Full Playlist
Playlist
Alison Krauss – Away Down The River Via Humble Baritonics
Led Kaapana – Nani Ka’ala
Ian Whitcomb – Hungry Women Thanks to Vincent.
Tyrone and Lesley – Dung Beetle
Avonlea – Stranger Does bass ukulele count?
The Ladybugs – Quizás, Quizás, Quizás
Daniel Estrem – Bourree from Partita 3
Choan Gálvez – Perspectivas
EatMyUke – Youth & Young Manhood Medley
Herman Vandecauter – Adrian Le Roy & Robert Ballard On rajão.
A while back (quite a long while back now) I totalled up the chords in the songs I’d written up to find the most common ukulele chords. Now Uke Stuff have made a similar list. There are plenty of interesting similarities and differences. But I’m pleased to see the Pareto distribution remains.
Easy Ukulele Songs has beginner tips from 11 ukulele experts plus me.
Ukulele Go spends a month playing blues ukulele and nothing else.
Ukes
– If you’ve got $3,500 to spare you can read the the report on the ukulele market in 2017. Although it’s baffling that they split the sales of ukuleles between normal and pineapple rather than splitting them by size which seems like it would be more useful.
– Ukulele Go‘s badass customised zombie ukulele.
– Martin Taropatch 1917-20.
– Mele jumbo tenor.
– TD tenor.
– Black Rose Designs uke.
Fats Domino’s version of Blueberry Hill perfectly shows off the roots of rock and roll. He plays the driving boogie-woogie and has blues riff bassline. But the song itself is a country song first released by Gene Autry. So you have this sweet, major key country melody rubbing up against bluesy runs and liberal use of the minor third (the C-string, 3rd fret in my tab).
I’ve tried to keep those two elements in my arrangement of the tune. The verses have the melody with the bassline sitting between the lines (now not at all bassy). Try to separate these by playing the melody a bit louder (I didn’t do a great job of this in the video). The, “Wind in the willow…” section lays off the bassline and has chord stabs in between the melody. Keep those short by releasing the pressure with your fretting hand just after you strum.
To finish the song off I’ve added a little blues run. A great place to throw in your own favourite blues licks and play around.
Buy it on iTunes
How to Play Blues Ukulele
More 50s tabs and chords
A good chord progression is all about building tension and releasing it. Which makes the mysterious and unsettled suspended chords, sus2 and sus4, so effective in a progression.
This post should demystify them a little. Giving you ideas for when to use them, how to play them and why they work so well.
Suspended chords are neither major nor minor which makes them sound unfinished. Sus4 chords particularly have a bright, restless feel to that pushes a chord progression forward.
Compare this progression that ends with Csus4:
With this version where the Csus4 resolves into C:
The first example feels wrong because the Csus4 demands the C chord comes to the rescue to end the progression. It fuels the progression with momentum.
This move from a sus4 chord to its major chord is the most common use of the suspended chords. A classic example is The Who's Pinball Wizard which starts with a repeated move between Bsus4 and B then continues with a series of sus4 chords resolving into their relative major chord.
Another favourite of mine is Keston Cobblers' Club's fantastic Pett Level that uses both Csus4 and Gsus4.
Sus4 chords create enough tension that just switching between the sus4 chord and the major chord you can just hang out and do that for a while as Queen do in the intro to Crazy Little Thing Called Love. And as ABBA do in Dancing Queen when they switch between A and Asus4.
Although suspended chords can't be major or minor they can be 7 chords. Here's an example using G7sus4:
In this example I'm using the 2013 inversion of F which means the A-string, 3rd remains constant through the chord changes. Giving the progression continuity.
A great example of this is Prince's masterpiece Purple Rain. That uses G7sus4 to maintain F (E-string, 1st fret) and C (A-string, 3rd fret) notes through the first three chords:
Shifting from major to sus4 and back right at the end of song is a classic ending move. Here's how it sounds:
C – F – G7sus4 – C – Csus4 – C
Sus2 is very similar to sus4 in that it is neither major or minor. But it is much more mellow than sus4. To the point where it's almost melancholy.
