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Hello again!
I’m being a bit of an Eager Ellen with this challenge and tried to record a take of the new version – with the 3 themes: Major, Minor, Major. But I was getting so frustrated, if I’m being honest. Frustrated with the tech especially and that I still continue to struggle with that aspect of recording, but also – everything else, feeling like I was doing a terrible job with the playing and other issues of feeling bad about myself. Someone (cough, professional) has told me recently that I am a perfectionist, and I guess I am more than I realized. But, then, after taking a breather, I realized this specific take is better than I thought and only has a few small mistakes, so I thought I would share it for a morale boost hopefully. This take is almost good enough to be in a video with the tabs on screen, but I have to at least be playing all the right notes – guess that’s the point. 😂 I also realized something else with my recording. That the way I play when I’m NOT recording is completely different from how I play when I am. Usually, I am ultra casual and relaxed when I play for my own enjoyment, but when I record, it becomes this stressful and uncomfortable experience, not even just because of the anxiety. So, I really want to work on that this year and see if I can make recording more streamlined and less stressful with the tech. Sorry for this stream-of-consciousness paragraph of doom, but I’ll share the best take I have so far:
If anyone also wouldn’t mind letting me know if the sound quality sounds better, that’d be really helpful! I recorded this on my new phone which is still an android phone, but at least the video quality is better. Not sure about the sound. I also wanted to say, I am pretty happy with the arrangement itself, especially considering I just created the minor theme arrangement; just frustrated on how much I was messing up and the tech issues. 😂 Thank you again for this fun challenge, I might just be hangry, lol! 😂
@katazumiri, hmmm, really? I thought that the “Hall” effect was more of a reverb sound, not so much softening, but it’s been a while since I’ve done anything like that and it was in early 2000’s MIDI programs, lol.
That’s so true what you say about coffee / caffeine! It can be pretty good for your brain, as in warding off issues like Alzheimer’s and Dementia and such, allegedly, but if you’re a more anxious person, it can eventually be detrimental with exacerbating those issues. So sad, I lasted so long being able to drink multiple shots of espresso, and now I’m lucky if I can drink decaf without having problems (like later at night). The thing is, I love coffee so much, the taste and everything about it, so I’m not quite ready to completely give it up, since I am doing okay with the decaf, thankfully. But apparently I even have to be careful with things like tiramisu or espresso cakes because they will give me heart palpitations now – and I also love both those things. Yay, getting older! 😂😭
Thank you, I created a few paintings for Christmas gifts for my family, since I still am extremely strapped for cash after last year! I am really enjoying it so far. I’ll have to share some of those in my challenge videos – that’s a really good idear! Here’s a few of them for now (attached). 🙂
Thank you so much for giving me a little shout out in the newsletter! I was so honored by that and by the kind words by you, @Andrew. That was so nice! Thank you! 🙂
I decided I wanted to include a minor theme in between the first and second themes, which are both major and similar-sounding themes. I ended up just labeling these theme 1, 2, and 3. 🙂 They are excerpts from the song, but I think it all came together really well. I also borrowed transitions from different parts of the song to try to blend the different themes together, but although the transitions may not be in chronological order, the themes are. There’s a lot missing in between the themes, but I think this works pretty well as a stand-alone version of the song. Hopefully that all makes sense. 😂
I’m really hoping I can record the song this weekend, but we’ll see! There’s still time (for once), but I’m eager to continue this. 🙂
I’m attaching the updated tabs to this post (hopefully, lol)! It’s now 1.5 pages. Also, I figured out you can export a file from Guitar Pro as a .png and it works to share it here (without having to awkwardly take screenshots and paste them together). Really excited to record this and hopefully it comes together well! Also really excited to see everyone else’s projects!! 🙂
Edit: One other thing I just remembered was in one measure I really pushed my 12-fret, soprano, high g ukulele FAR beyond its limits by including a chord that was 0 15 17 18. 😂 Because I physically can’t do that on the uke I like to play, I am trying to find creative ways around that, which are, in my opinion, pretty hilarious. You’ll see. 😂
So excited for this one, sounds so interesting! 🙂
I do have some questions, but not 100% sure if they apply to this? I guess we’ll see. 😂
Also, these might be dumb questions – again, we’ll see.
