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Here’s everyone on page 8:
@ksapp92 – Great job on this one! You did a great job of getting this one under your fingers in just a couple of days! There’s just a tiny bit of the middle section to memorize left, and then you’ve got it! Keep up the great work!
@mysticrick – You are doing a nice job on this one so far! It’s a very challenging piece. You are at the point where you have almost all of the notes under your fingers, so now it’s time to work on a few spots where you hesitate. Even though this song has a somewhat freely flowing tempo, it might help to play certain passages with a metronome. Play any tricky section slower than you are used to until there are no hesitations or places where you are struggling to get to the right notes in time. Then gradually speed up the tempo to where the song feels the most comfortable. I noticed that you were playing some of the song faster than the original, which also might be making it more difficult to play. Keep it up, you’re doing an excellent job!
@frederic – Very nice job on this! You kept a consistent tempo throughout, and all of the notes were very clear. The only spot that might benefit from a little more practice is the very last chord. Keep up the great work!
@morrieuke1 – You played this one very well! Great job with the consistent tempo, feel, and getting the upper register notes to come out clearly! With a little more work on the ending and adding a few embellishments that are in Steven’s performance of the piece, you will get the emotional aspect of the music to shine even more as you work on this. Keep it up, it’s sounding great so far!
@terryfallon3 – Very nice job on this one! I feel like you might benefit from playing on a larger sized uke: maybe a concert or a tenor? It’s very hard to get a full sound out of the upper register on the soprano (is your ukulele even smaller than a soprano?). Another thing that might help is to use a strap to support the ukulele so that you aren’t having to stabilize it with only your hands. You’re doing great, let me know if this helps the sound/playability for you. Keep it up!
@emiliano – Excellent job on this one! You played every note very cleanly, and the reverb was a nice touch! Is that built into the instrument, or did you add that after the recording? Very well played, keep up the great work!
@marthad – You are doing a great job on this one. The first melody sounds great! With just a tiny bit of practice on the section that starts around 0:30, and you will have the whole song down! With that section, try just isolating it until you have it memorized. Keep up the great work, you’re doing an awesome job so far!
@sandra907 – Very nice job on this one. You played that one at a consistent, fast tempo. You played very well, and breezed through this one! Just a little bit more work on the chord at the very end and you will have this one mastered! Great job! Unfortunately, you submitted past our deadline so we won’t be able to give you an entry for the prize this month. Andrew tried to give everyone a friendly reminder yesterday.Here’s everyone on page 7:
@lyndallk – Very nicely played on this one! You have a great feel and your technique is great on this one. Keep it up and you’ll be 100% in no time!
@Nico_uke – Great job on this one! Your vibratos are sounding great and are a nice touch. Your timing is solid, and you performed this one very well over all. Keep it up, you’re doing great!
@akukes73 – You are playing this one very nicely! You have a great sense of time and you are playing all the notes well! There are a few tricky spots with hammer ons and slides that are hard to play smoothly. The trick on spots like 0:16 seconds is to keep these techniques as evenly spaced as the other notes around them: treat them just like the plucked notes as far as where each note starts. I know it’s difficult when we’re anticipating those spots, but keeping the feel and timing consistent there just requires a bit of extra isolated practice on just those measures. You’re almost there, keep up the great work!
@cimarronsailor – Nice job on this one! You’re getting the notes to ring out very well, and keeping an even pace throughout. There are just a couple of hesitations which a tiny bit of extra practice will help you work through. I noticed the video cut out towards the end, did the rest of the take not get recorded? Keep going, you’re doing great!
@mkstewart67 – Very nicely done! You’re doing a great job! As far as the hesitations here and there, I would recommend just playing it a tiny bit slower until they naturally work themselves out of your playing. You have a great feel, and your hammer-ons and slides sounded great! I also like the way your backdrop matches your outfit. Excellent job on this one!
@janaq1 – I enjoyed your playing and video editing on this one! You chose very good spots to add the other layers in, and the cuts were very clean! The playing was also great. Though there were minor “inaccuracies” as you put it…it’s very impressive that you were able to keep it together so well with all the syncopation in the piece. This was very well executed all around!
@bibilele – Nice job on this, and the rocker vibe with the sunglasses is a nice touch! You played very well, especially with using the pick! It might help to anchor your hand somehow while playing the single note melodies. I noticed a note got muted right at 0:40, and having the instrument a bit more stabilized by anchoring your hand/arm might make it easier to avoid things like this. Aside from that, there’s just a tiny bit more work on the ending, and you’re rocking it 100%. Great work on this one!
@jebergeron – You’re doing a great job so far on this one! One small suggestion that might help for now is to play the whole piece just a bit slower than you did in your video. This will allow you time to prepare for what shifts and techniques are coming just slightly ahead of time so that you can get to them smoothly. Once you can keep the flow of the song steady throughout at this slower tempo, then you can speed it back up and it should be easier to maintain the tempo. Keep it up, you’re doing a great job so far!
@ruthie-roo – Very nicely done! Though the nerves from recording affected your playing slightly in one or two spots, you kept a great feel, sound, and consistency throughout. Maybe playing it slightly slower would help to calm your nerves as you play? I often find that reminding myself to breathe when recording helps a lot as well. Your playing was great on this! Keep it up!
@mmoynihan – Great work on this! The challenge of going from single notes to strumming and back is a bit tricky for sure. On the section that starts at 0:30, my one suggestion is to pluck these notes just a bit harder, as the first string doesn’t project as loudly. It needs just a bit of a harder pluck to be heard over the backing track. Keep it up, you’re doing great!
@jgillard – Very nice job on this one! Your feel and the notes sound great! You kept a fairly relaxed pace throughout as well. Keep up the great work!
