I'll Get By - with LSH beside me...

I'll Get By
by Fred E Ahlert and Roy Turk, 1928

Times are just a little gloomy right now. Little tremors in the ground beneath the feet. Could be a lot worse, could be rather better... counting the blessings... and I found myself singing this song to myself this morning. "I'll get by, as long as I have you...." thinking of dear LSH of course, Long-Suffering-Husband, always supportive, always positive, always my rock for more than 40 years... "I'll get by" as long as he's there. So anyway, I thought I'd test myself and try to work out the chords by ear. I do this occasionally; I've done it since childhood to amuse myself on piano and recorder, and it's a great thing to try to do it on ukulele - I don't do it enough really. But the fact that I've worked this out with some parts as chord melody with chords up the neck (including some 9ths) is credit to the musician who was my teacher last year, and to whom I'm returning for a few more lessons - Phil Doleman. Highly recommended!

I’ll Get By (my version - if you're not keen, try Doctor Uke...)

C I’ll get by as long as E7* I Dm7 have Dm you,

C#dim Though Dm there be Dm9* rain Dm7* and G7sus4 dark G7 ness too

G7sus4 I’ll G7 not G7sus2 complain, G7 I’ll C see it C#dim through G7

C Though you may be far E7* away, Dm7 it’s Dm true A7 Dm

C#dim Say F what care D9* I, D7* dear,

C* I’ll get A9* by A7 as Dm long as Dm7 I G7 have C you


(C#dim G7)


• I use the chord shapes below …

Dm9 5557
Dm7 5555
E7 4445
D9 5657
D7 5655
C 5433
A9 0102


G7sus4 0213
G7sus2 0210

The suspended chords are just based on the G7 – here moving with the melody.

After I'd done this, I searched on line and found a version on Doctor Uke's pages. It's also in C, and a little different. Song number 640. He also has it in the key of A, which I haven't actually looked at yet.

Actually the key of C is a little low for singing here - for a woman, anyway. If I were to use this to sing with the uke I would use a uke in D tuning, or Eb... ie ADF#B or Bb Eb G C

Perhaps I'll do a video. But not today.

I'm still gathering photos to report on various Ukafrolics - keep the faith, I'll be back soon! And thanks again for dropping in!

Phil Doleman - he's Doctor Jazz!

Aren't I lucky - here is Phil Doleman, and for the last few months, he's been my uke teacher. This song is currently my favourite; it's on Phil's CD "Phil Doleman Old Is The New New" and if I've played it once over the last few days I've played it twenty times. I love this stuff - this is great playing - and I want to play like this.

I searched for the chords online and haven't found them, so I've worked them out by ear... these are the basic chords anyway, if they are any fancier, I'll find out soon! You'll see that Phil is playing up the dusty end of the neck - of course.... but to play and sing along, the chords at the bottom end that we all know and love will suffice!

Doctor Jazz
By Joe “King” Oliver and Walter Melrose 1926

[C] Hello central [G7] give me doctor [C] jazz [G7]
[C] He's got what I [G7] need, I'll say he [C] has [C7]
[F] When the world goes wrong and [C] I've got the [A7] blues
[D7] He's the guy who makes me put on [G7] both my dancin' shoes

[C] The more I get, the [G7] more I want it [C] seems [C7]
[F] I see doctor jazz in all my [E7] dreams
When [A7] I'm in trouble bounds are mixed
[D7] He's the guy who gets me fixed
[C] Hello central [G7] give me doctor [C] jazz

Enjoy - if you need perking up, Doctor Jazz will do the trick!

Want the record? Get it here...

And if you want to catch Phil live at a uke festival, he'll be in Dublin in August for the Ukulele Hooley 2015... as will Andy Eastwood, Del Rey, and George Elmes! Also the wonderful Dead Man's Uke, Ken Middleton, Ukulele Uff and Lonesome Dave Trio and the Mersey Belles! Wow, I wish I was going.....

Get that Latin Mambo vibe and "Sway" with me....

I've always enjoyed Latin-American music but really fell in love with it during a visit to Cuba last year. Away on holiday again a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to play the 1953 Dean Martin hit "Sway", but being away from the internet just had to fall back on trying to work it out by ear.

