Season 329 - Nothing Major.

I would have bet a lot of money that we would hear the "mode" word this week.
I would also have bet that it would be either tootler or redpaul who brought it.
Just saying.
Also songs do not always end on the tonic note and I believe you could be a very successful musician and never have heard of '"modes".
I would so much rather have heard a song in a minor key before I got the "mode" talk.

To put it politely, I find your negative attitude very disappointing. Belittling other peoples' interests because they don't accord with yours is not a good idea. It only puts people off.

I enjoy making music but I also like to understand what I am doing and I find that trying to understand how music works is interesting and helps me in many ways in my music making.

I have found Paul's posts on music theory interesting and they have led to some useful and fruitful discussion which I have later used to inform my own music making.

I think I'll just take a week off. It will save more hassle later in the week because I wouldn't be able to resist explaining what I understand about the melodies of the songs I post and that's clearly not welcome.
 
I have feeling that by the end this week, or sooner, everyone will know what a Styx freak I used to be. Anyway, the original of this song is in C minor. I used to have this song stuck so solidly in my head that I could hum a little of it and then pitch other songs with it, because I knew what key I was in already.

When I was being trained in interval recognition, I used this song to remember the minor 6th interval. The first two melody notes of each phrase, such as "Once in..." is a minor 6th interval, from G to Eb. But I dropped it way down to E minor because my voice isn't nearly as high as Dennis DeYoung's.

Multi-tracked some tenor noodling and vocal harmonies.

 
Some Gogol Bordello. A two chord song (Am E7)
with near spontaneous combustion at the end.
 
I first heard this on a James Last guitars agogo album when I were a lad, and have only recently found the dots for it.
This is played on a Zedro Soprano ,which has variously destroyed itself by ripping the bridge off ,twice and then
the third time it pulled the soundboard off.
So I have put a cedar soundboard and another bridge on....and tuned it ADF#B
using Charango strings as they are a little lighter.


 
Discovered this old Moody Blues song was in a minor key, and decided to give it a go. The original key of Em was a bit high for my vocal range, so I tuned the baritone down to CFAD which I guess puts this recording in Dm. I took some liberties with the arrangement. It was a fun song to record :) Thanks for hosting Pa~

 
Wow!
Talented people bringing real fine music this week.
Minor key but major enjoyment.
Fabulous covers and already one terrific original.
Thank you.
Looking forward to more music!
 
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I've always loved this T.G. Sheppard song, and this was the week to try it. I fudged up the pickin' some at the end, but I kept the take anyhow. I found this whole song to be deceptively difficult.

 
I sincerely thought about bringing this as my final song of #328 (and I could have done it and slipped Shady Grove here instead). But I got to mess around with capoing and transposing, so it's all good. The lyric "Wishing that I had a beer" is one I've heard Ray Davies sub in during a couple of recent solo performances.

 
Great theme, Pa! Here's my first, a song from Paul McCartney's Ram album. I got a bit carried away with amp effects, drums, and an electric piano - but I had fun putting it together!

 
Great theme, Pa! Here's my first, a song from Paul McCartney's Ram album. I got a bit carried away with amp effects, drums, and an electric piano - but I had fun putting it together!

Yes and I had fun listening too.
You must have been as proud as punch to have the band play an original of yours on the stage Randy!

Well done!
A MAJOR achievement!
 
Another Styx song which, for better or worse, I also have memorized. I recorded this last night when I was dead tired. No multi-tracking this time.

 
Here's an original from this week's host. A blues in Em. Playing a G harmonica (with the last harmonica note played on an A harp because the note was not available on the G harp).
 
For Season 329, we're playing songs NOT in a major key. Here's the theme from the '60s animated Spiderman series, written by Paul Francis Webster and Bob Harris, here played in A minor. For tenor ukulele with singing, overdubs of Ubass and tenor uke solo (with doubling vocal).

 
Sorry for starting with a Christmas carol, but it's a perfect example for a song in harmonic minor:
 
I dunno...I think this works. Besides, who doesn’t love chicken-fried Depeche Mode on ukulele...
Oh.
Wait.
 
I figured this was a great time to practice a minor key song on the "Finnish Ukulele", which I am still a beginner on. Like a lot of people in America around my age, I first heard this wonderful song on The Andy Griffith Show.

 
This one just had to be written in a minor, the lyrics contain toothaches, snowstorms, measles, depression and nightmares. :rofl:
This ones in the key of Em ..........Oh yeah and be Respectful to each other guys, wipe any s** from your shoes before you come in, it ain't nice reading

 
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Here is one from the 90’s in E minor. Thanks for the challenge, Pa. I had to use a few new chords to stay in the minor key. I think I got a few new calluses as well, and there are a couple of mistakes, but it was the best of many takes. I hope to bring some more this week.

 
This is one of my own - the bare bones of it were knocking around in my head for many years before I finally recorded a version on GarageBand on my iPad a couple of years back (long before I’d even picked up a ukulele for the first time). So tonight I’ve attempted to adapt it for the uke - I think/hope it sounds okay.

So the big question is if it’s in a minor key - well, ignoring the capo it starts and ends on A minor so I hope so. Let me know if you think otherwise.

Here it is:

 
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