@richard_siegert – I think you did very well on this one! The only hesitation I noticed was right before the last chord, and that is fine! You did a great job of picking the right pace for your video. Now that you have it down at that tempo, you can work on speeding it up if you would like. Keep it up, you’re doing great!
@otzepeng – For only 3 days of work on this piece, that was fantastic! If you played this one just a bit slower, I’m fairly certain you would be able to get through it with fewer or maybe even no hesitations. Still, you were doing great at this tempo! Keep it up, you got that together very quickly!@The_Bumble_Bard If I have any dreams with spooky eyes in them, I’ll know why. I never thought of sticking things to the ukulele actually muffling the sound, but that makes sense…sometimes painted ukuleles have a slightly more muffled sound.
Great job again on conveying emotion through your playing, that is a great goal to have!
Here’s everyone on page 7:
@misterbones – You are doing a great job on this! Barre Chords are very tough on the wrist, and it’s very hard to keep going for this length of a piece over and over for sure! You still did a great job throughout! My only suggestion is to use the thumb and finger more like a pick in the section at 0:37. This part requires a bit more emphasis and clarity on each note, and a fingernail will have that more than the skin of the fingertips. Keep it up, you sound great on this one!
@jbmills07 – Very nice job on this one! I like how you crescendo into the chorus and the overall feel that you have. If you can help it, try not to bend your wrist upwards while playing the slide from 1-2-3. It may also help to keep the thumb on the back of the neck to stabilize your hand a bit on the slide rather than to let the thumb come off of the back. You played this one very well. Keep it up!
@rgillof – You’re doing great on this one! Your triplet strum is very solid, and you have most of the melody under your fingers. There are still a few spots to work on, so for now I’d recommend playing the whole song at the speed you can get through those sections. Any time you are hesitating and having to redo a piece of the song, it’s often because the tempo is slightly too fast for where you’re at in your practicing. Try keeping the tempo consistent at a slower pace and see if you can make it through the piece without the same hesitations. Keep it up, you’re doing great!
@nelsonlin2021 – Very nice job on the slaps, notes, and other techniques of this song! Now that you have the song under your fingers, try playing the first 0:55 of the piece with a metronome. With all of the fills and slaps thrown in, it’s easy to rush the tempo in some spots and slow down in others. Once you get a consistent tempo with the metronome, it will help the song flow smoothly. Great work so far!
@firebladetim – You are off to a great start! This piece has several challenges, and you are getting close to having them down! One of the hard parts is playing the triplet rhythms in measures 10-31 evenly. Practice playing this section at slower speeds while focusing on spacing these notes correctly. It may help to isolate the right hand plucking pattern at these slow speeds to make sure the notes are evenly spaced. Keep it up, this is a great technique to master!
@maryjanew – Very nicely done! You are getting the hang of the fingerpicking, and building the foundations that will help you with Travis picking in the near future. The only major difference with this etude and the Travis picking is adding “pinching” two notes at the same time. As far as making fewer mistakes, other than the normal “recording anxiety” mistakes that are common, the majority of mistakes happen from playing something faster than you are ready for. I recommend playing this etude a bit slower with a focus on accuracy and steady tempo. Keep up the great work!
@malku2603 – You are doing a great job! The hardest part of this is to not hit the A string with your strum on the first several measures so that the melody note on the E string doesn’t get covered up. Then in measure 9, the melody note is on the A string, so at that point you want to make sure that note is coming through. I think this is part of what Andrew was referring to, but I wanted to type it this way in case it clarified anything. Your rhythm, clarity of notes, and over all playing are great on this one! Keep it up!@lynzo – You’re off to a great start! I recommend taking smaller sections of the song and playing through them at slow, steady speeds until comfortable . Then you can practice transitions between sections. This will help you keep the rhythm of the song while looking ahead for the next part if you need a reminder. Keep up the great work!
@richard_siegert – Very nicely done! You sound very good on this one so far! Try playing this one at a slower tempo to get a consistent rhythm/flow through the song now that you have this much of it under your fingers. Playing this with a metronome at about 3/4 the speed you are currently at will help uncover which spots need the most work as well. You’re getting close, keep it up!
@johanna2509 – Very nicely played. You have a great feel on this song, and your ability to vary the speed and the dynamics to match certain phrases in the piece are great. You did a great job conveying the emotion in the piece. Well done! Keep up the great work!
@morrieuke1 – Great job on this one! The song has a strong start, and you used dynamics as well as increasing and decreasing the tempo well to add a bit of emotion. Though there may be a few missed notes here and there, the performance is great overall! Keep it up, you’re doing great!Here’s everyone on page 6:
@mysticrick – You’re very welcome for the lesson! Your timing on this was great, and you were able to play both parts! Awesome job with this one all around. Now you can try swinging the rhythm to mimic the Jethro Tull version! The bass part is a bit different, but the idea is similar with the edition of the swing feel. I’m very impressed with how much your timing improved on this since the lesson!
@karenj – Lovely job on the harmonics on this one! You are very consistent and are getting a nice tone out of each one. On the natural harmonics, experiment with where you pluck the string to see if you can get an even more resonant sound out of the harmonics. A bit of experimenting with that and plucking further away from even the artificial harmonics can change the sound a good bit. Yours already sound amazing, this is just if you want to experiment with more attack vs. more resonance. Great work on this one!
@nat-uke – I enjoyed the video editing as well as the playing! It’s great that you picked a tempo that works for you for the whole song rather than just parts, that’s always what I recommend. You stayed with the track well! My only suggestion is to keep working on getting the faster notes right in time. Occasionally you play just ahead of the beat, so try playing just behind the beat to counteract this tendency, then you will feel when you are right with the beat. This technique is tricky, so it’s a bit hard to not rush certain notes. Keep it up, you’re doing great!