Sway

(Em) When marimba rhythms (Am) start to play
Dance with me, (Em) make me sway
Like a lazy ocean (B7) hugs the shore
Hold me close, (Em) sway me more

(Em)Like a flower bending (Am) in the breeze
Bend with me, (Em)sway with ease
When we dance you have a (B7) way with me
Stay with me, (Em)sway with me

BRIDGE
(Em)Other dancers may (B7) be on the floor
Dear, but my eyes will (G)see only you
Only you have that (B7) magic technique
When we sway I go (Em) weak

I can hear the sounds of violins
Long before it begins
Make me thrill as only you know how
Sway me smooth, sway me now

BRIDGE
Other dancers may be on the floor
Dear, but my eyes will see only you
Only you have that magic technique
When we sway I go weak

I can hear the sounds of violins
Long before it begins
Make me thrill as only you know how
Sway me smooth, sway me now


Of course, these are the most basic chords that will work, and if you search for the chords on the internet you'll find a version with more spice and pezazz. Curt Sheller has one... but for me. working it out by ear for myself was a challenge I enjoyed - and with these chords and this song, it isn't too difficult to find the melody notes and fret them in with the little finger, or pinky. The melody starts on the note B, 2nd fret, 4th (A) string. Try picking it out on its own, first, then have a go at incorporating it with the chords! My effort is simply too rough to share - just yet!

Trying to work out songs and melodies for yourself is a really good way to progress on any instrument. See what you think about this - and thanks for dropping in!


("Sway" is a mambo - the dance originating in Cuba. Read more about the song on Wikipedia here....)

Chords up the neck - help at hand - from Aaron Keim!

It's so often said that one of the reasons the ukulele has become so popular in recent years is that it's so easy to learn to play. And that's true.... at least, it's easy to learn some basic chords and get strumming quickly. But if you want to play more challenging music that demands a little more skill, you need to establish just what those skills are and start getting them under your belt.

One of the skills necessary to start learning chord melodies, for example, is knowing alternative fingerings up the neck for those basic chords. I've been well aware of this fact for ages, but the truth is that when faced with pages of alternative fingerings for lots of chords, it's easy to lose your way among them, and end up learning nothing at all. BUT - I have discovered a great web page, while browsing the new(ish) website of one of the best American players around, Aaron Keim, "The Quiet American". I featured Aaron a couple of times in July of 2012 - you can find the posts if you look across to the blog archive on the right there......

You can browse Aaron Keim's website and watch his youtube videos at leisure, but what I want to share with you today is the fact that on his website, Aaron has a kindly put up a download page with links to tabs AND..... chords up the neck.

The difference between Aaron's page and others I've seen is that on his page, Aaron limits the chords up the neck to just a handful of the most basic ones, e.g. C, C7, F, F7, G and G7. Just enough to have them printed off in front of you and sit and learn them. Learning a load of alternative chord fingerings up the neck of the uke is rather like eating an elephant - but how to eat an elephant? Easy - on bite at a time! Which is exactly what Aaron Keim gives us here!

There's also a link to a page of "magic moveable shapes" - check it out! And you know, it's great to be given all this help and information completely free - but Aaron does invite us to drop him a donation if the free tabs and worksheets are useful. Fair do's, I reckon ... and actually, you'll find that you can buy Aaron's ukulele songbooks from his website, too.

Lovely stuff... thanks Aaron...

And thanks to you for dropping in!

Ukulele Quote of the Day - and a new Ukulele Hero for me - Curt Sheller

"Woman is at a uke festival with a lovely soprano ukulele under her arm. Another woman walks up and gazes admiringly at the first woman's uke, at which point the woman holding the uke looks over and says with a smile; "I got it for my husband." Second woman nods and says, "good trade.""

Hadn't better show LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) that one. He's actually about to make me a bacon sandwich....

But the quote - I found on a great website I've just been perusing - it's
Curt Sheller 'All Things `Ukulele and Jazz Guitar and it's well worth a good look.

For example - Curt invites us to learn a new chord every day of the year... and there are plenty of top quality free lessons on offer. This makes Curt Sheller a dead cert as a Ukulele Hero..

Jazz on Uke - Great Chord Progression, three positions!

One of my personal targets a few months back, to make some real progress on the ukulele was to learn some chords up the neck of the uke - and I also wanted to get some jazz chords under my belt. They just sound so cool! Thanks to Marcy Marxer in Hawaii, here's not only a great sounding jazz chord progression, but she shows us three positions - the common positions low on the neck, and then two more positions going higher. It's a great tutorial video....

The chord progression is C6 - C#dim - Dm7 - G7. That sounds really good - but up the neck it's even better.

Thanks, Marcy! And - she's playing a Kala tenor.