This aspect of the chord is used to full effect in Radiohead's Paranoid Android with a move from Gsus2 to Gm. (It crops up once the hand moves down the neck.)
Amanda Palmer uses it to similar effect on Bigger on the Inside this time moving from Gsus2 to G.
Like sus4 chords, the most popular move with sus2 chords is to switch between the sus2 and its relative major. On uke this works particularly well with G, D and F (so long as you use the 2013 version of F). What makes them particularly good is that you can play the sus2 version of these chords and hammer-on an extra finger to create the major chord. You can hear me doing that to these chords in this example:
If you've really been paying attention you might have noticed that Fsus2 and Csus4 are exactly the same chord (0013).
Similarly, the chord shape for Asus4 (2200) is exactly the same as Dsus2. So, for example, the A – Asus4 move in Dancing Queen could also be thought of as an A – Dsus2 move.
Every sus2 chord has a twin sus4 chord (and vice versa).
That gives suspended chords another layer of ambiguity. Not only are they not major or minor but also you can't be sure what chord they are.
Chords are all built from scales. For this example we'll use the C major scale since it's the most straightforward. It goes:
C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C
Major chords are made up of the first, third and fifth notes of this scale. In this case C, E and G. You can find all these in the standard C chord:
C on the open C-string and A-string, third fret.
E on the open E-string.
G on the open G-string.
Since the uke has four strings and major chords have three notes you can double up one of the notes in the chord. It doesn't matter which so it's usually the one that's easiest to play.
Suspended chords do exactly what they say on the tin. They take out the third note in scale and replace it with the fourth note in sus4 and the second note in sus2.
So Csus4 will take out the E and replace it with an F. You can play that just by adding the E-string at the first fret to the C chord.
Csus2 will replace the E with a D. That's a bit more tricky to play. First you need to get rid of the open E-string. You can do that by playing it at the third fret (a G note) then add a D by playing the C-string at the second fret.
C on the A-string third fret
D on the C-string, second fret.
G on the open G-string and E-string, third fret.
And, of course, the Csus2 chord shape is the same chord shape as Gsus4.
Rumours of a new Arctic Monkeys album this year don’t seem to have come to fruition. So I’m doing one of their old songs in an attempt to The Secret a new album into existence.
The chord that really makes this progression is the F# (the major III chord in theory terms). In the key of D you’d expect to hear and F#m (which also crops up the progression). The Bb note in the F# chord doesn’t fit in the D major key so in creates loads of tension until it becomes more settled in the G chord. It’s a classic chord trick. You can hear the same move (I – III – IV) in the chorus of Tennesee Waltz.
Intro, Verses, Break and Solo: The intro starts with all down strums (eight per chord). Then I switch to this pattern (which you can hear in the video below):
The xs indicated strums muted with the fretting hand. If you want a simpler strum that doesn’t use muting here’s one that takes the rhythm from the intro solo:
Which sounds like this:
Chorus: The chorus is much more straightforward. It’s all down-strums. One each on all the Gs and As. Two on the D. And three on the Bm. The exception is the last chorus where it’s just one down-strum per chord (and don’t forget the lenthened Bm chord).
Middle: Eight fast down-strums per chord. Until the final F#-G-A move where you do two slower down-strums per chord.
Two little twiddles from the song. Both use the D major pentatonic include C# from the standard major scale.
Tracklist
Anne Janelle – In The Morning
Claire Hastings – Come Spend a While wi’ Me (Thanks to Colin)
Bud Sugar – VIRAL
Ukulele Death Squad – Paris On A Train via @ukeist
Natasha Ghosh – New Rules
Gracie Terzian – Bitcoins from Heaven
Jan Laurenz – The Ukulele Song
Jonathan Lewis – Hard Times
The Ukelites – Lurleen Lumpkin Songs
It’s your last chance to get a Uke Hunt t-shirt. You can buy them in the US and the UK until 31st October. Both campaigns have hit their goals so you’re guaranteed one when you order.
