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.
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.
Using Sus4 Chords
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.
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.
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:
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.
The Theory Behind Suspended Chords
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.
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.
Mardy Strum
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Suggested Strumming
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:
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.
With the newly retired David Beckingham stepping up his tabbing, I’ve decided to make Mondays officially Beckingham Tab Day. And the inaugural post is his version of Sibelius’s Karelia Suite.
I must admit to being entirely ignorant of this piece before David’s video. But according to Wikipedia Sibelius intended it, “to capture the quality of “naive,” folk-based authenticity,” which I’d say makes it ripe for a ukeing.