@swissconsinboy – I’m very impressed that you played the intro so closely…that part is very difficult to lock in with! Once the backing track came in, you were very locked in with it. Fantastic job, this was not an easy one to do with the backing track!
@sarrafina – I agree with you, this arrangement souds great on the baritone ukulele! Great job transposing this, it is certainly trickier using some of those shapes. You are already playing this one very well. Adding some crescendos and decrescendos at the beginnings and ends of each phrase (or certain phrases at least) might add a nice emotional element to the piece, though I know it wasn’t in the original arrangement. Fantastic job on this one, and the mic picked up the baritone ukulele beautifully.
@richo_uke – You sound very nice on this one! You have a good grasp and feel on the techniques, rhythms, and know where to go from here. You will work up speed by getting it consistently, and I have no doubt you will get it to 100% speed in time if you stick with it! Keep it up, you are doing a great job!
@janaq1 – That was a fantastic performance! I’m impressed at how clean and full of a sound you get even in some of the most intricate passages of the song. The harmonics sound great as well! Even after 100 takes, I would be happy if my take ended up anywhere near this clean on this arrangement. Keep up the great work, this was fantastic!
@bibilele – You are doing a great job on this one! The hardest part of tapping on an acoustic instrument is getting the volume to be loud enough. For me, it helps to treat some of the pull offs a bit more like plucks if possible. However, it looks like you are already doing this to some extent. Sometimes it is easier on certain instruments as well: a lower string height helps. You sound great all the way through, increasing the tapping volume just takes time and a bit of experimentation to increase. Keep up the great work!
@ramiro – You played through this very nicely, and that’s quite a feat to pick it out rather than using the tabs/sheet music! Now that you have the notes under your fingers, try adding some volume swells in the first part of the piece. This will help the piece have more emotion. There are piano versions of Fur Elise on YouTube that can help give you the idea of what I mean, but listen to a few since there are several interpretations of this song. Great work on this one, keep it up!Here’s everyone on page 5:
@ldarrow – You are doing a great job on this one! Your right hand technique is very solid, and you are getting close on those chord transitions! Try looping the section from 0:39 to about the minute mark at a slow speed and just focus on the chord transitions in that section. Then do the same for the section starting just after 1:20. Once you have those 2 spots mastered, you have the whole song! Keep up the great work!
@terryfallon3 – Yesterday is such a beautiful piece of music! You definitely have the notes under your fingers pretty well, now it’s time to go through each section and double check the rhythms. One thing that can really help is to try to sing the words with your recording (or just speak them). If you record that as well, it’s easy to notice when you are hesitating or have a different rhythm in mind from the original. Then you can figure out which sections to count and play slowly with a metronome. You’re doing a great job, keep it up!
@brettboy – I really like your feel on this performance! It grooves nicely at this tempo, and your playing is excellent as always! My only suggestion is to play just the intro lick a bit faster, since it’s not part of the tempo set afterwards. It doesn’t really matter, but that’s the chance to throw in a bit of showmanship before embarking on the beautiful flight of the crying doves. It’s a fantastic performance either way!
@marthad – You played that waltz very nicely! All of the notes were clear, and the “strong, weak, weak,” accenting pattern was clear. There were just a couple of hesitations to work out in the section starting at 0:20 and again when the section repeats. Try isolating the first couple of measures in that section, then practice transitioning from the end of the first section into that part. Very nice work on this one!
@The_Bumble_Bard – Very nice take on this song! I can’t help but feel like I’m being watched while watching this (are those googly eyes all over your uke?). You have a great feel and the dynamics conveyed the emotional aspect of the piece well. Now there are just a few spots in the middle section to get the transitions a bit smoother, and you’ve got it! Keep up the great work!
@ccwuke – Great job on this one, it sounds very similar to Matt’s performance! Nice job on this one, I think you can definitely play a more difficult one next time if you have time. I’m glad you are busking, it’s a lot of fun!
@denisedistefano – Very nicely played! Hammer-ons, pull-offs, and muting vs. not muting in certain spots is very tough! You handled this one very well! Keep up the great work your playing is sounding great!
@akukes73 – You are doing a great job! My one suggestion is to play the opening notes a bit smoother: It sounds like you are cutting each note short as your plucking hand is preparing for the next note. Try playing those two notes back and forth while letting them ring as long as possible before the next plucking finger makes contact with the string. You are doing a wonderful job, keep it up!
@gstriph – You’re off to a great start on this one! This arrangement was one of my earlier ones, where I used more stretches that are a bit challenging. You’re doing a great job with that in mind! Now that you have the notes under your fingers, focus on playing with less space in between each strum, especially on measure 2 and where it repeats. The trick is to not think of each pinky movement as a shift, but to keep it down as long as possible as well as the other notes of the chord. Keep up the great work!
@otzepeng – That was a lovely performance of the piece! Your timing, feel, and sound are wonderful! The only thing I hear to work on is increasing the overall volume of the hammer-ons and pull-offs. You can do this by using just a slight bit more force on the hammer-ons and pulling off at a slight angle so that it kind of “plucks” the string a bit more. Fantastic job on this one!Here’s everyone on page 12:
@leslieb – Great improvement on the backbeats! You were off to a great start earlier in the month, and now you have a much more natural feel and you are keeping the feel of the strum pattern natural around the “chucks.” The hardest part now is to get all of the back beats to have the same volume. Keep it up, you’re doing a fantastic job!
@mark1256 – Great job on the transcription and continued work on this one! Keep it up, you’ve done a great job on this.
