[Andrew]

Thanks y’all!

@jbmills07 – This is the best performance I’ve heard from you to date. I’m really impressed with how well you’ve been doing these last few months! Keep up the great work, Justin 🙂

[Andrew]

Here’s everyone on page 3 that I hadn’t gotten to.

artcrocker – Really well done and I like the subtle changes you threw in there 🙂

pysanky – excellent playing all around! Honestly, the only critique I have is that the occasional note/chord wasn’t crystal clear. It sounds like something that can be overcome by taking those sections/phrases at a slower tempo when practicing. Keep up the great work!

shmu88 – Beautiful playing! Always an honor to share your performances with our community 🙂

@maryjanew – So sorry for your loss, MJ.

ccwuke – Here’s my feedback for you 🙂

Here’s everyone on page 4 so far.

@moonshine – Excellent feel and playful vibe throughout. Well done!

@johanna2509 – beautiful performance! I will send it to Steven to watch. I’m sure he’ll love it 🙂

@simonalexander – Great job singing and playing, Simon! I know Paul played it faster than Ashley and I, but I do think this arrangement sounds better at a slower tempo. And it’s definitely much easier to play clean at a slower tempo. So my only suggestion for you is to consider slowing the tempo a little bit.

@tric_o_tronic – Great job! So I noticed a lot of your strumming motion comes from pivoting at the wrist. You want the forearm to move with the hand as it helps produce a more fluid sound. Check out this lesson and this one. Matt breaks down the fundamentals of strumming in the first one and offers five additional tips in the second one.

@marianne – Beautifully done and you have a lovely singing voice 🙂

@herbdrawsaline – Great playing with a nice playful feel throughout!

@gi_gi_ – Way to go, Gi Gi! You’ve been knocking these challenges outta the park! But I do have one critique for you. At 56 seconds, you made a mistake and restarted the melody. Always play through your mistakes. We want to pretend like we’re playing in an ensemble. If we make a mistake, the band never stops and starts again, instead they carry on and the audience usually doesn’t notice 🙂

@rebeca – You nailed it! Bravo!

@leslieb – That was an excellent take! The barre chords sounded great! Only thing I’d say is to target your practice towards speeding up the single note phrase at the end. But keep doing what you’re doing! It’s working 🙂

[Andrew]

Yes, we are going to make a lesson on it Charley 🙂

[Andrew]

@debb1985 – Great playing as always, Debb! Funny you mention the challenges that come with playing it on baritone. I actually thought the exact same thing when I was playing it on tenor the other day (that it’s easier to play on concert). Then I thought this is a great excuse to buy a uke in every size haha.

But it’s funny how the opposite is true too. For example, I find the chord shapes in this song very challenging to play on concert. They’re much easier to fret on the baritone.

@katazumiri – Love the duet with bass! Excellent playing all around 🙂

@jsanjuan – Excellent take with great feel throughout!

@mark1256 – Your performance was awesome, just like Nathalie’s 🙂

The only thing I want to hear more of is a bit more sustain in the first bar of the choruses. Other than that, it was great overall. Timing was great too!

@dianna – Awesome take! Love the scenery and the birds chirping 🙂

@lynnzo – Well done! Double check ending 4 in verse 1. It uses a much simpler rhythm than the triplet strum you through in there 😉

[Andrew]

@deadbuggy – Beautifully played and I like the subtle changes you threw in 🙂

@cemusicalele – Excellent performance! You nailed the playful feel, well done!

@leb397 – Great performance, Louisa! I enjoyed watching it 🙂

The one area I’d suggest working on is barre chord note clarity. Some of the barre chords sound like a note is being unintentionally muted. Mainly the D chords. Like the first one (2225) and the ultra hard fingering Matt does for 2220.

For the most part, your form looks fine. But scoot the index finger back a little so it’s not over the metal fret on string 4. Other than that, it’s all a finger strength game.

Here’s a video I made a couple years ago for another member that talks about both of these areas and gives a little exercise idea. You can run this exercise up/down the neck using any barre chord shape.

[Andrew]

Sick intro, Jeremy!

