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Sooo many amazing entries, I just want to leave a quick comment on all the recent ones:
@frederic, that sounds so amazing! Agreed with Andrew that it’s a huge improvement! And just generally that sounded so lovely and smooth. 😊
@lhamilton, that sounded so very majestic with the bass! Very beautiful! 😊
@anyon1, that sounded absolutely beautiful! So many tricky movements in that one and you played it beautifully! 🥰 I forgot how magical that song is! 😅
@marianne, that sounded so lovely! Your playing is elegant as always! 😊🥰
@rw1950merritt, very beautiful playing! It is borderline impossible to play through with no mistakes. 😂 Okay, not impossible, but very difficult. You did a lovely job! 😊
@gi_gi_ friend, absolutely gorgeous cover! Gull dang, you need to share that singing voice of yours more often! So beautiful! 😊 Open Mic? 😉😂🥺😳😅 I hope you have safe travels! 🥰😊
@leb397, you absolutely nailed that! Really perfect! So much fun to listen to that. Lovely work, friend! 🥰😊…
Okay, I guess I’ll share my progress now. 😆 Oh good golly. I was extra a hot mess this month. So this is what I ended up recording. 😂😅😂 It’s basically an assortment of different things I used to practice the tremolo. Even though I was extra scatterbrained, I did practice almost every day with these things and I think I at least increased my comfort and speed a tiny bit. Still needs work though. This is definitely something I will continue to work on. (Writing an original with this technique was more a bonus goal, but I think I will use this technique more and still try to use it in an original soon.) Thank you, @Andrew, for this amazing challenge! 😊
@leb397, thank you so much, friend!! 😁 I still love to try to mix different techniques like that together and see what happens. 😂 I’m so happy you’re still hooked on clawhammer, I look forward to the next time you share something with that and to your entry in the challenge, too! 😁🥰
Here is the second song, by the way, it took way longer than expected to get it recorded. It’s my solo uke version of I’ll Be Seeing You. I did look up a lot of chords for this one and I think that’s why this one has more harmonic depth than usual (if that’s a thing). 😂
@brettboy, that was sooo cool! Really amazing! That sounded so good together with the bass! 😊😎
Andrew, thank you so much!! It always means extra when you like something. 😊 I hope you understand. 😅 It may take a bit, but I think I’ll try to finish that one with the bridge of the song. I feel like there’s no way I’d be able to create arr. like that without all I’ve learned from here and all the different kinds of inspiration. 😊
I still haven’t gotten to record the second song, but I should be able to on Sunday, along with the challenge song. Get ‘er done! 😂
@mattukulele, the one song you shared on your Patreon is so beautiful! So cool that you’ve been so inspired by the baritone to create all of this. Looking forward to hearing more!! 😊
@katazumiri, amazing and magical! I loved that! 😊🥰
@misterbones, it’s hard to fathom seeing five or six concerts in one day, but I guess it’s physically possible… 😂 That’s really cool that you get to do that though. The night scene in my town is questionable to put it nicely. 😂 It would be really cool to hear the other ragas you learn! 😊The tremolo practice is going okay. I do think I’ve at least increased my comfort with the technique, if not the speed by that much. I think what I’ll do is record the two things I’ve been using to practice the technique with. I did technically create a song using the technique, though it isn’t an original. Hmmm. There’s still time, maybe I can come up with something. 😂
@misterbones, thank you so much for that explanation! Very interesting. Also, the classical Indian music is so b.a., in that video, breathtaking and mesmerizing. Incredible skill. I would love to see that live. I haven’t been to many concerts in my life, tbh, maybe only technically five or six concerts: Mumford & Sons, Nickelback (LOL – they had a few bops, but my sister wanted to see them), Vienna Teng, this small town / local bluegrass group, and this Australian group that only sings the Psalms called Sons of Korah. There may be more that I’m forgetting, but not many at all. Oh, and I went to one local orchestra concert. But yes, the sound and style of that is incredible. I do think you captured the feel of that with ukulele. Do you think you’ll share the other ragas here once you learn them? Also, @gi_gi_ that’s so cool that you’re going there! You defs should get those flutes. The sound of those is so majestic. 😊
@misterbones, that’s sounding really cool! Amazing how such a different style/effect is achieved kind of just by utilizing the slides with different timing? I’m sure it also has to do with the musical scale involved? Sorry I don’t know a lot about that particular style, but it does sound lovely. 😊 Do you think the style still comes across without the other instruments accompanying it, just with the uke?
