I asked the teacher and was recommended to stick to the warm up exercises using the piano instead of trying to learn to do them on the ukulele, so that’s what I will do. I did want to record a bit of my journey with the vocals too though, so I’ll try to document some of my main takeaways here. Be aware that the advice I’m getting from my teacher is tailored to me and my situation, so it may or may not be relevant to your journey.
If you are interested in taking singing seriously though, I can highly recommend investing in some private lessons (after reading Singing for Dummies and trying to implement the ideas on your own for a bit first). It’s expensive, but I would be so much further along if I had had these three lessons I’ve taken so far 5 years ago. This are my thoughts and takeaways after about one month of lessons.
So, the first big idea was that the voice is a unique instrument and that it needs to be treated as such. Like most wind instruments, there is a point of resonance that sounds the “fullest” because all the air is moving through the instrument in just the right way to create that effect.
The voice is no different. If we pay attention, we can choose where the sound “rests” when coming out of our mouth. We can move it forward and make it nasal-y, or backward to be more open. So my first big idea was to move my tone to a point where it sounds naturally full.
And to keep it there. In fact, I was instructed to pay attention to the way that I speak to develop the habit of placing my voice in the pocket by default. Now, I don’t speak much in general since I spend most of my time alone in bed in my room, but it’s certainly a new exercise to try to be away and maintain control in every single conversation. It makes perfect sense though. Being a proper good singer is an entire lifestyle choice.
Next, a lot of the issues I have are actually very similar to what I faced in the unitar exercises: paying attention to the attack, release, and tone of my notes. With singing there’s several unique layers of challenge. Of course we need to hit the right note, but we also need to use the right consonant and vowel sounds, with the right dynamic, and the appropriate attack for the music. And follow that by holding the pitch with the right tone for the proper duration. Then end the note on time in the way that sounds best.
So, how do we get there? Vocal exercises. The captain of the ship Serious who facilitated the unitar exercise could tell immediately that I did not do any proper vocal warm ups or training. And my voice teacher has quickly honed in that the best thing for me to do is expand the set of exercises that I go through daily to work on these fundamental aspects of singing.
We’re partially working off the Bel Canto Method, but not in the exact numerical order of the method file I was provided. So far I’ve been assigned two note scales, three note scales, chromatic half steps, major arpeggios, and three-count tones. Mostly on an “ah” vowel, sometimes also on “ee.”
Also lip trills while humming to practice moving air a higher speeds. In hindsight it shouldn’t be surprising how physical the activity is, but apparently singing very much a practical athletic endeavor.
I’m paying close attention to how I start my notes, how I hold them, and how I end them. Honestly it’s pretty mentally taxing. I’m trying to apply these lessons to the songs I’ve been singing, and I feel like my brain doesn’t have enough bandwidth to properly compute. But I trust that with time and practice things will improve. It hasn’t even been a month of lessons yet, and I already feel like I’m poised to make great strides in this field.
At the same time I’m also seeing just how far this field goes. I mean, obviously it’s a long and well explored discipline, but I naively believed that I was maybe getting halfway to decent just by doing whatever felt right. If you noticed, I’m more of a book learner than a youtube learner, and actually mostly prefer to try to figure things out on my own. But taking a closer look with an actual expert, it’s clear that I’m more like halfway to halfway decent. A little bit of tailored expert guidance surely goes a long way.
The road ahead seems long, but also like a fun and rewarding journey. I never really thought I had the ambition to be a good singer, but it seems I have grown to enjoy it and actually do want to get good. Having a good teacher is giving me hope that it may be possible. The motto of this year rings true as ever: you can get it if you really want, but you must try, try and try, try and try… You’ll succeed at last!
It’s a new pedal week! I’m a little delayed in posting because I was just having so much fun with it. The Simplifier X I picked up for the Sparrow finally came in (handmade from Chile!) and it’s opened up a whole new world of sound for me to explore. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed until I realized that it has 54 different amp + cab + speaker configurations available, which rockets up to over 700 combinations if we consider running both channels in stereo. Plus 10 contour/eq/volume knobs and reverb for each of them that drastically changes the tone and acoustic qualities. So yeah, no surprise when there’s so many choices.
As someone who hasn’t really used a guitar amp, it’s definitely a bit overwhelming. But it’s also pretty amazing to have such a wide variety of choices to explore. I’m looking forward to learning how to dial in my favorite sounds over the next few months and figure out what kind of amps I may be interested in owning one day. I’m glad I was convinced to go with the analog modeling route of this pedal instead of one of the many digital options. It really feels great to play, and though I don’t really have the contrasting experience with digital, I certainly appreciate the immediateness of the response and the complete lack of menu diving.
