Participate in the March 2021 Member Challenge – Theme: Love Songs!

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  • #45572
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Hi Rock Class 101 Community!

    We are back with site member challenge #48! WOW, there has now been over 2,300+ members participating in our challenges! If you’ve sat on the sidelines, please join us for this month’s challenge! Challenges are a fun way to stay motivated and a great way to meet fellow ukulele players who are passionate about learning and becoming better players. 🙂

    And I offer feedback on ALL submissions!

    Please watch the video above and read instructions below carefully for details/instructions on this month’s challenge.

    Pick 1 from the following 2 RC101 Lessons:

    1) “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole * – One of the most enduring love songs from the last century. We’ve arranged this song as a two-parter, where the first half is a chord melody, while the second half is meant for vocal accompaniment. * The chord melody is taught in its entirety for FREE! Only the chord melody is required for submission. The vocal accompaniment section is optional but encouraged!

    2) “Spanish Romance” – An iconic classical guitar piece that sounds equally as amazing on the ukulele! This fingerstyle piece serves as a great study for developing expression in your playing.

    ** If you need assistance with how to record yourself check out our FREE course on recording audio/video and/or private message me and I will be happy to help you out. **

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    GOALS FOR MEMBER CHALLENGE:

    1. Intermediate to Advanced Level: Be able to play the lesson as shown by Andrew smoothly, in time, and at or close to the original piece’s tempo.

    Recommended Piece (from easier to harder): “L-O-V-E” OR “Spanish Romance”

    2. Participation Goal: 35 Rock Class 101 Member Participant Videos/MP3 posted.

    _______________

    GROUND RULES FOR PARTICIPATION:

    1. Post your Youtube, Vimeo, or Soundcloud links of you playing 1 of the 5 RC101 pieces anytime between Monday, March 1st until Wednesday, March 31st, 11:59pm EST.

    The upload feature on the site only supports file sizes up to 5 MB. Members must host their own files. Creating an account is easy and free 🙂 Here are the links to create an account:

    YouTube (For Video) – https://www.youtube.com/create_channel

    SoundCloud (For Audio) – https://soundcloud.com/signin

    2. Submit individually, as a reply, IN THIS POST.

    3. Feel free to submit more than one video for the challenge, but additional videos will not count as extra entries into the raffle for the prize.

    4. Have fun and don’t be intimidated by this challenge!!! Use this challenge to help you set goals and complete them by a deadline. You can also use this as an opportunity to chat with your fellow Rock Class 101 members and share tips or tricks on this challenge that you think are useful.

    5. You must perform the entire piece to receive an entry into the prize raffle. Performance must be submitted by the deadline listed (in #1) above to gain an entry in the raffle, as well as, to receive feedback.

    * Note: In my opinion, it is better to show progress versus perfection with these challenges. So if you are a beginner and can only play the first couple of measures. That is completely ok. If you play two more measures of the next challenge piece than you did the previous one, you are on track to getting better. This is what these challenges are about… you learning ukulele and getting better. Remember we are all here to support you no matter what your current playing level is.

    _______________

    COMMON FAQs:

    1) The prize and the challenge is open to the entire world!

    2) Premium membership is NOT required to participate, but will make participation easier as it gains you complete access to the full video lessons, tabs, and the on-screen tab viewer.

    3) Basic membership (free) is required to submit a reply on this forum post. You can sign up for Basic Membership HERE.

    4) To post YouTube video links (in which they appear embedded on the forum), simply copy and past the video URL in its own line. For example:

    YouTube URL

    5) If you live in the Continental U.S., we will ship the giveaway ukulele to you for FREE! If you live outside of the Continental U.S., there will be a shipping fee ranging between $40 USD to $80 USD. This fee will be collected by Uke Republic. You are also responsible for any custom fees or duties.

    _______________

    Giveaway Rules:

    There will be 1 winner, selected by random drawing on April 5th. To qualify to win, you must submit your audio and/or video links of your playing by the deadline listed above.

    Grand Prize:

    1) $140 Grand Prize! Includes:

    A) Islander “Plant a Tree” Concert Ukulele Package

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    Learn more about Kanile’a’s initiative to reforest Hawaii: https://reforesthawaii.org/

    _______________

    THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS!

    Uke Republic: http://www.ukerepublic.com/

    Kanile’a: https://www.kanileaukulele.com/

    Islander: http://www.islanderukulele.com/

    Let’s crush this challenge!

    #45573
    richo_uke
    Participant

    Hi Andrew,

    I saw you sitting there with a “new” uke and I think it was a baritone. So you are starting with that soon?