[Andrew]

@qiuyan – Well done, Qiuyan! I agree with you. A slower tempo will allow you to focus on those 2 areas. But I’d also recommend to work towards gradually bringing it up to the tempo of this performance.

@clempek – Well played, Clem! Your take captured the fun vibes of the original recording 🙂

@nthibode – Brilliant as always, Nathalie! Def gonna share this!

@rafaela – Excellent performance with great feel throughout!

[Andrew]

Hi Greg, give this exercise a try and let me know if you have any ?’s 🙂

[Andrew]

@lyndallk – Lovely take, Lyndall and truly amazing progress for just one week of practice! I’d love to hear where you get it when you get a chance to pick up the uke again 🙂

@laurakarr12 – Awesome to hear about the donation by your uke group! And your performance was excellent! Great job on nailing the playful feel 🙂

[Andrew]

@evapaju – Excellent take, Eva. Keep up the great work!

@pysanky – Eva is spot on! I always update the tab player to reflect the performance version. Sometimes this differs from the lesson version, which you noticed. We try our best to play exactly as taught, but sometimes when you’re in the moment a note/chord here or there changes.

[Andrew]

Glad to have you on-board, Mark! You have a beautiful collection. Hope to hear one of those ukes in a monthly challenge 🙂

[Andrew]

Wow! 100 members joined us for this month’s challenge! Steven, Stephen, and I were BLOWN AWAY by how amazing everyone did! Big round of applause to everyone who participated this month. 🙂

Our May Challenge is LIVE and the theme is Beatles Songs. I hope each of you join us again.

Below, I will post a list of members who participated in the April challenge for your first chance to win the Kanile’a Ukulele. Please let me know if there are any discrepancies.

—-

samash07
samash07
deadbuggy
deadbuggy
laurakarr12
laurakarr12
johanna2509
johanna2509
evapaju
evapaju
slr4chums
slr4chums
rebeca
rebeca
yukalele
yukalele
jsanjuan
jsanjuan
katazumiri
katazumiri
terryfallon3
terryfallon3
barbecueblack
barbecueblack
ccwuke
ccwuke
leslieb
leslieb
dividedsky
dividedsky
jlbross
jlbross
simonalexander
simonalexander
june2020
june2020
ukandrea
ukandrea
nthibode
nthibode
moonshine
moonshine
shmu88
shmu88
peiching
tim0721
tim0721
casadot349
casadot349
ajk101
ajk101
ldarrow
ldarrow
gstriph
gstriph
biancak
biancak
kdeacon7
kdeacon7
rafaela
rafaela
brettboy
brettboy
lynnzo
lynnzo
joe150
joe150
kidelozzi
kidelozzi
lyndallk
lyndallk
marygrace
jbmills07
jbmills07
bibilele
lbilkie
lbilkie
lynettejd
lynettejd
kpurdy
kpurdy
ukulelee
ukulelee
debb1985
debb1985
kmoore925x
kmoore925x
sarrafina
sarrafina
wongbrown
wongbrown
mark1256
mark1256
leb397
leb397
sir_anzalot
sir_anzalot
joannetala
joannetala
dianna
dianna
gi_gi_
gi_gi_
lhamilton
lhamilton
felixhchan
felixhchan
cimarronsailor
cimarronsailor
pysanky
pysanky
mkstewart67
mkstewart67
followmemae
antotonin
antotonin
seoulkim
seoulkim
jnjmalos
jnjmalos
lisadmh
lisadmh
riley_ukulele
riley_ukulele
misterbones
misterbones
dal08260
dal08260
ivo_zag
ivo_zag
andrewvh
tessiert
tessiert
ukealori
ukealori
ukukelley1
ukukelley1
turkgoose
turkgoose
artcrocker
artcrocker
karenj
karenj
akukes73
akukes73
richard_siegert
richard_siegert
concan
concan
themccoys
themccoys
zongozongo
zongozongo
uku241
uku241
akichman
akichman
laurajax
laurajax
sarahd
sarahd
janaq1
janaq1
cararozy
tules14
jayton
jayton
robinboyd
robinboyd
smudge
smudge
omaon4
omaon4
timolnz
timolnz
kirpuff
kirpuff
canucke
canucke
gonzo-fett
gonzo-fett
alysun1
nelsonlin2021
nelsonlin2021
maryjanew
maryjanew
puppylovesuke
puppylovesuke
qiuyan
qiuyan

[Andrew]

Here’s everyone on page 12.

