Ever wonder what kind of tunes radio stations all over the world are playing? Check out Radio Garden. This app is fascinating! Each of the dots on the globe represent a radio station and you can click on that and listen to what’s on the air. Got a yen to find out what on the radio in Reykjavík, Iceland? Travel the planet, one radio station at a time. Here’s a link to QUAY FM, 107.1, a station in Alderney, in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Enjoy!
How to play “I will wait” Mumford and Sons – fingerstyle ukulele. A beautiful song, and not too hard to get the melody right out of the chord shapes.
chord namer can find the name of any chord shape
The chord namer will automatically name a chord shape (if a valid chord shape is supplied.) Simply select the circles on the fret board that correspond to where your fingers go and hit “Go”. A few things to watch out for:
Strings that aren’t strummed should be set to “Mute” and open strings should be set to zero.
Don’t enter your chord upside-down! The fretboard is shown with the lowest pitch string at the bottom and the highest pitch string at the top (unless you’ve tuned your instrument differently.)
If there is more than 1 way to name the chord you supplied, the chord namer will give you multiple results. They are all correct but which one you choose may depend on the context it is used in. Visit chord namer here!
“Muddy Waters meets Tiny Tim”, as my friend and teacher John LaGreca said. This blues will be in Am. Using a 1/4/5 pattern, that gives us Am for the 1, D, for the 4 and E for the 5.
We can play a typical 12 bar blues pattern
like this:
The 12th measure with the 5 chord is the “turnaround”.
We can use our pentatonic minor scale to play over the chords! The minor pentatonic scale uses the 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7 notes. for Am that would be A, C, D, E and G and that works great for the 1 and 4 chords. We can also use the “blue” note (b5) to make it sound cooler.
For the 5 chord, we’ll use the pentatonic for E. Again, 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7, o that will be E, G, A, B and D. The b5 in this scale is a Bb.
Looking for online ukulele lessons? First one is free!
“Muddy Waters meets Tiny Tim”, as my friend and teacher John LaGreca said. This blues will be in Am. Using a 1/4/5 pattern, that gives us Am for the 1, D, for the 4 and E for the 5.
We can play a typical 12 bar blues pattern
like this:
The 12th measure with the 5 chord is the “turnaround”.
We can use our pentatonic minor scale to play over the chords! The minor pentatonic scale uses the 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7 notes. for Am that would be A, C, D, E and G and that works great for the 1 and 4 chords. We can also use the “blue” note (b5) to make it sound cooler.
For the 5 chord, we’ll use the pentatonic for E. Again, 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7, o that will be E, G, A, B and D. The b5 in this scale is a Bb.
If you’re looking for online zoom or skype guitar lessons, I might be just the right teacher for you! I work with guitarists and ukulele players of all levels and abilities and I have students from all over!
Online students from across the country!
To make sure I am a good fit for you, I offer a free initial online lesson. No matter what level you are playing at now, I’m willing to bet my own time that you’ll benefit from online lessons with me- and you’ll discover that yourself at your first FREE lesson!
Simply schedule your free lesson for yourself here. The online scheduling tool is quite easy to use; simply choose “First Free Lesson” from the lesson choices and select the day and time you are interested in. If you see a time listed in the scheduler, that time is available for us to meet.
I’m looking forward to meeting you soon!
Paul
How to play “Your Song” Elton John – fingerstyle guitar. A beautiful song, and not too hard to get the melody right out of the chord shapes.
How to play “Yesterday” – fingerstyle guitar. Below is the tablature for the intro and outro.
A pretty comprehensive article on the history of the guitar: https://www.mi.edu/education/guitar-history-how-the-guitar-has-evolved/
The exact origin of the guitar is a mystery, but “guitar” probably comes from the ancient Greek word κιθάρα (kithara). The god Hermes gets a nod for creating the first kithara from a tortoise shell and buddy Apollo was apparently an axe-man as well. The story goes that “when Apollo swept his hand across the strings, even the little waves on the blue sea stopped chasing one another to listen; then they too sang the same song, and they sing it to this day”. Party on, Hermes! Party on, Apollo!
The kithara had a wooden soundboard, box-shaped body and two hollow arms extending from the body. The instrument originally had three strings running from the crossbar to its lower end, passing over a bridge on the soundboard.
The kithara player typically struck the strings with an early version of the modern pick. The player would use his or her left-hand fingers to dampen unwanted strings and, at times, stop the strings or produce harmony with their left hand. Solo musicians would sometimes pluck the strings with the fingers of both hands. Holding a kithara is similar to holding a guitar, and musicians would often use the early equivalent of a guitar strap with an over-the-shoulder band. Rock on, ancient music dudes!
A bass player I played with for a while showed me this neat trick. Thanks Lenny!
First write down the notes in a row like this. I’m starting with C because that’s the key I want to transpose the chords from.
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B
Now what key do you want to transpose to? How about E? If that’s the case, just grab that line of notes and rewrite them under the first line- only the E will be under the C.
C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | A# | B
E | F | F#| G |.G#| A| A#| B | C. |.C#| D | D#
Do you see? So let’s say you want to transpose C,F and G to the key of E. What you’re saying is “if C is now E, then F=A and G=B. All you’re looking for when you transpose is the same relationships in a scale with a different root so 1/4/5 in C is C/F/G which relate to E/A/B in the target key. Hope that helps you!
How to play “Donkey Riding” on ukulele. Download the tabs here
a simple two-part harmony on uke.
Donkey Riding had its origins with the sailors that left Glasgow and Liverpool on a regular basis to bring back lumber from Canada. It is not precisely a sea chanty, but more of a work song. The “Donkey” in the title is not the animal, it is the engine that was used in loading cargo in the ship’s deck. I’m recalling my days on the USS Richard L. Page – the bos’n mates maintained something called a donkey boiler or a donkey engine, so that makes sense, finally.
The melody is derived from the well known Scottish marching song, Highland Laddie.
A great old tune I remember my ma singing for me when I was little, she probably heard it from her da, who was a sailor.
This is not too hard to finger on uke right out of the chord shapes and it might be an opportunity to play familiar chords in a different spot on the neck.
Enjoy!