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@jbmills07, that is sooooo exciting and cool and also adorable!! 😂😅💕 J-Shims seems like such a kind, humble, and genuine person; I remember that coming across during the Meals For Maui live charity event last year (?). That is so cool that you got to meet him and he signed your uke! I mean, writing (calligraphy) is definitely a form of art, but don’t get me started on that. 😂 Really nice that you popped in to share that, thank you, friend! I hope you heal up ASAP! How much are you able to play uke or not much at all? So sorry for that but thank you for sharing! 😊
Agreed with @leb397, this experience is kitty-approved! 😂💕
@gi_gi_ haha we both had to let him know about the video game music here, but he already knew and we were preaching to the choir. 😅😂
@emiliano, that version of Silent Night is so beautiful with that technique! I love that sound so much. Matt from here also plays that technique very beautifully. One of my favorite instances of it is Brandon Acker playing Los Recuerdos de la Alhambra on guitar:Maybe I’ll have to try that Silent Night, thank you for sharing that. I don’t love all Christmas music but that one is one of my favorites year round too. 😅😂
That song by Michelle Heafy is really beautiful, too! It seems like you’ve really developed your skills and are a really good player if you’re attempting to do things like that. 😂 Just based on what I’ve seen you share on the forum, you’ve got mad skillz. How much do you have to think about it to play songs in an “alternative” way? Like with What Was I Made For? in the challenge? Can you just take a song you’ve learned and immediately noodle over it? I do that to a degree but it’s definitely not as refined as what you did there, though I do think I know how to make things sound “pretty.” 😂
Thank you for all you’ve shared here, very insightful! I look forward to your noodling samples whenever you can get to it!! I’ll add more pretty soon too. 😊😅
@gi_gi_, thank you so much, my friend! I love that they give you ideas. 😁💕 I can’t wait to see your noodling, so glad that Mika video inspired and helped you to try it. 😊 Also what he said about playing more cleanly, as opposed to rushing just for the sake of playing faster, is a really good point. That’s something I know I could really work on, playing more cleanly. But yeah, can’t wait to see your noodling!! 😁💕
@emiliano, thank you so much! 😊 For me noodling is more about relaxing and decompressing, and also figuring out a lot of songs I want to play that are more obscure that don’t really exist on uke. 😂😅 Well, a couple of them do exist somewhere on YouTube but I’d rather figure them out myself amidst my noodling. And I’ve realized that I actually prefer to figure them out mostly by ear anyway. That said, I probably wouldn’t have “matured” that skill without RC101 because I think I really absorbed what makes a great structured song and many fun possibilities of what you can add to a song through learning songs here. Also techniques, though I could still work a lot more on that. 😂Haha!! My uke does know a little Spanish. 😂😅 ¡Hola! 😂 I was so confused by that when I first got that uke (because it was my first and most beloved uke), “isn’t the ukulele a Hawaiian instrument?” But now I can’t remember if that is also a Hawaiian word. It’s been a while since I looked that up. 😂😅
I absolutely love the beginning of that Lucas fellow’s Great Fairy Fountain! I love tremolo picking on guitar and uke. I want to learn that still. I’m still not very good at that. Love that sound though, great rendition of that one overall! You’re learning a ukulele version of that one? Did you know that Rock Class has a beautiful arrangement of that song done by Steven Warren? Actually there are many beautiful video game arrangements here. They had a challenge with them once and they’re all really pretty. I never really knew those songs before that because I never played those types of video games, more often PC games from the early 2000’s, like Roller Coaster Tycoon, The Sims, and Thief. I never played them as intended though. 😅😂
Haha! Yes, the mega post is up, followed by this mega post. I just get really excited talking about these things. Really looking forward to hearing some of your noodlings! I saw your take on What Was I Made For? in the challenge thread, that was really, really great!! 😊
@gi_gi_ hehe! Good ol’ Mayor AB! 😂😅 Pretty much only you and I know what that nickname means. 😅😂
Here’s the third noodlin’ link, Beethoven’s “Pathetique,” that didn’t appear in the mega post (but that post explains it a bit):
Yay, looking forward to your noodlings, too, when you get to them!! 😁💕
Hahaha oh my gosh that was a mega novel! So sorry. The second post is the lost reply from the previous page out of order. Welcome to TMI town and I’m the mayor. Thank you Andrew for fixing that! 😂😂😅😅😳
@gi_gi_, that is so amazing! That’s even crazier for doing that in just a week’s time. I’ve heard of Marco Cirillo; I think I’ve seen a couple of his videos. That’s really neat that you’re doing that! If you come up with more noodly-solo-stuff like that, I’d love to hear it. 🙂 I actually think that’s the approach to noodling that I’m the worst at because I only know the C scale in its entirety and only two of the notes on the fretboard. :S Somehow, I learned the C Scale without consciously memorizing the notes – not sure how that’s possible, but I did it! LOL. Shows my expert-level avoidance of things I don’t really want to do, like learning certain things. 😂 Anyway, that’s lovely you’re doing that! 😊
@emiliano, I agree! Playing that way is so relaxing, that sometimes I will literally completely lounge and play, noodling whatever comes to mind (and sometimes fall asleep) 😂 – that’s pretty much how I created all my arrangements, since I figure them out by ear, and then look up chords because I’m bad at knowing chords.That lesson looks so interesting, I’m defs going to listen to that tomorrow! 😀 Thank you! I wish I could help with the soloing but that’s the approach to playing uke I’m the worst at – playing from a theoretical standpoint, such as precisely following scales. Maybe @gi_gi_ knows a bit more about that.