New Releases
– Debut self-titled album from Les Guitares Magiques with lots of old-timey jazz and blues. With appearances from long time Uke Hunt favourite Winin’ Boy (thanks to Karl for the heads-up).
– Jazz, R&B and hip hop ukulelist Sam Trump has released a “reimagining” of his 2013 debut EP:
Sam Trump plays the Uke Redux. And the songs scrub up very nicely indeed.
Window Shopping
– The Ukulele Review discusses three Japanese custom builders.
– Ohana’s new Pequeno ukulele a Nunes-style soprano.
– A couple of handsome Pelem ukes with Indonesia-shaped soundholes: Flame Acacia Concert and Mixed Wood Tenor.
– Tim Laughlin Style-5K.
– Yoshida UC-STD Concert.
– Kamaka soprano 1916-21.
Here’s a selection of short Halloween-suitable bits and pieces for you to work up for the big day.
Those chord stabs are so great. Instantly recognisable even on ukulele. The bass line is a bit ridiculous on uke though!
This is a supremely creepy song. The riff is in C minor but uses an Ab note (an augmented fifth) which creates the uneasy, dissonant feel.
This is hellish to play on ukulele. If the devil were challenging me he’d definitely get my soul. You’re going to have to put in a lot of practice if you want that golden ukulele.
I was expecting this one to transfer to uke more easily than it does. It’s a bit fiddly to play (make sure you move your hand down the fretboard for the A-string, 5th fret or you’ll be stranded) and it requires a capo at the fifth fret.
Jump in the Line was originally written by calypso legend Lord Kitchener and first recorded by Woody Herman. But it was Lord Flea’s mento version that Harry Belafonte took inspiration from. Belafonte popularised the song and it got another boost when it was used in the iconic scene from Beetlejuice.
Now you’ve got your raunchy jello pudding pop costume together, here are some tunes you may wish to bone up on before the big night.
Addams Family Theme Tune
Chopin – Funeral March
Jonathan Coulton – Re: Your Brains
Dance Macabre
The Fall – Mansion
The Gothic Archies – Freakshow
Halloween Theme
Harry Potter – Hedwig’s Theme
The Last of Us II –
Through the Valley
London Bridge Is Falling Down (From Halloween)
The Misfits – Dig Up Her Bones
The Misfits – Halloween
My Chemical Romance – Welcome to the Black Parade
Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells (from The Exorcist)
Ray Parker Jr – Ghostbusters
The Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil
Gustavo Santaolalla – Last of Us Theme
Skrillex – Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites
This is Halloween (From Nightmare Before Christmas)
Tom Waits – Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard
Twilight Zone Theme
The Walking Dead Theme
Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London
The White Stripes – Little Ghost
And a tutorial on spooking up your playing:
Starting off Halloween week with what might be the most pompous and overblown song I’ve ever tackled on here. But it does bear out the idea that any song with a strong melody will work on ukulele. With a little bit of tweaking it survives the transition pretty well.
Most of the chords in the song you’ll be familiar with. If you don’t care for the D6 and E6 chords you can just replace those with straight D and E without a problem. When the song changes key in verse 5 I’ve suggested chord inversions further up the neck. That makes the chord changes easier. But if you prefer the shapes you’re more familiar with they will work perfectly.
You can keep the strumming pretty simple. In the quieter verses (1, 2 and 5) I just do one strum per chord.
Then in the louder parts I play this:
d – d – d u d u
You can hear that in the video below.
If you find that a bit tricky when the song is belting along you can make the chord changes easier by dropping that last up-strum to get:
d – d – d u d –
Here are some of the twiddly parts in the song crammed together.
The lead part above has the piano riff in the intro and verse followed by the lead part in the first break. And the back part below plays the guitar part in the verse (that provides a counterpoint to the piano riff) and the chords for the break.
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