Season 157 The Rainbow is Calling.

UkeCan1 said:

I do think that being able to translate scale degrees to chords and chord names is a really useful skill! Good on ya, Alan.

Click to expand...

Well, I owe it to all my teachers who drilled it into me over and over again.

We were in California all week. Decided to do one at Joshua Tree National Park although you don't see much of it in the video. I forgot we wouldn't have an Internet connection so had to try a one taker from memory. Forgot one chorus entirely but here with love is it.

DWitt said:

That's the way I learned as well—I learned voice and composition starting about 20 years before I picked up an instrument. With the uke, though, I find it easier to remember C-F-G-Am-Em-Dm and G-C-D-Em-Bm–Am than it is to remember that ii in G is vi in C and so on . . .

EDIT:

A clearer way of saying what I meant: If you just know the chords relative to the tonic, then to play in a key other than C major, you need to think e.g. that I is the IV of V, II is the V of V, iii is the vi of V, and so on. For me, it's harder than learning e.g. that C is the IV of G, D is the V of G, Em is the iii of G, etc.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that clarity...

Now I just need a darkened room to lie down in while my walnut unwraps itself ....and do you have a Gin ...Bombay Sapphire peut etre , to go with that slice of lemon ice and the tonic oops 'ang on whilst I 'oist the ?

157th entry 5 (Bonus):

I had a request for this one.

157th entry 6 (Bonus):

I had a request for this one also.

How perfect that Rex just posted my request ("White Room") ... because he gave me the chart for this one many months ago, and I finally have an opportunity to do it. I just saw somebody posting somewhere about this very issue yesterday, so it most be true.

"Ukuleles Aren't Allowed in Bluegrass", by Bob Gross:



Off to go check out Rex's "White Room" now ... and go find that bluegrass post and respond to it.

Love your post. To xommen from Gina uke.

Sean did an Almann Brothers song a day or so ago, which reminded me of a song I thought of earlier in the week, then promptly forgot.
This one was by Greg Allman.

Rex's wonderful video of "White Room" (which I watched about twelve times) inspired me to do this:
I have created a playlist of "White Room" on ukulele.

There is shockingly little of it. Only four renditions, and three of them are us - me from Season 127/128, Lynda (BirdsEyeView) from 128, and now Rex ... because I pleaded. And this fabulous chord melody guy called "Ukulele Rock"). Plus a partially accurate tutorial (don't learn it from that - it's also partially inaccurate). And that's IT. Only 4.5 uke renditions of "White Room".

The chart is here. Fellow Seasonistas, the world needs more "White Room" on ukulele. I hope some of you will come join the party.

(It's also ridiculously good fun to play out. Even with meager uke skills like mine, you can wow any room and front any rock band, and they will love you for it. I know, because I do it all the time. There are few things in life more fun than "White Room" on ukulele. So go for it.)

Oh, and I couldn't help rounding out the playlist with three fabulous non-uke renditions - one terrific bar band, some mind-blowing a-cappella, and Cream themselves - at their 2005 reunion. Man, those guys could rock.

AlanDP said:

Don't know if anyone else does this, but when I have to make my own chord sheet from scratch (when I can't find it on the internet), I don't use the letter names for the chords, like C, F, G, etc. I just use the Roman numerals: I, IV, V, etc., using lower case for minor chords. I do this mostly because that's how I was taught to analyze music, but also if I have to transpose I don't have a lot of confusing letters in the wrong key. I realize that this might be even more confusing for some, but that's how I was taught and it works for me.

Click to expand...

Funny how these topics come round again. Not that this particular topic's not worth rehearsing, of course: it's just the institutionalised amnesia of the bulletin board. This for example from Season 96, posts #84 & #89:

lelouden said:

Now don't get me wrong. [snip]... This stuff is very valuable and I know it allows us to move much farther and faster. [snip]... But when you're talking about [ I, IV, V7 [snip]...] etc, I have no idea what any of that means. I do need to try and learn this stuff and [snip]... It's just really foreign to me. I had to find the Boar's Head online and could only find one small line, http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtdFPE.asp?ppn=MN0079510. It gave me a C, G, Am, F and Dm, so that's what I used. I am aware all of this would be so much easier if I understood it

Click to expand...

redpaul1 said:

Not at all. We're all learning from each other as the Seasons unwind; either by listening (I wish I had your proficiency in multi-tracking), by watching or by asking (I'm often to be found asking other Seasonistas how they created such and such an effect on their videos).

[snip...]
With regard to I, IV, V7, etc, that's simply a way of describing a chord progression without regard to a particular key. The key of C runs C D EF G A BC. The C is the first note in the scale, the F is the 4th, the G is the 5th, the A the 6th and the D the 2nd. So your C G Am F Dm chord progression in The Boar's Head Carol would be described using this notation as I (for C), V (for G), vi (for Am), IV (for F), ii (for Dm). By convention, you use lower case Roman numerals to indicate minor chords.

