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@gi_gi_ thank you so much for your kind words!!! You are very kind.
@anikali Thanks for your compliment. Do look up that etude. It is a delight to play. And yes, my ukulele is an aNueNue. I found it on Facebook Marketplace. I found a review by Got A Ukulele review and was impressed. I then found a review by RockClass 101’s own Steven Warren on his YouTube channel, and I was sold. It’s my favorite uke! Thanks again!Hi Everyone! For this challenge, I decided to work on Andrew’s Fingerpicking Etude No. 24, focusing on hammer-ons, and pull-offs. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this beautiful piece. My challenge in learning it wasn’t so much learning how hammer-ons and pull-offs work, but in keeping the fingers on both hands from toughing neighboring string, thus muting them. Once I was able to do that consistently, my fingerpicking sounded much more legato. For that, this piece was a great learning tool! I really love these etudes, as you get to work on specific techniques through shorter pieces that are fun to play and sound great. It’s been interesting seeing what everyone chose to work on this month. I’ve made a list of pieces I plan to look up in the lessons to learn, so thanks everyone for the inspiration!
Here is my entry by the seat of my pants! I chose to learn a version of Blackbird arranged by Cynthia Lin to work on this month. I’ve done you all the favor of not singing along, but you are welcome to if you are so moved! I missed submiting a progress video as I ended up getting sick mid month and lost almost two weeks of practicing, but even so, I feel I came close to my goal. I am close to having the piece memorized. I have memorized all the different sections, just not the order that they all go in, so I had to follow along on the tabs. A few more days, a bit more polish, and I will be there. Lots of great entries this month. Fun seeing what everyone chose to do. So much variety and talent. Very inspiring!
Hi everyone! I am taking this opportunity of creating my own challenge to learn how to play Blackbird by the Beatles. I would say I’m still in the beginner stage – I’ve learned a lot through this group, but still have miles to go. I bought my first ukulele at the end of January 2023 and am up to 13 at this point, but who’s counting???
I will sift through the internet and select a version of Blackbird to learn from the many I found at a quick glance earlier. I am especially interested in fingerpicking style, and this song will provide lots of learning opportunities. I will look for one that feels true to the original, presents a challenge to me, but feels like an obtainable goal by month’s end. I will make time to practice each day, breaking the song down into manageable pieces, polishing a section before moving on to the next. My goal is to memorize and play the piece smoothly by the time I submit it at the end of the month. This will teach me how to search out new pieces to learn and to create the habits needed to meet new musical challenges. Looking forward to this!
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Well here I am again, having chosen the more advanced piece to play for the December Monthly Challenge. Possibly not the best choice to have made at what is arguably the busiest time of the year! But then again, challenging ourselves improves our skill set, right? This is an honest look at the frustration that comes with the pressure of trying to get a clean take after what feels like a million tries, even switching out ukuleles hoping that might help. (Spoiler alert, I went back to my first choice.) I’m sure many players will identify with this. Happy I don’t take myself too seriously not to be able to laugh at myself! Thank you, Andrew, and all the wonderful teachers at Rock Class 101 for helping us along on our ukulele journey. I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season with time to play ALL of your ukuleles at least once! Good luck to everyone! I just made a small donation to The Ukulele Kid’s Club. I think it sounds like a wonderful program!
@Andrew – Thank you so very much! You totally made my day. The choices for this month’s challenge were the most exciting to date for me. I really enjoyed it.
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By the seat of my pants… For this month’s member challenge, I started out working on Path of the Wind. While I loved it, (it’s from one of my favorite movies!), I felt I wanted to challenge myself more by learning Always With Me. Perhaps not my best move, as there are parts that still need improvement-especially measures 41 to 46. My hands are not quite large enough to make some of those stretches on my tenor in those measures. I likely should have tried it on one of my concert ukes, but I love how it sounded on this tenor. A little more time and I might have smoothed that section out. At any rate, it’s a beautiful arrangement (thank you Steven!) and I adore playing it. After I polish this, I’ll attack Merry Go-Round of Life! Good luck everyone! Lots of great entries this month!!!
Thanks @Andrew for the kind words. I will work on keeping my picking fingers closer to the strings in the future. Thanks for the tip!
House at Pooh Corner please! I actually sang it in a band back in the 70s. Brings back nice memories!
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I chose Morning Dew for my monthly challenge entry. I still have some places to smooth out, but feel good about getting them all in time. Thanks for another great learning piece, @Andrew, and a fun piece to play!
@Andrew thanks so much for your kind words! You made my day, and as I said, this was a super fun piece to play.
Hi Everyone!
For this month’s challenge, I chose Syncopated Speed Picking. I can honestly say this is the most fun to play song I have learned to date! I couldn’t decide whether to post my entry with or without the backup track, as I wasn’t crazy about how it sounded being played on my phone. At any rate, I am sharing both versions here. Thanks for a great piece @Andrew! It’s a joy to play! Good luck, everyone!
@Andrew thanks so much for the tip about not bending my barring finger. That was a total revelation for me! No wonder I struggled with bare chords so. This is a game changer!!! Woohoo!!!
Hi everyone! Here is my entry for the August Challenge. I chose Fields of Gold. I still struggle playing bar cords, but kudos to you for encouraging me to work on them! Good luck everyone!!!
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Here is my entry for the June Monthly Challenge. I chose the One Finger Etude – Mini Lesson: 009. I thoroughly enjoyed learning this piece. I played it on my Kala KA-ACP-CTG concert ukulele. Lots of good entries this month. Good luck, everyone!!!