—-

gonzo-fett – Great performance and feel overall. Only thing I’d say is to double check the music as some of the notes were incorrect.

alysun1 – Performance was great! Only thing I’d say is to work on keeping it a little more steady (timing wise).

nelsonlin2021 – So listening to the opening phrase (first 30 seconds) of each performance, I can already hear that you have cleaned up some of the unwanted string noise and increased the clarity of picked notes in the chords. So off the bat, I can already tell that you know what to do and what to work on. As I listen to the rest, there’s only a few chords that have tricky transitions or just full barre chords (that are hard for everybody) that trip you up a little bit.

So I’d say target your practice in these areas and keep doing what you’re doing. Because you’re practicing has already produced a great result 🙂

maryjanew – Excellent start, MJ! I saw your note about being short on time this month, but I think with a little bit more practice you’ll have it down.

Also, give the picado technique a shot. Great song for working on this technique 🙂

puppylovesuke – Excellent performance with great feel!

qiuyan – Fantastic performance overall! There’s only a few times where you’re ahead of the beat. So my suggestion is to practice with the tab player with Stephen and I. And record yourself. Listen back to make sure you’re locked in with me.

jeg143 – Performance sounded great! Keep working on that B Melody 🙂

Unfortunately, you submitted past our deadline so I won’t be able to give you an entry for this month. I tried to give everyone a friendly reminder on the 30th. But the good news is there are five more chances to enter for the prize.

[Andrew]

Here’s everyone on page 9.

—-

seoulkim – Bravo, excellent performance! You had a beautiful sustain throughout most of this performance, so I would focus on the chord shapes that were harder, produced buzz, or had less sustain. And one tip for the Dm7 in bar 2, keep your middle finger barred at the first joint (covering strings 1 and 2). That’ll increase sustain 🙂

jnjmalos – Well done! I’d recommend playing along with Stephen and I in the tab player. That’ll help smooth out any timing issues. Try 4 or 8 bars sections at a time.

And don’t be afraid to give the picado technique a shot 🙂

lisadmh – Performance was perfect, only thing I’m hearing is that you’re cutting that one bar (that repeats twice) of the C chord short. So just watch out for that. Other than that, it had a great feel! Very impressive to hear so much progress in your playing 🙂

riley_ukulele – A lot of the measures are played with beautiful feel. It just sounds like you need a little bit more practice and I did see your note about how busy this month was. Keep practicing when time permits and I have no doubt you’ll have it flowing from start to end beautifully 🙂

misterbones – That intro was epic! Love it and very creative. So for a lot of this song you’re locked into the groove. For ex: 39 to 49 sec is super tight. But there’s other times where you’re a little loose.

What I would suggest is to play along with the tab player with Evan. Take a four bar section but slow it down to at least 70%. And record yourself. Listen back and analyze if you matched him perfectly or not. If you’re locked in with him, record yourself playing at the same speed without him and analyze.

This has always been the best way for me to work on timing and groove.

dal08260 – Excellent performance!

pysanky – Beautifully played, well done!

ivo_zag – Well done! The one area I’d work on is increasing the sustain. I’m hearing a bit of choppy/staccato sound in your playing. Try playing at a slower tempo and keeping your fingers held down for the entire note(s) duration.

You can also check out this lesson that Matt taught for more tips for increasing sustain.

andrewvh – Nice job, Andrew! Give the picado technique a shot. Great song for working on this technique 🙂

tessiert – Excellent performance! Keep doing what you’re doing with your practicing, because it’s working! Only thing I’d say is to gradually start to push yourself to go faster. Try 5 or 10 bpm faster from here.

[Andrew]

@jbmills07 – Excellent start for the May Challenge, Justin! Slow the tempo down as you keep practicing. Look forward to hearing where you get it at the end of the month 🙂

@mark1256 – Great performance and you nailed the playful feel! Well done, Mark 🙂

[Author]

Posts