Here they are:
1. When soloing, is it always implied that you’ll only ever be playing single notes, or can soloing include chords (harmony)?
2. When soloing with others (as in, playing a solo while others play harmony), how do you know what they’re going to play? I always wondered that. Are they just playing the same progression of chords, then you improvise over that? Or do you have secret signals you musicians send each other that we mortals can’t see to know what chord will be next? Again, I am dumb and maybe should know this by now…
3. Are solos, ironically, meant to be played with other people? Would it be weird to improvise a single-note solo by yourself without someone else playing harmony?
Thank you so much if you get a chance to answer these questions! ‘Preciate it!
Okay, I managed to manually splice together this tab into a JPEG by taking screenshots in GuitarPro, then editing them together in MS Paint. Not ideal whatsoever, but it did seem to work! So, here is the current copy of the tabs / sheet music for Pathétique:
Edit: I managed to mess it up one last time because I realized the exact last note of the song was wrong, so I had to re-screen-shot, re-edit, re-save, etc. But it’s finally done!
@otzepeng, I missed your comment earlier, apologies! Thank you for that! For me, it is pretty ambitious, and I am also terrible at writing down music, but I think I have made improvements for sure. Over the course of being here, I’ve had about 9 lessons from Matt who helped me start to write down the arr.’s I came up with by ear – he taught me basically from square one how to write down tabs, then eventually I started using Guitar Pro. I think the only thing that makes it possible for me to use that is that it flags the measure “red” if you mess up the rhythm; so then you can “troubleshoot” to figure out how to fix it. Without that, I’d be much more lost, for sure. There were still multiple instances where I wrote something down and showed Matt and he helped me fix it (because it still wasn’t right somehow, even with that “cheat” in Guitar Pro, lol). Andrew has also helped me with some things on this vein. It also has helped a lot that I grew up playing piano, reading sheet music, and learned so much from learning the uke songs here and reading Andrew’s feedback. Looking forward to your tune this month! 🙂
That said, I already got the tabs done somehow! :O I found the sheet music that I learned as a child (since that song is pretty ubiquitous) and that helped me SO MUCH with the rhythm; guess Matt was right about that, as well, cough, whoops. 😂 That does help a lot to look at the rhythm of the original tune, instead of just guessing like I like to do, especially with a more complicated song like this.
I realized something QUITE interesting about this uke arr. though. So, what I figured out on uke I was just playing by ear from memory – from how I remembered the song going on piano, and I was quite delighted how accurate it turned out to be, even in the right key of Ab major (four flats)! But the interesting thing was, I misremembered the order of the music. I played up until maybe the eighth measure, then skipped WAAAAAAAAAAY further along into the song, closer to the end, when the main theme of the song is reprised in a different style – which I loved. I kind of love this version, though; it’s like its own thing now. That said, I may want to try going back and recreating this with the rest of the tune, but that’ll take a while to do. I also will relearn this whole tune on piano because I used to know this entire movement of the song. Hashtag, 2026 goals. 😉
This video is of the OG piano version. In my ukulele version, I play up until 0:32, SKIP a huge section, then pick up playing again at 3:20 and stop after that theme is done.
I also attached the tabs I finished to this post (hopefully, lol)!