Hahaha, oh my, I just got to the point that I’m writing out my arrangements with GuitarPro, with a lot of help from Matt. I have about 1.5 written out now, since I messed one up and need to fix it / finish it. 😂 Before that, I would just record things I didn’t want to forget. But I actually stopped worrying about that as much because I realized half the time I think of something better later anyway, LOL.
Here’s an example of me noodling over one of my own arrangements that I’m working on now:
This is more of an example of the spontaneous kind of noodling, as opposed to “playing over” already-existing arrangements. Also, I may have started to fall asleep at the end of the video. I am mildly narcoleptic. 😂
Here’s also one showing how I “play over” existing arrangements, just using a different fingerpicking pattern and slightly different note choices, using Andrew’s Etude No. 5 from here on Rock Class 101:
Also, it may look like I’m reading from sheet music because I keep staring off toward the same point – I think I may have been looking at my phone some of the time, but I didn’t realize I did that when I’m spacing out and playing. So, that’s awkward…
And lastly, here’s one of my arr. of Pathetique (Sonata No. 8) by Beethoven – first, played the way I originally arranged it, and then the version I play now after having noodling over it so much; this is one of my “go to” songs now when someone asks me to play something because it’s so unconscious to play that when the performance anxiety takes over, I can still play it. 😂
I stayed up a bit later to record those, which is why I got so tired near the end of that video, but I really wanted to share these things. Hopefully this isn’t too much at once. I hope anyone who listens enjoys them. 😊
Thank you both so much for sharing! And @emiliano, it would be awesome to hear some of your noodling, if you’d like to share, but no presh (pressure). Thank you!😊
@gi_gi_ so true! New Zealand is an absolutely amazing place. It’s otherworldly there. On the other hand they have sheep farms and Hobbits so you don’t get too overwhelmed by the epic beauty. 😂 My sister and I went there because of The Lord of the Rings movies and went on a couple tours there but that was before they even had a permanent Hobbiton set so I kind of want to go back. 😅😂 I’m so excited to hear more of your noodling. I’m so happy you’re into this topic too. As soon I learned this was a thing from Matt my brain kind of exploded because this kind of helped me connect more deeply and understand more what I was already doing – and realize the almost limitless potential of playing this way. 😁 I’m going to cry, too… 😅😂😂
Thank you so much about my arrangement/noodling! I love to figure out songs and noodle over them and it’s so nice if anyone else likes it. It’s very special. I genuinely don’t think I would have unlocked and grown in my abilities as much as I have without my friends here and just as much my “teacher friends,” @Andrew and Matt. 😂😊💕
Okay, I think that makes sense. I have to check when I get home because I have to look at the fretboard and count up to find the notes, perhaps using my mind piano. 😅😂 I know a c minor chord has the notes c, e flat, and g but I just don’t know where they are on uke, where they appear in the chord. I do know there is a c note in that chord because that’s one of the two notes I know that are not the open strings. 😅😂 I’m bad at this. Thank you again! Sorry that was so rambling when I write quickly it’s much less concise. 😅
@emiliano, haha, no, actually I posted the three links here in a post, but because the post had three links the forum automatically marked it as spam and removes the post until Andrew fixes it by restoring it. I know he’s tried to correct that issue but I don’t think there’s anything that can be done about it. 😂😅 But that’s happened multiple times with my posts, so now I just usually wait for him to restore it but maybe I’ll ask him. The videos on my YouTube are mostly “finished” songs, not so much noodling. 😊
Anyway here’s one of the noodling videos I tried to post:
This was one of my own arrangements that I’ve been working on and one I noodle with a lot lately, “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” by Eifel 65, but in a more renaissance-y style. 😅 I had a lesson with Matt and he helped me start to write it down as tabs, very tricky. 😊 But it’s also one I like to mindlessly noodle over.
