[Andrew]

That was awesome Rick! Way to go! 👏

[Andrew]

Wow! 57 members joined us for this month’s challenge! Stephen and I were BLOWN AWAY by how amazing everyone did! Big round of applause to everyone who participated this month. 🙂

Our May Challenge is LIVE and the theme is Classic Songs! I hope each of you join us again.

Below, I will post a list of members who participated in the April challenge for your first chance to win the Kanile’a Ukulele. Please let me know if there are any discrepancies.

—-

willw18
willw18
planetfink
planetfink
deadbuggy
deadbuggy
lhamilton
lhamilton
leb397
leb397
anikali
anikali
clempek
clempek
ccwuke
ccwuke
anyon1
anyon1
grannieannie
grannieannie
marianne
marianne
suekulele
suekulele
shmu88
shmu88
rgillof
rgillof
dianna
dianna
misterbones
misterbones
musiclover
musiclover
kanique
kanique
The_Bumble_Bard
The_Bumble_Bard
gstriph
gstriph
johanna2509
johanna2509
ldarrow
ldarrow
abster
abster
karenj
karenj
joe150
joe150
gi_gi_
gi_gi_
1481632_m
jody_hendrickson
jody_hendrickson
robinboyd
robinboyd
amilylaw
amilylaw
hiouke
hiouke
coffeemug
coffeemug
brettboy
brettboy
riley_ukulele
riley_ukulele
maryjanew
maryjanew
sarahd
sarahd
lyndallk
lyndallk
Nico_uke
Nico_uke
akukes73
akukes73
cimarronsailor
cimarronsailor
mkstewart67
mkstewart67
janaq1
janaq1
bibilele
bibilele
jebergeron
jebergeron
ruthie-roo
ruthie-roo
mmoynihan
mmoynihan
jgillard
jgillard
richard_siegert
richard_siegert
otzepeng
otzepeng
ksapp92
ksapp92
mysticrick
mysticrick
frederic
frederic
morrieuke1
morrieuke1
terryfallon3
terryfallon3
emiliano
emiliano
marthad
marthad

[Andrew]

Here’s everyone on page 6.

@1481632_m – Congrats on getting the barre chords down! Your performance was excellent! Your fingerpicking sounds great, and all of the notes had a lovely tone. My only suggestion would be to work towards gradually increasing the tempo.

@jody_hendrickson – That was awesome Jody! An absolute pleasure to listen to, beautifully played! 👏

@robinboyd – We’re often too hard on ourselves, Robin. I thought you gave us a lovely performance. I know the new job is keeping you busy, and I hope it’s going well! I, too, don’t get the practice time I used to, but I try my best to squeeze in as much as I can, as often as I can. 🙂

@amilylaw – I thought you played it beautifully, Amily! The one thing I would suggest working on is maintaining a steady tempo. I noticed a few sections sound like they are rushing a bit at times. Try playing along with me in the tab player, but start at a slower tempo. Do your best to match me on the timing.

@hiouke – Very well played, Hio! Keep up the great work! 🙂

@coffeemug – Bravo Mary! That was a lovely performance, I really enjoyed it!

@brettboy – This performance is a masterclass in expressing emotion through music. So much feeling in every note, truly phenomenal Brett!

@riley_ukulele – Wow Riley! I can’t believe you can played it THAT well in one day. Very impressive!

@maryjanew – Great playing MJ, it was a lovely performance! One tip, try not to bend your index finger at the knuckle when fretting the D barre chord. It’s important to keep the index finger straight for proper form (see form 3 for more info about this):

@sarahd – Wow! What a view and a beautiful performance to match! Well done Sarah ❤️

[Andrew]

Here’s everyone on page 5 that I hadn’t gotten to yet.

@The_Bumble_Bard – That rocked Rachael! You were locked in, groovin’ with the band! Excellent work! 👏

@gstriph – Excellent fingerpicking and feel Jerry! I heard a little change in the picking pattern going into bars 2 and 3 (and when that section repeats at the end of the tune), but it works! Well done!

@johanna2509 – Stellar playing as always, Johanna! My only suggestion would be to play it at a slower tempo, I think it breathes better that way.

@ldarrow – Wow, Linda! I can tell you put a lot of work into this tune and it def paid off! This is one of my fav performances from you to date. Well done on tackling the left-hand chord work, but especially with how beautifully you played it! 🙂

@abster – Another amazing performance Abster! The future of ukulele is gonna be bright with musicians as brilliant as you!