@gi_gi_ hahahaha!! Oh my word, Aldrine was really somethin’ else about whose songs he would choose for those AFJ. 😂 Half the time, he would disregard everyone’s suggestions and just do whatever he wanted. What a goof. That’s really fun that you still get to see him on Mondays! I hope he’s doing well. I also miss the fun of those shows. 🙂EDIT: Nope, the sheet music is indeed screwed up, but it’s some sort of formatting issue! The tabs are displaying correctly, but the sheet music is a wonky bunch of squares. Then, I almost accidentally downloaded a virus to try to get the JPG version. I’m off to a flying start this year. 😂😭
@misterbones, that’s so, so neat! I can’t wait to hear that. That’s also one of my favorite pieces of classical music. The funny thing is, Matt Dahlberg is creating an arrangement of that same exact section, Vivaldi’s Winter (Largo), for a lesson on his Patreon, but he posts the lesson publicly usually – so you could see that, too. I’m really looking forward to that, but also to hearing your rendition! That’s what I love so much about classical music, too, is the subtle feeling you can convey with fewer “ingredients” at times. 🙂
@frederic, love that goal! So straightforward, but beautiful. 🙂
@gi_gi_ thank you so much, friend, good to hear from you, too! We need to catch up via email because there are some things we need to discuss, LOL!! 😉 I’m really looking forward to your tune, too. Ah, I know, I really miss those shows, too, so sad they’re gone now. It was pretty amazing that Aldrine sang a couple of songs I picked, including a Backstreet Boys song, I Want It That Way, lol. It was so stinkin’ good, too! Maybe one day they’ll return – how are they going to win for a fourth year, if not?! 😉Yay, so excited for this challenge!! I also was hoping that this would be the topic this month. Free-for-aaaaaall! I still find that description really funny. 😂
(I wrote out this whole post and it disappeared when I went to post it, so I had to re-write the whole thing! I am sad now…)
I just was saying, that it’s sad that it seems like this is the last challenge in which Andrew is going to give feedback for a while, if I understood that correctly as a “note” at the end of the challenge post. It’s understandable if that is the case, but I was so sad to read that, as his encouragement and feedback has meant so much to me over the years, and no doubt to many others, in their ukulele journeys. But again, it’s understandable. Change, it’s the way of things (really dramatic).
It was so hard to pick what to work on, but the first thing that came to mind is this:
1. Execution: Practice music notation by writing down one of my ukulele arrangements that I figured out by ear.
2. Application: Write down my ukulele version of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 “Pathétique”: II. Adagio cantabile (A♭ major – I think? It has four flats, so). I learned this song on piano when I was a child, then figured it out by ear on ukulele. No idea how I did that or why it worked, but it did. At one point Matt helped me write down the notes with no time signature, measures, note values, or anything (when I was first learning how to write down tabs), but I want to create a full version in Guitar Pro for ukulele if I can, so then I have it for future reference if I forget the tune.
3. Evaluation: Share the finished tabs here for hopefully @Andrew to look at and let me know if it’s even remotely correct. 😂 Bonus: Create a video of me playing the tune with the tabs on screen. I already know the tune; it’s just the struggle of writing it down.
Super bonus: Layer an arrangement I did that’s the same tune as a recent RC101 tune over one of their arrangements of the same tune. What tune it is will be secret, but this may end up being a separate thing if I can’t complete it in this challenge. This is just if the first thing goes quickly. Again, very realistic for me… 😂
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Loved reading through everyone’s goals for this month! It will be so fun to see how everyone does. Very excited that @lhamilton is doing a clawhammer tune, always love that! @nat-uke, also really excited to see your recorder + ukulele mashup! @gi_gi_ can’t wait to hear your tune, no doubt it will be so lovely, friend! 🙂 I think I know that tune. I think that’s one that Aldrine used to sing on their Aloha Friday Jam? So funny. Did you know that their podcast won that award they were obsessed with for the third year in a row? I found that really funny, even though it sadly no longer exists. That’s how good they are – they don’t even need to be doing the podcast to win, LOL. Anyway, really looking forward to this challenge!! 🥰
@Abster, truly amazing and so, so lovely! You’re really getting even more finesse behind your playing! Please continue, this is clearly a talent you have (though tennis is also great, lol)! 🙂
@katazumiri, oh man, those are each so amazing!! Added those onto my YouTube playlist immediately!! Ha, genuinely good music to listen to, not just a gimmick! I especially loved the coffee one and the lyrics for that! 😂 Also, in the vacuum one, the one guy really was spraying something the whole time – let’s just hope it was water! 😂 Oh, I also really loved the banjo one. Whatever filter (probably the wrong term) they put over the banjo really softened the sound and took away some of the harshness that banjos can sometimes have, and it worked so well with that! Thank you for sharing, friend!! 🙂
