[Andrew]

@johanna2509 – Beautifully played! Was an honor to share it in our newsletter today 🙂

@clempek – I think you def have the chops for it! It was very well played. But there is one thing I would suggest focusing on, which is finesse. Check out this lesson for an in-depth look at this concept.

But what I would suggest is to try to soften your attack. Here’s a video I made for another member awhile back on this song. It talks about how to do achieve a softer, sweeter tone.

@samash07 – Fingerpicking sounds great, Sam! What I would work on is timing. Try playing along with AJ and tapping your foot along. If you count the rhythms out loud as you play, that will help too.

You can also try putting the tab player in “synthetic mode”, activating the metronome, and muting both piano staffs. That way you can focus on just the melody.

@madz_about_uke – Beautifully played and I love the backdrop!

@deadbuggy – Love the changes you threw in! Fantastic feel throughout your performance and that ending was absolutely gorgeous! Bravo, Sara!

[Andrew]

Here’s everyone on page 10.

@zongozongo – Bravo! I’d argue that a lot is polished. For example, excellent job building and resolving tension in the chord build up from bars 5 to 8.

There are a couple spots to double check. First is the first pull-off in a measure 3 and 4. You want to do 8 to 5 on the A string.

Second is bar 12, the fourth note should be 7 on string 4.

Overall, I’d say keep doing what you’re doing. It’s working because your playing sounds great!

@jgillard – Excellent fingerpicking, Jeremy! Your playing expressed the haunting vibes of the piece perfectly too! The one thing I’d suggest working on is transitions as there’s a few hesitations here and there.

I’d go back and listen to your performance and note where it’s happening. Then put the bulk of your practice there. Focus on one melody at a time, instead of trying to tackle all 6 in a practice session.

@terryfallon3 – Awesome playing, Terry! I think you have a great base established. So what I would do is focus on one melody at a time. And put the bulk of your practice in timing and transitions.

Try playing along with the tab player in “synthetic mode” as that will keep the tempo steady. When you can play it perfectly in time (regardless of playing at a fast or slow tempo), go back and add some rubato to taste 🙂

@biancak – Impressive playing considering the injury! It was a beautiful performance with great feel throughout. I hope your fingers heal fast 🙂

@olemartin – Fingerpicking sounds great as was the overall performance! Bravo! I do want to share one idea with you. I noticed that the majority of your chord hits were done using the arpeggiated plucking method.

Which is really cool, but when you use the same approach a lot, it loses a little bit of its appeal. Check out this video that I made a few years ago for another member on this song. It talks about how you can use multiple strum approaches to add color and variation.

@richo_uke – Your rhythms were perfect! Bravo! That was the hardest aspect of this song as so many were unorthodox or syncopated. I’m really impressed! Excellent work this month!

@pika80019 – First off, very cool fingerpicking approach for the triplets in Melody D. Love the sound that the index finger produces there.

Overall, this was a great performance! The only thing I’d suggest working on is transitions. Take a look at the feedback I left about for @jgillard. It’s got some tips on how to work on this.

@mrskye – Awesome performance! Your fingerpicking sounds great throughout! Couple tips. First, don’t forget to tune up before you record. Second, I noticed sometimes you are pushing directly on the metal fret. You want to scoot your fingertip back a notch and place it as close to the fret, but not on top of it. Just like Matt shows in this video.

@k_ra11 – Excellent performance! You captured the vibes of the show perfectly! 👏

@mueleski – Excellent performance! And I loved the slideshow, those were some of the coolest Halloween photos I’ve ever seen!

@santai – Your performance was great, Marvin! Couple little spots to clean up but moving forward, I’d put the bulk of your practice on increasing tempo. Keep up the great work!

[Andrew]

No extra note there. Maybe you are hearing the noise of moving to the next chord?

[Andrew]

@gi_gi_ – I’m not seeing an extra note. Tab player is spot on.

[Andrew]

Here’s everyone on page 9.

@debb1985 – Beautiful performance, Debb! You captured the haunting vibe perfectly 🙂

@dermango – Gorgeous interpretation with fantastic playing. Well done, Marko! 👏

@jody_hendrickson – Excellent performance! Everything was great: timing, fingerpicking, the strum build up. Well done! At this point the only thing I’d work on is increasing tempo. Keep up the great work!

@jbmills07 – Wow, Justin that was a beautiful performance! I’m impressed, keep up the great work! And I’m sorry to hear about your loss.

