First off, this is not an entry I just wanted to say thank you to NoVili for putting on the contest. Although there isn’t much participation yet, I think it’s one of the best within the Steem Music Alliance. (PS, my bitshares account username is plug2, you can send the Voiceshares there :3)
Second.... Woo!!! $10.00 of internet money!! This is the most I’ve ever made off the efforts I’ve put into music. The second most was years ago when I was a wee little ukulele lad. My best friend, who taught me everything I know on the ukulele, and I were playing randomly at a Taco Bueno (LUL) and some lady really liked the sounds of our ukuleles and gave us $5. To be honest, the surprise and joy from winning recently and receiving that $5 donation back in the day, are very similar feelings of excitement that someone actually enjoyed my music skills.
https://www.hasbro.com/en-us/brands/monopoly
Here's how I won: I decided to teach something I knew a lot about.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Any good teacher knows their curriculum in and out and also knows good and bad effort when they see it. They also are very good at spotting potential.
Since I’ve been on Steemit, I’ve seen a lot of garbage ukulele posts, sorry to be so blunt. It’s mostly videos of people who half-ass learn songs and decide to post it, thinking “Hey, this could blow up and I’ll get $5”. I see that as bad effort, and I won’t name any names, but ya’ll know who you are.
Next, I see good effort, like this post I found the other day from Danny Hamilton. It’s beautiful playing and the video is shot in a very interesting way. I highly recommend you check it out to see what a quality ukulele post looks like. Good shit Danny!
I see a lot of potential from authors like UkuleleTutorials. He is very good technically, you can tell from watching a few minutes of him playing. He does live streams showing his process of learning a song, and then posts a video of the final song. I think this is where the community will find the most value from quality content and ideas like this! Please continue and let me know if I can help you with this ukulele content sharing movement in anyway!
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/678284393849686351Seeing all of this, I knew I had to make original and niche content that many users can enjoy. To make it original, I decided to drop knowledge for everyone who thinks that this instrument is a very simplistic four-stringed children’s toy. I played the same song over and over again, but used different techniques to show how you can take bland ukulele instrumentation and make it pop! My post consisted of 2 sets of explanations, one in text form and one in video form.
For the video portion, I hid my face and focused purely on the instrument and explanation. No editing tricks, just simple chops, talking, and teaching. In the text portion, I linked other videos and graphics to drive home the points I’m making, which also provided color to my dull post and provided additional resources to anyone who would be interested in learning more.
Overall, I prepared for the video passively over the course of two days, and used the 3rd day to shoot it and edit it. I used the 1st day to find a niche topic that would be interesting for me and the community, and on the 2nd, I narrowed down the individual techniques I would show. I shared it with my close confidants (my girlfriend and my brother), whose opinions I trust as much as my own. Then I uploaded it and hoped for the best!
Why did I make this post you may ask? So, I can give away some of the secrets! If you participate in the Steemit Music League and get 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, you would get 10, 6 and 4 Steem respectively. If you participate in the Beatbattle and get 1st, 2nd or 3rd, you would get 8, 4 or 2 Steem respectively. I got 5 Steem for shooting a 6-minute videos and talking about something I knew a lot about.
Here are the standings charts Chief Mappster recently posted. Can I get an OOoooWeeee?
If you are constantly getting smoked in the first 2 columns, shoot for the other 5 as well. The payouts aren’t bad and there’s a ton of opportunity to get recognition within a smaller herd. I look forward to this community’s continued growth!
