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@gi_gi_ thank you so much, my friend!! 😁💕 I know, obviously you know I’m excited, too!! 😂😳😉 It would be really cool if you did try to write a tune of your own, that would be amazing. 😊
@emiliano, thank you so much! I don’t know why, but when the challenges here include some option for writing originals, I get overly hyper about it. 😂 I’m so glad you like the mega slides! I think it’s really fun to have ridiculously big slides in uke songs because they can sound kinda goofy, but they were suppose to sound pretty and flowy in this one, so I’m glad you thought they were! 😊
Well, I thought about doing the kind of harmonics that I think are called artificial harmonics (the kind you do with just your right hand) to get the higher up melody notes with the lower F chord, but I couldn’t get the a10 note to make any sound. Then I thought I would try right-hand fretting the same notes and it kind of worked. 😅 Is that called tapping? I’ve wanted to be able to do that for a while because some songs I’ve tried to arrange could use that technique, having low chords and a very high up melody, but I don’t know if that’s uncouth to play that way (right-hand fretting for a right-hand player)…
And I don’t have a name for it yet. That’s really the last thing I do is figure out a title. 😅 Thank you again!
That’s really scary, I hope you stay safe!!
Just want to say that I knew this challenge would also include some of @Andrew’s lovely originals, which are always very beautiful and inspiring to me, but I still have to choose the more creative option in this challenge because I love to do that.
@nat-uke, what you said in your write up about Yellow Submarine cracked me up. “Yellow Submarine once in a while is good, but over and over all month…” 😂 Paraphrasing, how you said it was funnier. Also your performance was very lovely! Along with everyone else’s this month. 😊
I really enjoy reading through all the feedback for these challenges by @Andrew, always so informative and interesting! Thank you so much! 😊
Shazam!! I had this whole post and video locked and loaded for as soon as this challenge started! 😂
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…Hello friends! 😊😅
I was so excited for this original songs challenge that I immediately started working on this – as soon as I knew what the theme was. 😅 I tried to explain a bit of my reasoning for what I created so far in the video.
But now, listening to it back, I realize it needs to be refined *a lot* more. I just like the idea of having huge slides in this, but I need to work on making them sound smoother, softer, and subtler. Even since I filmed this, I have changed aspects of the melody and also decided I may use the right hand fretting more sparingly, but it was fun to try, lol. I may still include it. Also, it might turn into clawhammer because I haven’t made an original clawhammer arrangement yet, somehow. 😅
So, please consider this a very overly eager first draft. 😂 It might be interesting to see how much it changes over the course of a month-ish. I’m part of a wedding this month, so we’ll see how things time out with that. Thank you so much for listening and for all the fun of these challenges! 😊💕
P.S. I’m literally cry-laughing about how insanely quickly I replied to this new challenge. 😂😅😂😭😂
@grannieannie, that does sound pretty dang magical! That sounds like a lovely memory. It’s crazy that cartoon was from 1968. So, I get that movie is iconic and obviously has some of the most iconic music ever written, but the blue meanies are waaaaaay worse than I remembered them. I made the mistake of looking them up. Yeesh… No wonder I was scared of them. 😂
@gi_gi_ haha yes!! He’s the noodling king! 😅😂 Ha yes we need to get his attention. Hopefully he’s doing alright with all the turmoil in that part of the world. But yeah it’s kind of funny how things have come full circle, because seeing the things he did when I first started here seemed completely impossible, but now we’re here at least working at doing it, 😅 for me with a lot of help and encouragement from everyone here. 😊💕
So, so cool! I really love how that sounded!! And really looking forward to seeing more! 😁💕
I’m definitely going to listen to that again later and maybe try those chords out. I’ll try to share a more noodle-y recording pretty soon, not one based on an already-existing tune, one based on spontaneous chords and notes, like what you did. Because yours sounded so cool. 😊
Oh, you know who else here does really great noodling? @surferjay, I remember now that’s what he did pretty often, just improvising like that. I’m sure @robinboyd also is great at noodling, just thinking of our OG crew when I first started here. And still looking forward to seeing what @emiliano comes up with when he gets a chance! 😊
Although I’d also be totally okay if it continues to just be you and I sharing, @gi_gi_, 😂 just saying others are welcome to jump in and share, too!! 😂
@gi_gi_ that is so, so beautiful! I love that so much. I feel like that was perfect. I love how you started out fingerpicking those lovely chords, then moved into the strumming and the energy grew. What were the chords? Thank you so much for sharing that, friend! Really beautiful! 😊💕
And thank you so much! It was the same chords, and some of the same notes, from the Barbie song! 😂 I actually had a lesson with Matt at one point talking about noodling and he said that also can be a way to noodle – when you start out with a song you already know and just modify it until it becomes something else – or a different version of the same song. That’s something I love to do when playing any song. 😊
I’m so happy you shared that! Thank you again! And so happy that you’re enjoying this topic so much, too. I think this is so much fun to share these things! 😁💕
@brettboy, that was magical! Your performances are always so funny, even with a song like that, which is pretty impressive. 😂 Still you captured the emotion of that one so beautifully.
