Problem singing a line where note (seems to) conflict

nickn

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Hi all
I've been playing about a year and a half, and I'm learning California Here I Come, but am totally stuck on one line where the last note just doesn't seem to match and draws me out of tune every time.
It's the 'hard' version from Jim's Ukulele songbook, first verse, 5th line 'California I've been blue' which goes [F]I've been [C]blue.
The way Jolson sang it, 'blue' is lower, but when I play [C] I find myself singing blue (higher) in C instead and is doesn't sound right.
Is this just something I need to pratcice more and learn to do? At the moment for me it's a bit like the Stroop test, where you have to say the name of a colour that's written in a different colour - it throws me!

Any suggestions?
 
Conscience effort. I have that problem with a few songs. If I sing it without playing the ukulele I can hit a comfortable note. When playing I might end up chasing the string note and if I can't hit the pitch it sounds like rubbish. So I practice that one part with the intention of hitting my vocal note, over and over. Playing the offending string note much softer in practicel helps.
 
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Sometimes altering the chord or the voicing can help.
 
get your vocal right first. practice it over & over
because that's what's gonna sell the song.
as dave said, you can minimize the volume - even chunk - over that chord -
or else just hit the 3rd open C string (the lowest note on the board).
otherwise, just let your vocal carry it.
sing it the way you want to 50+ times.
practice/rehearsal is the only way.
 
I don't know the song or the chord progression but there are two ideas I have. Are you tuned high or low G? If you are tuned low G and playing in the first position play all four strings for the F but leave out the 1st string on the C, it will make it sound lower so your voice will follow more easily. If you are playing high G and it fits with the progression (or can be made to with some work) play the F as X553 and then the C as the usual 0003. That will also make the C sound lower. I don't sing but from the way you describe it, one of these two should get you where you want to be. HTH

John
 
I can sing while playing the guitar, I can’t sing when I play the ukulele. The higher tuning just throws me off and I find myself chasing the higher note. I’d follow what others have said; sing the song. Know that is where you should be and just play the chords to accompany the singing not the other way around.

I never pushed myself to do that, so I playing instrumentals.

John
 
Thanks for the advice guys, I'll stick with it then!

Nick
 
I can sing while playing the guitar, I can’t sing when I play the ukulele. The higher tuning just throws me off and I find myself chasing the higher note. I’d follow what others have said; sing the song. Know that is where you should be and just play the chords to accompany the singing not the other way around.

John
I agree with John. I started out singing and took up the ukulele for accompaniment. I never try to force something with the ukulele that doesn't want to work. Also, if I'm going to try to do something dazzling instrumentally, I save it for an instrumental intro, outro, or bridge. I feel like if I try to do both singing and dazzling instrumentals at the same time, they just fight each other for attention. That could be the problem.
 
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