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Here’s everyone on page 8:
@rgillof – You are doing a great job on this one, and your technique is looking good! The hardest thing about playing slower than the speed you practiced the song at is pacing: Try slowing down and listen closely to the accompaniment track to make sure you are staying in sync. That being said, your picado is looking very good, so I believe you nailed your challenge!
@bolognakid – Very nice work on the Travis picking! You have a great grasp on the technique, and a very comfortable relaxed feel. The hard part now is transitioning smoothly on some of the difficult chord shapes in Etude no.26 without any hesitation. Keep up the great work!
@jasdel – I’m very impressed with your slide work! Your intonation is great, and your slides are very smooth! You have a very clean technique, and the tone/general sound you are getting is fantastic!
@milky1312 – Very nicely done! With a little more work on the end of Melody C and then playing the full song after that, you will be ready to perform it. Keep up the wonderful work, it’s coming along nicely!
@anyon1 – That was a very nice performance! You kept a very solid pace, with a very even technique…and even accented some of the melody notes in a very tasteful way. Keep it up and I’m sure you’ll be Flying Away at your full speed very soon!Here’s everyone on page 9:
@janaq1 – Great performance of this piece! Your strumming techniques sound very consistent, and you kept a very strong, steady tempo throughout. The strumming wasn’t the only part I was impressed with: your right hand technique was great, with smooth slides and clean chord shifts with the melody notes ringing clearly. Your hard work has paid off, excellent work on this challenge!
@bibilele – Very nice playing on this song! You have a nice relaxed feel throughout the piece and a steady tempo that slows just for dramatic places in the piece. Great job on this challenge!
@dianna – Your harmonics are sounding wonderful! It’s hard to get every single one perfectly clear, and yours are ringing out like a bell! the accuracy can be challenging, but you’ve got it fairly clear as of now! Keep it up, and congratulations on adding this technique to your wheelhouse!@lhamilton – Amazing work on playing Gabriel’s Oboe! That was a fun one to arrange. You played this one very well!
Here’s everyone from halfway down page 11 through page 13:
@morrieuke1 -That was an excellent composition! Your hammer-ons and pull offs added a lot melodically, and the harmony was very nice as well! The section at 0:34 has some interesting challenges with the barre chords and pull-off combinations. Try slightly different angles on the hand/fingers to see if it makes that section any easier to play through. I really like the composition, and my cat enjoyed it enough to stick around, too!
@joe150 – You’re doing a great job, and I think I recognize that segment of Moonlight Sonata. It sounds like you have are getting to the changes, so what might be a good next step is to slow down the finger picking to match the tempo you change the chords at. The goal of doing this would be to play the passage while keeping the timing and flow of the piece. You are doing a great job so far, keep it up!
@rgillof – I think you achieved your goal. It looks like you have all of the notes memorized, and you are playing them with a good sound. The next step from here is to slow down the tempo a bit, and use a metronome to encourage your hands to “think” ahead. Some of those shifts are tricky, and practicing them slowly and evenly will help. Then after getting the song under your fingers with the metronome, you can go back to a less rigid interpretation of the tempo, but now the phrases will connect all the way through to the high notes smoothly. Keep it up, you are doing great!
@grannieannie – What a cool song to pick! Due to the particular chords, getting a clean vibrato is hard on this song! You are off to a great start, and I can hear it as well as see the vibrato! It may be nice to find a song with single notes or double stops (two notes at a time) instead of full chords while you develop this technique, as right now it’s more about making the motion feel more natural. Once you have a strong and natural vibrato on something simpler, it will translate much easier to something like this that is more challenging. Still, you are doing a great job in spite of the challenge!
@akukes73 – Very nicely done! This is a tough piece to tackle in just a month, and you are doing a great job! Keep working on melodies 7 and 8 at a slower speed, and keep a steady tempo through this section no matter how slow you need to go. You’re doing a wonderful job, keep it up!
@jbmills07 – This was very heartfelt, and you did a wonderful job of singing and playing. I’m so sorry for what Regina has gone through, but I know that she loved that you played and sang for her. You did great with the muscle memory and coordination, and you have a great voice. I hope to hear you sing more in the future, your voice has a very peaceful quality to it. I’m sure that was soothing for her, I feel certain she heard it.
@yukalele – Congratulations on your grandson! Your clawhammer technique is sounding great to me! Just a tiny bit more work on accuracy of not hitting more than one string and then it’s time to work it up to speed! Keep working at it, you are doing great!
