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Hello Kip, welcome. Do take a look at the Beginner’s Course. It has a lot of beginner friendly songs and etudes to help you on your way.
Andrew, thanks for the quick reply. I’m using my newly low G strung soprano for this course. So right now I know to stay away from that strange sounding “steel” string. I’m working on the practice exercises of the A and E strings but I printed the Ode to Joy sheet music to visually study the notes as they appear on the “lines”. I end my practice sessions by calling out the notes on the sheet music. Then reading it backwards to get better at knowing the notes on sight.
Questions: I’m working on Ode to Joy in the music course. Do I need to play while reading the notes or do I have to memorize the piece (either way, I’m not looking at the tabs).
And since I’m not looking at the tabs, Do I stick with the notes on the A and E strings or when a C note or G note appears, do I have an option to play the open C or open G. I’m educationally guessing that for instance the 3rd fret on A string is a different octave than the open C string and so on.
This huge light bulb just turned on in my head….. For a solid week I’ve been studying the A string then I tried the first 2 bars of Ode. For one solid week, it sounded so “off”. I would play A-A-B-C C-B-A over and over again and it sounded terrible. So today I started the E string and just skipped to the 5th bar. It sounded perfect!!! THEN…. I looked at the first bar again, I didn’t see the flat on the B line before the timing signature, so all this time I was playing the natural B on those first couple of bars..GRRRRR. Back on track and 10 days to go.
Becky, I took the time to read your blog (twice!). Hey, I’m going to vote for slump over passion. Been there. We’re all here to learn at our own pace and not anyone else’s. I’m actually struggling with the reading course and being able to post by end of month. But I’m determined to not look at the tabs for Ode. So If I don’t make it by the end of month, no problem. I’ll just continue on till I’ve got it. It was this time last year that my slump hit and I just quit for a couple of months, hey, but the passion returned. Hang in there, dear classmate.
Rickey
Hey Maria, there are straps out there that hook into sound hole and tied at the neck so no drilling is required. Never tried it but it may be worth a try. I had both my ukes fitted with a strap button by a professional luthier. Cost was about $10.
Ok. I’m STILL laughing. The movie is from 1962. One of the 3 segments in the movie contained this jingle playing through speakers on a billboard of a picture of Anita Eckberg drinking/promoting milk (get it?) And it’s played over and over again throughout the segment. The man is a self proclaimed morality enforcer. He get’s his just desserts when the billboard comes to life and we have a 50 ft tall Anita Eckberg chasing the man throughout the streets of Rome. Directed by Fellini.…..OK, the more I explain, the deeper I get. haha. Just watch the movie!
OK. I’m still laughing at your response. LMAO. the two bars of exercise three sounds like (as I’m writing this, I’m in hysterics) the xylophone part of the background music in that clip…..I was serious when I wrote the first post but now I’m not sure or not about my sanity. ROTFL.
Andrew, While working through the exercises in the unit sharps & flats on the A string, playing exercise 3 gave me an instant flashback to a movie I saw many years ago called Boccaccio 70. Listen to the below short clip from the movie. Does it sound familiar? Or am I delirious? ha. BTW, the movie was hysterically funny.
So glad to hear, Robin. ha. I am determined to do this. Yep busy Feb. with Mardi Gras festivities starting in one week….study,study.