@annemarie – Fantastic take and you nailed the spooky vibe!

@robinboyd – Bravo, Robin! I thought you did an excellent job in light of the hand injury. One thing that I do want to hear is more consistency in the clarity of the fingerpicking. To achieve this, practice at a slower tempo and listen to make sure each note is ringing crystal clear and connecting/sustaining with an even tempo.

@tim0721 – Excellent fingerpicking Tim! One thing I noticed is that you kept the tempo pretty steady throughout. You may want to experiment with rubato. I think it adds a really cool coloring to a piece like this.

For example, if you listen to Stephens performance in measure 8, he starts to slow down. Doing so helps to build the tension/climax in the ending of that build up section.

@digbybare – I’ll embed a video I made for another member a couple years ago on how to hold the uke. Additionally, here is another lesson and one more covering this topic that I recommend reviewing.

Fingerpicking sounds great! And if you just started, it’s really impressive how far you’ve come! Check out this lesson on proper left hand form. When you switch to the E minor chord (like at 29 seconds in your performance), your wrist bends inwards. We never want to do that. It limits dexterity. You want to be using Form 1 (explained in proper left hand form lesson) to fingerpick out of that shape.

@smudge – Fantastic performance and thank you for the kind words! The rhythm and Melody A was spot-on. You made a couple rhythmic changes for the slide in licks in Melody B, but it worked! I enjoyed watching your performance 🙂

@lbilkie – Great fingerpicking throughout! I’d suggest working on 4 bar sections at a time. Focus on pace and flow. And one of the best ways to work on this is to loop the 4 bar sections and play along with Steven in the tab player. His playing will act as a guide to help you with these two concepts.

[Andrew]

@clempek – Check out this lesson to learn the pluck/strum technique 🙂

[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]

Here are the rest of the folks on page 8 that I hadn’t gotten to.

@ldarrow – Beautifully played and I love the cameo with your dog 🙂

@lynnzo – Fantastic playing! Only thing I’d recommend is to loop bar 6 (7 in the tab player) to work on tightening the rhythm.

@just-in – All 4 were beautifully played and very impressive speed on the last melody!

[Andrew]

@ukealori – Great fingerpicking, Lori! From here, focus on increasing tempo. Try five or ten BPM faster and build it from there 🙂

@maryjanew – Very cool to see you add the harmony, MJ! And I love the aesthetics of the video! Melody was great overall. A few rhythms were off, so I’d keep practicing with the tab player. You may also want to try counting the rhythms out loud as you play. That always helps.

@ccwuke – Playing sounded great! Just fine tuning from here 🙂

P.S. Don’t forget to add the premium tag.

@riley_ukulele – Yikes! Sorry to hear about your hand, but it sounds like it healed well! Performance was great and I love the rhythm change you added in the breakdown.

@madhuri – Beautiful playing, bravo 👏

@akukes73 – Ash, the squeaks are caused by not maintaining pressure on the note when pressing down (fretting). Try practicing at a slow pace to work on getting the note(s) to ring for the entire duration.

I thought your performance was great overall! All 4 melodies were wonderfully played.

@kdeacon7 – Great performance, Kelly! I’d recommend looping bar 6 and 12 (7 and 13 in the tab player) to work on tightening the rhythm. Also, when you go back to the A Melody, make sure to start at the top 😉

[Andrew]

@erin99 – Excellent playing on all 4 melodies! Rhythm/timing sounded fine to me. It’s okay to add a bit of speeding up in the last melody, helps add to the tension 🙂

[Andrew]

@ukulelee – Beautifully played, Leone. And thank you for the kind words, I really appreciate it 🙂

@gstriph – Bravo, Jerry! You aced it! My only suggestion is to work on boosting tempo on the last melody. But this was def one of the best performances I’ve seen from you to date. Keep up the excellent work!

[Andrew]

You want to be careful when playing an open G with some of these chords. It’ll clash horribly with a C#m7. It’s best to target 3 down when strumming and/or mute string 4.

[Andrew]

My apologies for the initial confusion, I thought you were asking about the 4444 voicing of C#m7.

[Andrew]

My suggestion was to omit string 4, such as:

You can use that same approach for all of the chords in this song. Omitting string 4 will make it much easier to play, but still sounds good 🙂

[Andrew]

We consolidated technique toolbox into Courses. Everything TT contained can be found on that page, such as the Harmonics Course. 🙂

[Author]

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