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I wanted to sink my teeth into the clawhammer technique this month, and I did. My goal was to learn five clawhammer tunes, so here’s the playlist of five videos with all the clawhammer songs I learned this month and recorded today. The first one is actually a medley of three fiddle tunses, so technically it’s seven tunes in total 🙂
I even added a personal extra challenge by going way out of my comfort zone and throwing in some singing in one of the tunes.
I’ll definitely join the clawhammer party this month. I already planned to do that before I knew what kind of challenge it would be this month, so it’s actually cool that I get to focus on that completely as part of the RC101 January challenge. I did the clawhammer course back in August when I learned “Bury me beneath the willow” for that month’s challenge, and while I kind of got addicted to the technique right away, I haven’t really practiced it very much ever since, as learning the arrangements for the following challenges took up most of my Ukulele playing capacity. Also due to lack of repertoire, as I had already learned the arrangements from the clawhammer course, and nothing motivates me as much to practice as new arrangements to learn.
So as the December challenge was over early, I started revisiting the clawhammer technique, and by coincidence I came across some really good material by Aaron Keim, which I acquired and started to work on. I will keep working on that throughout the month. With regards to the clawhammer technique I’d still consider myself a beginner. My goals until the end of the month are:
– build a repertoire of five easy to intermediate clawhammer arrangements to be played flawlessly by heart
– add as much finesse to the basic bumm-ditty technique as to be able to control the volume of the brushes and plucks and make them sound interesting and contrastingI AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Choosing I’ll be home for Christmas was a no-brainer for me this month, as jazz is by far my favorite music to listen to live, and thanks to Christopher’s brillant arrangement I almost feel like I can swing with the cats myself now. This was just pure fun to learn and play, thanks so much, and please keep them coming like this.
I have to say that this was actually my very first (and only) take, and it was just supposed to help check the setup and volume, so I didn’t really focus too much, and completely botched the intro, that just sounds ugly. But then the rest went quite ok, so I thought, why not use the very first take for once and just forget about perfectionism. It’s jazz after all. So here you go.
I donated $40 to the UKC. Happy holidays everyone.@rebeca: Thank you!
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I decided to tackle Howl’s Moving Caste theme this month. This also makes for a great warm-up exercise, as it really goes through all the motions, all over the fretboard. It’s one of those pieces that’s almost impossible for us mere mortals to get one complete playthrough down without a mistake, so here’s as close as it gets for me.
@rebeca: Thanks! In the link I posted above, I actually linked it at the exact time stamp (about 7:30 into the video) where Matt actually messes up the slide himself and then talks about how to fix it. So no need to watch the whole thing if you’re particularly interested in that bit only.
@rebeca: Beautiful rendition! Re your question about slide accuracy: Matt actually gave a hint about this in the syncopated speed picking tutorial I did last month: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExncDKt0Kqo&t=452s
His advice is to increase the pressure as you approach the target fret, so the finger digs in and the fret wire acts as a barrier and stops the finger, which makes it less likely to overshoot.
Other than that, this is probably not the advice you were hoping for, but in my experience, if repetition doesn’t help, then the only thing that will do the trick is even more repetition.
Also, the usual advice applies: take it slow, play it in super-slomo ten times in a trow without mistake, then increase the speed ever so slightly and try again ten times in a row without mistake, and so on.