Sorry for the delay by the way! It’s been busy of course, but also… to be honest, I still have days I am really struggling with my health; so all my energy has to go into daily survival. I really hope I can continue to improve with that. I am trying to make some lifestyle changes with my diet, including removing most caffeine, so that has really helped with the heart palpitation issues I was having (though sadly that still does happen sometimes). Reconnecting to my love of ukulele is a priority for this coming year. Every time I do play though, I’m reminded how much I love it. Also, I am getting a piano keyboard this year because my family is helping me pay for it. Otherwise, it’d probably be another five years before I got it… if ever. So, I’m extremely grateful for that. Piano was my first instrument, so it’s very exciting to also reconnect to that. Also, like any respectable middle-aged lady, I’m going to try learning watercolor because someone gifted me that. Anyway, there’s my typical, stream-of-consciousness journal entry at random, please enjoy! 😉 😂
Yay!! So happy that we reached that goal and even surpassed it!! So lovely! 🥰
Many congrats, @mysticrick, for such a special win! It’s kind of like @leb397 won by proxy because she gets to hear you play it in person! 😉 So neat, can’t wait to see it in future challenges! 🥰🎁🎄
@Katazumiri, yay, I look forward to listening to that later! That sounds beautifully eccentric!! 😀
@dianna, haha, apparently you do! It looks very beautiful! I only have a little tree for myself, but I had zero time to set it up or anything, so I just admire others’ trees! 😉 Thank you so much for that! I’m starting to see this is how I love to play ukulele – Take a simple(ish) arrangement and play it in the way I feel most comfortable and in a kind of style that I love to play, which is very flowy (technical term). It’s very lovely how encouraging Andrew and Matt have been about my enjoyment of playing that way and that’s really helped me develop that skill even more. 🙂 Ha, away in the Manager, who knows what that means, lol! For some reason, the picture of the Bible is out of focus in the video; the picture by itself is perfectly in focus. I’m the worst; I feel like I should know the Leonard Cohen reference. :S I hope you enjoy your holidays, too, friend! 🙂 ❤️
@janaq1, very beautiful playing! 😉 ❤️Oh my word, now I have 49 subscribers!! It’s both hilarious and sad how excited I am for that! 50 subs, here we come!! Thank you to whoever did that (or perhaps it was someone outside RC101, but still)! Thanks, LOL! 😉
@grannieannie, awwwwwwwwww, thank you SO much for that!! That seriously is so nice that you did that. I had a goal of reaching 50 subscribers by the end of the year (that I made maybe a month ago, lol), but it’s okay if it doesn’t happen. The main reason I have that channel is it’s a good incentive to create more polished versions of the arrangements I try to make and to practice the things that make me most anxious – talking, playing in front of others, and having people look at me, lol. But it’s also good practice for creating videos, even though that’s seemingly perpetually a WIP for me. Anyway, thank you so much! 🙂 🥰
Loved reading your goals! Those are some really good ones. I’m so jealous that you get to go to that festival in Vancouver and see Matt. One day I hope to be able to get to a uke festival, preferably one he’s at to meet him! He’s just been such an inspiration and help to me in my ukulele journey. I really hope you enjoy that! 🙂
Also, when you get to learn Contemplations by Marianne, you should definitely share it here! Would love to hear it, and I’m sure she would too! And Andrew, too! That one’s so beautiful. 🙂
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
So, I picked Away in the Manger this month (I always almost write “manager” for some reason, lol) and I managed to struggle with it a bit. Well, I was modifying it for high g, but then I tried to make it fancy, so all of that is on me. A beautiful arr. by Andrew though, the “meat” of the tune is lovely. 🙂
I got to listen through a few of the entries – all very lovely! @dianna, a very beautiful take on that tune, but I have one question for you: Is that tree real? If so, WOW, your Christmas tree game is on point, lol. @katazumiri, a very lovely take on that tune, too, and always love the layers you create! A nice walk through your city, too. 🙂 @brettboy, that was really magical!! Loved the duet!! @nat-uke, your take on that tune was so beautiful and your video is nice ‘n’ polished! 🙂 So yes, that’s all I’ll comment on for now, but just want to say this community is still so special to me. I look forward to having more time coming up after the holidays to just chill and play ukulele more. Boy do I miss that! As of now, I’m 6 batches of Christmas cookies deep because I’m in charge of making all the dough for some reason, lol. And everything else. We all know how this time of year goes. 😉
I did donate to the Ukulele Kids Club!! 🥰
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to this beautiful ukulele family!! 🥰
Oh the image in the video is a random picture of a Bible I took a long time ago in an old church. Just thought it looked kinda neat! 😉
Also, please enjoy the random accidental pseudo-harmonic I did and the sound of my phone buzzing near the end of the tune. Man, am I incredible at recording! 😉
