Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Hello dear ukulele friends! 😊
Well, unsurprisingly, I waited until the last second to practice / record / share my take on Morning Dew, but it looks like a bunch of other people are last second, too! Looking forward to going back and listening to a bunch of the entries. 😊
I knew this tune would be trickier for me because it’s written for Low G and in a very different style from what I play, and therefore is the opposite of intuitive for me, since all I play is High G uke. Also, all the hammer-ons and pull-offs – Those things still can be hard for me sometimes. So, it took about 100% of my CPU to go against my instincts / habits while playing this. 😂 Nonetheless, this was a really fun one to learn! And a very beautiful tune!
Also, I have a “bonus edition” of the tune I tried to recreate in a familiar style for me, but it was really nice trying to clawhammer-ify a tune again! I didn’t get super far with it, the last bit is pretty rough (because I only played through that part once as clawhammer), but I think it has high potential for that style! 😊
I hope everyone’s T-gives was lovely for all who celebrate! And that everyone is doing well. Thank you, @Andrew, for these amazing challenges and for all that you do with your team! 🥰
@deadbuggy, very beautifully played and beautiful arrangement by Christopher! I didn’t realize that was the song he arranged for you, so neat and special! Thank you for sharing this!! 🙂 <3
I finally got a chance to reply to some things here! 😊
@nat-uke, thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement! I’m pretty sure at this point – after this year that I’ve had – that not only has my gas tank been siphoned, but also I’m pretty sure the car has been stripped for parts (sometimes literally). 😂 You are really right though. Sometimes you can’t push yourself as hard when life is already so challenging – a challenge in itself. I also looked at Morning Dew and it’s trickier than I thought, which is perfect, it isn’t “too” easy. I also want to try something different with it. Thank you, your entry with Moondance was so good! I also have been practicing singing almost every day. I’ve talked with some really good singers about this and they say that confidence is almost as important as skill with singing. I really think that’s true. Anyway, thank you again, and look forward to your performance, too! 😊
@gi_gi_ it’s really lovely to see you appear, friend! We need to catch up soon. It’s been a while with life being so crazy. 😊 La Gitanita sounds so cool, it does seem like a good chance to work on that one! I have multiple RC101 tunes like that where I started then got distracted from learning them. 😂 Miss you, Double G! Glad you’re back! 🥰
@grannieannie, thank you so much for that!! I was really surprised that I was able to learn the first section so quickly, but knew I would struggle with the strumming parts. That skill just does not come naturally to me whatsoever for some reason. I think it’s because I have a really poor sense of rhythm and get really flustered (in a Guitar Hero-esque sense) with the pressure to hit the notes at the right time. That’s why I’m also really bad at those games and actually all video games, even though I do like them.😂 Uhhh, anyway, I really enjoyed your performance of Iron Man, that would also looked so hard and you did a lovely job with it!! 😊
@marianne, good gravy, that was exquisite! I think @Andrew described your performance as breathtaking – so true. So much incredible feeling and beauty behind your playing. It’s truly inspiring and moving. It makes me want to try that one, but I don’t have a low G or baritone uke. So sorry to hear of the loss of your work colleague. Praying for strength for everyone near to them and sorry that you’re going through that. 🥰
