[The_Bumble_Bard]

@leb397, oh my, I used to read those books as a kid, too. Choose from a, b, or c, then turn to a specific page to see what happens. 😅 And obviously at times you’d find all three pages and see which result you liked most (although that might be cheating). 😂 Now I need to find some of those books…

That song is a really good option, I also thought about that one! 😁

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@muzikmama, haha!! Man flu. 😂😅 I won’t lie to you, there is some truth to that. It can be pretty funny when someone finds 50°f (10°C) weather to be freezing when a recent low temperature we had in Wisconsin is -11°F (-23°C actual temperature, before wind-chill, which makes it even colder). 😂 But then all of that is relative and it’s understandable if what we consider mild weather is hard to handle for someone who isn’t used to it.

I think I know a bit about what the CAGED method is because I looked through the RC101 material on that. I need to review that again now though, now that I have more experience. I’ve had some private lessons with Matt and most of what I asked him about had to do with chord shapes and patterns and it was just like you said: to transpose up any song, you just move the shapes up (if all of the strings are covered. If the g string is open in the chord, you have to make sure it still fits with the chord you choose moving up). For me that’s so helpful to know things like that because I memorize songs based on the shapes, movements, and sounds, not as much by the chord and note names. Not sure if that makes sense. 😂 It’s so interesting to know the different ways everyone learns and creates music. You should definitely continue trying to create your own arrangements because it only gets more fun with time. I find the prospect of having total freedom to create a song exactly the way I want it, and whatever way I want, to be very exciting and motivating, and the people of Rock Class 101 have helped me so much to be able to do that. A good part by just learning their amazing arrangements and watching how they play. But yes, I hope you enjoyed creating that and keep going with it. 😊

Very interesting indeed with how you shade your drawings! I’m not sure there’s necessarily a wrong or right way to approach shading. All of those methods could work for sure. Filling in light or dark patches you don’t want and keeping the values even where they should be is probably more important than how you do that if that makes sense. That said, there are definitely benefits and drawbacks to each method. Do you think you’ll post another update on that drawing?

Thank you so much for saying that! I think it’s fair to say that interacting with people on RC101 is just as much a fun hobby for me as my other hobbies. 😂 But certain topics no one else I know is interested in, so it’s really nice to be able to share. Thank you so much for your encouragement and also the lovely conversation! 😂

[The_Bumble_Bard]

Heck yes, it’s round two of the “free for all”! I find that description very amusing. 😂

I already have one idea for what I want to do. >=]

I think I might learn your “Classical Etude,” Andrew, the one I think was inspired by “Lagrima.” I’ve always liked that one a lot and it’s about time I learned the whole thing. That’s my first idear for this challenge. 😅

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by The_Bumble_Bard.

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@gi_gi_, thank you so much! With my nature photos in the video with the orig music, it was kind of special for me to share those that way because those are some of my favorite photos over the last decade or so, and I don’t share those very often, so it means a lot that you liked them. I always wanted to try to combine the creative things I love to do so that was a fun way to do that. I meant to say that to your first post but got distracted. 😂

Thank you so much for sharing your story with singing! That is so amazing and special that singing has done so much for you in your life, and you got so good at it through sheer will and tenacity. 😂 That’s so inspiring. To me that’s one of the most beautiful things when a creative venture can help you overcome some difficulty in life. For me, creative things have helped me connect with people and to cope with anxiety and depression and things. So true that if your teacher or someone you’re sharing with is extremely critical that can be so discouraging which is why RC101 is such a beautiful community; everyone here is so wonderful and if there is critique, it’s kind, and not intended to put anyone down obviously (but that is definitely something that can and does happen 😅😒). I really look forward to you sharing any more of your singing going forward because it’s very beautiful. Thank you. 😊💕

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@gi_gi_, thank you so much! Your encouragement and kind words mean a lot. That’s crazy your journey with singing. How did you learn to sing that well, just on your own using Internetube videos (YouTube)? 😂 I love what you said about being famous, couldn’t agree more. 😂 Thank you for your kind words again and it’s so nice you commented on everyone’s entries! After this month I’m going to go back and look through certain gems in this thread that I missed because I only got to see some of the entries.

