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It’s a really interesting question, and it makes me think of something one of my favourite aikido teachers says. That is that you can only express yourself freely through movement (or in this case playing) when you have practiced the movement so many times that you no longer have to think about it. That’s what I found when I played Moon in a challenge a few months ago. I could only put the expressiveness into that I did because I could play it backwards, in my sleep, with my hands tied behind my back… Of course, that month was also disastrous financially because I had very little work…
Hi @mheiden. I’m probably not the best to answer this, but I know exactly how you feel. I had heaps of trouble with pain in my thumb from playing barre chords when I started. In my case, the solution was a combination of getting used to it (and it takes a long time) and getting a uke with a lower action. That may or may not work for you though.
FWIW, playing Moon caused very little pain when I played it through a few times, but I had to stop after that because my hand cramped up a bit. It made practicing difficult.
Hey, if I’m not mistaken, that would make it mid-morning on Tuesday here. Normally, I’d be able to do that, but I’ll be working as a tour guide on that day, so no good this month.
Thanks for looking that up Sheila. It saved me the hassle. That’s a real shame that we can’t participate. I was looking forward to it.
Hi Guys,
I admit that I haven’t had a lot of time to work on this one, but something is better than nothing, right? Anyway, here is Ode to Joy.
I took out one of the notes and played middle C instead of high C on purpose. I know that the exercise was designed to only use quarter and eighth notes (I know some of the quarter notes were dotted) and to only be played on the E and A strings, but I figured that sticking in a half note was alright, and that it wasn’t a huge stretch to work out that the open C string was a C 😉
Oh, and I counted to show I understood the timing.
I’ll continue with the course as I find time.
I used to have really good high-frequency hearing, but not anymore it seems. I can hear 15khz but not 16khz.
Hi Becky, I finally got around to reading the whole post. I might have got a little bit of dust in my eye…
I bought a humidifier when I got my good uke because I had read all sorts of horror stories online. I also got a digital hygrometer to put in the case just to be sure I needed the humidifier. Lo and behold, it read about 65%. It briefly dropped to about 38% during a record-breaking dry spell, but otherwise it has always been somewhere between 40% and 70% so I’ve never actually used the humidifier.
When the arrangement is finished, it would be great if we all learned it and put videos for Anne on this thread…
LOL. I suppose that makes me self-aware, huh.
I’ll get Tiffany to have a look at her feedback too but your comment gives away your youth! It’s from Monty Python!
@lyndallk – I’ve looked at doing that uke building workshop but I don’t have the time or money. It looks like heaps of fun, though. It’s in the north-west, right? I’m in Hobart, but if you ever swing by this way, feel free to drop me a line.
Hi Everyone,
Well I managed to get something done before my voice gave out. I had to do it in one take though, so it is definitely not perfect.
Evaluation:
1. The thing that has given me trouble with this song is that the point that you start singing is different for every single verse. I had been having all sorts of problems with the last few verses so I practiced them a whole lot, but now I’m having issues with the first couple of verses. There was a major timing stuff-up in the first verse in the recording, and that’s something that’s only reared it’s head in the last few days. I expect that with a bit more practice I can iron that out.
2. The wrist thing that you mentioned last month has really been bugging me. I’m trying to fix it, but I’m not there yet. I think the camera angle makes it look a whole lot worse than it actually is though. I’ll try a headless shot next time to see if the different angle makes it look different. I’d play around with it a bit more today, but this smoke is really getting to me.
3. I think you can hear the uke this time. The background buzzing is the exhaust fan on my computer. It’s labouring a bit in this heat.