@misterbones, really amazing performance! You capture the feeling of so many different styles and utilize so many different techniques so well. I don’t really know that song. Were there tapped harmonics in your playing? It sounded really good, I didn’t notice anything off about it! Such a great performance! 😊
@bolognakid, really, really great performance!! Sounded perfect, honestly. Such a fun song, too. Also, just want to say, my name is also Rachael, spelled -ael! I haven’t personally met many fellow -ael’s in my life, maybe two or three, so it’s nice to meet another! 😊😂
@morrieuke1, so lovely, such a great feel to your performance! I really enjoyed it! 😊
@darktoto, very beautiful playing!! It sounded perfect to me. 😊Really looking forward to hearing more this month and hoping to get my performance done NOT the last day of the challenge! 😂
Sorry for the extremely delayed reaction, but thank you so much @otzepeng for your kind words about my performance of Aerials! Your take on that was so stinkin’ good. Everyone who tried that one (and all of the tunes) in October did so amazingly well with such difficult tunes!! I feel like Andrew and friends are dialing up the difficulty to keep us all challenged (not that I need it, eesh, lol). 😉 But that’s actually really great – it makes for some amazing music. 🙂
Also, @leb397, I’ve definitely done things like that so many times. Also, with spelling certain people’s names on here – I have to check every single time, like Shmu’s name for some reason and Otzepeng (oh my word, when spelling it just now I messed it up again, then fixed it, lol), I switch the letters around or add letters that are not there. I always try to be careful with that though because my name, my real name, gets misspelled all the time and it means a lot when people spell it right. 🙂
I really like this topic, man! Slides are one of my favorite techniques on the ukulele. 🙂
After pondering for a bit, I remembered some silly (but genuinely curious) questions I’ve always had about slides on the ukulele. Here they are:
…
1. Is it physically possible to do a slide starting from “0” (an open string) on the ukulele, or do you already need to be fretting a note to do a slide?
If yes, it’s possible, then that would be like jumping onto a playground slide before sitting down to maximize the speed and force. As an adult, you would not recover from such a maneuver (I’m cry laughing, but I seriously do wonder if that’s possible – on ukulele).
2. Do you think there’s a limit of distance with a slide on the ukulele? So, could you start at fret 1, then slide to fret 12 (or higher)? Is there any reason you would do this?
3. How much of a difference is there between sliding between two notes versus doing a hammer-on/pull-off between the same two notes? For example, sliding from A2 to A3 versus hammering on between those notes? Also, I probably wrote that wrong, sorry.
…
Thank you for these amazing lessons and still tolerating me after all this time and not blocking me!
@nat-uke, ha, yeah, waiting until the last minute, not ideal whatsoever! That was probably the longest I’ve ever waited to finish learning a song, literally the last day of the challenge. Do not recommend. Success: Maybe 25%. Stress: 75%. 😂😂
I wanted to do Etude 28, too, but it’s for Low G. I may be weak this month and go for Morning Dew, if it isn’t too-too easy. I don’t think I’ve done that one before… Oh wait, I just had an idea about that. Okay, now I know exactly what I’m going to do… 🤪
Edit: I just realized that may have come off the wrong way. It doesn’t make anyone “weak” to learn the beginner level songs; not at all. That one may even be harder than I realize (though I haven’t looked at it yet). I just mean I don’t always find beginner level songs as challenging anymore for me now, usually – but sometimes they still are, even being a bit more experienced. Okay, just wanted to mention that. 😂 All of RC101’s songs are challenging, but that’s part of what makes them beautiful.
