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@gi_gi_ hahaha!!!!!!! I completely forgot about that tangent!!! 😅😅😭😅 Man, we really missed our shot with that one! How are we suppose to clone Andrew now?!? He got wise to our scheme! Haha!!! Good times! 😅🥰😆
Yay, I’m pretty pumped about this one!! Quite an interesting concept!
I think the beauty of the ukulele in general is its limitations- its limited strings with their limited range of notes. So much creativity is required to “get around” those limitations, which is why I still love high G the most because it’s the most limited.
But what you would write for a high G ukulele may not naturally fit on low g or baritone uke, and vice versa. So, it seems like whatever instrument you write for, the goal is to draw out and highlight what makes that instrument special. It’s kind of like selecting a character in an RPG based on its strengths and weaknesses and how sometimes you try to customize that character to reflect yourself a bit, except I’m not literally an elf princess, just to clarify that. LOL!! Hopefully you see the real point of that tangent…
Anyway, really looking forward to this one!! 😊
Agreed with @anyon1 that your take on Gymnopedie last month was so lovely, @Gi_Gi_! 🥰 I wanted to do that one this month, but the low G arrangement does not really translate well at all to high G. I tried it. So, will keep looking at the different tunes! I defs will go through the whole course in order for sure at some point! 😅
@leb397, Louisa, thank you sooooo much for your kind words! They really truly touch my heart and I’m crying all over again, contrary to @Andrew ‘s custom meme, my “ukulele life” is one of the contexts I’ve cried the most! 😆 Mostly out of being so incredibly touched by the kindness and support of everyone in this group especially! And how much I’ve grown as a person because of the people here encouraging me as I’ve tried things that terrified me, like playing in front of people, which I still struggle with to this day but never would’ve improved as much as I have without the people here and ukulele as a kind of “excuse” to step out of my comfort zone. My ukulele is also sentient, his name is Ukebert, and his spiciness pushed me even further out of my comfort zone. All this to say, you were a huge part of that, Louisa, and many of my ukulele arrangements exist because of you, all the hymns! That’s pretty amazing! Because when you’re not sure of yourself, a kind word means so much more than people realize for creative growth.
I’m getting emotional again! For me, Andrew was one of the biggest encouragement as well and his feedback gave me so much confidence when I first started out especially. Along with the conversations we’ve had about creating music. I can never really express my gratitude for that! And Matt was such a huge influence as well with all the extra info he taught me about arranging songs on uke along with just… what is happening with the ukulele itself, how it’s laid out. So much gratitude! 😅🙏🥰
@Gi_Gi_ you’ve become such a dear friend to me and your encouragement has helped me feel even freer to be myself here! We’ve had so many laughs over the years. Do you remember Drewmpa Loompas?! That just popped into my head, I don’t even remember why that tangent happened. 😅😅😆 So many good times! And then us doing the open mics together which Tim from UU is letting me pretend to host (really assistant host / secretary)! I never would’ve even dreamed that could happen without you inviting me to those!! Thank you, friend! (Gotta get ready for that, speaking of!) I also will catch you up on the situation I was telling you about, but it got way worse / better since we last talked! The End to this novel, but in short, I love everyone here, especially those I got a chance to bond with! Please get hashtag blessed!! 😅🥰🙏Hahaha!! @Andrew, that is beautiful! That cracked me right up! I’m saving that one for later, LOL! When I first looked at it (on my phone), I didn’t notice that Tom Hanks was holding a uke! Absolutely perf!! And thank you – case in point why I love this community! 😂🥰
@dianna, thank you so much, friend!! 🥰 I think that’s part of what made me start feeling emotional was looking back on when I first joined here and had literally no clue what I was doing, but felt such support and gained so much knowledge and experience over the years here – and some real friends, like you and @Gi_Gi_ (both of you have beautiful hair, LOL!). All of those things are so special! And how much learning ukulele helped with my personal confidence, like learning to speak on camera and that helped with my speech anxiety in every day life. And again with all the encouragement, helped with my confidence in my creative abilities. There’s so much. I have had a lot going on in my personal life which is why I haven’t been on here as much, but this community will have a special place in my heart forevs! 🥰Looking forward to this month’s challenge and exploring the Pathways course more!! 😀
@otzepeng, very gorgeous playing on Etude No. 29! Quite lovely! 🙂