Why would you want to describe the progression as I, V, vi, IV, ii? Well, suppose you were sitting in with a band, and the leader called out: "Next up, Boar's Head Carol, in G!"; you could then say to yourself "OK..., I, V, vi, IV, ii, in G? Got it: G, D, Em, C, Am." The idea behind it is that it's quicker and easier to do it this way than trying to transpose each chord individually.

This convention used to be, probably still is, very common among jazz musicians, where they would all know the progressions, but would have to alter the key they're playing it in on a nightly basis to suit the vocalist they were accompanying.

Think of it like algebra, e.g., like Pythagoras' equation, a[SUP]2[/SUP] = b[SUP]2[/SUP] + c[SUP]2[/SUP]: you use a, b & c, rather than any specific number, to indicate that the principle is generally applicable, not simply when the sides of the triangle equal 5, 4 & 3. Algebra? Hah! Hope I haven't made things worse!

Click to expand...

Amen, redpaul1, well put!

The other really useful thing about the numerical notation is that it tells you about the functions of those chords as well, which helps with playing expressively, emphasizing the right chords in the right ways, knowing when and how to add in 7ths and leading tones, and so on.

I've now realized also that AlanDP was talking about *writing down* chord numbers relative to the tonic, not actually *learning* the chord shapes as chord numbers. I learned the same way, and I find it very useful and adaptable. Not sure how I misunderstood the first time—my apologies!

Transposing on the fly, without the chord numbers . . . if I'm playing a song in D on a Soprano in D, it's not hard to read "D G A D" and play chord shapes (for a uke in C) of C F G C. But if I'm playing it on a Bari in G, then I'd have to read "D which I play with the chord shape G (for a uke in C) because it's the fifth of G and I'm on a G instrument," "G which I play as C because I'm on a G instrument," "A which I play as D because I'm on a G instrument"—and so on. That's tough.

If I can read that as I IV V I in D, then I just need to say to myself once, "the tonic is a C shape" on the soprano in D, or "the tonic is a G shape" on the bari, and then translate to chord numbers rather than adding and remembering and adding again— Bm is the vi in D, so that's played as an Em shape (on a C instrument) on a G instrument. Still confusing, but better. Better still if it were just written as "I IV V vi", though: then I can just say "G shape is the tonic. vi of G shape is Em shape" and done.

I guess the other way to do this is just to memorize all the names of the all the chord shapes on every instrument, right? Then you have to remember that (2000) is Am (on a C instrument) and Em (on a G instrument) and Bm (on a D instrument); that (2010) is F (on a C instrument) and C (on a G instrument) and G (on a D instrument) and so on for every chord shape. That seems more confusing to me—but, then, I learned theory and composition first, and the uke much later, so that might be why! How do the rest of you who play instruments that are in different keys think about this stuff?

Nice post on Brown Eyed Girl.

i was gonna do only one song for this season

because THAT would be a REALLY different thing for me

but

uh

:uhoh:

it didn't work out!

here is one more song, "blue uke"

Here's mine.

157th entry 7 (Bonus):

All that talk earlier about silver Capris made me remember this classic by the Tom Robinson Band. Folks of a certain age may remember them with great affection - I'm talking to you Paul, and Alan, and probably Dave, although he is chronologically a bit young to have been there in the day. Great great band.

I think this make get the pabrizzer seal of approval too, clocking in at around 1:30.

Finally, this was more than just one take - it was the first time I have ever played the song all the way through. I found such a nice sound for the uke, decided to just let it rip. It took almost as long to upload to YouTube as it did to make.

Wanted to get this in before we lost power!

I took the admonition "Try finding something that is different to stretch your skills this week" and went outside of my comfort zone for this submission. This was actually supposed to be for Season 154-Robert Burns, but I did not feel it was "perfect" enough to record at that time.

So, this is the result of three more weeks of practice. Still not where I want it to be, but it certainly stretched my skills to learn it by heart.

No. 3

This is a little outside my comfort zone though I have been working on it on and off for several months. I've always bottled out of the instrumental solos but I thought I would give it a go with one of my Risa ukes - nothing fancy mind. I put it through my cheapo Nux multi effects unit with a bit of chorus and reverb. The Nux unit is cheap, basic and great value for money.



Forgot to add this was originally by Pink Floyd, of course.

Jazzbanjorex said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrmqw-SwM8M&feature=youtu.be

Click to expand...

uh huh





people, he MADE me do it!

Well, after "White Room" and "White Rabbit", I could have done "Whiter Shade of Pale" or "Nights in White Satin" to complete my psychedelic rock White set, but I thought it could benefit from some contrast. So I think I'll just "Paint It Black" instead.