Thank you so much for the encouragement, Andrew! Your feedback is so helpful and you notice everything. It’s still one of my favorite parts of these challenges, reading all your feedback (not just to me, but to everyone) because it’s so insightful and fun to read through. I’ll keep working on this one. 😊
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Oh, dear… so I sorely underestimated the difficulty of this tune, Aerials, whilst also sorely overestimating my ability to learn it quickly. Only having a couple of hours before a party tonight, this is the best I could do with the limited time that remains. I think portions of the performance are actually pretty okay except for the strumming sections which are a complete train wreck, yet… personal best…? For me, I would have to memorize every single up and down stroke and each chord change and take it one “1 e and a” at a time like 4SB suggested in the lesson. I definitely am going to go back and do that because this tune is really, really cool, but this is what it is for now. So sorry for anyone who witnesses my struggle, especially to you Andrew. Thank you for this amazing challenge and amazing tunes – and everyone’s amazing performances! 🥰
…
Oh my word, so, after I wrote that and was about to post my first take, I realize I forgot more than one section of the song and had to re-recorded. In my panic (running out of time to get ready, too), I feel like this take is even worse than the first one, but everything is there-ish. I’m so sorry; it’s so bad. 😂😂
Okay, watching it back, it isn’t *as* bad as I thought. You can tell the processing power of my brain is maxed out with the strumming sections though, but even those are not *as* bad as I thought. Gah, sorry, okay, here it is:
@otzepeng, hahaha! Yes, that math seems 100% legit! I’m pretty sure that is how my mind works, too – there is *at least* 48 hours per day in which all these things can be done! And yet they all do get done, so……….. your take on Aerials was so amazing!! All the takes I heard on that one were so, so good! I think I’ll definitely end up playing all the notes, at least. 😂 The strumming part in the first part of the verse is killing me; the rest is tricky but manageable. It’s great because that tune is just the style I love to play – almost classical, in a way; like right at the beginning of the tune. That’s how I’m viewing it. I’m just so bad at strumming but doing my best with it! At least it’s more practice! Thank you so much for your vote of confidence!! 😀
@grannieannie, hahaha, that’s true! I know I do that to myself constantly, put unnecessary pressure on myself. I think I enjoy being stressed out. 😂 Thank you, cutting out almost all caffeine has helped a lot. Ha, thankfully, I also have social plans at least two of those days, so *plenty* of time to work with! 😂😂 Your take on Iron Man sounded really great, despite a lot less practice time! 😀
@leb397, thank you so much, Louisa! 🥰 Yes, things are getting better. I’ve learned some ways to manage my anxiety and like I said cutting out caffeine was very helpful with that. There’s a lot more to it, but I think I’m on the right path now. Haha, yes, my take is definitely going to be a “personal best” especially considering the current time restraints! The results should be fascinating! 😂 Your take on Iron Man was so stinkin’ good! 🙂
@nat-uke, hahaha!! We’re in the same boat. I’d be willing to bet a lot of people had the exact same thing happen. There’s always so much happening in October for some reason. I’m confident we can both pull it off! 😂😂 (Cough) 😉I’ve really enjoyed listening to all the entries and reading @Andrew ‘s feedback! Even if I don’t log in, I get all the emails and still love to follow along with this group. 🥰
Also I used valuable practice time to write this, but it’s hashtag worth it! 😂
So many amazing performances, I just got to listen through them all! Some really tricky songs and everyone did such a great job! 😊
So, uh, I definitely didn’t do that thing when I practice for one day at the beginning of the month, then didn’t pick it up again until today. I can learn Aerials in like three days, right? I definitely can… Actually, it amounts to about one day due to having 1.5 jobs now and editing a book for someone by the first week of next month. Also need to take a driving course. This is all totally doable and realistic. 😂 I am weirdly overconfident that I can do this…
Also just wanted to mention that I am feeling much better now with my health issues overall, though I had to make some lifestyle changes for sure. It has been a slow healing process, but just taking things day by day. I hope everyone here has been doing well. 🥰
Oh man, I am so pumped for this topic! This should be interesting. Despite being an anxious person, I do enjoy horror movies.
I think one thing that can make music sound scary is a minor key but especially musical dissonance. I think something about that is automatically unsettling to the human brain.
Another thing is when there is a slow, steady, deep rhythm in horror movies – that triggers an ancient fear within us, that emulates the pace of a t-rex’s slow, ominous stride. That isn’t true, I just made that up. …Or is it?!
Can’t wait for this one!!