@sarrafina – Very nicely done! That is quite an undertaking to play the whole song! Your notes are very clear and the tone is very pleasant recorded this way. There are a few key themes in the song that might benefit from approaching at a bit slower of a pace with some crescendos and diminuendos to make the song feel like it’s breathing. Fantastic job on the arrangement, playing, editing, and overall sound!
@bibilele – That is a lovely song with a very catchy melody! Great work on writing, recording, and playing this one. Nice use of techniques with the backbeat, fingerpicking, with a nice chord melody in the forefront! I agree that it is an earworm. Keep writing, you have a gift for it!
@brettboy – Nice tapping! It is not an easy technique, especially on ukulele. You’re doing a great job! For me I find that it helps me to slightly pluck out of the tapped note by removing the plucking hand at an angle to get more volume on the tapping without being plugged in. I do the same for pull offs, especially on string 1. You sound great on this, I’m looking forward to hearing what you do next!
@morrieuke1 – Fantastic composition with very nice melodies throughout. The shift from G Major to G minor was a nice one. Your use of different techniques, varieties in your rhythm, and the use of this song form were all combined in a masterful way! I hope to hear more compositions from you in the future!
@nelsonlin2021 – Great improvement on this one! Consistency in tempo is important for these techniques, and this is a good speed. As you continue to practice pieces like this one, your hands will become more relaxed…less tension in the muscles helps each technique to flow more naturally. Keep it up and you will get to the point where it feels natural. You’re doing great!@gi_gi_ For me it helps to pick out the melody on an instrument to make sure I’m singing the notes I’m intending, but I’m an instrumentalist first and a singer second. If you aren’t playing the Bb note in that Gm chord, then it’s just a cool version of the song and you’ve kind of made it your own by doing that (implying a G Major chord instead). As far as what key I sing it in, I rarely do…so I just tried transposing it a bit to see what I preferred…and E minor seems like a good fit for my voice. When I’m accompanying others, I often play it in A minor. Thanks for asking, that was a fun exploration for me. Cheers!
Here’s everyone on page 11:
@gi_gi_ – I enjoyed your rendition of Summertime! You have a great voice, and your chords are lining up great with some nice triplet strums thrown in for good measure. One tiny vocal thing on this out of the whole song: at 0:29 when You say “Ea-sy,” The first syllable is a melody note that isn’t in the chord. It sounds like you are singing a B when the note could either be a Bb…or even a G (when I sing this song I sing a G in that spot). However, the B seems to work there since you didn’t strum the Bb note in the chord very loudly at that moment. Whether you choose to change that note or not, this was an excellent version of Summertime all around! Keep singing and playing, you sound awesome!
@lyndallk – It is really cool seeing your progress on this one! On Your early video, you were getting the shapes down, but it’s really come along now that you have the rhythm in there! Those chords really move around a lot on the A melody and that makes it hard to keep the swing feel with that much motion. However, you are playing it well! I think a little more work on transitions between a few of the harder spaced out chords will allow those sections to become a bit more legato as you are able to hold each one out slightly longer before shifting to the next chord. You’re doing a fantastic job, keep it up!
@lhamilton – Wow, what an undertaking to transpose, arrange and perform for this challenge! The result is great. Your clarity and dynamics give this piece a beautiful and haunting vibe. Very nicely done all around!
@jedart – Summertime has come along quite well! Your singing has gotten more confident, and you are very solid on the ukulele part! Purple Haze definitely sounds like it’s come a long way as well! I like that you are adding the embellishments of the trills and slides. It definitely fits the style! Just a bit more work and you’ll be able to keep the timing throughout. I think you’re ready to play this along with a down-tempo backing track. Keep up the great work!
@ccwuke – Very nice work! You’ve made a lot of improvement from the first video to the 2nd, and the most notable improvement was the timing and feel. You have a much more consistent tempo now, and you are playing the Imperial March section with the correct rhythm. Way to go, that arrangement is not easy! Nice job on this!
@henri0 – You are off to a great start! It sounds like you are very close on this part, and I hope you figure out the technology part to have both sections. I’m sure there are YouTube tutorials that you can help with what program to use to line the videos up and how to do that. On my computer, I’ve used Davinci Resolve, iMovie, and a few other programs. I’ve recently learned how to do this on my phone using a free app called CapCut as well. I wish you luck with this, the tech side of things takes practice just as the ukulele playing does. Keep up the great work!
@misterbones – Fantastic claw hammer playing! You are very consistent with this technique, especially on the video you shared. It’s great to hear you add singing into the mix as well. It sounds like this has been a breakthrough month for you. Congratulations on a job well done!
@leb397 – Very nice job on this one. The hardest part of “chucking” is definitley muting the strings with the left hand while strumming with the right with a bit of weight behind the strums. You’re doing a great job, the strumming takes time to develop a comfortable feel for, and you are on the right path. Keep it up!
@mark1256 – What a great challenge! To be able to transpose, use your finger instead of a capo, and to work on dynamics/emotion all on the same song. You have come a long way on this one, and it was very nice to see your progress with no capo compared to with the capo. Great work, and great choice of challenges!
@anyon1 – Very nice work on the clawhammer technique! It’s not easy to do, nor is it easy on your arm. Your observations are great: it takes a lot of wisdom to recognize that you are trying to play faster than you are ready for and how that tendency holds you back. I teach this all the time, but still fall prey to trying to rush the process sometimes. As soon as you realize it and start playing slower, you really develop muscle memory, and you are able to catch every mistake before it’s ingrained in your muscle memory as well! Keep up the great work!@karenj – Very nice work on this one! Your tremelo picking is sounding great! It’s a tough technique, and you’re getting the hang of it. Watching Matt, he anchors his other fingers on the body of the uke while doing this technique, and it may help you have more consistency with the thumb not getting caught on the strings if you are able to do this. However, not everyone does this while tremelo picking, so it’s up to you, but it’s something to try. You’re doing an awesome job, keep it up!