@nico_uke, agreed with @gi_gi_ and @Andrew, absolutely amazing take on that! 😊
@grannieannie, very magical take on that one! Really well played! I have a permanent association with that song of the cartoon Yellow Submarine though, and it makes me think of the “blue meanies” and how scared I was of them as a child (and probs still as an adult). 😂 Really beautifully played though! 😊We’re in the home stretch of this challenge, so many crazy good takes of these songs!! So glad to be a part of this community. 😊💕
@grannieannie, so true! If anything, certain standards of perfectionism have amplified with new generations, such as standards for beauty. Partly because of technology creating the illusion of perfection with the photoshops, plural, and filters and things. 😉😂 And social media, where people only share the parts of their lives that make their lives appear to be perfect (which is totally okay on one level; it can definitely swing in the other direction, too, like people creating drama online, lol). I just think those are some modern elements that may affect the way we view things. Of course, technology has brought us amazing things, too, such as the ability to be connected to people we never would have otherwise and share music, like here, and in the ukulele community, which I’m so happy to have been connected to. But still seeing what everyone else is doing can make you feel like you’re not good enough sometimes, but you’re right that the whole point of creating music is to enjoy yourself, have fun, and improve, only judging yourself by the metric of your own personal progress (that’s the goal anyway). 😂 Just some thoughts about that, thank you for sharing your experience! Ha, I follow some of pop culture but I don’t see many new movies. 😂😅💕
Thank you so much, @Andrew! Your feedback and encouragement always means so much. 😊
Have to agree with @shmu88, it’s always so exciting to see what new song or lesson will come out each Friday. I’m so excited to see what it will be now that you’ve said that, Andrew, what kind of different thing y’all have cooked up for July. 😊 I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun with any of my hobbies and that’s really saying something. 😅💕
@gi_gi_ thank you so much, my friend! 💕🥰 I’m so happy that you think I conveyed that feeling through the music. For me, with music, that’s what I want to do the most is convey a certain feeling, so the challenge is always trying to keep the technical aspects of playing music and performance anxiety from hindering that. That’s partly why I like to play simpler or “less scripted” songs because then there is freedom to express “effortlessly,” but it’s also good to learn more challenging songs, like the ones here, so that expressive ability can continue to grow and become freer. That’s my thought on that and rubato, and why I’m so obsessed with that concept. 😅😂 I feel like many of the ladies in this challenge are having an emotional moment over this song, with good reason, I’m sure some of the guys, too, but I find that funny, the contrast there. 😅😂 It’s so true, an idea like that reaches to the core of what it means to be an imperfect person in a imperfect world. And not to be too controversial, but I feel like women feel that pressure especially, to be perfect, and meet a standard of outward beauty. I’m gonna cry too… 😅😂😥
@johanna2509, thank you so much, friend, that really means a lot that you say that! 😊💕 Like I said, that’s what I hope to do the most when I play music, convey a feeling like that. I think you did that too. 😊 When I listened to the original song, I actually did cry. It’s the beauty of the music and Billy Eilish’s ethereal voice, and the meaning behind it. That’s why I had to stop listening to it for a bit. Ya can’t walk around crying all day. 😂😂😉Sorry to write so much about it. This is why I actually didn’t comment before because there’s a lot to say on that subject, and some aspects of it I have strong opinions on. 😂 I think most people can connect to the song’s meaning though. 😊
@leb397, awwww, thank you, friend! It’s so kind that you say that. 😊😂❤️ It’s so true. That’s an ongoing battle in life, is trying not to compare to other people, especially knowing that every single person each has their own struggles, no matter how perfect they seem on the outside. I really appreciate that, though, thank you. 😊 I don’t know about Barbie, man………… I just don’t know. 😂 I think dolls are super creepy now, but I guess she’s nice enough, so I accept her approval! 😂😂😂
@jgillard, really great take on that one, too! 😊@gi_gi_ I know! Everything Matt creates is amazing, so approachable, interesting, fun, and helpful. He is a great teacher, and so enthusiastic in everything he does. It’s very contagious. He also creates such interesting things, that’s why I follow him around like a disturbed little raccoon, trying to pick up the scraps of whatever he does. 😂😂😂😂 A raccoon might not be the right animal, though… 😂 Maybe if the clawhammer technique turned into a ghost, then started haunting Matt and also Andrew. 😂😂😂
So, right after I recorded What Was I Made For? for the challenge, I recorded a “noodle-y” edition, where I just noodled through what Matt wrote down with different fingerpicking and timing. I partly did this because I actually was feeling frustrated trying to record the song and felt a little better after I did some noodling. It was the first time I noodled through the whole song, so there are pauses and mistakes and things. I hope you like it; I think parts of it sound pretty nice, but other parts could be polished and smoothed out and re-noodled. 😂
Hahaha, also, I forgot my stomach growled like half way through, but I just left it in because I wanted an “honest” take of my first attempt noodling through this. 😂
