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@laurajax – Excellent performance! Only thing I’d say is to cut down on the gaps between the themes.
@wongbrown – Bravo, Sheila! This is the best performance I’ve heard from you to date. I’m going to send it to Chris, I’m sure he’ll love it 🙂
@lyndallk – You aced it! Loved watching it 🙂
@jebergeron – Excellent feel throughout your performance! Only thing I’d say is to keep working on the walk up section and the part after it to bring it up to the tempo of the first melody.
@june2020 – Well done this month, June! I thought the higher notes sounded great! Only thing I’d say is to work on keeping timing steady in those two higher themes. But it was great overall! Keep up the good work 🙂
@ukandrea – Awesome to hear about the update with the UKC 🙂Playing sound great! Great articulation throughout. When you get back, I’d work towards gradually boosting tempo. Safe travels!
@kdeacon7 – Very impressive take for your third fingerstyle tune! I was really impressed with your comprehension of the rhythms. They aren’t easy in this piece!Couple tips. First, try to memorize it. Start with 8 bar sections. This way you can focus on how you are playing it. Check out this article and video as I break down why this is important.
Second, try to keep your fingers planted as you build chords. For example, the E chord in bar 1. You’re lifting up after each note. This cuts the sustain. Double check that part in the lesson because I remember talking about tips for playing this tricky section.
@ukulelee – Excellent performance! That cutaway def helps for reaching those high notes 🙂@ldarrow – Beautiful performance, Linda! Your progress has been truly amazing for less than 2 years of playing! Def keep up the great work!
For the string tugging, you might be in the midst of undoing a bad habit. Therefore you’ll have to work hard and be cognitive of how you are fretting while playing.
Try taking a part of this song and simplifying it so you can practice on not tugging when switching from chord to chord. For example:
@rickeymike – Bravo Rickey and I love the video!
@mark1256 – Way to go Mark!! I’ve heard some big improvement in your playing this year. It’s been very inspiring to watch!The best advice I can give as you continue practicing is to work on 4 or 8 bar sections at a time. Focus on timing, note clarity, and feel. Don’t worry too much about speed. 80% or slower is cool. The other areas are more important.
I think you have a really good base established for this tune. So you just want to hone in and chisel it to perfection.
@tim0721 – Awesome performance, Tim! Excellent feel throughout! And you know you rocked it when that smile pops out at the end 🙂@barbecueblack – Excellent performance! Keep working on the bars with the 16th note triplets, those are the toughest ones! Everything else was bravissimo 🙂
@suekulele – Awesome performance, Sue! Only thing I’d say as you continue to practice is to play along with a metronome or the tab player. Either will help tighten timing.
@dal08260 – Perfect performance, well done!
@lhamilton – Wow, Linda! Such a beautiful and impressive performance! I’m going to send this to Ashley, I’m sure she’ll love it 🙂
@qiuyan – Bravo! Amazing job on the timing. And great feel throughout! The one technique I want you to work on is hammer-ons & pull-offs. It looks and sounds like you’re not connecting, in other words following through. You know how they say in baseball that when you hit the ball you don’t stop swinging. Same thing here.The goal for this technique is three fold. One, to cut down on the work of the right hand (less picking). Two, to achieve a different timbre of the notes. Three, for the notes to ring out at the same volume as if picked.
The latter is what I want you to work on. Check out this lesson. It’ll cover the fundamentals. For H/O, make sure you’re coming down with enough force to get both notes to ring at an equal volume as if picked. For P/O, make sure when you’re pulling off that you’re tugging the string slightly down, not just lifting directly up.
@robinboyd – That was awesome y’all! I love it 🙂@jlbross – Excellent duet, Jennifer! Playing and timing sounds great! Only a couple of things I want to point out. The fourth note in the first theme, you fretted the 1st fret of string 2 but hit the open C each time. I’d target your practice there so that you pluck the correct string.
Also in the first theme, there’s some partial barres. I noticed that you’re hugging the neck to fret these. Try to adjust your hand so that it looks like the barre chord form we recommend here. This should also help increase your dexterity when playing the melody notes before and after the barres.
@samash07 – Playing sounds great Sam! Just make sure you rest at the end of each theme for a quarter note before starting the next theme.For timing, I’d recommend playing along with the harmony track with the metronome on throughout. Tap your foot as you go along and try to focus more so on the click than what the harmony is doing. I’ll email you this play-along track. I bounced it so that the click is louder than the harmony 🙂
@leslieb – Loved the story and great playing, Leslie! Only thing I’m hearing is that there’s a few notes with a bit of buzz, so just make sure you are keeping finger pressure held down and you’re pressing near the metal fret closes to the sound hole like Matt shows in this video.@misterbones – I did! Thanks for letting me know. I went back and added fb for him 🙂
@zongozongo – Excellent performance and picking technique looks great! Keep up the good work, Nicolas!
@ajk101 – Bravo! Great job on both parts and I dig the sound on baritone!Next month’s challenge will have a very cool (and new) prize 🙂
@brettboy – Bravo! Brilliant take with great feel and energy throughout!
@misterbones – I don’t often remember recording performances, probably because I’ve done so many. But I do remember this one. I recorded it on independence day.I drove from my folks house to my apartment in the afternoon. Warmed up, sat down, hit record. Did it in one take.
That never happens! I recorded a new song last night and it probably took 45 minutes until I was happy. That’s usually the norm LOL.
But I sure was happy to track Habanera fast, because I made the drive back to barbecue with the fam 🙂
Your performance was excellent! Now obviously playing wise, this is a very challenging song. But I think what’s equally challenging is playing with finesse. Because this is such a great tune to experiment with dynamics and accents.
I’m hearing a lot of strong accents in your playing. But try experimenting with getting a little bit softer from time-to-time. For example, I like to play the three notes that start each phrase a little bit lighter (last 3 notes in bar 4, bar 8, bar 12 etc).
@leb397 – Theme 1 & 2 are spot-on timing wise. Theme 3 is almost there, and 4 is getting there. I’d focus on the latter two, but this take is a big improvement overall! Keep up the great work 🙂
@shmu88 – Amazing performance! Just a few notes here and there to clean up, but the vibe was spot on. Great feel and energy throughout!
@joe150 – Great job this month, Joe! Theme 4 sounds like it needs a little bit more work, but the other ones are rockin’! Keep playing along with the tab player, that’ll help tighten timing/tempo. And double check the last chord, sounded like you played the wrong fret. Overall it was great, keep up the good work!@gstriph – Excellent playing, Jerry!
@johanna2509 – Bravo! You aced it!
@clempek – Great job! Tempo was great too, I like it at the faster speed.In Theme 4, I’m hearing one of the open strings ring out, causing a bit of unwanted string noise. I can’t see the way you’re picking in the video, but if you’re doing the picado technique (like I am), you can rest/anchor your thumb on the E string.
If you’re using traditional picking technique, you can mute open strings with the palm of the right hand. I talked about this concept in this lesson.
@morrieuke1 – WOW! Def gonna share this this week in our social media 👏 👏@bibilele – I added you 🙂
@bibilele – Wow what a backdrop with beautiful playing to match! Def gonna share this in today’s newsletter 🙂
@laurakarr12 – Well done! 👏
@rebeca – Love it! Great take! Was a lot of fun to listen to and watch 🙂
@leb397 – Well done on the duet! It’s always fun to try something new!Timing (being in sync) was actually really hard for me too on this song. What helped me was practicing with a metronome. And also tapping my foot along. That helps you feel the beat better 🙂
