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@leb397, oh my, yes… The stretches in that song, especially the stretch from fret 2 to 8 in measure 25, are pretty crazy, but measures 22 – 25 I honestly have been working on for a long time. They were hard for me. And I had to figure out all the fingering for it without any help. 😅 Thank you so much! 😁 I played it on a high g concert uke. I bet it would sound lovely on a low g. I’m not sure which it was meant to be for. I’d love to hear your take! I can probably help if you have any issues with the fingering because I have spent a lot of time figuring it out. 😂😳
@gi_gi_ hahaha!! You and I are like the kids in class who get in trouble for laughing during the lesson and have to be seated separately. 😂😅😂😅😂😅
Yes……… Improvising takes so much skill. You have to know so much to do that, pretty much everything, every note on the fretboard and every chord, and how to connect those things astutely and freely. So, it’s equal parts intuition and knowledge.
But I also think that people can be great in different ways–have huge strengths in one area while not being as great in other areas. To me, being great can take as many forms as there are people and possibilities with the instrument.
@jody_hendrickson, ha, I feel like if I have a backup song, then it’ll make me less likely to finish learning Funk Jam, but that’s just my own weird way of thinking. 😅 I think part of the issue I have with the slaps or chucking is that I find it super creepy if anything hits my cuticles, 😂 but also that the sound isn’t distinct enough.
You are so right that the tab player helps tremendously with learning that one because the tune just so complicated. It really helps you laser focus on one section. Andrew also says in the video that you can practice the intro with just one finger to get the rhythm and that really helped me because I’m so bad at strumming and chucking. The fingerpicking parts, while still insane, are coming more easily for me because I’ve done that way more. If I can get through the intro and figure out the slaps, it may be possible to learn this. We can do it! 😅
@leb397, hahaha! At this point I will answer to any of those monikers, but admittedly “tbb” makes more sense. 😂😅 Thank you very kindly! I know I’ve said it often but your encouragement has meant a lot because I’m so nervous and unsure about sharing these things. So thank you! 😊💕 Especially that one because I struggled with it a lot, more than I can even say.
@gi_gi_ hehe, thank you so, so much, my friend! 😁💕 Your encouraging words have kept me going and truly uplifted me. I have really been trying to focus on letting myself be more expressive in my playing, convey what I feel in playing songs that move me, and that has helped me push through the intense anxiety I feel when recording. And yes, playing piano since I was young helped so much in learning uke and it really influences my playing for sure.Thank you for sharing all that about Jeff Peterson! I think I’ll have to look at that, definitely all the stuff he has on his site, but right now an open mic would be too much for me. Did you join in on that? I think I have to get his book. It sounds like there’s some real gems in there. 😅
And NO, that is not my arrangement! I actually included a link to the tabs on my video, if you’d like to learn it, too! It’s an 8notes arrangement. But I have thought about modifying it to make it more like the version on guitar because this version is actually pretty simple by comparison. However, that one crazy double stop run, followed by that 2 to 8 stretch; I have about a 10% success rate in playing that right. 😅
One more thing. I recorded this a few days ago. I copied your idea, gi gi, to make it black and white. 😅 I may post this tomorrow on my little YouTubes (plural) channel:
@leb397, I think I will also have to use the tab player for that one. It’s quite complicated, and I’m super bad at figuring out rhythm. I actually feel like I’d do okay with some of the riffs, but the rhythm, strumming, and slaps are all things I’m pretty iffy with. Ha, we’re going to Funky Town and it’s crazy there! 😅
To me, what makes a ukulele player great is not only skill, but spirit. It’s soul, man. That’s where the magic lies. It’s that transcendent feeling of watching someone play–where you’re swept away in listening to them. That’s true of great players–but the greatest players of all glue googly eyes onto their ukes, richochet root beer inside them, then drop them behind shelves and off coat racks. Ideally, all to the same uke, on the same day.
This is also why certain players should not own Kanile’as. 😅
@gstriph, very well played! Good luck with the move!! 😊
Like @jody_hendrickson, I also want to push the boundaries of my abilities and learn Funk Jam. If I can learn the intro even, that would be huge because I have strummophobia, man. 😅😭 I also still am very confused by the way you do the string (?) slaps, @Andrew. Do you hit the strings with your fingers or nails, or is it mostly just stopping the sound of the strings? Or are you hitting the uke? When I try it, it makes no sound. I’ve watched all the videos you made on that specific thing but still am very bad at that…
@gi_gi_ have you heard this one by Jeff Peterson? I’m sure you have. YouTube randomly recommended this to me. So amazing! Is that song in his music book? Also is there any Chopin in there? Here ’tis: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jXxt32caI9g
Also, after listening, I have heard Lagrima before. Rock Class has a very lovely arrangement of that one that I started to learn but then got distracted. Andrew also wrote a song based on Lagrima–that I also started to learn, then got distracted. 😅 I think it’s just called Classical Etude but that one is also lovely.