@misterbones, so amazing! I have always loved that tune and you absolutely nailed it as usual! Oh wow!! That triplet picking though!! That is crazy good!!! (I’m writing this as I’m listening!) Your entries keep getting more and more impressive! Well played, friend! 🙂
@shmu88 (I may have to go back and correct your name because for some reason I always spelled it wrong, lol), your Georgia on My Mind is so lovely! That inspired me to get the piano version but I want to learn the uke version, too! Really lovely and soulful! 🙂
@leb397, thank you so much, I absolutely love that tune you picked, if that’s the one I’m thinking of! I have good memories attached to it, but I can’t explain why here, lol! It was just happy moments in my life that coincided with that tune coming out. But very beautifully played! To this day, still can’t chuck, LOL! Maybe some day! Lovely work, friend! 🥰
@grannieannie, very beautiful playing on your entry! I’m the exact opposite and only play high G! My electric uke that I won from here is low G, but I don’t play that as often because it is very heavy, frankly! It’s cool, though, I’ve been meaning to revisit that. Anyway, very lovely performance!Thank you so much for your kind words about my video! That really means a lot! This community does mean so much to me and always will have a place in my heart, even during life’s chaos. The last couple of years in my personal life just have been very intense. Things are stable right now, but just chaotic for reasons too awkward even for me to describe here, lol. But thank you, I do love this community a lot! 🥰
@gi_gi_ Thank you so much, my friend! Your support has always meant so much to me. 🥰 I kept trying to reply to your email, but then the chaos of the situation actually managed to increase and change constantly, so I didn’t know how to articulate it until things became clearer. They seem to be becoming clearer now. I’ll have to tell you about it a little later. My “romantic life” is basically the plot of Twilight, with slightly fewer vampires. LOLOLOlol, sigh. 😂 That’s the most I can publicly say.As for your entry, absolutely gorgeous playing, friend! I wanted to pick that one, but since I did both my entries today, I just didn’t have time to do it justice like you did! Such beautiful feeling behind your playing. Is that going to potentially be a UU Open Mic performance in August? 😂
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I’m really sad I can’t reply to everyone, but I’ve got other stuff to do tonight, including working my second job! Good times!! I have to go back and listen to @Marianne ‘s and I’ll just say in advance that I know it’s amazing! Also, I know everyone else’s are, too! Y’alls are the best!
Oh yeah, here is the second entry I did to “make up” for missing last month (again, just in my heart, not an actually counted entry). It’s Etude No. 13, and while I managed to learn / record that AND Aura Lee tonight and they’re both beginner tunes, for some reason I really struggled with the rhythm of this tune. When it’s ongoing 8th notes but with different, distinct patterns, I sometimes struggle with that for some reason (I think it’s because I know it’s suppose to be one, continuous “flow” of notes, but I’m thinking of the pattern changing simultaneously). Beautiful tune, though!
I hope you all get hashtag blessed!! 🥰
P.S. Not sure why, this video is crushingly quiet, while the other one’s sound was normal! Sorry about that, lol! 🤔
Hello ukulele friends!! 😁
I managed to get an entry together this month! I explain more in the video, but I picked Aura Lee because it’s my 4 year ukuversary from when I joined Rock Class 101 (I think a couple weeks ago, but still) and that was the first song I learned when I joined here! 🙂
I look forward to going back and listening to all the, no doubt, incredible entries this month! Thank you to this amazing community and all the incredible work that @Andrew and co. have done to make this site better and better every year! Lorve you all!! 😁🥰
@brettboy, so sorry to hear about your wrist, that’s such a huge bummer on multiple levels! I hope you heal up ASAP and it isn’t too painful now. 🤗
This is just a funny thought mostly, but @Andrew, what if you composed a right-handed etude just for this occasion and added it to the challenge? That would be so funny and it’s interesting to consider if that’s possible… but your idea probably makes more sense. 😅😆
Wishing you swift healing, Brettboy!! 😊🙏❤️
Also I know that I’ve nigh on vanished but let’s just say I’ve had some things going on that are very distracting. 😅😅😆😆 Sigh. Haven’t even started this challenge, I need to get on it!! 😅😬🎶🎵🎼
I wanted to share this little snippet of this piano tune I’ve been working on for a couple months. This part took me sooooo long to learn and I’m now starting to focus more on dynamics and fluidity and things with it, so still not perfect but I thought I’d share since I’m proud of my efforts and sharing it around! And now with my fellow music enthusiast friends! I hope you enjoy! And I plan to record the whole thing and share once it’s all smoothed out!! Thank you if you listen! 🥰☺️🙏
@annyuke, gorgeous playing! Was it you who said you had only been playing six months or less? Either way, very lovely playing!!