@brettboy – I enjoyed your rendition! I had no clue you could sing so low at the end. I also like your choice to strum a bit more than fingerpicking. I can’t think of anything to add, you played this very well!
@ukandrea – Very well played on this one! You’ve got the rhythm part down, now it’s time to try the lead part for fun! Keep up the great work.
@alexslph – Awesome job on this one! You have a very promising future on the ukulele if you are able to play this well at age 12! One small thing to work on in this song is the rhythm in measures 6, 7, and 8. These measures may require counting to play comfortably and working up slowly to speed. They are syncopated, which means a lot of the notes are hiding the strong beats. Everything else sounds fantastic, so just focus on these 3 measures and you’re completely solid on this song! Excellent work!
@anyon1 – This was very nicely played. I’m most impressed by your rhythm with this one, as it’s a little bit complicated in places. My only advice is to play all of it with a bit more confidence and at a slightly louder volume on the melody notes. You may also want to use different fingers to fret the intro (pointer and ring for the first 2 chords instead of pointer and middle stretched) as well, though this doesn’t affect the sound. Keep it up, you are sounding great on this one!
@jedart – You are off to a great start on this one, and the tremelo picking is coming along! The rhythm on the first part of the melody is a bit different, though. It might help to sustain the notes without the picking to learn what speed the left hand needs to move between notes, and then add the tremelo picking back in when you have that part down. Even though the tremelo picking is supposed to be at a 16th note speed, it’s better to have the left hand change in time even if you are getting caught up on the strings. Once you get the rhythm down, you will be on your way. Keep up the great work, you’re getting there!
@The_Bumble_Bard – You are doing a great job, this is just a tough thing to get the hang of! My advice is to keep the whole song at the slower tempo so you are practicing the consistency of the timing rather than rushing through one section and then slowing down for the other. Also, it doesn’t sound bad, so try not to judge yourself while you are playing. When you judge while playing, it distracts you from playing at your best. Keep it up, it’s sounding good at the slower tempo, and that’s better than playing it fast (there’s no requirement to play it at full speed in these challenges). You are doing very well, it just takes a lot of practice!
@ldarrow – That was a cool ending! I like how you moved the chord shape around to come up with something. Great work on this one, just keep working on the extra section. You already sound good, it’s just a bit more work before you’ve got the rest!
@dorabr – Very nicely played! You’re ready to try the intermediate and advanced sections soon! Keep up the great work!
@shmu88 – Excellent job on this! I’m most impressed with how you nailed the rhythm and kept a steady tempo throughout the piece in spite of all of the syncopations. There may have been one spot towards the end where you slowed down just a hair for a second, but it was almost perfect in that regard, even at the quick pace of the song. Did you practice counting the rhythm on this? If so, it might be nice for other members to hear your process on that and how much work it took to get the song this solid. Great work on this!
@lhamilton – You are doing a great job on this tough technique! It’s very quick and often requires working the muscles up to speed over a longer period of time. You seem to have the rhythm under control on the melody, it’s just a matter of speed. If you have the ability to, I would slow the backing track down to where you can tremelo pick close to 16th notes in tempo, and then slowly work it up to speed over a longer period of time (it might take a few weeks to a few months) to develop the technique. This might help the ending as well. Keep it up, you’re doing great so far!Here’s everyone on page 3:
@gi_gi_ – Very nice job on this one! I’m glad you are getting comfortable with the concepts in the lesson as well as the playing itself! As far as the playing, you are doing great! My only suggestion is working on the fingerpicking chord shapes a bit more to be able to hold the last note of each pattern out slightly longer before moving on to a new shape. Also, on the last chord, you are playing a C chord in the upper register, and an F chord in the other (instead of a C). I’m not sure if this was intentional…but that combination actually makes a cool chord: An F Maj9 chord! Great job, and very cool last chord!
@smokealot – You are playing this one very well! You have a good sense of the feel with the fingerpicking. Now that you have it down, you could try adding the subtle dynamics in the original: Try swelling into each phrase, and making the triplet strum even more dramatic by strumming just a bit louder. Keep it up, you already have it down, this is just a suggestion to give it more emotion.
@lisadmh – Very nicely played! You have a great feel, and I can tell you are using a little bit of rubato. One thing that could help with rubato is to breathe and sway with the music. With rubato, you are trying to give the song life, and what better way to do it than to swell the volume and the tempo together with your breathing? Think of each phrase like a singer would…swell the volume while slightly increasing the tempo, then bring it back down where it makes sense to. You are already doing this well, but I’m hoping this might be a perspective shift that makes it easier to achieve the feel in a natural way.
@ldarrow – Excellent job all the way through this one! I really like the rubato feel, and I can tell you really get how to achieve this in a natural way. My only suggestion is to really bring up the volume of the triplet strums…I feel like that section is meant to be dramatic almost like thunder and lightning. This etude feels like a calm storm with just a bit of edge in the middle to me…but it is open to interpretation. Let me know if you try it and if you like it that way or not. Keep up the great work!
@suekulele – You sound good on each individual part! It seems like getting the two parts in sync with each other was a bit tricky. What might help with this is to record each part to a metronome in your ear: use one headphone hooked into a phone or separate metronome, or if you are recording on some audio software, use a built in click track. Your technique and playing is very good on each part, it’s really just getting the fingerpicking and the strumming rhythm to line up at this point. Great job on this one!
@jgillard – Excellent work on this! You have the feel good vibe down! Your technique is good all the way through, yet I would recommend putting a little more volume behind the “chunks.” They are meant to imitate a percussive instrument such as a snare drum, so a little more weight of the hand might help to project these hits a bit better. You’re doing great, and this is really more of a personal preference than something you have to incorporate. It sounds great as it is!
