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(Very delayed reaction) Yes, I think that’s right! I think the main thing is, whatever chord shape you choose to move up and down the neck, you just have to makes sure all the notes “go together,” as in, are part of whatever chord you’re playing. I’m not 100% sure, but I think the chords in the CAGED method are just five shapes you can play anywhere on the fretboard and they work as a complete and “correct” chord. Other shapes you have to pay more attention to the open strings and if they always “fit” with a given chord shape as you move it up and down the neck. I’ll have to go back to review information from my lessons with Matt and find you an example of that because I have talked about that specific topic a fair amount with him because I’m obsessed with learning about chord shapes specifically – because that’s the way I find easiest to learn the chords, is by shape. Yes, I also was so excited to learn that! That really changed the way I view playing uke overall, learning the CAGED method from here on RC101 and learning that extension of that method from Matt, how other chord shapes can be moved in the same way (again, paying attention to the open strings).
Are you creating more arrangements, or working on some songs from here or elsewhere?
Oh yeah, I should record an update of the Chopin arrangement and share it here! I also am always working on new arrangements, learning them from here but also creating my own because I love to do that. Oh my gosh, yeah, with the move, it was crazy how much stuff I had, even though it’s just me, lol. I’m finally getting to the point where I’m working on my “uke / craft room,” which I’m so excited that I have that. So I can finally start messing around and share some more “uke art” here and recording more, I hope. Hope everything is going well with you! 😀
This will be so interesting! Can’t wait to hear some tales!
I think it’s definitely possible to be an absolute beginner at some things and much more experienced in others. That’s pretty much what happened with me with strumming versus finger picking, because I loved finger picking and avoided strumming because I was spooked by it. It can be a rather slow and painful process “starting over” with a new skill, but being patient and determined, and sometimes getting help from someone more experienced, can help you have a breakthrough. You never know what that “thing” will be that finally helps you push through whatever mental block you have. In my case, it was Matt’s one-on-one help and The Backstreet Boys, lol. I now practice strumming every day, which I never thought possible…
The challenges here on RC101 also have helped me so much to try new things (like songs and techniques I wouldn’t normally choose).
I have a really good analogy for the first struggle I described that involves “Strumgoblins,” but perhaps I’ll save that for an insufferably long YouTube comment. Thank you so much for these lessons! 🙂
@brettboy, your playing of St. Anne’s Reel is so magical! So perfect. That one has high clawhammer potential, but obvs is beautiful as is. So cool that you have perfect attendance with the challenges for seven years! That’s crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever had perfect attendance in any context for much more than a month… 🤐😂
@deadbuggy, that was so beautiful! I agree with Gi_Gi that your and brettboy’s performance of that one makes it tempting to learn.
@gi_gi_ and @dianna, ha thank you! Hopefully I can pull off what I’m imagining. It’s already in the works but it could be a minor disaster. Either way it should be funny. We’ll see what happens. 😂😅@brettboy, that was so, so beautiful! Setting the bar high indeed. 😳😂
I have an idea for this challenge, but I’m not sure I can pull it off, so I also have a backup plan. That’s all I’ll say for now… 😂
@leb397, thank you so much, my friend!! Once I smooth out some of the hiccups, I hope I can get the rubato-i-ness throughout that song. I actually have played the first part of it way more because it’s more like what I play when I’m just relaxing, or messing around, when I play uke. The beginning part of that song really affected how I try to create songs for uke because I loved the sound of it so much. I recommend learning that one; it’s fun. Haha, well, that’s a brilliant idea to leave googly eyes randomly around in public, but I don’t think I should try that with my track record – I already have trouble behaving in public, obviously. It’s a genetic trait. 😅😂 Hope you enjoyed your trip, glad to have you back!! 😊💕
@johanna2509, congratulations!! That’s such a good choice. I have the same Flight electric uke as @lhamilton (I think) and agreed that they’re really good ukes. Looking forward to hearing you share it here when it arrives!! 😁😊
@Stephen, well, even if you don’t see the googly eyes in your dreams, they’re always there… watching. It’s kind of like a horror-movie, “Ring”-esque curse that once you see them, they always see you. But don’t worry; they’re kind of friendly. With the googly eyes muffling the sound of the uke, that actually came up during one of the live lessons with Matt and he said that eventually adding those on would start to muffle the sound. I had maybe twenty on at one point, but to me it seemed like it was starting to muffle it, very sadly. As funny as the goal of putting 450 eyes on the uke was, I now have a disturbed emotional attachment to that uke and the sound is more important (I guess). 😂 Thank you again for the feedback, I hope I can fine tune that one and capture the emotion even more!