Also I’m back up to 3 strings on the electric, and finally enjoying feeling some of the progress I’ve made during the unitar study. Anyway, here’s some day one noodling with the pedal after finding some sounds I liked:
Driven noodles
Clean noodles
Acoustic Electric through the grit
And for this week, I actually managed to make some progress on the performance set! I got three of the five remaining challenge songs memorized, and actually have the lyrics for the rest down pretty well. It’s just a matter of solidifying the chord changes for the last few, and hammering out instrumentals. And working on the vocals. Same story as ever!
Ku’u Home O Kahalu’u – Olomana
Song Choice
It would be remiss to not include some classic tunes from Hawaii in my setlist. I’m not Hawaiian and I don’t speak the language or really know a lot of traditional hula songs, but I did grow up here in the islands and am familiar with a range of early contemporary music. It’s not typically my preferred musical taste, but I appreciate all kinds of music. And this is only half about me. The other half is about you, the audience. So I hope this is a selection that can be enjoyed.
I like that the song is a sweet ode to growth, change, and acceptance. It seems to me entirely heartfelt. It captures a romantic notion of Hawaii and recollections of our youth. I imagine many people can relate to that wistful longing for the home of our youth. But times change, and the best thing to do is move along with it. Personally, I’ve had to accept a lot of change – losing my pride, and finding myself again in the aftermath. Definitely a song worth singing.
Instrumentation
Like “Just my Imagination” this is primarily a two chord song with a couple G7’s thrown in. There is an instrumental introduction and break in the original, and in typical fashion for this time around I am skipping them entirely. For this song I use a much more traditional strum, though I do employ some pedaling on G to emphasize certain parts with the C5 chord. I also like to let bass notes drone out a bit on this one to kind of emulate the slack key style of the original. This is actually one I’ve made a fingerstyle arrangement for before too, but I need to revisit that (and relearn it a bit) before sharing it again.
Vocals
Memorizing the lyrics was a challenge like usual, and this time I employed the method of trying to fully understand how the story progresses in the song. First we remember days when we were younger, and this makes me fear that I won’t be as I left you. Then we remember days when we were wiser, and this makes me fear that you won’t be as I left you. Finally we remember days when we were smiling, and I will greet you as I find you with the sharing of a brand new song.
So as we remember our younger days, we fear that we have changed. Then we remember our dreams and fear that you have changed. Finally we accept the change and will greet you as we are. I appreciate that kind of resolved acceptance.
The singing itself needs a bunch of the standard stuff I’m working on, and I’m not entirely satisfied with my ability to hit the notes in the bridge on the head every time. But I think it’s still better than it was. Hopefully I’ll be able to polish it up over the coming weeks.
In this life – Iz
Song Choice
You can’t play ukulele and ignore Bruddah Iz. I mean you could, and actually I would, save that I don’t want to be known as that guy who only plays The Smiths and The Cure on uke. Like the last one, this was picked to be a crowd pleaser – and a staple if I ever decide to try playing at being a wedding singer. I’m not really interested in that, but you never know. It might be nice to one day be skilled enough that that’s an option, right? And this is a sweet song. I almost think it’s a religious thing, but he left it open enough that it could be purely about romance.
Speaking of Iz, I kind of would rather not play his version Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It’s not a Hawaiian song, it’s not an original song, and it’s not particularly compelling enough for me to learn to sing proficiently. I recognize its quality and the impact it has had in the public sphere, and I probably should learn it properly anyway, but I feel like it’s a bit passe. At least if you’re trying to play a Jake song you want to be able to match his technical prowess to even attempt it. I’ve put some time into learning Hawaii ‘78 to play instead in case anyone asks me to play Over the Rainbow. Yeah, that’s how I roll. Cry for the gods, cry for the people, cry for the land that was taken away.
Instrumentation
This one is in a weird key, and it took me a long time to understand the chord changes. I mean, it’s not really a weird key – key’s are just keys right. Bb isn’t really any stranger than C. But I guess it’s a less common one on ukulele. And the progression is a little different than most tunes as well. There are times where the chords are held to start the next phrase, or abruptly changed to land on the refrain. Oh and instrumental breaks? Skip. I know, I’m weak. I do like to do a little picking in some parts and strumming for others though, so I didn’t abandon the instrumentation completely.
Instead of trying to learn the song as a whole, I approached it by connecting the chord changes to the different lyrical progressions. So like, “In this life, I was loved by you” has certain chords associated with it. The timing of chord changes in the verses do make sense, but trying to remember it separate from the lyrics was proving too much of a challenge. Now I just sing the lyrics and play the chords that sound right for that moment. Is that a little esoteric? It feels very Hawaiian style to me, don’t think too hard just play. Appropriate for a Hawaiian style song.
