvchong – Beautiful playing! Great first post!
Couple tips. It looks like your right hand is a bit tight when fingerpicking. Try to loosen any tension. A relaxed picking hand improves dexterity.
When playing the F chord, try to not touch the bottom of the neck to your palm. Keep it in form 1.
As far as your embed question, take a look at the post above from @jgillard. He answered it 🙂
Welcome @pandansarianom and thank you so much for your support! I really appreciate it!
I’d recommend starting here. That page helps you figure out where to start with our lessons 🙂
Let me know if you have any questions on the lessons. Always happy to help!
@lhamilton – Great job, Linda! One tip for Melody B. Try to use more of a claw-shaped strum attack hitting the strings with the nails. This will help you go faster and be more accurate in the attack. Here’s a video showing how the technique mirrors strumming:
@smokealot – Good to see you back, Ulli! I especially loved the triplet picking. Great idea!
@k_ra11 – Beautifully played 👏
@misterbones – Excellent playing as always, Michael! 2 suggestions: Bar 2 seemed a bit fast to me. If you listen to how I play it, it’s very slow-rubato-y, which IMO adds more suspense before the melody kicks in in the next bar. It’s the same effect you achieved in 14 sec to 21 in your performance. I’d just do that again in bar 2.Watch out for rushing at 24 to 27 seconds.
@lisadmh – Beautiful playing Lisa with very tasteful adaptions!@starry – Playing sounds beautiful! As for your question, it looks like the motion when fingerpicking is coming from your wrist. Instead, the wrist should be more stationary while the fingers do the work. Try moving your hand back, down towards the soundhole (as shown here).
You’ll be able to make better contact when fingerpicking the strings there as the neck isn’t in the way. After that, try to minimize wrist motion when fingerpicking. Here’s a short video of me vamping on C. You can see the finger are doing most of the work:
@johanna2509 – Beautiful playing!
@deadbuggy – Thank you for the compliment, Sara! You played it so well! I loved it!
@jgillard – That rocked, Jeremy! I’m gonna share your performance in our newsletter tomorrow 🙂
@zongozongo – Excellent fingerpicking!
@rafaela – Another fantastic take! You’ve been acing them each month! Keep up the great work, Rafaela!
@annemarie – Timing sounds great! Excellent playing! I’d start boosting tempo by 5 to 10 bpm and gradually work it up to speed. Keep up the great work!Thumb placement depends on the context of the music you’re playing. Check out this lesson. It explains this in more detail and shows you a few forms that you can use.