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@leb397, that was perfection! Very lovely indeed. 😊 You captured the feel of that chune / tune very beautifully. All the entries have been amazing, especially all the Adelitas. Well done, all!
Haha! Google translate is a thing of beauty. 😅 De nads / nada! 😅
Did you know you can make a tilde, the accent that goes over the n in certain Spanish words, by holding down the n letter on your phone? Ñ
Ha that would be pretty amazing to busk flamenco guitar! I feel like you could do that now with ukulele and make some coins. 😅
Anyway thanks for sharing friend! 😊💕
@gi_gi_ of course! You did a beautiful job with it. It sounds and looks like a difficult tune, but you did a lovely job with those tricky techniques; I look forward to learning it too when I’m ready. 😊
@aukritesp01, you’re welcs (welcome)!! 😊@surferjay, that was really amazing! Pretty much a flawless performance. I love that style of music and you really nailed all those crazy techniques and the feeling of it. Well done! 😊
@leb397, thank you so much! It seriously is so encouraging to hear that. Thank you. 😊 I have How Great Thou Art pretty much done but it may actually be too simple even for me, so I may have to do something else with it. Be Thou My Vision is close to done, too, and I’m pretty happy with it so far, but I’m pretty bad at playing it. 😅😂 That’s the part that takes me the longest, is smoothing things out with my playing. But once I can get close to that point is my favorite part because then it’s easier to play with feeling, like with It Is Well With My Soul.
Oh my, yes. Sigh, yes I definitely have recorded that many takes before and played until my hands are sore. There have been times when I played uke almost all day, but then realized, uh oh, I should probably eat and not take things that far. I look forward to hearing you play that one. 😊
I am also incredibly bad with chords and notes. 😅 Knowing what individual notes are being played. I know the most basic chords, like C, G, F, etc., but once it starts getting too far beyond that, it’s hard for me to comprehend. Straight up, with these arrangements I try to do (apart from the most basic chords), I just guess what the chord is based on sound, shape, and chords/chord shapes I’ve seen in the arrangements here and elsewhere, but couldn’t tell you most of the chords names, which I know is terrible. 😕😅 So yes… I feel that. 😅
But do you have to know all the chords to play the song? Do you mean the chords written above the tab? Sometimes I will look at those chords, but I thought those were just for reference in the tabs, not necessarily something you had to know. Are you suppose to look at that? ……… 😂😳
Haha will do, friend! Will do! 🥶🤢😵😫😩😣😖🤯😳😲😯😮😮😦 Okay that’s enough. 😅
@aukritesp01, this is so good! I also love the backbeat you added. Never heard this song but I really like it.
Side note, @gi_gi_ I loved your work on Adelita in the challenge! Very well done. 😊
@leb397, ha, I’m glad. My friends, family, and I all use a lot of smiles when we’re texting so it’s sort of a habit. 😅🤯😕😟😅🍟🥰😂💕😉😊🍦😭😳🥺😡😤🌮😻☕😁🍖🧁🚀♟️🙂😪🎉🎁🎈🎊😯😯🎀🍄🤐🍔 (those are my actual most frequently used smilies) 😂
I love both those hymns, too. Overall, I really prefer those traditional hymns most. I may have figured out How Great Thou Art (though it’s even simpler than the other arrangements I’ve tried) and started Be Thou My Vision after you first mentioned it a week ago. Be Thou My Vision is definitely much trickier though for sure, but so lovely indeed. 😊
I was too nervous to play for Matt, but he definitely understood. He seems to be a very kind and empathetic human, like all the instructors here. Playing for someone in person is extremely difficult for me, too, especially because a few times I’ve tried people have been mean or sarcastic. That sort of deepens the fear when that happens. 😟 Now I know who I can and can’t play in front of because two people I know are kind and encouraging. It just has to be someone you trust to not be judgey or mean. 😕
Ha, I should get a used keyboard, that’s a good idear! 😅 It just has to be lightweight for moving. But yes, maybe once I get more comfortable with uke I’ll do that, although pianos can be useful tools to have around for learning uke as well. Because I’m more used to having the notes laid out that way and still get confused by the fretboard often.
You’re also working on Study in B Minor for the challenge? That’s the one I’m working on as well. I was going to go for Swan Lake but my brain is struggling with that technique for some reason.
I really want to learn Adelita, too, but I want to take my time and work through the course first because I want to learn it after imbibing all the course material.