@emiliano – You are doing a wonderful job on this! Those harmonics are a wonderful touch, and I’m very impressed with how cleanly you are getting that 1st fret mini-barre with the stretch to the 7th fret while keeping the E string open. Phenomenal work and progress on this one!
@mickan88 – You played this song very well! All of the notes were clean, and the thumb technique was consistent. My only suggestion is to count how long you are holding out certain chords before moving to the next section. At 0:21, that chord should be held out for 3 beats before the next chord, but I noticed you came in after 2 beats…it’s possible that a dotted half note is being mistaken for a plain half note there. It’s a small detail, you did a great job on this one!
@bibilele – Very nice job with the harmonics! I could hear them all very clearly. Great job on meeting your goal for the challenge!
@janaq1 – Your arrangement is very nice, and so is your playing! You have a great feel on this, and the triplet strums are a nice touch! Great job on this one, and your timing was strong throughout!
@leslieb – Great work on this! Your Bb chords are sounding good, and it was nice to hear them in two different contexts. In Stand By Me you got into the first one cleanly in time! Now it’s just a bit more repetition so that it becomes second nature. You made a lot of progress on this!
@jgillard – I like your interpretation on this one with a more rubato tempo than Andrew’s original. You sound like you have a pretty good grasp on this one. Well done! If you are wanting a less rubato interpretation, just play along with the tab player at a slightly slower tempo. If you choose to keep the rubato tempo, might I suggest adding dynamics of your own to swell with the tempo? Great work on this one!
@leihali – Great progress on this one! The left hand is looking great. I’m glad Andrew’s advice is working for you. The only other suggestion I have is to practice the transition into measure 20. That barre chord is a bit difficult, just make sure you don’t mute the open G string while focusing on the rest of the chord. Keep it up, you are playing this wonderfully!
@maryjanew – I’m very impressed by the progress you made since the last post! You seem a lot more comfortable while playing, and you are keeping a good rhythm and flow with the piece. I hope you have fun at the open mic! One thing that might help is to practice this in different locations in your house…standing and sitting so that a different environment doesn’t affect the way you play. Awesome job on this challenge!
@jody_hendrickson – Your technique looks great and very relaxed. This should be an ongoing goal for every instrumentalist. Wrist and arm injuries affect so many of us. I often find myself having to remember to relax. It may help to just have that word somewhere in front of you in your practice space. Keep it up, and I hope your tennis elbow heals.
@nelsonlin2021 – Great work on your goals this month! Since this last goal is specific to tapped harmonics, I have a few suggestions on that one part of Mr. Sandman: make sure that when you tap, you immediately bounce your right hand finger off of the string. Even leaving it on the string just slightly too long will mute the harmonic. Secondly, tap directly over the metal fretwire rather than the area you would normally push down when fretting a note. Andrew covers this in great detail at 7:20 into the premium video on that section of the course. You have the basic idea, but getting the bounce off of the string while hitting lightly over the fretwire does take time to master. Keep up the great work!
@markmdive – You have a very nice sound on this, and your tone is great! Your ukulele has a warmer tone to it, which does make it a bit tougher for the melody notes to ring out. Keep working on plucking the melody notes a bit harder to have them stand out from the rest of the piece. I think the rhythm is coming along, it’s just about working out the hesitations on certain slides and shifts. Practice those in time slowly so that you are able to keep the rhythm/flow even when the left and right hands are playing difficult passages. Keep it up, you’re doing a great job!Here’s everyone on page 13:
@1481632_m – Great job on this one! You played it at a fast steady tempo and every note sounded spot on! Keep up the great work on the Blues for the future. You’ve got this, you played very well on Etude no. 3!
@grannieannie – Very nice playing on this! You kept a very steady tempo throughout without hesitating to switch from fingerpicking to strumming and back. You are doing a wonderful job on this, keep up the great work!
@gstriph – You captured the feel of this song very well even though you are taking a different approach on how you are strumming it. The feel is one of the hardest aspects of this! Melody B is tricky, but you have the right approach of practicing it slowly and working it up to speed. If you keep at it, I know you’ll get it in time soon! Keep going, your doing great!
@jayton – Great work on this one! You’ve got the notes down and the feel and sound are great as well! There are just a couple of spots with slight hesitations, which means a slight bit more practice at a slightly slower pace will help you master those spots. Keep going, you sound great on this one!
