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January Challenge Week One, Sunday Update “CHOPSTICKS” beginner level.
GOAL: Arrangement memorised, playing at about 60% speed on a good day.
PLAN: Currently practicing “Chopsticks” between 1 to 4 hours per day (I also play it during the ad breaks when watching TV).
The usual practice schedule was completed 4 out of 7 days, not as good as usual.
Strum for fun only happened for ten minutes, one day – because I realised that I just don’t enjoy it any more!!! I have more fun learning RockClass101 style. So my RC101 practice and songs ARE my fun.APPLICATION: I have given up on my new piece “Thumb Exercise 3” because I dislike thumb work so very much. I have introduced Taimane’s triplet technique on Thursday, and practice that several times per uke workout. Left hand is building coordination and speed quite nicely, but add chords and it all goes to hell. More practice required.
Minor playing gaffs have been accepted as the rule (I am a stickler for rules), and you will see some on my week 1 video: the harmonic is a really interesting!!! I am having trouble getting even a hint of harmonic on 12th fret 3rd string.
12th fret 1st, second and 4th string harmonics are sweet – oh, but that third is a nightmare (it may be the Living Water string, or just me.)
I am pleased to compare the two videos – because in spite of my repetitive “I can’t play it…” whine, I can see significant improvement in a week.@lisadmh – the theory scares me too!
I kept saying to Beloved Husband “I don’t need to learn theory, I have RockClass101 lessons!”.
And then Andrew has put out the basic theory course, and I completed the first FOUR segments yesterday!
As Andrew won’t be transposing every song that I want to play 🙁 I am now aware that one day I will have to do my own. Argh.
Yesterday’s lessons did include frustration, an argument with Beloved Husband (because to ME the G played on open G string, and then somewhere on the C string is NOT the same sound, not the same note. And don’t get me started on octaves…) and just a tiny bit of satisfaction when I was able to tick off four segments.
This will be hard, there will be frustration, tantrums and tears, and Beloved Husband will suffer while I learn.Know that there are others out there, sharing your pain 🙂
Your Snail goes out of tune when moving up the neck because it has not been set up properly (cheaper ukes just come from the factory as they are), the saddle is not set correctly so the strings sit too high and are out of tune when played. If the frets are set wrong too, then some notes will be out of tune.
Have a look at Uke Republic (or other uke site) to see what a proper set up involves.
Your cute snail is probably just for basic strumming at the first four or five frets.
I have FIVE ukes that need adjustment 😲, but I will only get a couple done.
Find a luthier and ask if it is worth while paying to get it set up properly.
My “eucalele” (more expensive) was set up at the Ohana warehouse in LA (so Ohana professes), and Mike at Uke Republic checked and refined the set up too. And it sounds beautiful where ever I play along the neck (except when I play a string wrong, but even my poor playing sounds better on this instrument 😁).
We get what we pay for, and I have a few (pretty) duds in my collection.Sigh… We will miss your performance 🙁
I look forward to seeing the Vlog instead.What do you say to a musician about to perform? Is it “Break a string” ?!?!
(instead of “break a leg” for actors)congratulations @uku_on !!!
Please show us your new uke.I have Living Water strings on my eucalele (Ken Livingston).
I really like them, but I don’t know if it is the strings or the euc?!?!
I will be buying some more when in Atlanta from the 18th, and will change over some of my other ukes too.
I have two or three being set-up (properly) next week, so it will probably end up being them.Andrew – what day/time for your performance at NAMM?
I do hope we can see it (we will arrive in LAX on Friday afternoon, and if necessary Beloved Husband can drop me at NAMM while he goes and checks in at our accommodation 😀 ).
PROGRESS REPORT (already!).
Today I can play Chopsticks all the way through with NO ERRORS (2/1/19).
The timing is awful, it is nowhere near music – but now that I have Theme 1 and Theme 2, plus the fingering memorised, it can now be all about the musicality.
Feeling proud.I HATE thumb approach!!!
It is cumbersome, awkward and always sounds plain ugly.
I hate it with a vengeance, and every time I attempt to practice and improve, I just get so fricking angry and frustrated.
I just cannot get it to sound decent to my ears. Yes, I can hear and see slight improvement with endless frustrating practice, but it is still just plain ugly, and I do not want to play ugly.
Argh.
I have the dilemma of:
Do I keep practicing, and practicing (in endless frustration) – I cannot get past bar 2 in Thumb Approach exercise 3…
Or do I leave it for now (as recommended by Beloved Husband) and go back to it some other time (hopefully in 20 years).
I realise that I am just doing the usual childish rant when I come up against something (else) that is difficult for me.
But, I still HATE it. Grrr.So here is my first video, unedited.
It is pretty awful, and I got seriously lost in Theme 2 because I only started learning it yesterday.
I will be going back to breaking it into bars to learn them properly – but I just wanted to get the first vid out.
However, my “eucalele” looks gorgeous 😀Okay – this is tough.
I don’t do challenges, because public challenges put such pressure on me that I balk and quit (I am a perfectionist, and I cannot even achieve near perfection).So my eucalele (eucalyptus ukulele) challenge is to: “BREAK MY FIXATION ON PERFECTION” and to be part of a public challenge.
EXECUTION: current playing ability BEGINNER finger style.
GOAL: Complete “CHOPSTICKS”, memorised, consistent playing, 75% speed.
PLAN: daily practice “Chopsticks” 30 minutes (I am on holiday);
but… also usual practice schedule, AND strum for fun every day (it should not be all about
learning, and struggling to learn).
APPLICATION:
Add one NEW lesson/piece each week to break the fixation on perfection. I will not be able to
complete a whole piece, therefore have to accept learning one bit at a time.
MINOR PLAYING GAFFS – I must just keep playing through it! I am not allowed to go back to the
beginning.
EVALUATION: I shall record myself more often, and will post weekly video of progress with “Chopsticks”.(Note: I have been fixated on this challenge for some hours now, and have written a draft copy of this post including Beloved Husband’s critique on my learning habits plus my own critique. Sigh!
Obsessive, fixated behaviour continues 🙂 🙂 🙂 )Wow! It is official now: you are insane, but in a really good way!!!
That is a crazy, awesome achievement in the wee small hours – I am so impressed!@biggoomba has suggested it in another post thread, but I would also love to see lessons or songs that can be performed on the banjolele.
so, more bluegrass-y country style lessons on occasions (and in the meantime, I will just practice other songs on it too, even if they sound terrible 🙂 )
Some Rock-a-billy would be great too.Thanks for everything you do.
You give us a fantastic site for learning, and with your teaching style I have finally found someone that I can “relate” to and learn from.
And congratulations for achieving your dream which truly benefits US.@rickeymike I have a ring-binder folder divided into:
schedule (practice)
uke chords (chord charts)
exercises (barre chords, hammer ons / pull offs, strumming patterns, slide licks etc.)
etudes (for warm up exercises)
beginner level songs
level 1 songs (a few sheets ready to go, but still a long way off)
level 2 songs (empty – but there to give hope)With the folder ordered like this, I can just work through my practice schedule really easily as I usually just follow the section order.
Any old stuff that I can do easily, I just skip past the page. But it is still there if I need to go back to it.
