Song Help Request Help figuring out chords for this piece

hucksawyer

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Hello everyone. This is my first post and I am needing a little help figuring out how to play this song I saw on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rzMFm_6OCI

I just recently bought the Kala Travel Tenor Ukulele and am loving it. I was browsing through youtube and saw this guy play and tried to contact him, but was unable. It seems pretty simple for someone who knows what they are doing (which is not me), and I would love some help figuring out the chords and possibly the recommended strumming pattern for this song. Thanks!
 
Congrats on starting your uke journey and welcome to UU!

That is a demo video from Bernuzio Uptown Music.

They have a web site here: https://bernunzio.com/

Their phone #: (585)473-6140

Maybe if you CALL them and ask, you can speak to the person that made that video.

I'm not familiar with that song, but the melody and rhythm reminds me of something in pop music from the late 1960's or early 1970's but I cant quite put my finger on it...(having worked as a DJ for nearly 20 yrs, and being out of it now since 2005, lots of the song-title memory is fuzzy without the constant repetition like it used to get during play-time at gigs)

Maybe other folks here on UU can jump in with other ideas...

Hope this helps! :)
 
Ah, Bernunzio! I actually started playing ukulele because I saw one of their videos in which there was a beautiful young woman playing a Cordoba ukulele. Because of her I bought a Cordoba tenor and I have been playing ever since. Superficial, I know, but true.

As for your question, it is difficult. The fretting hand is out of the frame of the video. If I saw the hand, I could probably tell which chords were being fingered. As it is, it will take someone with a good ear to figure it out...unless, of course, you can appeal to the good people of bernunzio to tell you the name of the song. Once you have the name, then google <song name> chords and then Bob's your uncle.
 
Also: Please stop posting a topic a number of times in different sub-forums. You can feel free to post again in an existing topic to “bump” it to the top of “new posts.” But please don’t keep reposting a topic. As mentioned below Booli, you can call the music store and ask. But without seeing the left hand it is difficult to know what specific chords he is playing on the travel tenor. With some effort, I could go through and determine the name and quality of many of the chords based upon the key—but it is difficult to say the specific chord shapes themselves.
 
I had not seen restrictions on that, but I will make sure to keep it in the same forum from now on. I have already called them and they said they couldn't help. I was just hoping the post would catch the eye of someone who could tell chords by ear. I have a bunch of buddies who can do that for guitars, so I'm hoping that someone on here might be able to.
 
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I just looked at rules, and you are right...there appears to be no forum rule specifically against cross posting. It may be implied in the discussion about limiting clutter on the forum. Perhaps this app is a good time for the moderators to revise those rules?

I just pullled out my travel Kala to try to help you out...it appears that the original video features a ukulele in tune with itself, but not tuned to GCEA. That makes it even more diffficult to figure out the chords—and maybe why none of the other UU members have stepped in to help out.

Figuring out the chords can be done, but it is going to take time and effort beyond what is normally needed.

You mentioned that you have guitar player friends who can identify songs by ear. As them to put a capo on the 4th fret (I think the tuning is off by a half step at least) and see if they can work out the chords.
 
For sure, I won't be doing that any more. You're right, it just makes for a ton of clutter.

I will make sure to ask one of them; I would not have known to tell them to capo on the 4th fret.

Thanks for figuring that out, I appreciate your time.
 
OK I'm moving over my thread contribution to this forum as I've kept hacking away at it...

Tune is in Key of B. Kinda off-beat key to use but...

It lets the melody go up and down the A string.

I can't vouch that perhaps he's using some odd tuning, the strumming sound so sparkly. But whatever he's doing it's a nice bright progression.

What follows is my best guess...

First part is B chord, using little finger to riff out on 6th & 7th:
4322 (B)
4342
4352


Then up to higher B chord and starts downward progression:
8676 (B)
3124 (F#)
4342 (Abm)
4350 (B7, (really B6/7) kinda non-standard, but easy to grab from prior chord and keeps progression moving down)
4442 (E)
4322 (C)
4444 (C#m7)
6667 (F#7)



...rinse and repeat the above, then when you get to bridge use these chords:
4342 (Abm)
4544 (C#7)
4422 (Bsus4)

...then back to the B chord riff that started it.

I know this isn't prolly exactly what the youtube guy is doing (not to mention I ignored the finger picking), but it may provide you at least a starting point.

Cheers! - Ross
 
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Woah, I cant begin to thank you enough for taking the time to do this. That is extremely detailed, I really appreciate it. Have a happy new year!
 
Sure NP! Yikes I took another look and saw I had some chord names wrong (but fingerings right!) so made some edits. It makes a little more sense in terms of chords that would appear in key of B chord progression.

Once I figured out it was key of B I just tried out other I-IV-V and other chords and found the ones that fit. There are some odd ones thrown in there but hearing the melody note made it guessable... It's interesting how the Abm -> B6/7 mirrors the initial B chord riff.

Some people do crossword puzzles, I like to figure stuff like this out!

Cheers! - Ross
 
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