[grannieannie]

Oh, I’m so sorry to hear this! She’s obviously your little soulmate, and you’re giving her the most loving care possible. We’ll hope for the best outcome for her – wishing you strength, as well.

[grannieannie]

@shumu88 and @anyon1: You learned The Dock of the Bay so quickly and played it so effortlessly! I’m working on that now, but with a week of travel intervening, my practice time is shortened. I like watching how you play it.

@marianne: I always look forward to listening to your entries. You play with such feeling and grace.

@leb397 and @dianna: My learning curve follows the same pattern each month: I go through the fingering and transitions and muddle my way through, all the while thinking, “How does this make sense?” Then it starts to make sense and the patterns created by the fingering (I’m a visual learner) stick in my brain. Then I realize I’ve remembered those patterns and it’s a matter of practising over and over, never quite (not yet, anyway) reaching 100% speed. Optimum speed is, of course, determined by the most difficult part of the song.

[grannieannie]

Welcome to the group, Bohdan – what a wonderful gift! You’ll find people are very friendly and supportive here – don’t be shy about submitting entries into the monthly challenges. We’ll look forward to watching your progress.

[grannieannie]

Thanks @Andrew, for your comments – I always appreciate how you pick up on the details.

[grannieannie]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

So many great entries this month! You all continue to be an inspiration.

This was an interesting challenge, my first time trying to combine two of my own tracks. Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, the speed at which I can play something is only as fast as the part where my fingers want to get tangled. So my playing the melody against the backing track slowed right down when it was my own backing rhythm – my hand has a lot of trouble making a clean switch from an F chord to a G chord. (Everyone makes it look so easy!) So I also played the melody with the rhythm track in the lesson, set at 75%. (I can almost make 100%, but that still needs work.)

Thanks again, @Andrew.

@The_Bumble_Bard: Your little sweetheart is certainly lucky to have found her way to you. I can see she’s a lovely companion. I hope your dental issues get resolved soon – that kind of pain can make the rest of life difficult.

[grannieannie]

@frederic: Congratulations!

@jbmills07: What a beautiful tribute with a most appropriate song. You spent a lot of time to honour your loved one in that way.

@potter: You’ve lost a loyal friend – condolences. It’s so hard when pets have to leave us, but she obviously had the best life with you.

@Andrew: Your feedback for everyone is what makes this website so special – staying up until o’dark early to do so! I appreciate that you take time to make videos when you need to show a technique – I always learn something from those, too.

Well done, everyone! It’s encouraging and inspiring to see how people’s skills have developed over the years.

[grannieannie]

@The_Bumble_Bard: Oh, what a little sweety-heart! You’re blessed, and so is she, to have found such a loving home. She’ll adapt to being inside – cats make sure they get the exercise they need by getting the zoomies once or twice a day – and she’s much safer that way. (I learned that the hard way – two cats over the years, both Maine Coons, insisted on being outside and lived the good life until taken by critters.) How lovely that she likes your playing – I’ll expect to see her video debut soon!

[grannieannie]

This is a busy time for you, Andrew – thanks for viewing and commenting on all of our submissions. In your last post to @ukefinlandgirl (beautiful ukulele there!), you referenced a couple of links related to relaxing the arm and hand. Do you still have those?

[grannieannie]

I remember being so nervous when, a year ago, I posted this song, which was my first ever entry in these challenges. It didn’t take long for me to realize there was no need to feel shaky – everyone here is so supportive, and Andrew is always kind with his constructive comments. It’s great to see how people have improved their skills over the years (oh, Marianne, I swoon when listening to you!).

[grannieannie]

Thanks, Andrew, for another fun challenge – and fun to see some of the regulars in their early playing days!

I submitted my first entry exactly a year ago, Fingerpicking Etude No. 13, playing my first ukulele that I strung with low G. Since then I won a second uke (whose sound I prefer) that I’ve strung with low G – I had since changed my first one to high G. So even though the piece is written for high G, I’m going to play it on my low G and adapt it as necessary.

I want to play the piece more smoothly, concentrating on vibrato and legato, maybe trying a bit of rubato, and speed it up some.

[grannieannie]

Thanks @Andrew – I always appreciate your comments.

[grannieannie]

Well, piffle . . . when practising Blue Skies, I didn’t repeat Melody A, wanting to give both A and B parts equal time. Then almost at the end of recording the song, I remembered the repeat, but a client/patron of our little community library, where I was volunteering, came in, so I didn’t have time to try again. Oh well, two-thirds of a submission is better than none.

I wanted to use rubato and dynamics to add some feeling to this but didn’t want to go overboard, so I’m not hearing much actual feeling. Something to work on.

Please exclude my name from the draw this month.

[grannieannie]

@katazumiri – I love how you add extra layers to your pieces! Can definitely imagine watching a circus act with this in the background.

[grannieannie]

Congrats, @leb397! It was a lovely rendition, played well. I’m ready to submit a video of the same song – just have to have a few quiet minutes to do one.

So many great entries this month, as usual. I love hearing what everyone’s doing.

@The_Bumble_Bard: Are you still frozen in? We beat our record of being snowbound this year, going twelve days without being able to get down our driveway. Our area doesn’t get that many snowfalls a season, so it’s hopelessly ill-prepared to handle one when it happens. And our road is last on the priority grid, so by the time they get to us, the road is a solid sheet of ice (winding down a hill, with a lake at the bottom).

[grannieannie]

@The_Bumble_Bard – Look at you, your first entry going playful with some extra fingerpicking! I’m waiting for the day when my arthritic fingers just move easily around the fretboard – I have no doubt the daily playing is keeping them flexible.

@deadbuggy – Your playing always seems so confident and effortless. May I ask how long you’ve been playing?

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