Hello friends! I tried to leave a bunch of notes and also reply to all the kind words from everyone about my submission, but didn’t quite get to everyone! Thankfully, @leb397 @Marianne and others left lovely comments and everyone got at least one reply, I think! That’s what makes this community so beautiful! Thank you for that! 😍
@otzepeng, your performance of the Severence theme was so good! I’m not smart, though. Is… that you in the video? How did you do that? Really neat! 🙂
@misterbones, really amazing performance as usual! So neat how you’ve incorporated the bass so much into these challenges – although, once again I am being a bit daft – that isn’t a u-bass this time? I guess I didn’t realize that you also play the guitar bass (I’m probably saying that wrong). 😅
@shmu88 – such a gorgeous performance of Marianne’s Contemplations. You really captured the expressiveness and beauty of the tune so perfectly. Lovely playing! 🙂
@leb397, such a beautiful performance of House of the Rising Sun! I really loved that one by Matt. You played it so perfectly! 🙂 I could never quite get the “ghost notes” down, but they sound very natural when you played them. And you nailed the harmonics at the end, too! Thank you so much for your encouraging words about my submission, that really, truly means a lot! I pray that I can make it through this. Despite some really hard days, more often now I am starting to feel like myself. I just take it one day, one hour, at a time. Anyway, thank you so much!! 😍
@nat-uke, very beautifully played, Matt’s tune, Drifting! That’s one of my favorite of his tunes, and you did capture the emotion very beautifully. Also, the scenery in your video is gorge! 🙂
@brettboy, such a happy tune and lovely and fun performance as always! I can’t help with any of the recording stuff since is my great struggle in this world, as well. 😅 I think your videos always sound really good, though, sound-quality-wise and it helps that your playing is very clean. 🙂
@malku2603, very beautiful playing!! 🙂
@katazumiri, that was so stinkin’ magical! I love what you did with this tune. This was originally a vocal lesson, wasn’t it? And you used the xylophone for the melody – it works so well. So fun! 😀
@misskika, very beautiful playing!! Somewhat hard to hear, but after turning up the volume it sounded really good! 🙂
@anyon1, such lovely playing! You always capture the spirit of tunes when you play them and the feeling. I really loved that one by Andrew – his compositions have such depth to them. Beautifully played! 🙂
@lhamilton, your take on Marianne’s Contemplations was so lovely! You’re very adept at playing tunes in a classical style for sure. Lovely! 🙂
@grannieannie, loved your take on Maybe I’m Still Amazed! Very beautifully played. 🙂 Hehe, thank you so much about my video! I am thinking I really will redo the music to the video to include some clawhammer. I don’t know how I could’ve overlooked that!! Thank you so much! 🙂
@nelsonlin2021, really loved your performance of A Shade Of Minor! That one is sad, but beautiful. Haha, thank you so much about my video! Ha, I had to put the twist at the end. Oh okay… so… Matt created a version of Canon in D in C major on his YouTube channel, but I took that and attempted to figure out a minor version. I was just guessing on most of the chords, though. I have to go back and figure out more specific chords that he used, because I only based it on what I remembered from listening to his lesson a few times. I sure am loosey-goosey with how I do things! But if I can figure out more specifically, I may be able to write it down because it is relatively simple. Sorry, that’s a very convoluted reply. I think that tune has potential to be quite pretty in minor, though. I just might need help. 😅
@ldarrow, very beautiful performance! I’m so sorry to hear that you are feeling minor. I so understand that. On the bright side, your performance was so lovely! 🙂
@akukes73, really lovely playing, even more amazing that it was only 3 attempts recording! So tricky. I don’t remember who started that trend here on RC101, might’ve been @johanna2509 (sorry if I remember that wrong), but it’s a really good idea! Very pretty performance! 🙂 Hehe, thank you so much about my video and for thinking that is my superpower! Being more imaginative can be fun, but boy does it have drawbacks at times! I’ve learned that the hard way. “Uh oh, what’s real?!” my brain says sometimes. Sorry that was TMI, but thank you! 😅
@janaq1, I was so excited to see that you picked this one before even listening to it, knowing it would be great, and you did not disappoint! Really, really amazing performance, wowzers! Good golly! 4StringBoy sure has skillz, as do you! I’m so happy that my goofy video made your day, that makes me smile! Thank you so much! 🙂
