Weekly newbie challenge ?

First, my reasoning. I'll get to the plan eventually.

As you probably know (and in common with a lot of other folks on here) I've had a LONG layoff from guitar and have only just taken up the Uke. My problem is this, I just find myself noodling away and/or playing the same simple and tedious things over and over. What I could do with is something to make me practice, and practice something specific.

How about once a week, one of the experienced players picks a tune or a technique that should be challenging but achievable by most people who've been playing for only a few weeks (preferably something with both audio or video and the Tab) and ask them to practice and post a video (or audio if that's not possible).

The resultant vid'/audio would then be open to friendly and constructive criticism and tips from the experienced players on how to improve technique etc. You know, things such as "try holding it with the strings on the outside of the Uke" or "try using a Ukulele, what you have there is a saucepan"

If there's enough interest, perhaps try to ramp-up the difficulty each week, or extend it for a further week to give other players chance to catch up.

I just thought this might sit nicely alongside the other weekly challenges you have for the experienced players, and give us n00bs something to aim for.

Anyway, I'm off to change into my flame retardant underwear in anticipation of your responses

Thanks for reading

Niq (<--- that's my name by the way, not an obscure English word for goodbye)

hi ya read your post with interest, you should come over and join the seasons comp, i enter not to win any of the prizes, but to get great friendly feedback and support, please dont worry about ability as we a re a mixed bunch over there and i am certainly near the lower end of the evolution stakes at uke playing we are on week 15 at the moment if you fancy it, please come on over new faces all ways welcomed

I can see how that would be something I'd like to have a bash at eventually. However, like many others, I will NEVER sing. EVER. And my concern was more to do with the technical aspects of playing, initially, rather than thinking about "selling" the song. And also to have someone experienced say "right, this should suit a bunch of chaps who've only just started".

I do appreciate the suggestion though. Who knows, if week 16 turns out to be Van Halen, I might give it a shot

The Big Kahuna said:

I can see how that would be something I'd like to have a bash at eventually. However, like many others, I will NEVER sing. EVER. And my concern was more to do with the technical aspects of playing, initially, rather than thinking about "selling" the song. And also to have someone experienced say "right, this should suit a bunch of chaps who've only just started".

I do appreciate the suggestion though. Who knows, if week 16 turns out to be Van Halen, I might give it a shot

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I muttered those words when i first started playing NEVER SING , EVER. And now i try lol thought iwould never do it, heck i even lead our uke club for 1 song last night, trying to teach them a new song, it was tough for me lol but did enjoy it.
Never say never anyway good luck with your thread , but you can do instrumentals as well in the seasons, and i certainly cant sell a song, im a double dipper uke player

Cheers for that pal. I'll consider it. I did take a quick look at week 15 and discovered that it was a beatles cover (I can't even bear to capitalise the band name). When people ask me "can you remember where you were when Lennon was shot?" my usual response is "chasing Yoko Ono down Central Park West, trying to reload"

My hatred for them knows no bounds, I didn't even like them in the 60's. Maybe I'll wait for The Beach Boys week

Or Rammstein.

This is a great idea and I would be excited to participate in it, but it sounds like a lot of work for the experienced players. Videos and tabs take time to make, especially of the instructional variety. If someone did take on a weekly project like this, they would accrue major deposits in their positive karma account.

Unless they chose pieces where the tab and a representative video already existed.

The Big Kahuna said:

Unless they chose pieces where the tab and a representative video already existed.

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Good point. Either way, I'd be up for trying it!

Hey Kahuna, as a certified noob and genuine pile of suck in my own right, might I risk this idea? Let's get a noob group self-challenge going.

Right now I am picking small goals and enjoying the experience of failing even to reach those modest marks. I would be happy to share my failure with others. Instead of "here's how you do it," we could each take a turn with "here's what I'd like to do." Then share the catastrophe! An idea worth exploring?

Right now I'm working on the goal of figuring out what this twangy thing on my lap is.

chris

U

pootsie said:

Hey Kahuna, as a certified noob and genuine pile of suck in my own right, might I risk this idea? Let's get a noob group self-challenge going.

Right now I am picking small goals and enjoying the experience of failing even to reach those modest marks. I would be happy to share my failure with others. Instead of "here's how you do it," we could each take a turn with "here's what I'd like to do." Then share the catastrophe! An idea worth exploring?

Right now I'm working on the goal of figuring out what this twangy thing on my lap is.

chris

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I would be up for that. I am just hitting my 3 month mark of playing.

I will hit 3 mos the day after UWC!

It's like we're twins (and I'm the ugly one)!

That sounds like a plan to me. Now, we just need a few more n00bs like us, and we're set. There must be some around here somewhere...hmm, where did I put those n00bs ?

I hope I'm envisioning this the same way you are. Like for Noob Week 1, someone would lead the topic. Like I'd play a little tune to demonstrate my current skill level and then state something I am struggling with. Then respondents could give suggestions or video responses to help, and in helping me they would be helping anyone who is struggling with the same issue?

That could be so fun, and not be so reliant on the more experienced players to nurse us along.

Freeda said:

I hope I'm envisioning this the same way you are. Like for Noob Week 1, someone would lead the topic. Like I'd play a little tune to demonstrate my current skill level and then state something I am struggling with. Then respondents could give suggestions or video responses to help, and in helping me they would be helping anyone who is struggling with the same issue?

That could be so fun, and not be so reliant on the more experienced players to nurse us along.

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That is pretty much what I was thinking. I am sure that the more seasoned players will chime in to help with observations and hints and even general encouragement.
But this way they don't carry the burden of initiating the session and all that.

I would love to participate in something like this as I think it would help all concerned.

I'm not sure where my skill level would fit in this, but it sounds like fun! I've been playing on and off for 2 years, but aside from knowing a few songs, and some light fingerpicking, I could use something that will help me make progress.

I think this is a great idea....having a NOOB challenge of the week. The original idea of experienced players guiding this was a good one too but I can see that experienced players may find such a challenge rather onerous and perhaps would prefer to only put in the time and effort if they were to be reimbursed for it and/or if it was a way to draw attention to their other services as a online teacher or a pro seeking gigs, for example.

So, yes, why don't we guide this project ourselves then and if more experienced players do arrive now and then offer some input that'd be a bonus for us!

I have played for about six months now. I write out a list of weekly goals to help focus my practice and I enjoy playing daily and find it easy to pick up the uke for a strum during any free time I might have during the day. But having a challenge that helps connect me with other beginners in the uke community would be an additional great motivator. I'd be nervously interested in sharing with others and taking a chance to put my barely developed uke skills on the line for some feedback.

This sounds great. I've been playing since November of 2011, so I'm firmly in the n00b category (I laughed out loud when I saw that my title had changed to "senior member" the other day!). Another possibility is that we could agree upon an easy song with widely available tabs and take that as our weekly challenge. That might help to focus the week a bit more...

I think this is a great idea although I have no audio or video capabilites. Yes, I am a Luddite.

BlueLatitude said:

I think this is a great idea although I have no audio or video capabilites. Yes, I am a Luddite.

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I'm sorry to hear you're deaf and blind. Although I imagine your enhanced sense of touch will help you identify what brand of strings you're currently using.