Although we are now meeting in person I’m keeping the blog going, albeit in shorter form, as a record of what we did.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the live session in the Transmission Room and the sound is OK too. Michael led off with a session on the essentials of strumming. It was only after a while that I realised that I was doing it without thinking about it which is why, whenever I’m asked what the strumming pattern is, I genuinely don’t know. Michael has a background in percussion and I think this is why he is able to analyse and present and get over the essentials of good practice as far as strumming goes. He’s going to follow this up with a video which will also prove instructive.
Then we moved on to this sessions blend of requests, favourites and new tunes – featuring Hank Williams Jr as well.
First up in Michael’s session was Hey, Good Lookin’ – a Hank song with a simple structure in C, the verses are on a 1-2-5 pattern C is the one, D7 the two (the second note in the scale of C) and then the five – G7. The bridge introduces the 4, the F chord to complete the normal complement for C&W songs. Recognising these chord patterns makes it easier to pick up songs by just listening which adds greatly to enjoyment and facilitates playing along.
Then came Ain’t No Pleasing You, the Chas and Dave song. The tricky change here is going from C to B7. One possibility is using the voicing of B7 which is 4320. Another would be to use the alternative C chord (5433) and then slide back to B7 (2322), maybe using a barre on the C chord so apart from the slide only one finger would need to be raised.
Last in the first section the Beatles number And I Love Her. This demonstrates the sophistication of their songwriting as although the verses centre around Dm and Am the song is actually in C, even though Jim’s version claims it is in Dm! Michael showed a simple tab pattern that can decorate the beginning of the song.
It is also possible to fake this by ignoring the first note, playing the chord instead and just using the little finger to play the partial melody…
These can then be played with the Am chord – very pretty.
Next up Paul’s first three – starting with Act Naturally, a Buck Owens song made popular with “younger” audiences by the Beatles again. Then we had a go at Ain’t Misbehavin’ following the chord chart first and then trying it with the song. We haven’t done this for a long time and it needs a bit more polishing, this is a song written in what is sometimes called functional harmony, and Roger had distributed a table of the functional harmonic relationships in all keys without realising that we were going to attempt this one. Functional harmony usually means a song with an AABA or similar structure of verse and bridge or verse chorus bridge (AABAC etc) and chords moving through changes – F (2010) to D7 (2020) then Gm7 (0211) and then C7 (0001) followed by F to A7 (0100) then the change that everyone dreads it seems, major to minor, Bb (3211) to Bbm (3111) and so on with melodic variation.
Lastly Your Cheatin’ Heart, the second new song and another by Hank. The simple three chord trick structure was a welcome relief.
The Michael’s second three, starting with Yes Sir That’s My Baby and the embellishment of alternating from C to C6 (0000), G to G sus 2 (0230) and G7 to G7sus2 (0210). Then the rather haunting Roy Orbison Blue Bayou – this throws in a passing chord of F to Faug (2110) or (2014). This is not an easy chord to finger or indeed listen to on a ukulele unless it has a low G stringing. Then our Buddy Holly Medley and this is going to be expanded so we do all three songs separately.
Finally we just managed to squeeze in Paul’s final three – Frankie and Johnny, then Happy Together, the Turtles song which is not as easy to sing as to play! Lastly I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, the Bob Dylan classic.
Ukuleles of the Third Age 