And @Andrew actually just announced that they’re doing a special challenge during the summer months with an amazing prize, an acoustic-electric ukulele! Also you don’t want to miss all the fun because the summer challenges are often extra quirky and unique!
Also with sight reading tabs / music, that definitely also takes practice! I’m not even the best at it and I’ve been playing piano since I was 8 years old and ukulele for the last five years! These things take time and practice for sure but you’re doing an amazing job even so far!! Keep going!! ☺️🙏🎼
@gi_gi_, thank you so much, my friend!! Your take was so beautiful, definitely a lot more fluid than mine was! Very pretty! Thank you, having piano back in my life, too, has been a very special thing! But it certainly hasn’t connected me to so many lovely people the way ukulele has! 🥰
@leb397, your duet was very magical!! Beautifully played! 😀I know all the other entries are equally amazing! Soon, I shall have more time! 😂
I can’t tell you how excited I was to see these new features! I was in the midst of party-pocalypse (and other issues) when you shared this, but was especially pumped to see the chord library feature! But all of them! Also, I feel like you added drop menus on the site. I don’t think that was there before – that they opened when you just hover over them. I may have imagined that though.
Thank you, @Andrew, these are all great!! 😀
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
This month has been absolutely insane for me, but somehow I managed to practice Red is the Rose enough to get it fairly passable, as I throw this together last second (as per usual)! Such an incredibly beautiful version of this tune by Andrew (as @Gi_Gi_ described perfectly) and quite tricky to play, honestly! But this is definitely one I am going to keep playing and perfecting.
A few notes (not entirely musical ones):
– Wow, was my lens ever smudged or something! It also was incredibly hot and humid in there and you can almost see it on camera. Also I recorded that over Zoom, so hopefully it’s okay…
– Watching the video back, my finger positioning on the fretboard was pret-ty wild (in a bad way), LOL! Have I learned nothing from Matt?!?!?!? I was fretting on the upper end of the fret (from underneath!), especially noticeable on the 2020 chord. I need to pay more attention to that; I’m getting rusty.
– Sorry for the pauses, but considering I was sight-reading parts of it and some mega-fumbles, I think it sounds pretty a’ight (alright)!
– However, in my opinion, I nailed the trills at least!
– I really look forward to going back and listening to some of the entries this month. I could see just by the descriptions that there’s some great ones to hear! Wonderful work by everyone! 🥰‘Kay, here it is! Thank you so much for these challenges and so glad I could still make this one, despite the insanity of life! 🙂
I didn’t realize, but now you can generate custom thumbnails directly on YouTube itself! So, I used a creepy AI-generated version of me that looks kinda like me. How did it know, my face wasn’t visible?! :O
Anyway, thank you for listening and for these challenges that keep me connected to uke in the best way! Hearts to you all! 🥰
True, Andrew, that’s an excellent point! I think I just got overly excited seeing that and that popped into my head, but true you already have a classical course! I already started the Pathways course a bit! 🙂
Ohhhh, okay, with the song titles! I’ll have to look again at that, not sure how I missed it!
Thank you kindly! 🙂
Man, this is really neat! I was very excited and surprised to see this, but I’m definitely going to give this a whirl! Awesome idea!!!
I had a thought – could you also do a version of this with classical tunes only? I think that would be so awesome. Beginner to advanced classical tunes to teach techniques and build a classical repertoire. That would be lit, as the kids say.
I had one question, @Andrew, but do you think it would be good to list the song titles instead of “Song 1, Song 2, Song 3, etc.?” in the course menu? Maybe that would be way too cluttered, though. Just a thought. I just think it would be cool to see all the songs listed on each level of songs (beginner, intermediate, advanced). But I may be wrong and that would be too messy to format it that way.
Really looking forward to trying this! I probably still would start from the beginner level just to build a feeling of “success” in my mind before trying the harder levels. 😂
