I have found the book and arrangements very challenging, though Ho makes them sound so elegantly simple on his CD. My problem is not knowing immediately how the chording shapes work, so I get into what feels too much like random sequences of picking. I have had the book for about six months now and have been concentrating on just a couple of songs. I am closing in on a smooth rendition of Pule Nahenahe (Soft Prayer).
I would say these are advanced arrangements, but very beautiful and worth the challenge.
I have the book and CD and really like working with them. I've been playing about a year, so none of what I'm doing is anywhere near performance-worthy, but little by little I'm getting better.
I'm working on Ahe Lau Makani and Ho'omaika'i (Grateful) and a little bit of Soft Prayer.
The nice thing about the pieces is that they sound pretty played at any speed, no matter how slow, and also that each bit between the double bar lines makes a nice tune all by itself, so you can break down the whole piece into workable bits and still feel like you're doing something.
There are no High G tunes in this book and the low tuning is very important. Actually, that's for low G but I'm playing the songs with my baritone ukulele (dgbe). It sounds pretty well, just lower than the CD
The nice thing about the pieces is that they sound pretty played at any speed, no matter how slow, and also that each bit between the double bar lines makes a nice tune all by itself, so you can break down the whole piece into workable bits and still feel like you're doing something.
There are no High G tunes in this book and the low tuning is very important. Actually, that's for low G but I'm playing the songs with my baritone ukulele (dgbe). It sounds pretty well, just lower than the CD