@leb397, thank you so much! I can’t say how much it pleases me that you say that it sounded like a harp because that is exactly what I hoped it would sound like, no joke. 😅 I always wanted to play the harp, so there are times with uke that I try to make it sound as harp-like as possible. Your entry was very lovely, those techniques are so hard and ya nailed it! To me, strumming and chucking and all those things are way more challenging than fingerpicking, but some of that at least is just experience related. You did really great with it though! And thank you again for your kind words. 😊💕

@nelsonlin2021, ha, we should definitely try to coin the term Mattxim for Matt’s various maxims/sayings and also Drewism (truism) for Andrew’s. 😂😅

All the entries I’ve seen this month are amazing, can’t wait to see the ones I missed! This month I’ve been moving, lost power for three days, and my car broke down … twice. 😅 I’m looking forward to next month hopefully being calmer. 😂😅😳😥😭😅 Still this challenge was super fun, thank you, Andrew especially but everyone for doing such great work and being so encouraging! 😊

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by The_Bumble_Bard.

[The_Bumble_Bard]

Really, really amazing work by everyone, but I just want to comment on a couple again. Everyone did so amazingly well this month though, it’s actually insane. 😅

@gi_gi_, absolutely gorgeous! There’s something about the way you sing that makes me want to cry every time. 😂 I think because you sing with such feeling and it’s so real, and I really love singing that is naturally beautiful and unfiltered like that, which is why I love listening to live performances by famous singers, too. That said, you could be a famous singer. 😅 Lovely! Thank you for sharing! I hope you keep sharing songs that include singing here. 😊

@misterbones, that was so amazing! You’re basically a professional clawhammer guy now (a PCG). 😂 I loved that so much. I thought your singing was really great. I would literally listen to those tracks of you playing / singing along with my regular line up of songs because they’re just that perf… perfect. Listening to that also makes me want to learn more traditional clawhammer tunes instead of the strange ones I make up. Thank you for sharing all those! 😊

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@muzikmama, despite that brutal week of blizzarding and minor calamity, I agree, I prefer being too cold over too hot. And I still love snow. Kinda crazy that you’ve never seen it, but also very logical. Actually, I haaaaaaaate, hate being overly hot, I get very cranky. 😂😅 Well, I’ve also gotten heat stroke pretty badly so that affects the anxiety I have getting overly hot. For some reason, I imagined Australia just always being hot, literally year round. I don’t know how weather works. 😂😅 But then it can’t get too cold there if you’ve never seen snow, so that isn’t too huge of a leap.

The song sounded so good and extra impressive that it’s your first ukulele arrangement! I get very overwhelmed if there’s a song with a lot of different chords like that when creating an arrangement of my own, which is why if I do reference chords for a song I usually pick the one that has fewer chords–Then fill in any gaps by ear and/or trial and error. For me, I like to do arrangements by ear as much as possible because that’s what I enjoy doing most. I enjoy the challenge of that and the freeform nature of that. But it’s really good you did your arrangement that way, using all those chords, because it almost automatically gave your arrangement even more depth and richness, I think. I have created a few arrangements but they’re not on the level of RC101’s.

Agreed, there are still some RC101 courses I want to do, too, like the strumming ones and the theory one. It’s pretty obvious which things I avoid with uke, it’s those two things. 😂 That’s also my goal for this year, too, to do those courses.

Your drawing is looking so good!! Such a difference between the first and last picture. I really think you have a natural skill for that. When you shade in a drawing, do you shade by moving the pencil in small circles or from side to side? That might be a strange question but I’m really curious. 😂

There will be more uke drawings in February after I move because I’m in the process of moving, kinda right now, but thankfully I’m fairly prepared now. I’m also hoping I might squeeze in one more, hopefully better, take on the song I did for the challenge.

Thanks for sharing all you have! I do think one creative venture can enhance another. I also think there are certain useful / interesting overlaps between creative skills, such as pressure control with drawing and with playing a musical instrument. Even gradations in visual art versus something like a crescendo in music. There are other examples I’m sure. I’m trying to justify this topic existing but I do genuinely think there is some merit to that. 😅

Sorry, I wrote another novel. I think I’m tired and that’s why. My editing skills get even weaker than usual. 😂

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@marianne, that was flippin’ amazing! Agreed with Andrew that it’s an incredible take played with incredible feeling. Jeepers creepers… 😂

I’m sorry, I can’t remember if you said, but is that a RC101 arrangement? Now I have to go look. 😅 Really, really well played though!