@leb397, thank you so much, my friend!! 😁💕 Yes, the encouragement from others here means so much, especially since it’s so easy to just fixate on your mistakes.
I saw both your entries in the challenge; you really went above and beyond learning two and they turned out so great! I loved all the song options and listening to everyone play them, but I played it safe learning only the beginner song. Next time, I’m going to challenge myself a bit more, but I also felt blocked or stuck this month, like you mentioned in your post in the challenge thread.
Hahaha, cozy clothes indeed! 😅 Yes, definitely after 5pm, but………. I enjoy being in pajamas as much as is reasonable. 😂 And again thank you so much! I feel more open to sharing and being silly because everyone here is so encouraging and accepting of those things. 😊
@karenj, that’s so touching and lovely. All the performances I’ve seen of yours have made me smile because you always seem so happy in them. Your story is really special, made me tear up; thank you for sharing that. Praying for peace and comfort for you. 💕
@surferjay, thank you kindly, friend! 😻 I may want to get a better take on this that doesn’t have that messed up slide in the middle; it irks me. 😅
I also really like your picture, GG! I’ve thought about drawing a little picture for on here and for my sad little YouTube channel, but haven’t gotten to it yet. 😅
Hahaha, @gi_gi_, when you used the phrase “yummy goodness,” just for a split second I thought you were referring to Brandon Acker himself. 😂😂😂😅😅 But that may be me projecting because I think that he’s pretty easy on the eyes. 😂😳😂 This really is fun. 😁
Ha, I have a guitar but I bought it from a thrift shop not knowing it was a child’s guitar. I took it to a Guitar Center to get the strings replaced and the guy was laughing at me and also staring into my soul so I never went back there. 😂 And really barely played the guitar after that. I got the guitar after I got the uke though so that experience just pushed me more in the direction of the ukulele. 😂
Oh my gosh thank you so much for saying that. I can’t even say how encouraging that is to be compared to the likes of these fellows. I will defs keep practicing and you should, too, as your performances on these tunes is so lovely. Lagrima sounds so familiar but I can’t quite place it. And you should defs learn Spanish Romance. It’s incredibly satisfying to play.
Oh my, yes, his performance of that particular song rocks me to my core. It has the effect of completely transporting you. That’s the feeling I want to capture and experience when I play music.
Brandon Acker also plays a song called Los Recuerdos de Alambra, but sorry if the spelling is wrong. It’s absolutely stunning. He’s probably the guitarist who inspires me the most as far as the type of songs he plays and the way he plays them.
@gi_gi_, this is the exact book for John King: https://www.amazon.com/John-King-Classical-Ukulele-Masters/dp/0634079794
Fair warning, some of the songs are quite tricky because they’re written in the campanella style. Difficult fingering. Don’t know how much you know about that, but basically the idea is that each successive note is played on a different string, so that every note rings out as much as possible. I may not be explaining that well. 😅
Jeff Peterson’s Adelita was a-mazing! Absolute perfection. That arrangement seems a lot like Steven’s, but you would know more than I would. Cool, now I have another great uke player to fixate on. 😉😂
He also played Spanish Romance (or Romanza; it has many names): https://youtu.be/0iKSm6hiY8M 😳😂😭
(Snaps my ukulele in half over my leg) 😉😅
I still can’t believe I won that electric uke. When I got the email I was in the grocery store and felt like I was going to faint and cry. It was crazy. I may actually not want to be in the drawing for the Kanile’a because I already won once.
…….. Last thing….. Have you ever heard of Brandon Acker? I stumbled across him playing Chopin on guitar and it, well, changed the way I viewed classical music. Just so amazing.
This song: https://youtu.be/wgm7rmWjNpo
I learned a version of that song on uke because I loved it so much, but it’s still a work in progress. And it’s not that. 😂 But boy is his playing beautiful…
@gi_gi_ you did such a lovely job with Adelita! I really loved that one, too, but sigh, I was too scared to try it. I still haven’t tried it. I don’t know what my issue is with that; I’m still trying to figure out why sometimes I feel so hindered from trying certain things and so anxious. I’ll get there eventually. 🥺😂
That’s really cool that you kept working on Adelita though. That’s part of why I love classical music because you can impart so much subtlety of feeling through the notes with enough practice. For me, I have to be extremely familiar with any song before I can express the kind of emotion I want through it.
Oh no, I haven’t heard of him, but I feel like I should seek out that book, too! I also love classical music so much. I love any song that can be flowy, fingerpickity (that’s right 😂), and rubato-y–and that you can express the ebb and flow of the human condition–with all its sorrows and joys–through the notes. …I also love The Backstreet Boys. 😉😂
That was so neat! I saw that you were featured. 😁 Wait, I think that Crazy was in the first challenge I joined in on! In July? If so, that was the first challenge I was a part of that I won the electric uke. It is so “crazy” that that was almost a year ago already. Time really does fly.
One last thing, if you haven’t, you should also get John King’s classical ukulele book. Matt recommended that a bunch of times and it is also very, very lovely. 😊