And maybe most importantly: don’t sweat it, give it a rest, practice something else, come back to it later. Sometimes things suddenly just click after a while of doing something entirely different.I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
I picked Little Trouble in Big China this month. Really like everything about this tune, the use of the exotic scale and time signature, the way how it builds up drama and releases again, the combination of solo licks, arpeggios and strumming, my only gripe is that it’s too short 🙂
Anyway, when I started practicing this song and arrived at the 32nd note speed lick, I thought, how lucky I did the syncopated speed picking etude last month, which set me up perfectly by teaching me exactly the alternating thumb/index technique I needed for this lick. So here you go:@ldarrow: don’t worry about the action at the first fret, if it’s very high at the 12th fret, the luthier will definitely be able to lower it to make it easier to play. Different strings might improve the sound and even the intonation, but they will hardly affect playability. Actually, the string action was the one thing I didn’t like about my moon bird out of the box, it was too high for my taste, so I took it to the luthier, and he told me that it’s at 3mm over the 12th fret, which is still acceptable, but lowering it to 2.5mm made it significantly more playable, even though the difference is hardly noticeable visually. But usually those places that retail high value ukes such as the Anuenue bird series, will also set up the action according to your preference for free before shipping it to you. Just ask for it. Most ukes out of the factory tend to be set up with a string action on the higher side, as some players who strum real hard prefer that in order to avoid buzzing, and as it’s always much easier for the retailer to lower the action than to raise it.
@ldarrow: It’s a moon bird, so unfortunately I’m not able to tell you anything about the cedar bird, other than that the build quality and playability of the moon bird are spectacular, and as the birds are all identical except for the wood, the same should apply to the cedar bird. I also love the sound of my moon bird, and yes, as @gi_gi_ pointed out, it is loud, but that’s exactly what I was after. At the time I decided to upgrade and get my first serious uke, I was just working my way through the arrangements from James Hills Duets for One book (and I still love them and play them a lot). All of those arrangements are played with the thumb only, which takes on double duty playing the accompanyment and the solo part at the same time. That works particularly well if you have a wide range of dynamics, i.e. a big difference between the loudest and the softest you can play. And with a little practice, you can always play a loud uke softer, but you can never play a quiet uke louder than it naturally gets. So that’s why I was particularly looking for a loud uke, and why I’m very happy with my moon bird. But probably not the greatest choice if you want to use it as a strumming machine. So as @gi_gi_ said, really a matter of personal preference.
But the birds always seemm to be on backorder anyway, demand exceeds supply constanly. When I got mine two and a half years ago, it retailed at 1.249, it went up 200 bucks shortly after, and is pobably only going to go up more in the near future. So if you’re lucky enough to find one in stock, and have the funds available, I’d say go for it. In the unlikely event you don’t like it and it doesn’t grow on you, and you can’t return it, you can always flip it at little loss or even for profit.Much later than usual, but kind of busy month for me, so just got around to finally learning and recording my contribution for the September 2023 challenge. How convenient the theme was mini lessons this month. My very first participation was in October 2020, and I haven’t missed one entry since, so this completes a three year streak, definitely didn’t want to miss this one. While anything with the word “syncopation” in it usually makes me nervous, this one felt almost like cheating, as the guitar plays the exact same thing, and it felt quite easy to just follow that lead. Plus the riff is super-catchy, which helps as well. As Andrew always points out – if you can sing it, you can play it. Definitely the case here.
(Please no giveaway entry for me this month – thanks!)Thanks @annemarie. I agree, the clawhammer style is addictive, so anyone who hasn’t taken the course yet, give it a shot, you might get hooked just as I did. Yes, it is a little tricky initially, but just be patient, it will eventually click, and then you can sit there and get lost doing the bum ditty for hours, it’s an almost meditative experience.
Ok, so when I went through the options for this month’s challenge a few weeks ago, the idea of learning a brand new technique sounded appealing, so I decided to try Bury me beneath the willow, and started with the clawhammer course as recommended. And what can I say, I was instantly hooked and addicted, so much so that I just had to get a banjolele for the full experience. And I thought I was immune to the UAS, but there you go. So here’s my take on Bury me beneath the willow. Learning the clawhammer style and then applying it by learning this song was incredibly fun and rewarding, I’d say it was the most fun I’ve had with a RC101 challenge so far, even though it doesn’t show on the video (I have no idea why I always look like a dork when I record myself, trust me I’m happier than it looks). Next I’ll go through my repertory to check out what else sounds good on this new toy of mine.
Now I’m definitely out of room for ukes, so please no prize drawing participation for me this month. Thanks.