@jbmills07, that’s so lovely that you’re doing that for your friend! Sending thoughts and prayers for her. Very sorry to hear that’s happening. Also, your new uke sounds very lovely indeed. 😊 I believe in you with the singing, I’m sure you can do it! It’ll just take some practice, of course. Your uke playing sounds lovely as always, now to add on the vocals! 😉😊😅
@marianne, thank you so much! That means extra that you’re the one saying it sounds lovely. 😅😊 Very beautiful piece and such an honor to be included in that way, I’m sure! Well deserved. 😊🥰 I may just focus on the intro this month because I really want to improve the tremolo, but I’m definitely going to learn the rest. Once I’ve got it, I’ll share it here. 😊
@ukefinlandgirl, that’s sounding very lovely indeed! Well played. 😊
@leb397, thank you so much, my friend! 🥰The one thing I hoped to do with the tremolo is increase the speed, while maintaining the clarity and keeping the flow very smooth and even. It’s tricky though because what I played in that last clip is close to top speed for me still. Thank you so much for the encouragement though. Can’t wait to hear what you share! 😊 And I know! So exciting for Marianne, and of course Steven is the perfect choice to teach that one. Very lovely, all around! 😊🥰 Hahaha oh it is, life, she be a-life-ing at times. 😅🥺Also, loved reading along and hearing about everyone else’s progress, too! 😊
Thank you, Andrew! 😊 Hopefully I can at least improve the speed and accuracy with it this month. Steven offered some good tips on the tremolo in yesterday’s lesson, too. 😊
Ohhhhh, there was a C-Davey Shans sighting here on the forum!! :O A rare sighting indeed! That was fun / interesting to read through that comment. 😊
@leb397 @the_bumble_bard thank you for concerned comments. All is better. Lots of family stuff to manage.
Nice tremolo start. Since I’m left handed, the tremolo tends to go wonky after 4 times 😕😆. Nice start. Hope you can play one of your originals!I’m really glad you’re doing better, friend! 😊😍 Like I said, I know so much how you feel. I have a lot of trouble this time of year with “the darkness.” If you are predisposed to those kind of depressive feelings, it makes it hard as well, but you just push through the bad days, as one does. To quote the movie Space Balls, “welcome to real life.” 😂😂 Literally no one is going to know the context of that quote except me, probably… 😂
Agreed, the tremolo technique is so tricky. I will keep working on it even after this month. It does seem like something that you need to build up strength / agility with over time. 😊
That kind of all relates to this challenge because, even though I really wanted to work on the tremolo technique, I was feeling so sad and uninspired, if I’m being honest. I didn’t feel I would be able to create something with the technique. So then I felt like I wasted the creative opportunity that comes with this challenge…
But then the lesson that was released this week with a song by Marianne – absolutely amazing song and so cool that she was featured in that way in a lesson! – the beginning section of that song uses the tremolo and sounded sooo beautiful. So, I immediately started learning it. I tried to learn it so fast that I might’ve mis-learned it, but I’m pretty happy with how it is for the time invested. I also know that Steven taught specific fingering (I’m sure I messed that up) and I may have accidentally inverted some of the chords (which is something I struggle with on uke), but yes. It just was so inspiring to hear that and have something so amazing I can practice this technique with. So, thank y’all for that. 😊
If this is one of the song options for next month, this is definitely the one I’m going to pick. But for this month, if I still can, I will try to create a little original (a snippet at least). I’m just so happy that song happened to jar me from the funk I was also in. So again thank you. 😊
Ohhhh this is going to be a fun one!
I actually have always wondered if you have a soprano in your uke collection, Matt, since you always play tenor. Someone recently gave me a mystery tenor and it was so big that it almost felt guitar-like for me (since I always play my lil’ soprano uke). I actually thought it was a baritone at first and got really pumped, but then figured out it was a tenor. 😅 The uke has no marking on it, so I have to figure out what it is. Kinda neat! Really looking forward to this lesson! 😊
Oh, one more thing, I think it’s definitely good to play different ukes and not get overly comfortable or attached to just one. Because then if something happens to that one uke, you’re in more trouble than J.T. Smithens when his silver-plated spoon hits the bottom of an empty peanut butter jar! For real, it’s good to play different ukes so that you’re not “stuck” with just one that you’re comfortable playing.
@avicularia, ha, I’m really happy that is what you meant. 😂😅 That is genius, plain and simple. I am going to latch onto that comparison for sure. 😂
@avicularia, haha!! Oh my, I’m pretty sure there’s only one thing you could mean by that and it’s the “biblically accurate” description of angels and some of the beings from the end times / Revelation (and Ezekiel)? 😅😂😅 Like the angels that have many eyes covering their wings and the “wheel” covered in many eyes. That’s a pretty amazing take, I don’t know how I didn’t think of that (if that is what you mean about my ukulele). 😂😅😂 There’s a lot I could say about that because it’s an interesting and strange thing (some people interpret those descriptions as strictly symbolic with no literal meaning), but it’s funny that other people have tried to illustrate what those angels would look like and it’s a little scary, honestly. Definitely not your down-to-earth, human-esque Touched By An Angel. 😂 Thank you though, Ukebert is flattered by that comparison (I’ve decided that’s my uke’s name). 😅😂
Oh sorry, went off on that tangent without answering, but I don’t *think* the googly eyes actually are affecting the sound now. I am overly emotionally attached to that uke so when I thought the sound was being muffled, I stopped adding on more eyes, but I don’t think they are an issue, actually. So occasionally I’ve gone back to adding more now. 😂 But yeah I’ve recently realized I need to start playing other ukes because if something happens to this one, it could be bad because it’s the main uke I’ve ever played. So thinking about that. 😅
@abster, that was absolutely incredible! Holy cats! We are all in awe of your talents. Wonderful, wonderful work! Also the ending was funny! 😂
Here’s just a little snippet of my progress with the tremolo! I’ll try to post again how much I (hopefully) progress by the end of the month. I’m trying super hard to go slowly and methodically, and trying not to rush – trying to play it as fast I can while still playing very cleanly and precisely (as much as possible, lol).