Worried Man Blues - chords

On 5th May I posted Ken Middleton's video of his great version of Worried Man blues, played clawhammer style - it's an old roots music favourite, and an easy one to practise playing by ear - just three chords with a C7 as a passing chord to pass from C to F - (using C7 to move from C to F is very common, and just one of the things in music that I've learned from playing ukulele) .

It (C) takes a worried man to sing a worried song,
(C7) It (F) takes a worried man to sing a worried (C)song,
It (C) takes a worried man to sing a worried song,
I'm worried (G) now but I won't be worried (C) long.

For full lyrics, (Woody Guthrie) visit here

You could use Am on "song" in the third line - I think it sounds OK - but it isn't part of a true blues progression. Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong!

Just a note on the use of G - there are so many songs where the main chords are C, F and G7 - but this is C, F and G.... the G7 chord just sounds wrong here. Try both and you'll see. If you can't hear the difference, don't worry. As you play more and your musical ear gets more discriminatory, you will eventually hear the difference.

"Bye Bye Blues" - Ukulele lesson tutorial by ukulelemike, Mike Lynch

I've been looking at the popular jazz standard "Bye Bye Blues", written by Fred Hamm, Dave Bennett, Bert Lown, and Chauncey Gray and published in 1930. More on the song here.

This lovely version, by ukulelemike, Mike Lynch, has quite a jazzy sound because of the chords chosen... lots of 7ths and minor 7ths. Mike puts the chords up on the video, which is really helpful when you're trying to follow it...

For ease, here they are in order

A - F7 - Em - F#7 - B7 - E7 - A - Cdim7 - Bm7 - E7

Next time .... another great version of Bye Bye Blues, a couple of tutorial videos by Matthew Richards for playing Bye Bye Blues melody-style, using basic chords. You can take your pick!

"Some of these Days".... I can get all the chords by ear!

Whether it was the tranquility of the summerhouse that did it, I don't know - but I was going through some pieces and songs the other day, and playing "I Wanna be like You" - the first chords being back and forth between Am and E7. I realised that they also sounded like the opening chords of "Some of These Days"

I tried to work out the rest, by ear - and here's the result.


Some of these [E7]days you'll miss me, [Am]honey

Some of these [E7]days you're gonna be so [Am]lonely

You'll miss my [F]huggin'; you're gonna miss my [C]kissin'

You're gonna miss me, [D7] honey, when I'm far a[G7]way

I feel so [C]lonely, for you [F]only

'cause you know, [A7]honey, you've always had your [Dm]way

And when you leave me [Cdim]you know it's gonna [C]grieve [A7]me

Gonna miss your [D7]big, fat mamma, your [G7]mamma some of these [C]days


Some of These Days, written and composed by Shelton Brooks, became a signature song for Sophie Tucker (1886-1966)styled "The Last of the Red Hot Mamas"

Noticed the diminished chord? Scrumptious!


(All rights reserved)

Pennies from Heaven for Ukulele - Tutorial by Ukulelemike

I've never known a summer when it has rained so much. The whole of April - the whole of June - and it hasn't stopped so far in July. Well it has - for a few minutes here and there, just while another cloud rolls in off the Atlantic. One minute the sun is actually shining, and you look again and the rain is pouring down. The sky is a patchwork in shades of grey, white and a little blue, but darkest grey predominates. Early this evening the sun was shining while the rain fell really heavily - the edge of a cloud I suppose. But not usual.

There have been some incredible rainbows, really bright, and double ones... a little beauty to behold, while you remind yourself that elsewhere at other times, people actually have lost their homes and their lives in flooding. So it's not so bad, and I must stop moaning.

One of my favourite old songs is Pennies from Heaven, (1936) by John Burke and Arthur Johnston.

I found this great tutorial video from ukulelemike, Mike Lynch, my favourite ukulele teacher! This arrangement has some lovely minor 7th and diminished chords - delicious! Just the thing to chase those rainy blues away.



Every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven
Don'tcha know each cloud contains pennies from heaven?
(You'll find your fortune fallin' all over town)
(Be sure that your umbrella)
Is upside down

Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
If you want the things you love, you must have showers
(So when you hear it thunder) Don't run under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me

(Every time it rains, it rains) Pennies from heaven
(Don'tcha know each cloud contains) Pennies from heaven?
(You'll find you fortune fallin') All over town
(Be sure that your umbrella) Is upside down

Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
If you want the things you love you must have showers
(So when you hear it thunder) Don't run under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and for me

I haven't found the link to the chord sheet, but the tutorial is great - I'm hoping to get this under my belt eventually, but a chord sheet would be really useful.

And here's a few more songs about the rain.....