Also I added in a couple things not written in the tab. First, some Bb7’s to the transitions that I don’t think were in the original, just because I think it sounds better. Second I did a little thing to move up to a higher F chord in the E chord shape in the bridge. Maybe that can make up forr not having an instrumental solo.
Vocals
Obviously I’m no Iz, and the singing was a typical challenge for a slower song like this. Just gotta do the best I can to make it sound as good as possible. Apply all those voice lesson learnings. Start and stop notes the right way, sing with a good tone, enunciate, etc. Memorizing the lyrics wasn’t too bad since there’s really only two short verses and a break. Just bringing it all together and selling it is the challenge.
This one is a bit tricky because I don’t really have anyone I actually feel this way about in my life, so I kind of just have to sing it with the hope that someday I may. I kind of understand it because I’ve definitely felt like I’ve “found the one” before except that every time it was just kidding. Oh well. Part of the joy of art is that we can celebrate ideass beyond our current situation.
House at Pooh Corner – Loggins and Messina (Ka’au Crater Boys)
Song Choice
I’m definitely one of those kids who grew up liking the Ka’au Crater Boys without realizing that a lot of their music were actually covers. They were just so good and sounded so right on the ukulele that I assumed they were all originals. This song is no exception. But it’s a great song, and I think it nicely bridges a gap between the people like me who grew up with the uke version, and the broader audience who know the original from Loggins and Messina. I also fondly remember Winnie the Pooh, and I’m not trying to break into China anytime soon so it seemed like a nice choice.
I intentionally chose a lot of older songs for this set because I’m aiming for an audience of people around my age and older. I’d like these songs to remind people of their childhood, or their parents. And so this is a perfect fit as a song reminiscing about a more innocent time. It’s the kind of song that if I heard someone playing it well on the beach, I might actually hang out nearby to hear more. Which is kind of the current goal to be honest. I don’t know if or when I’ll be able to land a poolside gig, but the beach is always an option!
Instrumentation
This song… has a lot of chords. And they change quickly. The timing is a bit unique too. I’m pretty sure it’s 4/4 but it’s quite syncopated so I don’t really bother counting. I just kind of play it as I hear it. Luckily the chord chart is pretty accurate. Still it took me quite a long time to memorize the various progressions for the different parts of the song. My approach is always to just play the song every day, and eventually the time will feel right to look away from the chart. In this case it took about a month to be able to look away, but then I never had to sit down and force myself to try and memorize all the chords. It’s still not 100%, but I’m getting close.
Vocals
Compared to the chords, memorizing the lyrics for this one was relatively easy. I think the concise narrative structure made it easier for me to memorize. Or maybe it’s because I listened to the song a lot while growing up, so learning the words just kind of clicked. It’s nice that there aren’t many subtle turns of phrase until the very end, unlike several other songs on my list (including Ku’u Home).
There are some very high notes while chasing the bees and clearing the skies. I can only hope I can hit them when the time comes. Also at the end of each chorus there’s a tricky note to land on for that final “Pooh.” It’s part of why the ending works as well as it does, but it’s also a challenge to execute consistently. Just gotta keep practicing!
Recording
So I think I got the gain staging better so that there’s not so much hiss over everything whenever sound comes through. And got the reverb back. It took some rerouting of my whole signal, but I was doing that anyway to integrate the new amp sim pedal. As predicted, it basically took an entire day, and I still had to stop before getting to an ideal configuration because I just ran out of upright time. Bit by bit I’ll get there.
Once I get really dialed in I’ll do a whole rundown of my rig, which is kind of a unique dawless contraption built to be pushed over my bed so I can work it while laying down. I’m also finding I need to change some settings depending on the venue that the audio is going through: zoom is different from discord is different from recording video for the phone. Oh the fun never ends.
Performance
I’m much happier with the performance this week. It’s been on my mind all month to memorize these ones, and its finally clicked. I don’t like trying to brute force memorization over short time frames, so instead I just play the song every day until I don’t need to look at the lyrics and chords anymore.
It’s still not perfect, and I’m still copping out of doing proper instrumentals, but these nice slow songs let me practice my new approaches to singing which is kind of the theme of the week. I’ll definitely have to do a second pass over all of these to get proper instrumentals in, and continue improving the vocal quality, but I’m feeling like the setlist is coming together.
