[karenj]

Thanks for the tips to help me with the muted strum. Hopefully I’ll make it past the intro by the end of the month! I love the way you (and all of the RC 101 crew) encourage us to keep learning.
Thanks again.
Karen

[karenj]

Hi Andrew, It may be a bit of a stretch for me, but I am thinking of giving Tip Toe Through the Tulips a try. I’m wondering if you have any tips for the “mute” strum. With the G chord, it looks like you are looping your thumb over the top of the neck to mute the G string? I can’t quite reach around like that. I need to practice, but I get the concept of lifting pressure a bit with the L hand, but what do you do with the open strings? Or can I just mute with my L pinky across the strings? I welcome any advice. . . .

I am old enough to remember loving Tiny Tim, especially on his somewhat regular guest appearances on Laugh In. I hadn’t realized he was left handed. He was quite a character and worth a youtube search if you aren’t familiar with him.

Thanks,
Karen

[karenj]

Here’s my version of Spanish Romance. I’ve really enjoyed learning the song and also viewing all of the submissions. I spent half the month getting used to using my index/middle/ring fingers instead of thumb/index/middle, and now in the video I notice my right thumb is sticking up and seems to think it no longer has a job to do. I was too busy to participate in January and February and thus it was nice to push myself to submit something this month. There are still plenty of mistakes, but it is indeed nice to see some progress no matter how slow it often feels.

I hope you are all hanging in there with the pandemic and everything. Happy Spring!

Take care,
Karen

[karenj]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

Here’s my version of Carol of the Bells. I love this song and wish I could play it more relaxed, fluid, and with better sustain. But considering I started the month with the most pitiful sound coming from my hammer-ons, I realize I actually did make some progress. Thank you for this lovely arrangement and wonderful lesson.

I’ve enjoyed the many great submissions so far and look forward to viewing more. I wish you all a happy holidays. May you all have some time to connect with friends and family, even if it is remotely this year.

I also donated $25 to Ukulele Kids Club.

Take care and stay well,
Karen

[karenj]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

Here is my submission for November. I tend to rush with my playing (especially when I get nervous when I push the record button) so it was nice to have the piano to help me slow down.

This light up ukulele was certainly a pandemic/online shopping/impulse buy. It isn’t the greatest sounding ukulele in the world, but the fun variety of the different light modes make up for it. I was going for a ghost-like effect and it’s also nice to blame the poor sound quality on the novelty uke rather than my playing.

I’m looking forward to reviewing all of your submissions. I wish you all happy holidays and hope you are all staying safe and healthy.

Take care,
Karen

[karenj]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER!

Hello all,

Here’s my October submission. It isn’t as smooth as I would like, but here is goes anyway. I need a better microphone, but that would eliminate yet another excuse for why it doesn’t sound as good as I wish. I very much enjoyed learning this technique and am looking forward to completing the course and learning St. Anne’s Reel.

I had to take a couple of months off as I was too busy with COVID-19 and school planning. But it is so great to be back and I am more convinced than ever that music is the world’s best stress reducing medicine. Thank you Andrew and crew for all of your work.

I apologize if this is a repeat posting. I tried earlier but think I wasn’t logged in correctly.

Take care and stay well,
Karen

[karenj]

Oops. I forgot to mention:
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER.

[karenj]

Hello Everyone. I’ve enjoyed all of your submissions very much and am always amazed by the many variations in the same songs. It is also always nice to learn from the feedback given to others.

Here’s my submission of People are Strange. I struggled with buzzing, I think mostly due to my lazy pinky finger and had to resist the temptation to finger with my more comfortable ring finger. I hope some day to play as relaxed and smooth as some of you. It was nice to play out on my porch with some much needed rain in the background. Maybe it will help drown up some of my mistakes?

I hope you are all staying well. Take care, and thanks again to Andrew and the whole Rock Class 101 community.

[karenj]

Thanks Andrew for your thoughtful feedback. It is always helpful and I like learning from feedback to others too. I seemed to struggled with recording brain freeze with this song more than usual and thus my hours of memorizing and breaking things down seemed to evaporate. But I do indeed think it will be helpful to repeat those difficult sections over and over so muscle memory will kick in when the brain (and fingers) go haywire. Thanks again for such a wonderful site. And although it lessens my chances to win that wonderful ukulele, I want to congratulations you all on your successful growth.

[karenj]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

Here’s my May submission of Malaguena. This is the most challenging song I’ve tackled so far and really enjoyed it. It still needs a lot of work, especially the middle section. And the anxious, death grip I had on my ukulele during that stretch certainly didn’t help. Despite hours of practice and tons of takes, this is the best I could get. And without the benefit of time travel, I guess it will have to do. Besides, even my dog is sick of hearing this song over and over. I’ve really enjoyed everyone’s submissions and look forward to more. Thanks to all of the RC 101 Community.

[karenj]

I appreciate your feedback, Stephen. And I want to say a big welcome to all the new participants! I’ve enjoyed all of your entries and have also liked checking out the wide variety of ukuleles. The current state of the world is such a nice time to focus on music.
Stay well.

[karenj]

I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER

Here is my April Submissions of Hone A Ka Wai. I enjoyed the challenge of learning this song and found it to be deceptively difficult, especially with the fingering. I know there is plenty of room for improvement, but I can’t seem to work on anything else until I “finish” and submit my chosen challenge song. I want to now spend some time on the other fun Hawaiian songs. Thanks again to the RC 101 community. I hope you are all staying well.
Karen

[karenj]

Congratulations Anne. What a wonderful way for you to have a little extra ukulele love to acknowledge the anniversary of your husband’s passing. Take care.

[karenj]

Here’s my March submission, Waltz in C. I started with Lagrima but then got busy with some other things, including the harmonics class which has been really interesting. I continue to work on playing more relaxed and fluid which still goes out the window when I hit record. And I also need to invest in a better mic!

I hope you are all doing well during these unsettling times. I am so grateful for the online ukulele community especially with all of this social distancing. I’ve enjoyed all the submissions so far and look forward to those to come.

By the way, I specifically wore the sweatshirt as a shout out to the Portland Maine Sea Dogs and to all those other baseball teams that will hopefully be filling our stadiums soon.

Take care, hang in there, and stay well.
Karen

[karenj]

I’ve really enjoyed learning the clawhammer technique and I hope to continue to improve with this. I would love a cleaner take, but even with leap day, this is as good as I am going to get! I notice my pinky likes to sneak out of that claw shape and need to work on that.

I’ve enjoyed everyone’s submissions. The many beautiful versions of Amazing Grace have inspired me to try the Harmonics course next. Thanks again to all.

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