@katazumiri, that is quite intriguing with the key signatures. Straight up, I didn’t know that a key signature could have both sharps and flats written at the beginning of a song. 😅 With D Phrygian Dominant scale as you pointed out, @Andrew, the F sharp is what makes it dominant? I guess that’s also where the “d major” comes in with the song being in g minor ish, because d major has an f sharp (either that’s a painfully obvious statement, or incorrect, I’m not sure). 😅

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@wannabgood, oh sweet! I’ll definitely give that a watch. I love documentaries / short films like that. Thank you for sharing! 😊

To be fair, this topic is stretching the definition of “uke talk,” but we have shared a bunch of “uke art” / disturbed ukulele fan art (in my case). 😂

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@nelsonlin2021, sigh I know what you mean so much. It’s so hard to slow down a song you’re working on that you know should be faster. I’m extremely bad at that, in fact. So bad at it, that I just don’t slow down and continue to plow along at full speed. 😅 Nonetheless, it’s a way better strategy to heed that maxim of Matt’s. Mattxim?

@katazumiri, those were both so amazing! Oh my, so great. Those are beautiful examples of that chord progression. Thank you for sharing that. (I think these are the two songs you were talking about sharing with me at the beginning of the month. If not, sorry to be so awkward again, sigh.) I tried so hard to understand what was happening with the key signatures. One has one flat and the other two. I… I noticed that. 😂😳 I straight up didn’t realize that g minor has two flats (still, not 100% sure that’s correct). I “know” that F major has one flat. I think what makes that interesting is that it’s the same chord progression in two different key signatures. Is that right? Either way, those were lovely to listen to and good inspiration indeed! 😊

[The_Bumble_Bard]

Everyone is doing an amazing job, but I just wanted to specifically comment on a couple:

@nelsonlin2021, your take on Crossing Hemispheres is sounding really good! I love that song; I’d like to learn it at some point, too. I actually think it also sounds nice played a bit slower. Looking forward to your final take! 😊

@mark1256, that sounds so beautiful! Really lovely to listen to. NGL, when your doggo barked near the end, it made my heart stop for a second–because I was so caught up in the peacefulness of the tune. 😅

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@muzikmama, ha, yes, the power going out was a little fun, using candles for light and such, but yes it gets a bit dangerous with the sub-zero temperatures. Thousands of people had to leave their houses temporarily because of the outages and the cold. We basically had a three day sleepover at someone else’s house, so that part was fun. 😂 But I’m sure you’re pretty unfamiliar with that kind of winter, living in Australia? 😂😅

Thank you so much about my song! It’s always so intimidating creating a song and it’s easy to be really hard on yourself about it not being good enough and things, but I actually am pretty happy with that based on my current skill level. Hopefully I can get a take playing it better, it’s pretty much done now.

Your arrangement is sounding very lovely! That’s really amazing for your first arrangement and just in general it sounds really nice. So many chords. 😂🥺

Haha no worries at all about the poem! I understand that. I also overshare about things (quite obviously) but yes there are definitely some things you don’t want to share in this context. Ha yes I guess we should keep in mind that this is an educational ukulele site. 😅😂 But I really do think that different creative ventures can inform others, as with visual art informing/enhancing the experience of learning music.

Ha thank you about my drawing! Please do keep sharing yours! The drawing on your video in the challenge was yours? That looks really nice. Haha she is right, it is rendering, rendering is the process of creating the drawing and you do that using different values if I’ve got that right! Hopefully I’ll have more uke drawings soon, I’m actually moving very soon, so I have to pack and do many things, whoops, also sorry for so many run on sentences. 😅😂

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@gi_gi_, haha I guess that’s the key of the month this month. 😂 I really look forward to hearing yours. I agree, I love these open-ended challenges; it would be fun to have them a bit more often. But then Andrew very kindly allows a certain amount of creative freedom with all of these challenges, which I (and I’m sure others) appreciate so much. 😊

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@morrieuke1, ha that is pretty funny especially considering my orig is based on a randomly generated chord progression that I posted at the beginning of the month. 😅😂 I think that we both chose (or me randomly chose) G minor for the minor parts of the songs. Mine is more fingerpicky and flowy and yours more strummy and embellishmenty. And I think we have similar formats, but yours goes major, minor, major from what I understand (and mine the opposite)? Just some fun comparing and contrasting. Yours sounds very lovely, look forward to hearing the whole thing! 😊

@wannabgood, that was so good! You really had such a great feel to that. I love it! 😁

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by The_Bumble_Bard.

[The_Bumble_Bard]

@Andrew, thank you so much! That really means a lot that you say that and is very encouraging. Hopefully I can get another take playing it a bit better. 😅

I like the phrase, “contrasting tonalities” for some reason. 😅

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