I’m thinking about trying to go to the beach and try play through it all in public someday soon. Or maybe host an online performance somehow. Either way I’ll have to do a follow up of the full set to compare to how I was at the start of the year, so I’d better start thinking about how to make that happen.
Well what I say in the video is true. I didn’t manage to really focus on three songs to improve. It feels like I’m coming forward with a lot of excuses this week, but I guess it’s good to review why I think things turned out the way they did. This might actually be a good opportunity to examine the elements of this endeavor and refine my approach. So, I’m going to break this down into five key sections:
Song Choice
Previously I was writing about the reasons for my song choice to give me ideas about what to talk about when introducing the songs, and this week I decided to try actually start talking in between songs and play more of a “entertainer” role than just presenting my music progress in isolation (thanks UU podcast for the idea). Figure that’s another thing to start working on sooner than later. So, that’s why some of the things I’ll write here will mirror what I say in the video. And I still think it’s a useful exercise to examine why I chose the songs I did.
Instrumentation
This mostly refers to the ukulele playing, the strumming and instrumental breaks. This should give me an opportunity to examine any challenges with playing and talk about how I overcame them (or didn’t). Sadly being true to the one string experiment has made it difficult to really work on instrumentation for the past few weeks, but I do feel like it will pay off and make me a better player in the long run, so. Sorry.
Vocals
I’ve had two voice lessons so far, and it has become exceedingly clear that the voice is its own instrument that needs appropriate dedication to get good with. For now I’m mostly just trying to implement the many things I’ve learned and keep up with the new warm up exercises and techniques the teacher has suggested. I do plan to make a whole video about it eventually, particularly once I can play the warm up exercises on ukulele, so I can share that with everyone.
Recording
It doesn’t really matter how good you play if your recording setup is bad. And my setup is bad. Part of it is that I don’t really know what I’m doing, and another part is that I can’t really put as much time into it as I would like since some of the things involved require being upright to work with my mixer and move things around in the rig. I lost the reverb on my vocals again this week, and I’m not exactly sure why. My gain staging sucks and I’m not sure how to fix it. It’s going to take a whole half-day of my time upright to troubleshoot these issues, which means I’ll probably need to find a meal I can eat in bed or just don’t take a shower until after midnight. But the problem ain’t gonna fix itself. Fun.
Presentation
Well, I’m looking at the television and seeing myself staring right back at me. And I’m not sure I like what I see (or hear). That’s another reason why I started talking this week. I knew from the start that the music would not be good enough to deserve your attention for a while… so maybe my cheerful disposition can carry some weight. This is like the “overall” score for the video, or at least my overall impression after self review.
Unless there’s something specific in the song, I’ll probably do the recording and presentation reviews as an evaluation of the final product at the end.
Let’s see how this goes.
I’ve really been so engrossed in practicing my fundamentals that I just never found the time to drill down and work on specific things. Between the voice lessons and the one-string experiment, glaring flaws in my basic techniques have come so far forward that I feel like the best use of my time is to just work on those things. Also the half hour of vocal warm ups eats into the time that I was previously spending working on songs.
This weeks songs were:
Just My Imagination – The Temptations
Song Choice
A majority of my pre-90’s songs are things I picked up while playing drums with Uncle Wilmont at Castaway Cafe way back before COVID, and this is no exception. It’s true that I’d like to play Girl From Ipanema instead, but the bossa nova is currently a little bit beyond me. I also like how it seems and sounds like a happy song, but it’s just kidding! Mmm delicious irony. This was one where the vocals needed more work than the instrumentation, so it got picked for this week.
Instrumentation
There’s actually a couple of different ways I play this depending on how I’m feeling. Today I did light strumming, with pedaling between C (0003) and C5 (0033) during the verse to taste. Sometimes I like the sort of travis pick the G and C strings, and if I had more time to practice properly I kind of would have preferred to make this the default way. I’m struggling between deciding to use a pick or not because it affects the balance when I’m recording if I switch styles in the middle of a take. But I like some songs better with pick and others without. Originally I was doing the first half with pick and the second half without, so I might stick to that and just make adjustments halfway.
Vocals
There’s a lot of songs where I feel I don’t really get into the groove until halfway through. I think that just means I need to practice more, which was part of the point of focusing on three songs to improve per week. Since I didn’t do that, I just had to rely on implementing the things learned from voice lessons to this one. A particular challenge for this song is enunciation – I have a tendency to say “just my ‘magination” instead of “just my imagination” if I’m not careful. This one also has a lot of notes held for a long time, which gives me the chance to try to hear if I’m on pitch and work on ending my words with better enunciation.