    I wonder why you have to choose a theme? So none of the songs is for a beginner and I would like to participate (more often) but most of the time I fail because the chosen songs are to difficult for me.
    Please consider having the chance for everyone to participate in the challenge because as you said… it’s not about the giveaway but about practicing a piece of music “in a special way” (don’t know how to say it in English). And if there is no theme for the beginners in that month so why not choose any song just for having the chance to be part of the community…

    Have a nice day and looking forward for interesting music to come.
    Rici

    #45574
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    Yes, baritone is coming soon! 🙂

    I remember your performance of White Christmas. It was very good! If you can play that song, you can tackle these! But I will keep your suggestion in mind.

    #45575
    richo_uke
    Participant

    Thanks for your answer.

    #45576
    samash07
    Participant

    So the singing part is optional for LOVE? There’s no way I’d ever get the courage to sing as I sound like a broken record, lol.

    #45577
    ukandrea
    Participant

    Hi Rici,

    With Spanish Romance there are several techniques to learn and practice (vibrato, rubato, dynamics) which I guess gave it Level 2.
    But the song itself is really very easy to play and Steven gives very useful tips on how to place the fingers. And the melody is so, so beautiful.

    For me it is the first time that I memorized a song without even trying to do so and also the first time I can play a song with closed eyes (ok, currently only the A melody).

    My uke loves that song and wants to play it on its own 😉

    Give it a try, I am quite sure you will enjoy it.

    Best,
    Andrea

    #45578
    richo_uke
    Participant

    Hi Andrea,

    thank you for your kind words.

    Yes, Spanish Romance is wonderful and I practice it since its release date and therefore skipped “Into the Maze”.

    But I struggle as always with some fingerings.

    My other GREAT problem it that I can’t play songs that are “long” because I, I dont’t know why, can’t memorize the complete piece and then I struggle because I have to look at my music sheet or/and my hands to find the notes I have to grab… and then I make so many mistakes… in the end I can’t finish…

    So, right now I am a little frustrated but I do my very best.

    Best,
    Rici

    #45579
    ldarrow
    Participant

    Am excited to try to learn Spanish Romance. This is one I have been hoping to learn but all that I had found so far required an alternate tuning (which I really don’t want to do for just one song–I only have 1 instrument and usually when I practice I am playing around with a couple of songs and etudes to try to develop different skills as I am a very fresh beginner. Thus, alternate tuning is not practical for me). Looks like this one uses standard tuning. Thank you for doing this and making it an option for the monthly challenge.

    #45585
    maryjanew
    Participant

    Spanish Romance is on my Sleep Playlist and I just love it! It is so romantic😜 and relaxing!
    I’ve been wanting to learn this song for a while! I’m sure I will have to take it in small chunks, at a slow speed in order to memorize it.
    It will be a challenge but well worth it for a song that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

    #45593
    ukandoit
    Member

    PREMIUM MEMBER

    Hello RC101 🙂
    Hopefully i worked on that one 4 years ago when begining uke.
    I modified it a little bit because with the lowG i didn’t like very much the end like 00090005000. But i tried to stick to your version. Let me know if you don’t accept it, there is no problem to play your version if it is the rule.

    Thank you for watching.

    EDIT: I’ve changed my strings a month ago. Am i the only one to hear the 12 fret not ringing properly? i mean, like if my uke was not in tune…I’m almost sure it’s not exactly the sound it should have, and it’s only on the 12 fret. Let me know. Thank you

    • This reply was modified 3 years ago by ukandoit.
    #45595
    cncamacho
    Participant

    Yes! Looking forward to L-O-V-E, I started learning it when released but really need to dig in more.

    #45600
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    @ukandoit – All good, Matthieu! It’s very similar and the bars that differ are well arranged. Great playing! I enjoyed watching it 🙂

    And I hear no issue with the 12th fret.

    #45601
    effortless
    Member

    As for the vibrato technique taught in Spanish Romance, I’m wondering if it works well on fluorocarbon strings. I’ve been trying for a while now and it seems like no matter how I try I’m not hearing any change in pitch. Thanks for any advice you can give!

    #45603
    Andrew
    Keymaster

    @effortless – Steven says “should work fine on any strings. I use fluorocarbon strings so it definitely works on those.”

    Post a video doing the technique. We can take a look to make sure everything looks okay 🙂

    #45605
    effortless
    Member

    @Andrew thanks for taking a look! Here’s a video of me attempting it a few times

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