@jody_hendrickson – You played this very well! I enjoy the slightly slower tempo, as it portrays the haunted vibe well at this tempo! I enjoyed your use of dynamics as you swelled the volume into and out of certain phrases. Keep up the great work, and I hope you recover from your left arm issue completely!
@leihali – Very nicely played! I can tell you have great timing from the piano playing you have done, and it has carried over to the ukulele perfectly. You played this one beautifully, and I think you’re ready to try some of the other fingerstyle pieces now. Awesome job!
@joe150 – Great job on this one! You’ve got all of the notes and even added a cool ending! Every now and then there was a small hesitation–maybe you were checking to make sure your fingers were in the right places–and they were! Just trust that you are doing it correctly, and I think you won’t hesitate at those spots anymore. Keep it up, you’re doing great!
@emiliano – Wow, you floated effortlessly through that! I really enjoy the effects you used for this one as well (was it mostly reverb?). You have a great feel and a flow on this, and every note was crystal clear. I hope you have enough time to challenge yourself a bit more on the next one…I’d love to hear how you approach one of Evan’s arrangements. Keep up the great work, that was fantastic.
@tessiert – Very nice job on this one! I like the slides and hammer-ons you added to the piece. They were a nice touch. Keep up the great work!Here’s everyone on page 12:
@anikali – Great work on this song! Your technique is spot on, and your tone is great as well! Melody A sounds solid, and Melody B is just a bit tricky at this tempo. My suggestion would be to play the piece at a slightly slower tempo to work out the hesitations transitioning from Melody A to B as well as being able to clearly execute the trickier parts of B. You have the fingerpicking down, it’s just a slight bit of left hand speed at this point. Keep it up, you’re doing an excellent job!
@Nico_uke – Very nice job on this one! You have the speed and the hammer-ons and pull offs sound clean! With a little bit more work on this, you will be albe to relax enough to stay locked in with the rhythm track throughout, though it takes time to develop the consistency. You are doing wonderfully so far!
@heike_uke – Great playing on this one! You are doing the fingerpicking very well, and the notes sound very clean! A slight suggestion that may help you in the long run–you don’t have to leave the melody notes down while shifting to the lower notes in the first melody. If you watch Andrew’s performance, he moves his hand to prevent stretching/contorting the left hand. This might prevent soreness in the hands in the future. It might be slightly harder to make it sound as legato this way at first, but in the long run your hands may thank you! Great work on this one, keep it up!
@abster – Fantastic job on this one! It’s great to be learning styles like the Blues at such a young age! You are doing a great job getting the feel on this one. It would be cool to hear you play this one to a backing track with some swing drums. This will help you to keep the feel you have at the beginning of the song all the way through the ending. Keep it up, you crushed this one!
@kelsey91 – You are doing a great job of getting the hammer ons and pull offs on this one! I like that you memorized a lot of it. Sometimes it helps to play at a much slower but steady tempo as it gives you time to think of what is coming ahead. Try playing at about 75% of the speed you started this take, and see if it gives you the chance to remember each upcoming section while staying in time. You’re very close since you have most of it memorized at this point. Keep up the great work!
@k_ra11 – I am very impressed with your dynamics and technique on this piece! You have perfected how to swell into and out of each phrase while keeping the fingerpicking VERY consistent! Beautiful work on this one! Just a tiny bit of work on a couple of the harder chord transitions, and you have mastered the whole piece! Fantastic job on this one!
@giveittomebaby – Great job on this one! If barring that G chord is not working well, I recommend using the normal G chord instead, using the pinky stretched for both the 5th fret and 7th fret notes of the melody, or just shifting quickly into the normal G VERY quickly instead of barring. It might be slightly harder to keep the smooth transitions between the notes, but it might be smoother than forcing the barre if it’s just not working for you. Keep up the great work!
@bibilele – Very nice job on this one! You kept a very consistent rhythm throughout, and the notes came out clearly! Keep working this one up to speed, as this picking pattern has a wide range of uses in other songs!
@anya09 – You are playing this one very well so far! The finger picking sounds nice, and the notes are coming out clearly! Now it’s time to work out a few hesitations on certain chord shifts. If you notice you are pausing a little bit because of this, practice just playing the measure before the tricky chord through the measure with the chord slowly. Once you can keep a steady pace while getting into the new chord shape, gradually speed up the tempo until it matches the tempo you started the song at. You’re doing a wonderful job, keep it up!Here’s everyone on page 11:
@jebergeron – Great job on this one! You definitely have a nice feel and consistency on the travis picking! I notice that you are adding a slight pause before the walk ups/downs in the melody at 0:12 and 0:34. It is very slight, but if you can remove these pauses, the etude flows a touch more smoothly. You have mastered the overall point of the etude, though! Keep it up, you are doing a fantastic job!