Brown Eye’d Girl – Van Morrison
Song Choice
The Ka’au Crater Boys were a big influence on me growing up, and most of the first ukulele songs I learned to play were by them. The first version of this song I heard was by them, and the version of the House on Pooh Corner I’m playing is technically a chart of their version as well. It’s hard to deny the talent and impact of Troy Fernandez when talking about ukulele, and I’m well counted among his many admirers. And this song is another “sounds happy but actually…” that seems to be my flavor of the moment. I figure it’s a classic song that people will recognize and would fit a wide range of appropriate situations.
Instrumentation
The intro run is in thirds which is something I have been practicing a lot on my two strings, but it’s on the two strings I haven’t earned back yet, so… that’s my excuse. I have a feeling I could do it smoother by doing the run on the C and E strings because I think starting on the open A is a source of issue, but since I’m not allowed to use the E string, I haven’t figured out how to do it. This is also one I typically play pick-style too, so it was a little awkward for me to approach it without one. I think at least the core is there, I just need to refine things. Really could have properly focused on this one for the week…
Vocals
You can hear I lose it when I need to do some instrumentation. It needs much work to get automatic. Removing almost all the ornamentations to focus on just hitting the notes seems like it was a good choice. Again there’s a good amount of notes held for a long period of time that give me time to think if I’m nailing the note or not. With the vocals alone I’m about 70% pleased with it, so I’ll have to put a good amount more effort into it before I can really consider it “performance ready.” It’s close, but no cigar.
Luv Sic pt. 2 – Nujabes
Song Choice
Another song that I didn’t really need to work on the instrumental parts for, and had the lyrics mostly memorized. And actually, before I knew how to warm up properly, I usually used a busy hip hop track like this to get the voice moving at the start of a singing session. I’d actually like to do the whole Luv Sic Hexology, but it would behoove me to jazz (and chill-hop) things up a bit to better reflect the vibe of the originals. I actually can do half of them already, but only two are memorized. This is another one of those “if you like Nujabes, I like you” songs because the music is great, and the interests that would lead you to discovering the music seem well aligned with mine. I really like the message of this song in particular, so I had to include it. Truth be told I’m not a big hip hop head, but when I hear stuff I like, it’s always a treat.
Instrumentation
The main thing here was trying to find a rhythm that captures the hip hop vibe and keeping it consistent. The chords are pretty straightforward and don’t change up so much. The vocals are the big challenge for this. Maybe someday I’ll add some more colorful chords to spice things up eventually. Once the vocals are fully automatic, of course.
Vocals
So many words lol. One of the big things pointed out to me in the lessons was that I don’t have a refined enough sense of exhaling excess air, or the control to properly take breaths in the right places. This song really demands specific breathing places, and part of the challenge of learning it was balancing what I can do with the cadence of the original. I don’t hit it perfectly, but I am pretty pleased with how this sounds. If only my reverb didn’t mysteriously vanish on me.
Recording
Well, I’m really sad about the lack of reverb thing, but I guess not sad enough to go back and try recording again. I really don’t know what changed. This is going to take some investigation. I’m on an entirely dawless setup because using a computer is pretty hard, so post-processing is not a thing. And I think its a good proxy for the one chance you get in a live performance. So like a live performance, if you suck there’s no point denying it. But in the wise words of Jake the Dog: “dude, sucking is the first step to becoming sort of good at something.” Let’s immortalize my awfulness by giving the video to youtube. /cheer
I mentioned gain staging earlier, and that’s been a constant issue I thought I had come to terms with. Apparently I thought wrong. If you listen you can hear the background static that happens when I go from silence to talking. If things are properly balanced, that doesn’t happen. It’s not as big of a deal while I’m playing busy things, but it’s pretty noticeable on quieter passages. I’m gonna have to do some research and try to solve this thing once and for all. Hopefully before next week?
Presentation
I think talking is a little better than just going straight into the music, and I’m hoping I’ll get more comfortable with it the more I do it. It still feels pretty awkward, but this is like the first time I’m doing it so I suppose that’s only natural. I wanted to talk more about the songs but… well, I didn’t lol. I also didn’t write up my summaries till afterwards, unlike in previous weeks so, maybe next time I will prepare a little more in advance.
I also just got a bunch of these white shirts which I think are going to be my uniform while practicing for now. I’ll put on something nicer whenever I’m doing a “performance” but for now I think it’s good enough. It’s also kind of a signal that these videos are supposed to be works in progress. And I don’t like having to worry about what to wear. Before these videos I rarely left my room and it was never a problem. So, solutions!
Idk. If I could do better I would do better. All in all it seems mostly watchable. If you read down this far, got any feedback or suggestions?