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I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Despite the consistent picking pattern throughout this piece, I found it difficult to memorize. Sammy has written this song with elegant simplicity, but it took a while to understand how the little changes in fingering fit into the whole piece. I found I was rushing it at 85%, but my fingers got tangled at 100% – I’ll work on increasing the speed and playing it more smoothly.
@karenj, what a wild and crazy uke — that looks like so much fun!
@katazumiri, you’re a puppeteer, too! I had a good laugh at that — very clever.
@the_bumble_bard, you’re not down to the wire this month, and first take, too. We’ll done. Nice of Sammy to write out the piano part — confirms my belief that all ukulele instructors are just good people.Thanks, Andrew, for all you do, and thanks to everyone who enters these challenges — what a lovely community.
Hi folks – some great entries already, and welcome to new members. I wanted to challenge myself with Blue Moon this month, but life has been getting in the way of my managing some of the chord changes easily. In the meantime, I’m loving the sound of Spøgelser, and I like the haunting melodies that 4-String Boy uses in his First-Day Warmup series, so I think it’s time to redirect my efforts. I haven’t given up yet on Blue Moon, but maybe for another challenge.
Congratulations @clempek — we’ll look forward to hearing how your new uke (will you give it a name?) sounds on Low G.
So many great entries this month — thanks, everyone, for the inspiration.
I had to make it short and sweet this time — travelling again.
Fascinating – I didn’t know this technique existed. Could you show us how you have adapted this to another song? Thanks, Matt.
So many great entries this month – thanks to everyone for the inspiration.
When I started working through the Pathways beginner section, I looked at, tried briefly, and skipped over the Chunking Etude because it involves the two things I’m least comfortable with: chunking and quick chord changes. Then I thought that’s not the way to go about learning, so I went back to it and struggled my way through. It still doesn’t come easily, but at least I can now tick that one off the list (and go back to now and then to try and increase the tempo).
@The_Bumble_Bard: Of course we’re going to watch your video, and your tears show just how much music and this community mean to you. I’m glad you were able to squeeze in an entry this month and that this song gave you tangible evidence of how you’ve improved in the last four years.
To everyone else: Well done! When I start to feel stuck, as if I’m not making any progress, I sit down and listen to your entries and walk away inspired. Thanks to everyone who entered and thanks especially to Andrew and crew for making this happen.
I chose the In-and-Out etude, partly because I wanted something simple for this guest-filled month but mostly because I feel I need to revisit the basics – the new Pathways course came at the right time, along with Matt’s recent live lesson on simple songs.
This piece was interesting right from the start, when I realized that because I’ve been playing my low G almost exclusively over the past year, my brain wanted to hear the G playing an octave lower than the sound I was hearing. This led to a lot of finger stumbles, so to get over that I played the same pattern over and over but moved my fretting hand up and down the fretboard with my fingers on random strings, resulting in some really interesting combinations.
I also learned, from earlier attempts at recording myself, that I’ve been gripping too hard with my fretting hand and picking too hard with my fingerpicking hand, so I have to remind myself to lighten up.
Oh, @brettboy, quelle dommage! To have to face at least six weeks without playing is bad enough, but you must be one of the few, if not the only one of us, who’s participated in every challenge. I wonder if an original tune, with a promise that you’ll play it later, would be grounds for a special dispensation (I’d vote for that). Frightening how just one little slip can have such a huge, long-lasting impact. I wish you a speedy recovery. (I can just imagine the doctors, when they inspected your hand, saying, “Regardez la force et la souplesse de ses doigts! Il faut absolument qu’on découvre son secret!”)
@marianne: I look forward to your submissions each month – this one is as beautiful as ever.Thanks, @Andrew, for creating this step-by-step course that will walk us through so many concepts; you’ve spent a lot of time into putting this together. I’ve felt at loose ends for the last couple of months (not helped by a fair bit of travel), and I need to get back into a regular practice routine. I’m going to start at the beginning, as a refresher, and learn/reinforce the basics before moving on. This is perfect timing.
Thanks also for the online tuning tool – really handy!
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
I could have used another week to iron out the kinks, but I’m heading out to Montreal tomorrow (hmmm, maybe our paths will cross, @shmu88) and will have neither time nor ukulele while I’m there, so this is what I can do for now. Once again a fair bit of background noise – the dogs always seem to wander in when I’m recording.
@misterbones, you’ve put into words what I’ve discovered about my own practice. There have been songs where I’ve felt like tearing my hair out because it feels like I’ll never get my fingers to go where I want them to, but somehow by the end of the month it seems to work out.
I try to get a longer practice session in each day, but that doesn’t always happen. Then I heard from more than one source that progress actually happens more quickly if you just spend a few minutes on a piece or on a particularly tricky passage, walk away for a while, then come back again later, rather than belaboring something in the hope of quick improvement. That seems counterintuitive, and I’ve also wondered if there’s any research around that.
By the way, I always enjoy watching you play. You’re always spot on, and you make it appear so effortless! I like your approach of trying to choose something that’s a bit challenging – that’s what keeps the interest going.
It’s Red is the Rose for me because I’m going to be short on time this month and all the pull-offs in Kemp’s Jig looked like they’d need more time, but I do prefer that tune and will be going back to it later.
@jbmills, I can’t wait to see how your cat chooses to accompany you this month, although I don’t know if anything can top the headdress he decided you needed two months ago (and the fact that you played so calmly throughout)!