Just Walkin' in the Rain
I'll Do my Cryin' in the Rain
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head
It Might as Well Rain Until September
Pennies from Heaven
April Showers
Drip Drip Drop Little April Shower
Let a Smile be Your Umbrella
Bus Stop (Wet day, she's there....) - The Hollies
Singin' in the Rain
Raining in my Heart
Stormy Weather
Don't Rain on my Parade
Rainy Night in Georgia
Rhythm of the Rain
Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Tip of the Day for Beginners - Play a 3 Chord Song by Ear

And another ukulele hero - Jim D'Ville

The best way to develop your musical skills is to test them, challenge them - and develop your musical "ear".

Check over the list of 3 chord songs on the 3 chord song page here... choose a song that you're familiar with, and have a go at strumming it without a song sheet.

Chances are, the first chord will be C, because when you play a 3 chord song with C, F and G7, you're "in the key of C" and C is the chord you'll start with and end with - it's the "home chord".

You may well hear when the chord should change - and you've only a choice of 2! As you go through it, and it will likely be by trial and error for a while, try to remember the right chords as you find them. Practice changing chords in the right place - it will get easier. It's rather like doing a puzzle, but the right chord will sound right, that's the thing.

Gradually you will learn the song. A boost for your skills, and a big boost for your confidence!

I love this approach and I've always played by ear from childhood, being desperate to play (piano, recorder) and unable to lay my hands on sheet music, I used to work it out. It was and is fun....I still do it - it's only practice, and perseverance. I'm not brilliant at it; (Jools Holland learned to play piano by ear and IS brilliant...)

Of course, 2 and 3 chord songs are only the beginning - as new chords are added to those three in more complex arrangements, the interplay of major and minor chords is an entrancing revelation.

A big ukulele exponent of playing by ear is Jim D'Ville. Check out his website, there's great stuff on there - and a link to his "3 Chord Club" - worth more than a few minutes!

Enjoy Yourself - It's Later Than You Think! Chords

I like this song, currently made popular by Jools Holland, and used by him as a sort of signature tune. As you get older... and I am! .... you realise the intrinsic truth of the lyrics! Music 1949 by Carl Sigman, lyrics by Herb Magidson , all rights reserved.

It's basically a 3 chord song, you can play it using your basic ukulele chords C, G7 and F.

(C) Enjoy yourself, it's later than you (G7) think,
Enjoy yourself, while you're still in the (C) pink,
The years go by, more quickly than a (F) wink.
Enjoy yourself, en (C) joy yourself, it's
(G7) later than you (C)think!

There are more words to this - if you like the song, you can find them easily enough - I just like the chorus!

Enjoy yourself - it's later than you think!

So you're starting to play a ukulele? Three sets of chords to really get you going quickly!

I've seen some pretty good websites with great tips on how to start to learn to play a ukulele. Okay, an ukulele if you like. But having just given one as a gift to a complete beginner, I thought I'd share my views on learning to play with you.

You want to play because you want to play song accompaniments, for starters, yes? Ok.

Set of Chords 1 - C, G7, F

Learn just 2 chords and you'll be started. There are quite a few songs that you can play using just two chords!

I don't have the means to show you how to finger chords on this blog - there are plenty of websites where you can learn that, and one of my favourites is (ukulelemike) Mike Lynch's website, allthingsukulele.com. His first beginners' page with chord shapes is right here.

Another very good one is ukeschool.com. Here's the page for C, G7 and F

The key of C is the easiest key to play in to start off with, because the home chord C needs only one finger on one string on the fingerboard.

So learn the C chord, using your ring finger (3rd finger) in the space just before the third fret, bottom string (A string).

Then learn the chord G7.

Slide that ring finger down to just behind the second fret and put your first finger at the first fret, next string (E string); middle finger to the third fret, the next string (C string).

Practise playing those two chords and changing smoothly between them.
It all feels awkward and tricky at first but that soon goes with a bit of practice and you'll be away!

Now you can play "Dance the Night Away" and "Cockles and Mussels"!

Start with C, and your ear should tell you when C no longer sounds right, and you need to change to G7. And so on.

If you are of a certain age, you'll remember "The Banana Boat Song"; popular on the radio.
"Day-oh, day-oh! Daylight come and I wanna go home!"
Another 2 chord song, easy to sing and play using C and G7.

The next chord to learn is F.

From G7, leave your first finger in place and move your second finger over to the 2nd fret, top string. (G string).

Practise changing between these three chords; they belong together.

There are loads of songs you can do with just three chords! I'll make a list on another page.