@dianna, oh yeah, so true! I’d say most songs here take more than a month to really master, but to me that’s the beauty of them, that they’re so good that you can “grow into them,” like a really nice pair of shoes (like when you “break in” a pair of shoes). 😂 To be honest, I got the feel / pattern of clawhammer so engrained by just playing the pattern over and over again, even just fretting a C or F chord or whatever, and playing the clawhammer pattern. That’s mostly how I learned clawhammer. But that’s just because I loved playing the pattern by itself so much that I actually enjoyed doing that, maybe not everyone would. 😂 Obviously it’s probably more productive to learn songs to get different variations/adaptations on the pattern. Chris created some really great ones here, but it would be amazing if he did more, especially since a bunch of people here are into it now. I’ll have to try his version of Cripple Creek, too, it sounds really good. And thank you so much for liking how I played Andrew’s Classical Etude, that’s one of my favorite songs on RC101. Ha! Well, I know what kind of wall art I need to create for my new digs now. That’s amazing, I never noticed that painting. 😅😂 I do have a recording of that song on my YouTube already, one of the first songs I recorded ever, but I’ll try to get a better take of it! It’s so much fun. Sorry, I get carried away replying. I can’t resist this topic. 😂 Looking forward to hearing more clawhammer from you and the others who are learning it here, so exciting and fun that other people here are into it and so good at it! 😁@Stephen, thank you so much! I really appreciate the encouragement and that you thought I conveyed the emotion of the music. That’s one of the things I want to achieve the most when playing uke, is trying to express a depth of feeling. Oh, now, don’t worry about those googly eyes, Stephen, they’re just there to haunt your dreams! They don’t have eyelids, never have had. Actually, I had to stop adding them to that uke because it actually was starting to muffle the sound which was very disappointing because I still have more than 400 of those left… I need to find another target to add those to…
Sorry. This is why I shouldn’t have coffee in the evening… 🤐
I just wanted to comment on a few entries, even though all the entries are always very amazing:
@gi_gi_, that was so beautifully played, even without any singing! Very beautiful. But if you ever get a chance to record it with the singing, too, it’d be lovely if you share it here. 😊
@jbmills07, that was so lovely! You always play so perfectly and capture the feeling of songs so genuinely. I used to play that song on piano all the time, but it sounds really beautiful on uke. Also appreciate the cheesy smile at the end. 😅
@dianna, that was absolutely magical! I thought your singing was very lovely. I wish I could sing well. I can only sing like a goof. I also love that clawhammer song, it’s the only traditional clawhammer song I know in full actually, but not that version. So fun to hear you play it! 😊Everyone did an amazing job this month, so crazy impressive to hear all the entries!! 😊
Also, sorry, forgot to say, please don’t include me in the prize draw. Thank you!
Edit: sorry I didn’t realize how much of a novel this is. I go “touch grass” now, like the kids say.