@karenj, very beautiful performance! Your playing was pretty dang close to perfect to me! Your videos always make me smile because of how kindly you connect to people through the camera. To me that means a lot, but you’re a great player, too! Thank you! 🙂(At this point, I am starting to run out of steam and not feel well, I’m afraid, so sorry for not getting to reply to everyone’s submissions (I know I don’t have to, but I gave it the ol’ college try!), just one more reply:)
@dianna, really amazing performance of House of the Rising Sun! The way you put your videos together is also really neat, neat style! Haha, thank you so much for your kind words about my submission, that was so much fun to put together! I may try it that way again with ChatGPT, perhaps, though I think the drawings have more character when a person does them, frankly. 😅Really amazing month of performance, everyone did an amazing job!! Really looking forward to this month’s challenge! 🙂
Hello ukulele friends! 🙂
I managed to get together an entry this month! I have no idea how, lol. I frantically threw this together… today. 😂
I really wanted to do the option with the live lessons, since I’ve loved those so much, so I chose the What Is Your Ukulele Superpower? lesson. That led me to thinking about the imagined “origin story” for how I acquired my “ukulele superpower,” which I feel is creativity/imagination, and also being able to (re)create a clawhammer version of different tunes. I feel like those are two of my strengths with ukulele and this video showcases those things (but now I’m thinking, why didn’t I add clawhammer to this?! Der). I also included the Live Lesson on reharmonization because the background tune for this video is suppose to be a minor version of Pachelbel’s Canon, which Matt just did a lesson on for his Patreon. I figured that out somewhat at the beginning of the month, but then didn’t get to practice it again until tonight – so some of it was completely made up on the spot and that shows. I also was guessing on a lot of the chords because I struggled to figure out the “minor equivalent” of some chords. But considering how flippin’ quickly I threw all this together and that I was guessing with most of it, I think it’s okay. 😂 I may redo the music at some point when I have time again.
The images I created using ChatGPT. I would’ve drawn them all out myself, but I just didn’t have time with everything going on. I think it’s still pretty hilarious. Also, at one point, ChatGPT generated a random “critter” that I did not ask it to. So, if you’re wondering why there’s a weird creepy little grub creature – that was just pure AI nightmare fuel. 😂😂
Also, with the panels with the black background and text only, I forgot to remove the “camera turned off” icon, sorry about that. 😂😂
I think that’s it. I’m very tired, so hopefully I remembered everything. Can’t wait to listen through all the other entries this month, no doubt they are amazing!! 😊Thanks to @Andrew for these more creative challenges! 😊
Here ’tis:
Andrew, I won’t lie to you, that took me multiple readings to grasp, lol, but I think I’ve got it now! Everyone else can disregard what I’m saying here because you explained it perfectly. But if I understand, you want the “and” within each category and the “or” between categories? I feel like this is getting borderline philosophical. That is so confusing, but now the search works perfectly. I just tried it. 😂
@janaq1, I do see what you’re saying about that. You mean, that if you select “country” and “love” songs, you would want to see both those categories appear as separate entities but listed together – as in ALL the love songs and ALL the country songs, not just “country love” songs? I definitely see the logic of that with the song difficulty levels, but with the song categories, I feel like the best solution might be to just do two separate searches. Select “love songs” to JUST see love songs, THEN select “country songs” to JUST see country songs, THEN a combination to find “country love songs.” Hopefully I’m following what you mean. I just don’t know how you would design the search to be able to look up the two separate categories (love songs AND country songs) AND a combination at the same time (country love songs). If the search showed country songs, love songs, and country love songs – then that’s almost too much information, I think, too broad of a search. That’s just my thought on that. 😂
I didn’t have the issue with the search only listing 3 songs, unless the search actually did narrow it down to 3 options, but I’ll let others weigh in. Those are just my thoughts.