So - the key of C, three chords - C (home chord) G7, F

C, G7, F

Set of Chords 2 - Am, Dm, C7

The 2nd set of chords to learn to enrich your playing and greatly increase your repertoire is

Am, Dm, C7

Adding these chords gives you some common chord progressions, which sound just great and are used in many songs.

One such chord progression is C, Am, F, G7 - repeat.

Also C, Am, Dm, G7

Practise changing through these progressions.

Set of Chords 3 - D7, E7, A7

Your 3rd set of chords to learn is D7 (both fingerings), E7, A7.

With these nine chords under your belt, you'll be well on your way.

In my next few posts, I'll list some songs, using 1st set, incorporating 2nd set, then incorporating 3rd sets of chords.

"Finlandia" - Ukulele Arrangement by Ukulele Mike Lynch - Comprehensive Tutorial...

In my childhood, I don't remember a time when there wasn't some "serious" music in my life. In the late fifties, when I was small, the radio was always on, the "light" programme, as it used to be called - the only equivalent to Radios 1 and 2 in the UK today. So there was plenty of popular music, with smatterings of popular classics, usually in the request programmes. That was where people of all ages heard such music as the pieces used in Disney's "Fantasia," some Chopin.....Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and film music like Nino Rota's "The Legend of the Glass Mountain", and Richard Adinsell's "Warsaw Concerto". My mother loved these. If these last two came on the radio, all activity literally came to a standstill while she listened. And it all seeped into my soul. By thirteen, I was head-over-heels with the music of the Beatles, and any classical music that touched that other part of me.

"Finlandia" by Sibelius was one of those pieces that you heard on the radio from time to time. The melody conjures up the peace and tranquility of the dark, coniferous forests and the snowy vistas of Scandinavia. Ukulelemike Mike Lynch has arranged it as a solo for ukulele - and, wonders - it isn't a difficult piece. You can get the tab, but watch the video and the tutorial and you may get it from that alone. Thank you, Mike!

Enjoy!

My second Ukulele Hero - Mike - Mike Lynch

When I hear music, one of the things that will always stop me in my tracks is interesting chords. While pootling around on my ukulele, trying to figure out the chords for a particular song, I've discovered that, try as I might, sometimes the right chord just can't be found. And I've realised that when that's the case, it's because the chords are not the straightforward major, minor or 7th chords - they're something else. I'm not going to get technical here - I'm not capable of getting too technical about it - but those elusive interesting chords are often associated with jazz. My appreciation of jazz is rather limited - but I drool over those interesting chords. When you're reading the chords for a song, they're the ones with "aug", (augmented), "dim" (diminished) or "sus"(suspended) after them - or a number like 6, 9 or 13.

Yesterday I showcased Mike Lynch's arrangement of "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin. The jazz chords in it are A aug (A+) and Bbm6. Delicious! There's no doubt in my mind that Mike is one of the best and most inspirational teachers of Ukulele on the net, and I would wholeheartedly recommend his videos on Youtube.

If you like those interesting jazzy chords, just watch ukulelemike's first jazz chords video for the ukulele. I can't fault his MO. His love of the ukulele, of the music, and of teaching it just shine through. A ukulele hero. Hail Mike! I wish you Blue skies.

To watch ukulelemike's first video on jazz chords for the ukulele, click here. He also goes by the name MusicTeacher2010.

JAZZ UKULELE TUTORIALS by “UKULELE MIKE” LYNCH

I'll See You in my Dreams

So, this is the ukulele chord arrangement that I did for I'll See You in my Dreams, when I first got my ukulele. It's in the key of C, whereas the "proper" version is in F - and if you're not an accomplished player, it's easier!

I didn't do the intro, lovely as it is, because I wasn't familiar with it, but it would be better if the intro was included. I must sort it!



I’ll See You in my Dreams

(Vamp C and Am for intro)

I’ll [F] see you in my [Fm] dreams

[C] Hold you in my [A] dreams [A7]

[A] Someone took you out of my arms

[F] Still I’ll feel the [G7] thrill of you charms

[F] Lips that once were [Fm] mine

[C] Tender eyes that [A] shine [A7]

[C#dim] They will [A7] light my [Am] way to night [Fm]

I’ll [F] see you [Fm] in [G7] my [C] Dreams [Cmaj7]


# This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
# song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #

I'd love to see this improved, with some augmented and sustained chords - if anyone can play with it and improve it while keeping the chord fingerings in the "easy" bracket, please feel free, and let me know, with your comments! :D

Have a happy ukulele day!