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OOOPS! I did not number the strings correctly in my last post. It is the pressure on string #1 with the second finger that is difficult.
Vida
Hi, Andrew,
I am struggling to learn ‘Moon’. I really doubt that I will be able to memorise the piece within the next 2 weeks. I am good with pieces that have a strong melody, but this piece just does not seem to have something that I can readily hear accurately in my mind. There are also some small, confusing variations in this piece. I plan to post by the end of the month for the experience only, so I suppose that it is not critical that I memorise the whole thing and not rely on the tabs to keep me on track. I think us older folks struggle more with memorising things. Do you have any suggestions that would help us to memorise this piece?
Do you have any suggestions or little tricks that would help us to cleanly play the chord in bar 3 of theme 3? It seems that my second finger seems slightly too long and my finger nail wants to curl under the string. I find it very difficult to put enough pressure on string #4 to get its note to ring cleanly without any buzzing. My pinkie also wants to collapse which is not good form.
Thanks for your recommendations.
Regards,
Vida
Hi, Stephen,
Thanks for the good feedback. I look forward to try jamming with a drummer on line. It will be fun. I have no one to jam with in real life.
I forgot to meantion when I posted that I
AM A PREMIUM MEMBER. I was not entering to win anything anyway.Regards,
Vida Fenton
Hi, Andrew,
Here is my entry in this month’s challenge. I am playing St. James Infirmary. As usual, I am not entering to win anything, just for fun.
I still feel awkward playing this piece and it seems to sound a bit mechanical. I would like to do more than just struggle to get the notes right and up to speed.
Regards,
Vida
Hi, Evan,
You are an absolutely amazing musician at such a young age! I am so surprised that you have only been playing for 5 years!! Do you play other string instruments? Are your parents musicians?It is a great honour and a privilege to learn from you. Thanks for the song ‘St James Infirmary’ It is so beautiful. I am finding it a fun challenge to learn. Thanks also for ‘Danse Macabre’, this week’s lesson. It is a bit beyond my ability right now, but I plan to learn it.
Many thanks for who you are and what you bring to us at Rock Class 101.
Looking forward seeing how your life unfolds.
Hi, Andrew,
Once again, I am posting this entry just for fun and for your advice, not to win anything. It is Finger picking etude #13. I wondered if I could get this piece to work on baritone ukulele. Here is my first attempt.
It was very choppy with little sustain. Scrape, scrape scrape! I did not pay close attention to my angle of attack for my fingers of the picking hand on the wound strings. It is hard to break bad habits!
I modified the tabs for the piece. I am much happier with the results.
I just did the redo on it three days ago, so it is not very polished.Thanks for having a listen to these two videos. Looking forward to your comments on how I could improve.
Hi, Andrew,
Here is my submission for this month. Once again, I am only entering for fun, not to win anything. Fingerpicking Etude #14
Hi, Andrew,
Here is my submission for this month’s challenge. Last year, I struggled to learn this tune, but just could not do the hammer ons and pull offs. I still have difficulty playing those notes with good control. The volume is often poor or the notes come out with a nasty twang because I pull the string off of the fret board. It is taking a long time to get this piece up to 80% of recommended speed.
As usual, I am only entering for fun, not to win anything.
Regards,
Vida
Here is my entry playing America the Beautiful on the baritone ukulele. As usual, I am only entering for fun, not to win anything. I notice that there is some squeaking as my fingers travel up and down the fret board. Do you have any suggestions about how I may eliminate this issue?
Hi, Andrew,
I decided to post Allegro even though it is not very polished. I can not reach the long stretch in the first bars with the longer neck of the baritone, so I have used alternate fingering for some of the piece.
In the last section, I found that I needed to mute string 4 with my palm. This seemed quite awkward.
As usual, I am not entering to win anything, just for fun. My heart goes out to suzie1. She must be very dedicated to glue her uke back together in order to play. If it were me making the choice, I would like to see her get the prize.
Regards,
Vida Fenton
Hi, Andrew,
Sustain is something that I seem to have difficulty properly applying. The question is how the sustain is achieved. When playing the A and B melodies do I keep my finger on the first note of the measure until I strike the second, then release both at the same time? It seems to work and sound better.
Thanks for your reply.Regards,
Vida
Hi, Andrew,
Here is my entry for this month’s challenge. It is Waltz in C – but is actually in G because I am playing a baritone ukulele.
As usual, I am only entering for fun, not to win anything.
I am also working on Allegro, but it will not be ready for posting by the end of the month.Regards,
Vida Fenton
Hi, Andrew,
I found a tutorial video on youtube about eliminating the scratchy sound of fingernails on strings when finger picking. My problem was caused by my fingers having a 45 degree angle of attack with the strings. This caused my fingernails to rub on the strings resulting in the ugly scratching noise. The instructor recommended a very slight bend of the wrist to get a more 90 degree angle of attack. In this way, the fleshy part of the finger contacts the sting instead of the nail resulting in a cleaner, clearer sound.
I tried unsuccessfully to find that tutorial this morning. It was a Brit or an Aussie guy. He had quite an accent. His series is called Small Adjustment Big Result (SABR series).Hope this can help someone else.
Regards,
Vida
