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What a great video! Congrats, Jakeypoo…looking forward to seeing you play with your new autographed uke.
I really like the idea of a course on intermediate/advanced strumming techniques. If there’s a way to include a couple of tutorials on old-timey ukulele songs like Ain’t She Sweet, Five Foot Two, etc with that kind of Roy Smeck or George Formby strumming patterns. They just seem like super fun, potential show-off pieces!
I also really appreciate the advanced song tutorials; I’m having a ball now learning Magic Ukulele Waltz. So while I like learning beginner and intermediate songs, please throw in an advanced song or two as well.
Many thanks, Andrew, and Happy New Year!
rickeymike — funny you should mention this. coffeemug and I (friends from waaaaayyy back) have spent much time texting and video sharing about this very issue 🙂
I have abandoned one container for three separate folders. I don’t care for three ring binders because I like to spread out the pages in front of me.
Folder 1: Songs I’m working on, one-page tunes I like and serve as good practice pieces, and songs that I play with other folks. This folder is intentionally kept thin. The bigger it gets, the messier it looks and the potential for a sense of ‘failure’ creeps in!
Folder 2: RC101 songs. I can’t believe how many of these I’ve printed off and worked on since I joined in August.
Folder 3: Archives of other song sheets.
The system has worked great for me. I do revisit the RC101 and Archive folder to pull out songs that aren’t in the ‘active’ file. But above all, I keep Folder 1 neat and tidy — it helps me keep focused.
And ukukelly1 — again, interesting you mention a performance playlist. coffeemug and I and another pal have been talking about having at least 3 songs at the ready for those moments when someone turns to you and says ‘PLAY SOMETHING!’ That happened to me the other day and I tried to play a kind of difficult song I’m working on and it sounded like crap 🙂 So far, we’ve come up with the idea that at least one song should be a ‘typical’ uke sounding song ala Ain’t She Sweet. Then maybe a light classical finger style song like LaGitanita and then at least one other. It’s a fun exercise to go through!
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My mash-up of What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve and Auld Lang Syne with a sprig of mistletoe thrown in at the end. Have a great holiday, everyone!
What a wonderful organization! I just donated $100 and signed up for their newsletter. Off to pick a holiday song for the challenge, but before I do…Andrew, that sweater!!!
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My interpretation of Moon. Memorization skills are eroding with age 😉 so I thought I’d get a video of this as quickly as possible. I take a few liberties with the base picking pattern, there are a few clamshells and things get a tad muddy toward the end. But I really loved learning and playing this song!
Lisa, it enables you to plug your ukulele into an external amp. Lets you play super loud if you like that sort of thing 😉 or play with different sound effects. If you look at my video this month of Andrew’s creepy etude, you can hear how I play with some of the sound effects. I’ve got a cute little amp called the Roland Microcube — $150 on Amazon. I use the amp sometimes if I want to play around with different sounds, or if I want to hear myself better. It’s super fun but you also hear the mistakes very, very clearly!
Some ukes come with a pick-up already installed (my new Kala cedar did, ala how I recorded the creepy etude). You can also have a pick-up installed in a uke; I recently did some research on that and I was quoted about $150.
The doo-hicky I bought is described in the video link that Kanae posted above. Like the demo, I just used painter’s tape to attach it to the uke and plugged it in and away I went!
I bought one of those $7 pickups? It works pretty well! I took One School Katie’s tip and just used painters tape to attach it to the front of the ukulele because it’s only going to be an ‘every now and then’ thing for my low G uke. I’m hoping to record Moon using the pickup for the next challenge.
Yes, those are Aquila Reds. I love ’em! I was in a music store a few weeks ago having strap pegs put on my low G tenor; the owner had never seen the Reds and made an immediate order for his store. I think they are a nice combo of bright and warm. And of course, they do match the new uke!
So…here’s my version. I don’t play Evan’s entire arrangement — just imagine that I play the rest of it absolutely perfectly!
Maureen — you’re so right! the more I work on the ‘hard stuff’ the faster and cleaner I can get some of the other things.
Andrew — if you only knew how many times I watch, rewatch, playback slowly, etc all the videos…if you and I were having a private lesson, you’d be hitting yourself in the head with your ukulele 🙂 Thanks for the nudge to try difficult pieces!