Okay, the 34th season is officially closed for new entries and voting has begun.
Remember, if you entered a video into the contest (not just a bonus) you can vote for your first, second and third place picks. If you didn't enter you can vote for your one favorite. Just PM me with your choices (either their UU username or YouTube username is fine.) Voting closes at midnight next Sunday night October 21 Hawaii time.
Official Entries
Let me know if you're missing or on the wrong playlist or something.
And here's the bonus songs. Feel free to enter more bonus songs if you want. But don't neglect the ongoing 35th season to do so.
Bonus Songs
---------------------------
It's the 34th Season of the Ukulele, and it's time for the most commonly used (some might say over-used) chord progression in modern pop music; the I-V-vi-IV progression, (a.k.a. the pop-punk progression, the four chord pop progression or simply the four chord song.)
So what does this "I-V-vi-IV" stuff mean to those of us who don't do Roman numerals? Well, if you're playing in the key of C (as we often are on the ukulele) the progression is C-G-Am-F. Simple, right? Just play those chords in that order, starting with the C, and hold each chord for the same number of beats, and you just played the I-V-vi-IV progression. But you don't have to play it in C. You can play it in G (G-D-Em-C) or in D (D-A-Bm-G) or any other key. You can hold each chord for one beat, two beats, four beats, doesn't matter, as long as they're all the same. You can strum it however you like (or pick it.) Any tempo, any rhythm, any style. Just as long as the song includes that progression.
Now I'm not saying you have to play just those four chords over and over and nothing else. Although there are songs that do just that, and I'm hoping to hear some of those songs. But I just want to hear the I-V-iv-IV in there somewhere. However, there will be bonus points for featuring it more prominently. (More on that in a minute.)
Rules:
Scoring:
Prizes:
1st Prize - Hal Leonard's Four Chord Songbook. Not necessarily those four chords, but still a good book of simple songs.
AND
a Snark SN-8 clip-on chromatic tuner
2nd Prize - your choice of either of the two prizes listed above
3rd Prize - whichever prize the 2nd place winner doesn't take
Resources:
UK Ukulele Orchestra's Pop Song Medley
Axis of Awesome - 4 Chord Song (live version) contains a small amount of profanity
Axis of Awesome - 4 Chord Song (studio version) contains a small amount of profanity
or just google "I V vi IV", "four chord pop song", "pop punk progression" or variations of the these.
But note that other people's ideas of what a I-V-vi-IV progression is might not always conform to the rules of this thread. So double check the rules.
Also remember that every arrangement of a song you find, whether it's in a book or on the net, is just one person's idea of what chords to play for that song. So even if somebody else says it's not a I-V-vi-IV song, if you like how it sounds, play it that way, That's your arrangement of the song.
And yeah, I realize this theme is a little different from the usual. But I ask that you give it a try. It'll be fun. (I hope.)
EDIT:
I forgot - deadline is midnight Sunday night October 14th Hawaii time
Remember, if you entered a video into the contest (not just a bonus) you can vote for your first, second and third place picks. If you didn't enter you can vote for your one favorite. Just PM me with your choices (either their UU username or YouTube username is fine.) Voting closes at midnight next Sunday night October 21 Hawaii time.
Official Entries
Let me know if you're missing or on the wrong playlist or something.
And here's the bonus songs. Feel free to enter more bonus songs if you want. But don't neglect the ongoing 35th season to do so.
Bonus Songs
---------------------------
It's the 34th Season of the Ukulele, and it's time for the most commonly used (some might say over-used) chord progression in modern pop music; the I-V-vi-IV progression, (a.k.a. the pop-punk progression, the four chord pop progression or simply the four chord song.)
So what does this "I-V-vi-IV" stuff mean to those of us who don't do Roman numerals? Well, if you're playing in the key of C (as we often are on the ukulele) the progression is C-G-Am-F. Simple, right? Just play those chords in that order, starting with the C, and hold each chord for the same number of beats, and you just played the I-V-vi-IV progression. But you don't have to play it in C. You can play it in G (G-D-Em-C) or in D (D-A-Bm-G) or any other key. You can hold each chord for one beat, two beats, four beats, doesn't matter, as long as they're all the same. You can strum it however you like (or pick it.) Any tempo, any rhythm, any style. Just as long as the song includes that progression.
Now I'm not saying you have to play just those four chords over and over and nothing else. Although there are songs that do just that, and I'm hoping to hear some of those songs. But I just want to hear the I-V-iv-IV in there somewhere. However, there will be bonus points for featuring it more prominently. (More on that in a minute.)
Rules:
- must be an original video recorded for this competition
- you must announce, either verbally or graphically. at either the beginning or end of the video, that it's for the 34th season of the ukulele
- the song must include the I-V-iv-IV progression as described above
- one-take videos only. I'm a big fan of multi-tracking, but this week I want to keep things simple.
- although additional instruments are welcome, the ukulele should be the focus
- one official entry per person. Bonus tracks are encouraged, but please label them clearly as such. If I'm unsure, I'll assume that your first unlabeled video is your entry.
- multiple versions of the same song are not only allowed, they are encouraged. Maybe even inevitable. I like to hear what different people bring to the same song, so please please PLEASE just post it anyway, okay?
Scoring:
- Winners will be chosen mostly by viewers' choice, but with a bunch of bonus points. I'm also stealing Ralf's rule that you're not eligible to win if you don't participate in the voting.
- Everyone who enters the contest must vote for their 1st, 2nd and 3rd place choices. 1st place votes are worth 3 points, 2nd place are worth 2 points and 3rd place worth 1 point.
- Any registered UU member who doesn't submit a video can vote for their single favorite video. These votes are worth 1 point.
- Everyone will get some bonus points based on how prominently their song features the I-V-vi-IV progression, to a maximum of 10 points. Whatever approximate fraction of the song uses the progression, you get that fraction of 10 points. So if your song plays the progression over and over and nothing else, you get 10. If you play it half the time, you get 5. And so forth. Decisions regarding these points are solely at the judge's discretion (that would be me.)
- 3 bonus points if you write an original composition.
- I really like hearing different people's takes on the same song. So I'm giving bonus points for multiple versions of the same song. If 2 people do the same song, they each get a point. If 3 people do it, they each get 2. If 4 or more people do it, they each get 3.
Prizes:
1st Prize - Hal Leonard's Four Chord Songbook. Not necessarily those four chords, but still a good book of simple songs.
AND
a Snark SN-8 clip-on chromatic tuner
2nd Prize - your choice of either of the two prizes listed above
3rd Prize - whichever prize the 2nd place winner doesn't take
Resources:
UK Ukulele Orchestra's Pop Song Medley
Axis of Awesome - 4 Chord Song (live version) contains a small amount of profanity
Axis of Awesome - 4 Chord Song (studio version) contains a small amount of profanity
or just google "I V vi IV", "four chord pop song", "pop punk progression" or variations of the these.
But note that other people's ideas of what a I-V-vi-IV progression is might not always conform to the rules of this thread. So double check the rules.
Also remember that every arrangement of a song you find, whether it's in a book or on the net, is just one person's idea of what chords to play for that song. So even if somebody else says it's not a I-V-vi-IV song, if you like how it sounds, play it that way, That's your arrangement of the song.
And yeah, I realize this theme is a little different from the usual. But I ask that you give it a try. It'll be fun. (I hope.)
EDIT:
I forgot - deadline is midnight Sunday night October 14th Hawaii time
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