@misterbones – You’re doing a great job on this one – nailing the notes and hits very cleanly! The only thing I would add to this is a steady pulse. In your version, you play the intro a bit faster, slow down on the first few measures of the riff, and then speed up towards the last half of the piece. If you keep all of the song at the same speed as you do around 0:05 to 0:10 seconds into the piece, the feel will have more of an authentic bluesy feel. Keep it up, this is merely a suggestion!
@lyndallk – Very nice job on this! I love the tempo you chose to do this at, as it really makes the song groove! So many blues songs have such a good feel around this tempo. Wonderful job on the playing, the groove, and the rhythm!
@jgillard – Nice job on this one as well! You have the song down, and now might be a good time to really exaggerate the dynamics to help the song tell a “story.” This one reminds me of a storm, so I hear the first part swelling in volume as well as tempo…gradually getting louder and then softer again within each phrase. Then I think of the triplet strum part as a crack of thunder/lightening, so I would put more volume into these strums. This is just one interpretation, but it might give you some ideas on giving the piece even more “life.” Still, it sounds great how you are playing it as well!
@brettboy – I love that you did two takes on it. You’re showing great versatility with the more upbeat version as well as the very nice slow, cool feel! Bravo, Brett! I give it two thumbs up!
@annemarie – Awesome job on this one! I can tell you are getting the difference in the dynamics! Sometimes it might be best to exaggerate the dynamics even more than you would expect to really get them across to an audience. This is excellent already! A bit more difference between the fingerpicking and the strumming may add to it even more. You are definitely getting the idea on the Crescendo/Decrescendo section! Great job on this one!Here’s everyone on page 7:
@lbilkie – You are playing great on this one, it’s just a lot of hard techniques in the middle! I think it’s worth taking each technique in measure 25 through 33 and devoting a week to mastering each tricky technique: especially Rasgueado and Triplet Strum. These 2 in particular can make you sound like an advanced player if you can master them. Keep it up, you are doing well!
@dorabr – Very nicely done! You kept a solid tempo and a nice feel all the way through your performance! The only slight thing I have to add to this is that you left out measure 8 (where it stays on A7 for a 2nd measure). You got it on the second half, though. I’m only mentioning it since part of this exercise is playing the 12 bar blues form. Keep up the great work!
@jgillard – Great job on this tricky rhythmic piece! You have a good feel over all on this, and you are doing pretty well on the rhythm! At the section from measures 17 – 20, the rhythm is a bit tricky: the first time around, you have it correct, then at measure 18 – 20 you start to wait just a bit too long on the 3rd hit in the measure (on the “uh” of “2 e and UH”). It’s really hard to be precise here, but looping just these four measures until it’s second nature might be the best way to go. Other than that, you’ve got it!
@richard_siegert – You have a very nice feel on this, and you are doing an excellent job on the 2nd half! The first half sounds great, too…but it’s not the strum pattern intended for this piece. Rather than playing “island strum” over this section, give Andrew’s strum pattern a try. It’s a bit simpler, and accents the beat just a tad bit differently even though it is very similar. Keep up the great work!
@karenj – You are doing a great job, and I like that you tried every technique! I think starting the song slower and keeping certain sections from speeding up is key: by the time you got to some of the harder sections, you were going fast enough to make them significantly more difficult. Pacing is tricky, but you can base the starting tempo on the speed you do the hardest section comfortably at. As far as where to look, this is tricky: I often look into the camera or at my fingers too much as well. Sometimes looking at the sheet music and having it just a bit offset of the camera can help. Keep it up, you’re doing well!
@june2020 – You are actually doing a great job on this one! Your timing, feel, and technique all look great. The only advice I have is to figure out how to make the slaps a little bit louder. Sometimes I have to literally slap (with a flattened hand) to get the percussive quality to come out, though it can be hard to pluck the correct strings afterwards. It may help to do the strumming with the slap over the sound hole rather than the neck. You’re playing this very well, you’ve got this!
@ukulelee – Very nice job on this one! You have a great relaxed feel, and your fingerpicking is very consistent! I like that you added a second Rubato section for the Rasgueado and Triplet Strum measures. It was a nice way to get those techniques in at a slower pace without pausing. Now you can focus on those sections to work them up to speed in addition to being able to do them with the Rubato feel. Excellent Job on this one.
@morrieuke1 – I really like that you doubled the bass line at the beginning, that was a nice touch! So was your improvised solo: way to go keeping a good feel throughout that section. I don’t really have too much to add, I like your take on this! Great job!
@dianna – Great job, and your new ukulele sounds great! You’re doing well so far, and if you have more time to spend on this, I’d work on two things: First, playing the song slower will give you more time to get to tricky left hand positions in the first half of the song, then second, try playing the part after the rubato measures with a metronome at a slow tempo. Once you can get the rhythm there, then work on gradually speeding it up. Slowing the beginning down a bit and getting the middle/end sections at the same comfortable tempo will give the piece a bit more continuity. Excellent job, and congrats on the new uke!
@janaq1 – You are off to a great start on this one! You are doing a great job of staying with the track over all. With the main strum pattern, you are slightly rushing some of the 16th note strums. It may help to slow the track down so you can tell which strums you are ahead on to develop a more relaxed feel for the higher tempos. Keep it up, you are playing well, and I love that uke cat strap!