Okay, that’s all my thoughts and reactions. 😂 Here’s a snippet of A Mighty Fortress Is Our God that I have so far:
Haha, @gi_gi_ so glad you found it funny! 😅
I thought the phrase “fiesty mama buffalo” may have been why no one else replied but I’m glad you did. 😂
Yes, I think ear training is a general thing, too. Some people can hear a note and know what it is just out of the ether, but I can’t do that. I need to have a starting point. Like I could start with a C or F chord on uke (two of the eight chords I know…) then figure out a melody / harmony from there. But I couldn’t sing a C note just out of nowhere. I also can’t sing though, so… 😅
@leb397, girl, same. I feel like usually I do fewer takes now and have less extreme anxiety with filming, but that’s defs still one of the hardest parts of these challenges. Ha, all the students here basically are professionals. 😉😂 I also have emailed Andrew “a couple” of times about my anxieties. Uke-xieties… 😳😅 but he is truly a gracious, kind, and forgiving human. It’s pretty amazing that was your first take, @jgillard!
@surferjay, hope you do get a chance to loop it up; we’ve been going through a loop famine here. 😉😅
That’s awesome that the weather is nice by you. We just got done getting dumped on with snow for three days straight in the Midwest, USA. Stooooop. 😅
Are you going to NYC, I take it? I’ve been there many times. It’s cool to see for vacation for sure.
@leb397, ha, whoops, I misunderstood what you were saying. 😅 We’re good now, lol. Thank you SO much for saying that! I’m so encouraged by your words and all the support of everyone here. It’s more than I could ever hope for. There are so many skills with uke playing and theory that I can still grow in a lot, but I have been playing by ear on piano since I was probably 8 years old (though I sadly haven’t played piano in a long time). I had to sell mine a few years ago. Turns out ukes are way more portable. 😅
The lesson with Matt was one of the most magical uke-related things I’ve gotten to do so far, not gonna lie. I was soooooooo nervous though, I almost wanted to cancel, but I’m so glad I didn’t. I didn’t even play one note the whole lesson because I told him I was too nervous, lol. He played part of this arrangement while we were discussing writing out the tabs though, which was so cool. He and Andrew have really inspired and helped me so much and I’m forever grateful to them.
Anyway………… I may have already tried to figure out How Great Thou Art, too. 😅 I forgot how beautiful that song is. I also am working on an arrangement of A Mighty Fortress Is Our God which is in a slightly different style. And also learning apoyando / Swan Lake. Maybe I’m doing too much. 😅😳
That would be so amazing!! I would love a challenge with hymns. 😁 RC101 has an arrangement of Amazing Grace already, I think, and yes the Christmas hymns. It may be silly, but if they used this arrangement for that hypothetical challenge, my brain would implode from delight. 😂 But I don’t know if Andrew has even looked at this video at all and I’m too nervous to ask. 😂
Sorry to ramble on so much. But thank you again, uke friend! 😅💕
P.S. I use a lot of smilie faces when writing…
@dianna, I know exactly what you mean! I dare say most people feel that way, a lot of anxiety when performing and recording. And wanting to be perfect. I’ve realized that too. When you look at other players and see how incredible they are, but they feel the exact same fears, to me that’s helpful to know. Because it’s easy to idealize other people or feel like you’re not good enough–or to get really overwhelmed when trying to learn a new skill. But once you realize everyone struggles in different ways, it can be so helpful to share that and know you’re not alone. That’s part of why I just say if I’m struggling.
Also, the classical course is absolutely amazing and all the songs are stunningly beautiful. I never meant to detract from that. If anything, it’s a testament to how rich the lessons and songs are with information that overloaded my delicate brain. 😅🥺
@jgillard, @dividedsky — Beautiful playing!!@surferjay, that’s so good!! Happy to hear you playing again. 😊
@jayleendoyle, thank you so much! That’s really encouraging. Ha, I hope I can get the tabs mostly written out today since I got snowed in from work. I’m really new to writing out tabs, but I’ll do my best with it. I’ll probably post them on my sad YouTube channel when they’re done because I don’t know if it’s okay for me to share them here or not, but I’ll let you know. Thank you again! 😊
I’m very excited for this lesson, man! I know we got to talk about this subject a bit, Matt, which was really neat. 😊
I still am pretty confused by how you can compose original songs by writing down the music first, not by ear. To me that’s like writing down a recipe first before you’ve tried to make it. But then I cook the exact same way I figure out songs, very haphazardly and free-form-ly and not measuring anything I don’t have to. And very clumsily. 😂 But the drawback to not using a recipe is that you can’t easily share the recipe with anyone, nor necessarily recreate the dish the exact same way each time. It’s harder to be consistent.
Playing by ear is like Daniel Day-Lewis riding a fiesty mama buffalo onto the stage of a Nickelback concert: Very loud and disorderly, but also kinda entertaining while it’s happening.