Netflix’s new comedy show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is absolutely hilarious. And it has an insanely catchy theme tune by songifiers and occasional ukers Schmoyoho which I felt the need to ukeify.
First job: put a capo on the first fret.
Suggested Strumming
I like to do just down strums for the verse. Using d-d-d-d- for everything up to the G at the end (but keep the strums short by muting them right after you strum). For the G I double up to dddddddd. Together they sound like this:
I was inspired to arrange this one by Brooke Pallson’s ukulele version and somehow it’s taken me two years to get from that to a finished version. That might suggest it’s a deeply complex arrangement but it’s pretty easy to play (although I still manage to jack it up at about 1:20 in the video).
The trickiest bit is the solo section that starts in bar 31. The first four bars ape the keyboard solo and the next for the “ain’t nobody’s business” vocalising. It took me a bit of practice to be able to switch between those. They’re just similar enough and just different enough to make it tricky.
An intro acts like an ice breaker in a conversation. They get people’s attention, set the mood (usually by establishing the key and the tempo) and set people at ease that you’re not some nutjob Ukip supporter. There’s a bit of a tension there between being interesting and setting your audience at ease. A good way to achieve that is to take a familiar intro and mix it up a bit.
To that end, here are the five best old school ukulele intros. They’re all in the key of C but the ideas can be transferred to any key.
Intro 1: The Traditional Ukulele Intro
D7 – G7 – C – G7
This is the classic intro. It does a great job of setting up the the song. The opening two 7 chords create a bit of drama and – because the 7 gives them an unsettled feel – they’re pushing towards the C chord and setting up the key of the song. Then the G7 brings in the tension to make you anticipate the song itself starting.
Here’s a great example of taking a familiar theme and mixing it up that I nicked from Peter Moss’s tutorial. It takes the traditional progression and includes a bunch of jazzy touches.
That last chord is a pain in the arse to play smoothly so I take the lazy option and switch it with a Gaug.
Intro 3: The Hot Tamale
C – A7 – D7 – G7 – C
This intro shares the D7 – G7 – C move but extends it backwards a little. You might recognise the progression from songs like They’re Red Hot and Hurry on Down.
Intro 4: The Blues Intro
C7 – C6 – C+5 – C – G7
In this progression you have descending chromatic notes on the g-strings. That’s a classic blues move that crops up all the time in intros, outros and turnarounds.
The Sister Kate version is in G and easier to play. This one is further up the neck which, if you ask me, is more fun. In the video I play it slow then up to speed.
Bonus: The Pharrell
The Pharrell Williams intro is the route one of intros. It’s just four or five chord stabs. It’s short and simple but it does establish the key and tempo. And it makes it a very short journey from to the hook.
I love how this song builds. I rarely make strong pronouncements on how you should strum a song but if you use the same strum all the way through this song you will ruin it.
Twiddly Bits
With a bit of octave switching the riffs fits onto the uke nicely as a series of thirds.
Suggested Strumming
I’d highly recommend not using the same strum all the way through this song. If not you’re playing the riff, I’d recommend just one down strum per chord for the first two verses and the first chorus.
Then punch it up a bit in the second chorus to something like:
d – d – – u d u
Back to one strum per chord for the middle and then another chorus with the chorus strum. For the second middle section I recommend really building up the tension with double-time down strums:
If you’ve been following my riffs for ukulele series you’ll have heard me encourage you to use it more creatively than just playing one riff at a time. One way to use them is to cram a bunch of them together to make a melody. That’s what I did with my Arctic Monkeys medley and this collection of Strokes riffs.
The songs in this medley are:
Barely Legal/Take It Or Leave It/Hard to Explain/12:51/One Way Trigger/Reptilia/Barely Legal (again)/Someday/Under Cover of Darkness/Last Nite