Ha oh well that’s pretty crazy! I’ve never been to Cancun. The only tropical place I’ve been is actually New Zealand many years ago now with my sister. That was a crazy trip, I was only 19 when we went! That’s hard to believe how long ago that was now. Anyway that sounds pretty dang sweet, hope you enjoy that free food! Especially free breakfast. 😅
@gi_gi_, hahaha oh my they do!! You’re right! I think the thing is that the Drewmpa Loompas’ main diet is noodles which is why they snatched that post up so quick!! 😂😅😂 Good one! We’re so ridiculous. 😅😂💕😉 I’m so, so happy that the video helped you!! That video is amazing, I finally got to watch it. Some of the things he talked about I was doing already, like playing the melody out of a chord or around a chord, but the thing I thought was especially amazing was the part about the chord inversions of different chords. That was so helpful, I’m definitely going to try that!! What a great video, thank you @emiliano so much for sharing that!! 😁
And yes, Gi Gi, that explanation sounds exactly right! The only other thing I think you’d have to change is the chords you’re playing the inversions of, too. So, for the key of G major, some chords that go with that are D and C. I think you can use the circle of fifths to find what chords can go with what key. I’m sorry I’m really bad with that part of things but basically you have to pick chords that “go with” whatever key you choose. 😂😅
Thank you again so much for these great replies!!! I think Andrew will rescue my ridiculous mega post from the Drewmpa Loompas soon but I don’t want to bug him for it. I’ll only post one video here at a time from now on. I just got excited… 😂
@gi_gi_ agreed that video looks really great, I’m going to watch it later today! 😁 Thank you, @emiliano! 😊
I wrote out a pretty long post in reply last night but the forum ate it because it had more than one link – with three more noodlings, that’s probably why the forum ate it. It got confused, thought they were ramen noodles. 😉😂
@gi_gi_ thank you so much! 😁💕 I’m going to try to get a recording pretty soon of how I normally “noodle” on uke because that’s only one way I go about it (and again that was more for an exercise Matt was helping me with, for a lesson). From what he was telling me, and from what I know from my own experience, the beauty of noodling is there really is no wrong way to approach it (to a degree 😂) and everyone has a different way of viewing it and going about it, and has things they naturally like to do when they noodle based on their individual experiences.
Hahaha!!! Same, Double G, same. 😅😂 In my experience, when you create something on your own, from out of your own head, you remember it more and can play it more easily because it stems from what you unconsciously, naturally do when playing an instrument. That’s just my opinion about it. I have a lot of thoughts about this obviously because I didn’t realize there was a name for this approach to playing an instrument until Matt brought it up. 😂 And this is always how I’ve (mostly) played instruments: By ear, through intuition, and “random wandering.” So I’ve been pondering this a lot.
That said, learning songs is how you can create an “infrastructure” for noodling and continue to give you new ideas and techniques. For me it’s really good to learn the songs here because otherwise my noodling could easily stagnate. 😅
I love that sooo much, that is so flippin’ lovely! Really amazing. Thank you for sharing that! How did you do that? Is that sort of an approach of following a musical scale and soloing that way? I love you chuckling at the end. 😂 You definitely should keep going with that! 😊💕
@gi_gi_, haha!! So glad you find it funny. 😅😂😅 I was going to bring up the idea of Ukulele-Based Cloning and the Drewmpa Loompas again, but it’s good to mix it up sometimes. Because obviously UBC is part of the ukulele’s future, as well. 😂😅
That’s so presh! So true. The ukulele will be in my future as long as possible, too. 😊💕
Just wanted to share the adorable mini ukuleles that @johanna2509 sent me! They’re sooooo cute and also my smallest size of googly eyes fits them, so… 😅😂💕
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The future of the ukulele seems very bright, but unfortunately, not so much for humans. You see, there’s evidence that some ukuleles have spontaneously been sprouting eyes and gaining AI-level sentience and can write their own music now – on themselves. Through string theory and other “math,” they are using the songs they create to decode the mysteries of the universe beyond human comprehension…
I clearly don’t know what string theory is, but oh my gosh that’s a good pun actually. 😅
For reals, I do think the future of the ukulele is bright because of the great uke players, teachers, and passionate students of ukulele that we have now, especially the youngling uke players, like the ones on RC101. 😊
@planetfink, the emotion definitely carries through! I’ve now listened to Billie Eilish’s original a few times, absolutely beautiful performance, but the emotional weight of the lyrics is almost too much for me to keep listening to, so I’ll just try to focus on the Barbie / ukulele side of things more. 😅😂 But yes, you captured the emotion of it perfectly. And I love Matt’s arrangement, too. 😊 The chorus is kind of tricky to memorize and play – I just finished initially learning it. 😂