@gi_gi_, thaaaank you! The chair is indeed brand new. I just moved this month and that chair was a gift from my parents. I put it together myself; I was pretty proud of that. 😂 I love orange or yellow anything, too. 😊
Really looking forward to hearing your entry, even if it’s just a snippet! 😊
@muzikmama, that is true about piano! In some ways it’s definitely easier than uke. I feel like you can do more nuanced “tricks” with the uke. I’ll have to ponder that more though because I also played piano for a long time. 😅 Haha that explains it. I don’t have tiktok. Love her drawing though, very lovely! 😊
‘Ello, uke friends! 🙂
Here is my entry for this month, Classical Etude written by Andrew Hardel. A very beautiful song; I wanted so much to do it justice, but there are defs a bunch of foibles. Considering, however, that I just finished learning it about two days ago, I am still pretty pleased with how far I came in that amount of time because the approach to playing this is very different from how I’ve played songs before. Like the runs that go up and down that require putting down one finger at a time, as opposed to holding a shape and playing out of that shape (the second approach I’m more used to). Not sure if that makes sense. I did figure out in certain parts that there were ways to play the same notes out of a fixed shape instead, but I wanted to learn it like the lesson taught so I could learn a different approach. Some of the stretches and contortions in this were very, very tricky for me as well. I will continue working on this one; I’m very happy that I was able to finish learning it and come out with an okay take! 🙂
Thank you for these challenges! I love that they motivate me to try new things and I learn so much from them, and have so much fun. Very lovely entries from everyone. Get blessed! 🙂 <3
@leb397, I feel like that’s often how these challenges can go: You learn a song in a month, learn all the notes, but might not be able to play it really, really well for a while. That’s how I feel about the one I’m working on now; it will take a while before I can play it the way I want, but also agree with you; I’ll keep playing it because it’s so lovely. To me, it’s a perfect song. Oh my, I can only imagine moving during COVID, yeesh. 😅😳 Physically moving all my things wasn’t too hard compared to other moves, but kind of emotionally, existentially this was a harder move, without going into too much detail. But it’s good. Ha thank you, I think I should still be able to, if I quit yammering on and get to it!! 😉😅 Ha I hope you get to enjoy the sun at least, even though it’s cooler! 😊
So many amazing entries so far!! All so great. @marianne, your duet (you-et?) was so, so beautiful. Perfectly played and so lovely to listen to! @muzikmama, your entry cracked me up so much, oh my, so perfect. 😂😅 I love that you’re integrating art and silliness into your entries. You used some kind of voice modifier? Very funny and well done! 😅 @leb397, so beautifully played, my friend, that’s probably my favorite Beatles song! Very lovely-ily played. I hope you enjoy your vacation. It’s snowing here today…… 🥺😂😭🤷
I’m still working on Andrew’s Classical Etude, but haven’t had as much time to practice this month due to moving insanity. I haven’t given up yet though! It may not be perfect, but that’s okay. 😅
@surferjay!! So nice to see you pop in with some classic loops! That was/is a good one. I feel like I’ve been saying I need to try another loop for a year, but here we are. 😅 Is this The Year of the Loop at last?! 😉😂💕
So sorry you’re experiencing that. Hopefully peace and normalcy will come to you and that area of the world very soon. And like @gi_gi_ said, hopefully for you that’ll include uke time because your contributions are missed. 😊
@muzikmama, haha, no worries about that! I feel like that kind of joking around is harmless. Also, sorry for the delay, I think I mentioned I just moved about a week ago so steadily (very slowly) trying to get my life back in order. 😂
I need to ask him about that, but I’m pretty sure that it can be any chord moved up the neck to transpose to different chords / keys, as long as you’re fretting all four strings OR the open g string fits with the chord you’re playing, wherever that might be on the uke. I also need to review the CAGED method again because I think that’s so useful once you get it. It makes it so easy to modify any song once you get that. Honestly that really made me feel so much more in control of what I’m playing, especially if I’m trying to create or modify a song.
Oh awesome that you’re working on another arrangement! Please share it here, if you feel comfortable doing do; I’d love to hear it. And your drawing, I’d love to see an update on that too! 😊
Haha no worries about that at all! But it would be lovely to see more uke art from other people too. No question I will share more, too, life has just been nuts lately! Hope you’ve been doing well, my co-author friend! 😂
Such a fun topic! Looking forward to hearing some uke “origin stories”! 😊
For me, I started playing uke because I had to sell my childhood piano because it was broken. I saw someone playing a uke in a YouTube video, so I thought I’d finally buy one to fill the void left from losing my piano. Then I fell in love with playing uke and I continue to play because it brings me so much joy in my life and also helps with my anxiety.
Matt, I wonder if you’ll share the part of your origin story when you traveled interdimensionally to an island filled with capuchin monkeys, but, in that alternate universe, you not only teach them ukulele, but also become a sort of “Santa-Claus-esque” figure to them–because sometimes you seem like you could be a young Santa Claus. 😅😂😅