@shelle – You are off to a great start on this one! You have the style of assigning each finger to a string and are getting a clear sound out of each note! The timing on this one is a little tough, as it’s hard to tell the counting based on the pattern. This song is in 4/4, though some aspects of the pattern may make it tempting to feel it in 3. This might lead a note or two to be skipped as our brain is trying to fit the song into a different feel. I recommend revisiting this one and counting slowly to make sure you don’t miss a note in the pattern. Say “one and two and three and four and” while you play to see if the notes are lining up where they should (most of the times you hit 2 notes at the same time are on beats “one” and “three”). You are doing a wonderful job!
@potter – Great playing on this etude! You have a great feel and every note sounds very clean. Your technique looks correct and relaxed as well. Keep up the great work!
@gi_gi_ – You play this one very nicely! Any time it helps to play slowly, I am all for it. I think you learn more from practicing slowly in time than trying to play faster than you are ready for, and it is a nice tempo for the piece as well! Your finger picking looks great, and there were very few hesitations throughout. Keep it up, you’re doing a great job!
@nelsonlin2021 – You are doing a great job on this, though you might be overcomplicating the first part of the melody by playing it at a different/faster rhythm than on the original. The original rhythm for the first 7 notes is “one (e) and a two e and a…” It may help to practice the piece at a slower tempo to get this rhythm solid before speeding it up to where you are. It may even help to use the tab play along at a slow tempo. If you can play it as quickly as you are, this should be much easier once you practice the original rhythm. You are doing a fantastic job, I hope this makes it a little bit easier to play.
@ukulelee – Very nice performance on this one! You have such a relaxed feel and a steady rhythm. The dynamics are also very appropriate on this one! Keep it up, this sounded nice and peaceful!
@keeevo – Nice playing on this etude! Your playing is solid, and so is your timing! For an extra challenge you could try adding volume swells by starting the piece quietly and play gradually louder for a couple of measures and then get softer for the next two or so. Keep going, you did a fantastic job on this one!
@swissconsinboy – That was a very creative way to approach this one with the guitar loops! It sounds very nice. To really get the most out of this etude, I recommend playing through it very slowly with the fingers assigned to the strings in the original. This pattern is a bit challenging, but it can add a lot of variety to how you approach finger picking. Keep it up, you’re doing a great job!
@mkstewart67 – You have a nice sound on this one, and you are doing a great job throughout! There is one slight difference in the rhythm: on the beat 3 of the first measure, the strum is held out just slightly longer since it is a dotted eighth note. This changes the flow of the piece slightly. The easiest way to learn this rhythm is to play it along with Evan slowed down slightly. Other than this one detail, you have the piece down! Keep it up, you’re playing this one very well!
@mmoynihan – You are doing a great job! It’s not easy to play with a swing feel, but you are getting the idea, especially on the first melody! On the section at 0:22 the rhythm is just a touch different: the swing rhythm means the first of the pair of 8th notes is held out and the 2nd of the pair is short -so play that pair as “long short”, while the grouping of 3 “8th notes with a number 3 on top” are triplets, which is more like three of the “short” notes in a row. Since this concept is a slight bit difficult, it may help to listen closely to the original at a slower tempo. You’ve got the rest of it down, keep it up!
@frederic – Very nice work on this one! It’s a tough pattern to get down, and you kept it at the full tempo all the way! Great work on this one!
@olemartin – Great playing on this one throughout! I like the relaxed tempo you chose for this one, and you did a great job all the way through! Now that you have this down, try speeding it up gradually as you continue to work on it for an extra challenge.Here’s everyone on Page 6:
@leb397 – Very nice job on this one! You have the notes down and you are keeping time fairly well throughout the song. There may still be a few chord shapes that are tricky to transition to in time, but with a little extra work isolating those quicker shifts, you’ll have it even smoother! Great work on this one!
@shmu88 – Fantastic job on this one! You kept a very steady tempo until the right spots to gradually slow down, every note sounded cleanly, and your hammer-ons and pull-offs were very clean in the section at 1:43. Keep up the incredible playing, you knocked this one out of the park!
