Okay, you buy a music book, you play the chords and sing along and it just doesn’t sound right. It’s not necessarily that the chords are wrong that makes the song sound wrong, it’s that they gave you voicings that are wrong. They’re afraid you might be intimidated by having to play a voicing a little bit further down the neck. Get real. Those frets aren’t there for nothing.
Herb Ohta, Ohta-San, a great Hawaiian jazz player says that the first thing you should do when learning a song is to memorize the melody. You can do this by ear or by reading a lead sheet of the melody. Once you’ve really got the melody down, look for chord voicings that have the melody note on the first or second string, the A or the E string. Doing so will make the song sound like music to your ear, to coin a phrase. Learning the exact melody will also help your singing as it is common to sometimes make a variation that is not exactly the song. You miss the point that the songwriter varied the tune rather than having repeated exactly what came before. Having the melody on the higher strings will also give you a reference point while singing.
For those who are relatively new, a voicing is the order of the notes in a chord. A C major chord is CEG with one of those notes probably doubled because of having four strings. The C maj, however, is also EGC, or GCE.
So, 0003, or 5433, or 7565, etc.. Which works better with the song? Which makes it easiest to go to a voicing that works for the next chord?
When you work out a song, play around with voicings. Choose which you like best. Learning to do so has really opened up the ukulele for me.
p.s. Consider that you don’t have to play all the strings when playing a chord. Just play the ones that fit the accompaniment you wish.
I’m ready to hear from players who can correct any mistakes I’ve made or who can give me more insight.
Herb Ohta, Ohta-San, a great Hawaiian jazz player says that the first thing you should do when learning a song is to memorize the melody. You can do this by ear or by reading a lead sheet of the melody. Once you’ve really got the melody down, look for chord voicings that have the melody note on the first or second string, the A or the E string. Doing so will make the song sound like music to your ear, to coin a phrase. Learning the exact melody will also help your singing as it is common to sometimes make a variation that is not exactly the song. You miss the point that the songwriter varied the tune rather than having repeated exactly what came before. Having the melody on the higher strings will also give you a reference point while singing.
For those who are relatively new, a voicing is the order of the notes in a chord. A C major chord is CEG with one of those notes probably doubled because of having four strings. The C maj, however, is also EGC, or GCE.
So, 0003, or 5433, or 7565, etc.. Which works better with the song? Which makes it easiest to go to a voicing that works for the next chord?
When you work out a song, play around with voicings. Choose which you like best. Learning to do so has really opened up the ukulele for me.
p.s. Consider that you don’t have to play all the strings when playing a chord. Just play the ones that fit the accompaniment you wish.
I’m ready to hear from players who can correct any mistakes I’ve made or who can give me more insight.
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