@akukes73 – You are doing a good job on this so far! The strumming can be a bit difficult, especially with all the extra techniques thrown in. On the first strumming pattern, you have a tendency to speed up just at the tail end of each island strum pattern. What would help the most here is to just practice island strum with a metronome while staying on one chord. Do this for a minute at a time to get some consistency with the strumming. Then play each section other than the rubato measures with a metronome as well, or play with the playback feature at 50% speed and work your way up gradually from there. You did a great job of trying all the techniques and getting through the whole piece. Keep up the great work!
@zongozongo – Very nicely done on this! As far as the first part, I naturally would gravitate towards this way of playing it, althrough Andrew is doing two down strums for the first two strums. This breaks are strumming hand cycle, but it also adds a different accent to that 2nd strum (on the “and after beat 2). It’s a small detail, but it might be worth trying just to have a variety of strum patterns. The 2nd half with the backbeats sounded great! Keep it up!
@richo_uke – I thought this sounded great! Two slight things I noticed were just due to playing the song at slightly faster of a tempo than you are ready for. If you played at 80% of that speed, I bet you could play it flawlessly! Then the transition to the 2nd strum pattern and to the very ending would be just as smooth as the rest of the piece without any hiccups or hesitations. Great job on this!Here’s everyone on page 6:
@ccwuke – You’re doing a great job on this one! Your technique is great, the notes and rhythms are clear, and you have a fairly relaxed feel. Here and there there are a few parts where you are anticipating some of the rhythms a little bit, which hinders the relaxed feel. Try to stay relaxed as you play to keep from playing too far in front of the beat. You’re doing wonderfully, keep it up!
@patdrehu – You’re off to a great start on this one! You definitley are developing a great feel on the 2nd strum pattern with the slaps! In the first one, you are slightly rushing the 2nd strum of the pattern. The secret is to think of it as the same as the 2nd pattern, but without the slap: leave silence for the length of time the slap would take place, and strum afterwards. Then it’s just a matter of placing the last 2 strums correctly. Keep it up, you’re getting close!
@barbecueblack – Very nicely done, especially on the 2nd half! On the first strum pattern, just make sure to hold the last chord of each measure out a bit longer before strumming the downbeat of the next measure. It may help to practice that part with a metronome or a backing track. The second half was solid, with a good feel too! Keep up the great work!
@lynnzo – The Blues is strong in this one! You have a great feel on this and kept the tempo consistent through both patterns. Excellent job on this!
@bibilele – You sound very good on this one! You have a great feel, a consistent tempo, and you are doing great on the techniques. It was very enjoyable to listen to. Maybe now you can speed it up to Andrew’s tempo (although this tempo fits the summer vibe better).
@moonshoes – It’s great that you played both, and this is for “Spice Up Your Rhythm Playing”: You have a very good, relaxed feel on this. Your tempo is very solid, and your fade out was fantastic! I even thought the Rasgueado sounded nice! I don’t have much else to add, but you can try working the speed up on it now that you have the techniques under your fingers. Very nicely done!
Beginner Blues was very well played! My only advice on this is to make the slaps in the second part louder. These slaps are imitating a snare drum, so give them just a little extra pop! You did a very nice job on both of these songs, and the dog bumping your elbow was a cute touch.
@clempek – You are off to a great start! I’m glad you challenged yourself for this…challenge, and you did an excellent job to get through all of the techniques! The main thing to go back to to continue to get better at this is the rhythm on the fingerpicking section. Also, you would benefit from slowing the tempo down a good bit on this song. That would help you keep the same tempo through all of these techniques. Keep up the great work, you can do it!
@suekulele – Very nicely done on this one! I like that you incorporated all of the techniques, though some of them are tough! One that I would continue to revisit is the triplet strum. Andrew links a video that explains which fingers to use to properly do that one, and it’s worth learning! Keep working on this one, you’re doing great!
@kdeacon7 – You are doing a great job on this one, and sometimes it is nice to take a bit of poetic license. I hope you revisit this one in the future to try some of the cool techniques Andrew incorporates in the section just before the fade out. The triplet strum and Rasgueado are really cool techniques that truly do spice up the playing! Keep up the good work!
@misterbones – Wow, very nice work on this song! You have a great feel and great technique. As far as those last two measures of the solo, it may help to play the whole song around 85% speed to make that one segment more approachable for us mere mortals (Evan’s playing can be intimidating)! You did a fantastic job of getting through that in spite of the difficulty. I look forward to seeing your future entries, this performance was on point!Here’s everyone on page 10:
@june2020 – You are off to a great start on this one. You are playing the notes well, and now it’s time to look at the rhythm. Are you familiar with reading the notation for rhythm? If not, try using the rhythm portion of the “An Introduction to Reading Standard Notation” course here. If you would rather learn the rhythm by ear, try playing along with the on screen tab player at 75% speed. You’re doing great, keep it up!
@sarahd – Very nice job on this one! You are doing a great job of playing fairly legato (smoothly) on this one. Every now and then, it might help to leave certain fingers down like in measure 5, you don’t have to lift the finger playing the 7th fret in order to play the 8th. Nice playing and rhythm on this one!
@jayton – You are doing great on this one, and already know exactly what to work on to make it even better. It might help to take a deep breath after starting the playback or to make sure to breathe on beat 3 in measure 3 to not cut that half note short. You’re playing well after that point. Great job!
@lyndallk – I love your musicality on this one. You do a great job of swelling into each phrase, and swaying with the beat is something I often suggest to help others feel the music like you are. Excellent work on this one, especially with the challenge of the higher fretted notes!
@janaq1 – Wonderful job on this one! You captured the feel of the piece very well and played all of the notes very cleanly. Fantastic job all around!
@pika80019 – You are doing a great job on this one. You have a good feel and kept a steady tempo on each section. Try isolating the short walk up at 1:21 to get a bit smoother on that one spot, then you have everything down. Keep up the great work!
