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I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER.
I’ve had a lot of fun learning this arrangement – big thanks to Matt! My recording is not very good but it’s a fairly accurate picture of where I’m at so far.
Very impressed by others who are able to play this so much faster! I would like to trade in my pinky finger for one that’s stronger and goes where I tell it!
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
For sure I need to work on my hammer-ons and pull-offs to make them more even and consistent. Now they are sometimes OK but usually not. And my resolution for next year is to concentrate on better tone.
But no more apologies and no excuses, this is the way it is on December 22, 2020. Happy holidays to all!
Hey, Matt – I watched the replay last night – thanks! So I’m a Dunning-Kruger test case and didn’t even know it!
What you say about the importance of having fun is SO true, not only for our own state of mind but also for engagement with an audience. A brief story to illustrate . . .
About a half-dozen years ago Heidi and I had just started to learn Lindy Hop swing dancing. And we happened to be walking along the harbour in Victoria, BC, during a summer outdoor jazz festival. The band that was onstage struck up a tune that was exactly the right tempo for our limited abilities. There was a wide area in the sidewalk, so we put down our shopping parcels and started dancing enthusiastically.
At that time we knew only about three moves, so we just cycled through those moves for the whole song. A few people gathered to watch. At the end they congratulated us and I think there was even a little applause. What the onlookers said to us was NOT “those were spectacular moves” or “that was the best dancing I’ve ever seen.” What they said was, “You looked like you were having so much fun!”
We were in our mid-sixties then, now seventy years old. And still having fun. Here’s a tiny clip from somebody’s phone, taken at my wife’s workplace Christmas party a couple of years back.
Hey Matt – Because of time zones and schedule I can almost never catch the live lessons in real time, but I always enjoy watching them afterwards. I don’t have a specific question but I’m very interested to hear what you’ll say about building confidence. Obviously practice practice practice is key.
What’s paradoxical for me is that I felt more confident playing (for friends, at performance parties) when I was just beginning and could only strum through a basic chord progression. As I work on more advanced techniques – but oh so painfully slowly – I actually feel more hesitant to play (semi)publicly. It’s as though the more I know, the more I realize how little I know, and the more sensitized I am to how poor my technique is. Help!
Hi Andrew – Just letting you know that I’ve sent US$50 to the Uke Kids Club. Hope to have my video of Deck the Halls ready in a few days . . . .
Thanks, Andrew, for the super-quick response! Playing in the dark – now that sounds REALLY hard-core, since you can’t see either the fretboard or the music! I’ll definitely give it a try.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear when I asked about “learning the fretboard.” It was actually meant to be the same question, how to get my fingers to the right place without looking. Of course learning the pitch for each fret on each string is another goal, which actually seems more easily attainable than getting my fingers to obey my brain! Working on both skills together is probably a good idea . . .
Hi Andrew – I’m not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question, but here goes.
In all the challenge videos I’ve posted I’m dismayed to notice that I’m constantly looking at the fretboard. I would like to develop the ability and confidence NOT to look all the time, but rather have muscle-memory for my fingers to find the right string and the right fret – at least for the first four or five frets, at least when the jumps are not too big.
I know in general that the key is to practice slowly, in small increments, then work up. But what material would you recommend to practice for learning the fretboard – scales? Other exercises? Chord progressions? Passages from a song I’m working on? All of the above?
Any tips or suggestions would be welcome! Thanks!
Thanks, mark1256! I will definitely keep practicing and check out that lesson. I would really like to be able to bar the D chord – playing it with three fingers always seems very jammed up, even though I don’t have especially large fingers. Cheers!
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Here’s my Puff the Magic Dragon. I haven’t been able to manage Matt’s technique of barring the D chord while leaving the A string open. (How can your finger bend to do that??!) So as you’ll see and hear, I’m doing those measures rather awkwardly and having trouble getting a nice clean tone. Still hoping with more practice to get this up to a faster tempo.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Matt and Andrew – Due to time zone differences and scheduling I never get to participate “live” in the live lessons. But I enjoy watching them afterwards and always find some good tips.
For Matt’s latest on 5 Ukulele Players, I wonder if you could put in links to some of the top recordings (and the John King book) that you mentioned, either here or on the YouTube notes.
Thanks!
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Here’s my take on the Triplet Strum Etude. A few wobbles, and still at “tempo di learn-o”. But it’s a cool technique and I look forward to getting it smoother and up to speed.
I’m so impressed by the creativity and skill of the folks writing their own tunes! Congratulations to all!
For myself I’m just slogging away at the Classical Etude – quite a workout for those left-hand fingers. @Andrew I noticed what might be one tiny glitch. At measure 13, the little chart in the video (34:19) says to use fingers 1 and 3 but I think what you are actually explaining is to use 2 and 4. The fingering chart might have been copied from measure 2, where that E7 is made with 1 and 3. Thanks!
I love the sound of the Classical Etude! I’ve wanted to play it ever since that lesson was posted. Having it in the challenge this month is just the boost I need to get serious about learning it.
Is this the right place to request a future live-lesson topic?
I recently watched Jamming with a Band, several weeks after it was broadcast. Very useful! And leads into my request . . . how to be a good rhythm section for singers. Maybe that seems easy, compared to playing complex solo arrangements. But I think doing it well is a real art.
Obviously some of the same tips apply, such as learning the chord progression and figuring out the most efficient fingerings. But then how do you decide the best strumming pattern? What works best for different musical genres? And maybe how to change it up during the song to be more interesting? How to make up a solo for an instrumental chorus? What happens if your strumming is syncopated in a different way from the vocal line?
It’s a real-life situation for me. Due to Covid-19, my choir is singing outdoors, distanced, and because of those limitations we’re sticking to fairly simple rock and pop and folk standards. For example, I’m working on Hotel California (in Em). I would love it if Matt could dig into this!
@jinajupiter is it OK to share your Stairway video? I think somebody asked this already but I couldn’t find it. I have some friends who would really enjoy your performance. Thanks!