@Nico_uke – Excellent work on this! Now that you have the lead part down, it may be fun to make a separate video where you play both parts! Great work all the way through on this one!
@rafaela – You played this arrangement extremely well! Your timing, hammer-ons and pull offs, and overall clarity of notes was great! My only suggestion for one spot to work on is the hammer on/pull off figure in bar 23: on the pull off to the open string, try slightly plucking the note with the fretting finger while pulling off to give the open note a bit more volume. It’s a super slight detail, as your performance was nearly flawless! Keep up the great work, and great job on Dream a Little Dream as well!
@abster – Very nice job on this one! I’m super impressed with your ability to stay in time with the backing track while keeping a clear sound on each note! There may have been a time or two where you got slightly ahead, but you found your way back very well. It takes a lot of skill to listen that well while playing. Keep up the great work, you sound awesome!
@anikali – Great job on this one! You have most of the sections down very cleanly, and you have a great sense of the rhythm. The one section that could use a bit of extra work is the bridge: the rhythm on measure 13 going into measure 14 has some interesting syncopation. It may be difficult to shift while trying to anticipate the Fadd9 (1) chord, but counting that one spot will keep the bridge flowing smoothly like the rest of the song. You’re doing a wonderful job, keep it up!
@terryfallon3 – You are off to a great start on this one! I know it can be challenging to play that piano riff, and you played it a few times very cleanly! I recommend slowing that and the verse section down slightly to match the speed you can perform the bridge at to keep a steady tempo throughout the song. You’re playing each individual section fairly well, the steady tempo will just help to keep the continuity, and playing just a bit slower will give you time to get the shifts in time as well. You’re Playing this one well, keep going!Here’s everyone on page 5:
@ldarrow – You are doing a great job on this one so far! You have a pretty steady tempo on the “Piano Riff” sections, and you do a good job of getting back to that tempo within the verse and the bridge. Now it’s time to focus on transitioning into each new section, and then spending just a bit more time focusing on the rhythm in the bridge. It’s fairly difficult, but it’s just the beginning and the end of this section that could use a bit more attention. You sound good on this one, keep it up!
@addilein – You are doing a great job on this one so far! You have the notes under your fingers, and you are getting a clean sound out of each note and chord. I know that Matt has a rubato/freely flowing tempo throughout this piece, but I believe it would still help a bit to play this one to a metronome first, and then take liberties with the speed afterwards. One thing I notice is that notes at the ends of phrases are getting cut short on occasion, sometimes even by a beat or more. If you practice this piece while counting to a metronome (without the tab play along in this case), you will have a clear idea of the rhythm. Then you can play with a rubato feel like Matt, while keeping the rhythm closer to the way it’s written. You’re doing a wonderful job so far, this will just help the song to flow naturally.
@mmoynihan – You are doing a fantastic job on this one! You are keeping a very steady tempo, the notes are coming out cleanly with a great tone, and you know each section. One thing to spend a bit more time on is the rhythm of the bridge section of this song. It may help to count and clap the rhythm a few times and focus on just one to two bars at a time. This section has a very syncopated rhythm, and it’s very helpful to count, then clap, then play though such difficult passages. You’re doing an excellent job, keep it up!
@The_Bumble_Bard – I was not aware of the Drewmpa Loompas…but that sounds hysterical! You’re off to a great start on this one! I imagine it’s a good bit harder to play on the electric ukulele, and you’re doing great: especially with the hammer-ons and pull-offs in the middle of the song. One thing that’s harder on the electric uke is that the notes sustain a lot more and depending on the eq, certain notes stand out more than others. It might be worth experimenting with the tone options on the ukulele as well as the amp to find a tone that’s more even accross the strings. You’re doing well, keep up the great work!
@emiliano – I really enjoyed your rendition of Clocks! You incorporated those strumming techniques very well, and it added a lot to Matt’s arrangement to create your own. Fantastic job on this one!
@andyrose – That was a great rendition of this song as well! I like the intro you added, and I thought it was great that you challenged yourself to throw in different chords/voicings here and there. You kept a consistent tempo througout, and played this one very well! Great work!
@janaq1 – Very nice take on this classic! I like that you as well as Andy added an intro on this one, and I really enjoyed your addition of triplet strums and the ending as well. You have a great feel on this song, and you incorporated the thumb and strumming effortlessly. Great job all around!@lhamilton – Let me know if you have any U-Bass questions. I’m happy to help if I can!