@karenj – Beautifully played, Karen! There are two things I’d like you to focus on as you continue to practice.

First, concentrate on the timing for the opening four bars. Try to keep it a little more steady. I recommend playing along with the tab player in synthetic mode with the metronome activated. Also, practice the run going into the B Melody (from bar 9 to 10) using the same method.

Second, double-check the melody in bars 13 and 14. I do have to say, overall, it was excellent! This is a tough tune, and I was very impressed with how well you played it. Keep up the great work!

@joe150 – That was awesome Joe! Really well done this month! One tip, don’t forget to tune up before you record 😉

@gi_gi_ – Wow Gi Gi! That was amazing! The only thing I can offer up as advice is to use Transcribe to gradually boost the tempo until you get it to 100% speed. Keep up the excellent work and TY so much for the kind words. I really appreciate it!

[Andrew]

Awesome to hear that you enjoyed it! I’d like to add at least a couple every year 🙂

[Andrew]

Welcome Nicolas! I look forward to watching your performance in this month’s challenge 🙂

[Andrew]

Friendly Reminder – The deadline for receiving feedback and an entry into the giveaway is tonight at 11:59 PM ET (check your local time zone).

[Andrew]

@kanique – Beautiful fingerpicking! An excellent first post, well done Dorota 🙂

[Andrew]

@musiclover – Lovely performance, Mary! One suggestion, try adding an accent to the first note in bars 3, 7, 9 and the coda bar. That’ll give it a nice “pop” when you change between sections 🙂

[Andrew]

@dianna – Well done, Dianna! You played it with a beautiful feel, this has to be one of my fav performances from you 🙂

Sustain is sounding good! One suggestion: try not to stick your thumb out above the neck as much. Keeping it on the upper part of the neck will increase your reach/dexterity, especially with the tough stretch chords, like that first hit in bar 8.

@misterbones – Wow, Michael! Phenomenal performance, I will def be sharing this on our socials! And I will pass on your kind words to the team. I really appreciate it!

[Andrew]

@marianne – That was incredible Marianne! I will def send it to Adrian, he’s gonna love it! 🙂

@suekulele – Beautifully played, Sue! I love the sounds of nature with it too, so peaceful! My only suggestion would be to practice the transition from fingerpicking out of the chords to jumping back up to the 10th fret. Try to smooth out that transition without any pauses.

@shmu88 – Timing, feel, and groove were spot on Sam! You rocked it! 👏

@rgillof – Strumming is sounding much better now, Rich! If you feel any tension when strumming in your hand/arm/wrist, try to let go of it. The goal is to be as relaxed as possible. The rest of tune was solid, really well done!

[Andrew]

@clempek – I thought you did an excellent job, Clem! Timing and rhythm playing were spot on and you nailed the feel of the piece. Well done! 👏

@ccwuke – That rocked Chris! Just shared it on our socials 🙂

@anyon1 – Well done Adriana! You were locked in tight with the band, great groove! Double check the second chord you strum (G5), something sounded a little off there. Everything else was rockin’, keep up the great work!

@grannieannie – Beautifully played, Annie! It sounds lovely on the low G, and good job adapting the D chord bar to fit that tuning. Timing was great, and your fingerpicking form is perfect. Keep up the excellent work!

[Andrew]

@leb397 – Beautifully played, Louisa! Your performance was wonderful. As you continue to practice, I suggest focusing on smoothing out the transitions where you hesitated slightly. Try looping those sections slowly, that’ll help get the muscle memory down. Keep up the great work!

@anikali – You did a lovely job Joan! I think you have a great base established, so as you continue to practice, I’d recommend playing at a slower tempo and working on one four-bar section at a time. This will allow you to focus on note clarity, sustain, and the barre chords. Pay close attention to your transitions between chords and how you lift up from them, as there’s occasionally some string noise. This usually happens if we lift directly up, but can also be minimized by muting with the palm of the right hand.

[Andrew]

@lhamilton – That rocked Linda! Well done 👏

[Andrew]

@deadbuggy – Wow, Sara! You played it so beautifully and elegantly. I loved it! And TY so much for the kind words, I really appreciate it 🙂

[Author]

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