@nosferatu – Very nicely played! You got all of the notes and rhythms, and kept a fairly steady tempo throughout. The fast runs in this song are tricky, and the best way to get better at them is to loop just that one spot over and over to build endurance and consistency at faster tempos. This will allow you to play the whole song slightly faster without slowing down in those spots. You’re doing great, keep it up!
@cimarronsailor – You are playing this one great! As far as intonation, it’s hard to tell how much is the instrument and how much is in the playing. If it’s playing related at all, it’s about pushing the string down directly and making sure you aren’t bending the string when trying to reach it with weaker fingers like the pinky and ring finger. However, if the note is slightly flat, you might be able to purposely bend the note up to play it in tune (if it is the instrument in this case).
@mkstewart67 – Great job on this one! As far as clarity from pushing the fretting hand notes down, sometimes it’s about making sure they are reaching far enough forward on the fret. If your finger is too far back in the fret (closer to the headstock side than the body side of the square between 2 frets), you will have to push down harder than if it is closer to the fret the body side. For example, at 0:47 into this performance, your middle finger is too far back in the fret. In this case it sounds muted , while it would ring clear with the same amount of pressure if it was more forward (slide it slightly to the right). It’s hard to explain in words, but hopefully that example helps. You are doing an excellent job, keep it up!
@sir_anzalot – You are doing an excellent job on the notes on this one. The rhythm is a bit different, though this still sounds good. The first note goes by a bit quicker, and for this song we count to 3 instead of to 4. The rhythm notated in the first measure is “one and two and three ” while your version is “one two and three four.” Try playing it along with the tab player and this will make more sense. It sounds good this way, but it is a slightly different version. If you are playing it this way on purpose, disregard this feedback.
@jody_hendrickson – You are off to a fantastic start! You have the notes down, so now that you don’t have the time constraint, you can work on the musicality. One thing that helps is to breathe with the song, and swell your volume into each phrase. On Melody C, Steven even swells into tempo along with the volume. After starting that section, then he mostly just swells the volume into and out of each measure. You’re doing a great job, and I hope you have time to try this out.
@concan – Very nice job on this one! You’ve got the timing down and you are playing the notes cleanly. Keep up the great work!Here’s everyone on page 5 and page 6:
@lbilkie – This is one of my favorites from that game, and I’m glad it brought back good memories for you as well! You’re doing a great job playing through this one, there are just a few chord shapes that are causing you to pause in spots. Try isolating the measures before and after those chords to practice mentally preparing for them in time with the song at a slightly slower speed. You sound great on this one!
@rafaela – That was a very good performance of the song! Your musicality, tone, and feel are exactly what the song calls for. Excellent job!
@jgillard – I’m not hearing the stumbles, and the notes sound right to me as well. I think you play this one very well! There may have been a hesitation at one point or two, but they were barely noticeable. Great job on the fast runs and the ending!
@barbecueblack – Very nicely played! My main suggestion now that you have the song down is to experiment with dynamics: try swelling into each measure on Melody C, starting quietly and ending the measures quietly so that the song seems to breathe. Keep up the great work!
@gstriph – I love the story, what a cool way to play video games and keep a child entertained at the same time! You’re getting close on this one. You have a good idea of the notes and rhythm in Melody A, there are just a few spots in Melody B to work a bit on the rhythm. Keep it up, you are doing a great job!
@jedart – You are off to a great start, and you have a good idea of the notes. Once you get more comfortable with the shifts, take a close look at the rhythms. There are a few quick runs like the one in measure 4 that are tough to play fast enough. If you have time to isolate those, it might help when you are ready to play the rest of the song in time. Keep up the good work!
@dianna – I enjoyed the trivia! I had no clue that other song was the reverse of this one. You are doing a great job on this one. I think slowing the speed down just slightly might help with the tricky shifts to keep an even smoother flow through the whole piece. Nice job on this one!
@The_Bumble_Bard – Great job on this one! I like how you covered for the higher frets that the soprano ukulele doesn’t have. Very nicely played! There are just one or two chord shapes to work on shifting into and out of. Try isolating the measure before and after those chords to practice the transitions into and out of the chords. A concert or tenor sized ukulele will definitely help with the higher notes. Keep up the great work!
@laurajax – Very nicely played! You have the timing and the notes down. The next step on this melody is to work on holding out the notes as long as possible and keeping them even more connected. One thing that may help with this is to use your pinky in certain spots so you can stretch your hand further to reach notes without letting go of previous ones too soon. You are doing great, keep it up!
@ukandrea – I love that you played the piano part as well! Great rendition on this song! There were one or two spots where the ukulele and the piano were slightly out of sync. What might help is to record one of them to a metronome (with headphones) so that the tempo remains constant. Very nice playing on this one!
@joe150 – You are off to a great start! You have the notes under your fingers fairly well, so now it’s time to work on the rhythm. One thing that might help here is to play along with the tab play along so that you can hear the notes as they go by. This will give you an idea of which notes to stay on longer or shorter. Practice it that way several times before you record, and the rhythm should be easier to remember. Keep up the good work!
@marlongas – Great job on this one! As far as muting, letting your finger completely off of the string will cause an open string to ring out. To avoid that, use a finger behind that one to mute the open string when releasing the other finger (if possible). Another thing that might be causing string noise when you release a note is having sweat/oil on the fingers. Sometmes when I record, I wipe/dry my fingers off before every take. There may be something you can put on the strings to reduce stickyness there, too. It may be necessary to wipe the strings after playing each time as well. I hope that helps. Keep up the great playing!
@brettboy – I love that you acted out the gameplay in the video. That was a very nice touch! I enjoyed your Gerudo Valley jam as well. Zelda is my favorite game series, so it’s always nice to hear all of these songs. Great playing as always!