@leslieb – The tab player is super helpful! There’s no better way to know if you are playing the parts correctly than to play along with it at slower tempos. Cheers!Here is the everyone on the rest of page 4:
@bibilele – That was a very nice take on Clocks! You are playing each section very well over all. It seems like just a tiny bit of work on transitions between sections is all that’s left. Getting into the piano riff variation is tough! I recommend isolating measures 20 and 21 and practicing just that spot slowly to master shifting into the upper register. Keep it up, you sound great so far!
@marianne – Wow, that was an awesome performance of this one! You have the perfect amount of reverb for this song, and I’m impressed by the tone you are getting out of your ukulele in addition to your playing! You have a great feel on this one, and are executing the tempo changes and dynamics very well. The only spot that might benefit from a bit of extra work is measure 21. That hammer-on/pull off figure is meant to be played just a bit faster, so once you work it up to the main tempo of the song, you have mastered the whole piece. Excellent work on this one!
@1481632_m – Great job on this one! I’m glad you didn’t let the barre chords deter you. You seem to have the notes under your fingers at this point, and now it’s time to work on the rhythm a bit. My main suggestion is to make sure to hold the notes out long enough at the ends of phrases. It may help to practice this one with a metronome at a slow and steady pace. Make sure to count the space between the end of one phrase and the start of the next to allow the song to “breathe” between each phrase. You are doing a wonderful job, keep it up!
@leslieb – You are playing this one well so far! The next step is to work on playing the song with a steady tempo. I recommend playing at a slightly slower tempo than you currently play intro so that you can play the other sections without hesitating as well. It might be best to play with the Tab Play Along at 50% speed, then gradually work it up to 75%. This will be a bit easier than playing to a metronome. It’s a bit of extra work, but it can help your performance flow smoothly from beginning to end. Keep up the great work!
@jedart – Great work on this one! You have the notes down, now it’s time to practice this one at a slow and steady tempo to keep the flow of the song consistent from beginning to end. Try playing this one with the Tab Play Along at 50 – 75% speed. In addition to the consistent tempo, 50% speed might give you enough time to maneuver your hand on the last chord to see which notes aren’t ringing as well and fix it as you are playing. Keep going, you’re doing a great job!
@lhamilton – You are doing a great job on this one so far! You have the Piano Riff up to full speed, and I can tell you have all of the sections under your fingers fairly comfortably. Now it’s time to play the song just slightly slower to keep the tempo consistent throughout each section of the song. Try using the tab play along at 75% speed and make sure not to get ahead on the parts you know best. Keep it up, you are doing a wonderful job so far!
@otzepeng – Very nicely played! You did a great job of keeping a steady tempo when the song called for it, and gradually slowing down in the correct places. You have a good handle of the notes as well. Just a bit more playing and you will work out the tiny mistake and any notes that weren’t clean. Keep going, you’re basically there!
@gstriph – That is a beautiful uke, and it has a nice sound! You played this song well! You have the notes down, now it’s time to work a bit on the rhythm. After the first chord, the next 4 notes are evenly spaced. The rhythm in the first measure is couned as “one (rest) three and four and,” where we hold out the chord through beat two, but play the other notes a bit quicker without pausing before the last one. There are other spots where the rhythm could use a bit more work like this one, but just getting this one part correctly will help the song flow smoothly. Keep working on it, you sound great so far!
@karenj – You are doing a wonderful job on this one! I like that you focused on a consistent tempo over playing the song at full speed. The cool thing about this song is that it sounds great even at 75% speed. Overall, you are succeeding in keeping the tempo consistent. Keep going, you’re doing a great job!
@ukandrea – Wow! I love that you did this on piano and uke! They sound great together, and you are doing a fantastic job. Due to the nature of the arrangements being different, there are a few places where I would alter certain aspects of the ukulele part to match the piano even more: A few of the chord hits and melody notes are anticipated on the piano arrangement, where the ukulele waits for the next down beat. In these particular spots, It would be reasonable to alter the ukulele part ever so slightly in addition to the swing feel you already captured. Excellent job on this one!
@anyon1 – Very nicely played all the way through! It’s tough to keep a consistent tempo throughout, but you were super close! My biggest advice on this is to pick your starting tempo based on the speed you feel the most comfortable playing the most difficult part of the song. It seems like you slowed down slightly for the bridge, but sped back up for the piano riffs. I would rather you slow down the piano riffs and keep the bridge where you feel comfortable. Other than that slight tempo shift, you nailed this one! Awesome job on this one!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!