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@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.
@leb397, thank you so much! 😊 I love this hymn, too, and you’re right that they sound extra pretty on the uke. I actually did try to capture that “call and response,” harmony and response, effect in the chorus playing the open strings and emphasizing the melody notes, as if the E string and G string were calling and responding. That’s the weird way I thought about it while arranging it. 😂
For some reason, I felt like you specifically would like this one and turns out we do both love these hymns. 😅How Great Thou Art is another lovely one, you should revisit it for sure!
Side note, I’m trying to write out the tabs for this one, but it’s a daunting process as I’ve only arranged songs by ear first. Matt actually advised me how to approach this process in a private lesson last week, which was pretty magical, so hopefully it’ll go well. They may exist at some point. 😅
@jgillard, oh my, I know exactly what you mean. I’ve played in front of people maybe a total of four or five times in the three years I’ve been playing (though I only really started getting into learning uke when I found RC101) and two of those times I froze and forgot everything I know. But last week I played in front of someone in my family and nailed it with only a few stumbles, and she started crying, then I started crying. This is all good though because even though it’s terrifying to perform for others, playing uke has helped me break through some of my anxieties and I’ll be forever grateful to the people here for helping with that. 😊 So yeah, sometimes it’s a matter of, as Matt has said, getting more comfortable with being in a state of utter terror. 😅
@marianne, that was hauntingly beautiful!
@leb397, that was so flippin’ lovely! And congrats to you my friend! 😊Also sorry @Andrew I seriously don’t mean to help trigger these huge tangents in your challenge threads but I appreciate all the kind words from everyone so much and the support.
@dianna, that’s awesome! Congrats on almost a year of challenges. Sigh, yes, that has been one of the most challenging things for me, as well, is working on my fear of being on camera and playing on camera, but I feel like I’ve come a long way with that, even though it’s still a work in progress. Yes, that’s what’s so neat to see is how each person here overcomes their own personal challenges within these musical challenges. 😅 Challenges!
As far as memorizing songs, for me, I don’t try to keep every song I learn in memory, but for the ones I do want to remember I keep them in my “rotation” of songs that I play almost every day, or at least every time I play. I do also have a list of all the songs I know by heart that I can reference but I personally only have… maybe ten songs memorized. Not many.
There should be a ukulele anxiety thread where everyone can vent about their various struggles like these. 😉😅
@katazumiri, heck to the yes! That was amazing! You shredded that swan… lake.
@leb397, thank you so much! I might cry from encouragement from you and @gi_gi_ and also @Andrew and others who are so supportive here. I look forward to seeing everyone’s entries in these challenges, too! 🙂Beautiful! Someone has the voice of an angel and it’s her. 😅 Thank you for sharing that, @camper! 😊
@gi_gi_ thank you so much, friend! 😊Sometimes I do feel more confident with certain challenges, but even though this one is classical-themed, which I am pretty familiar with, the techniques and the songs are unfamiliar (mostly). It’s good to know I’m not alone in feeling that way. You’re right. Maybe I should just give it a go before getting all anxious but, well, that’s just my brain. 😅 I’m trying to work on that though. But thank you! You’re right that these challenges are all about overcoming and growing which everyone pretty much always does. I haven’t cried yet though so that’s progress! 😉😅
@jbmills07 that was lovely! Lovel-ily played. 😊
Not sure what song I’ll go with myself. Honestly I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and intimidated by the course, more than I expected. Hopefully I can get passed that and learn one of these in time for this challenge, because one of my sub-goals this year is to join in on every monthly challenge. We’ll see what happens. 😳😅
@robinboyd, that would be lovely if you gave “Stars” a go at some point!
I just see one problem with your take with the guitarlele: It’s only the chorus. 😉😅…😭