Blues on Ukulele?

jnicholes

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Hello

I have a question. I mainly play church hymns on the ukulele. However, I want to expand my ability to play different types of songs.

I want to start with the blues.

How exactly do you play the blues on the ukulele? Are there certain tabs you can follow?

What are the blues anyway?

Can someone help me get started with the blues?

Jared
 
Google and/or look on you tube for “Del Rey Ukulele” for some fine blues and ragtime playing!
 
As Ukecaster says, blues songs are three chords, 1, 4, 5, the 1 chord will always be the key name, so if you're playing in the key of G, the 1 chord is G. The 4 chord is the fourth chord after the G, so G, A, B, >C< and the 5 chord is the next one up,>D<. The key of C, 1=C, 4=F (C D E >F<), 5=G (C D E F >G<).

The next thing to know is the blues sequence, it's like this in the key of G (each slash is a strum); G//// G//// C//// C//// G//// D//// G//C// G//D//. That's known as 8 bar blues.

There's also 12 bar blues, in G it's G//// G//// G//// G//// C//// C//// G//// G//// D//// C//// G//// D////.


This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly Grove near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 6 acoustic bass ukes, 12 solid body bass ukes, 14 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 41)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
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Thanks, guys. I appreciate the help. You guys actually just gave me an idea. Last year while Hunting, I had an accident and almost died.

No, I wasnt shot accidentally. I almost drowned when I fell in the water.

I wrote lyrics, so maybe I'll turn it into a blues song....

Who knows!

Anyway, thanks for all the help.

Jared
 
Thanks, guys. I appreciate the help. You guys actually just gave me an idea. Last year while Hunting, I had an accident and almost died.

No, I wasnt shot accidentally. I almost drowned when I fell in the water.

I wrote lyrics, so maybe I'll turn it into a blues song....

Who knows!

Anyway, thanks for all the help.

Jared

Sounds like the beginning of a great blues tune!
 
There was a Seasons of the Ukulele week a while back where the theme was 12-bar blues. You might find it helpful to have a look! (As a matter of interest, I live in France and the hunters regularly shoot one another - by accident! - so high-viz orange jackets are the order of the day.)
 
Generally speaking, blues tend to follow
12 Bar Blue Format
Either

1. 1. 1. 1
4. 4. 1. 1
5. 4. 1. 1

Or, a quick turnaround

1. 4. 1. 1
4. 4. 1. 1
5. 4. 1. 1

Log into Pandora radio, and play John Brim (a great blues artist) Radio
Most of the music/ songs are 12 bar blues. Figure out what Key the song being played is in (often E ) and play the chords.
If it is in E, you’d play
E. E. E. E
A. A. E. E
B7. A. E. E

And once you get used to doing this, you can start noodling around within those chords instead of just playing the chords themselves.

Hope this helps
I
 
Yesterday I spent a chunk of time making a blues uke basic instruction and when I tried to post it I got the message that it was forbidden because it looked like SPAM. This post had no spam or anything else that I would think was spammy at all. Any ideas what I might have done wrong? Maybe it's just too long. I'll try I in two parts.
 
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Try a shuffle in C. Each pair is a triplet with the first two notes tied

__3__3___3__3___3__3___3__3__
__0__0___0__0___0__0___0__0__
__0__0___0__0___0__0___0__0__
__0__0___2__2___0__0___2__2__

or

__3__3___3__3___3__3___3__3__
__0__0___0__0___0__0___0__0__
__0__0___0__0___0__0___0__0__
__0__0___2__2___3__3___2__2__

For F, play:

__0__0___0__0___0__0___0__0__
__1__1___1__1___1__1___1__1__
__0__0___2__2___3__3___2__2__
__2__2___2__2___2__2___2__2__


For G7, play 4535, Gb7 is 3424 (same shape down a fret) and F7 2313.
 
You could play a shuffle on:
C / / /, / / / /, / / / /, / / / /,
F / / /, / / / /, C/ / /, / / / /,
G7 / / Gb7, F7 / / /, C / / /, G7 / / / :]

The second bar is often played as an F.

The turn around (last 2 bars) is often played something like:

__3______7______6______5____ __3__0__1__2__X__X__
__0_________________________ ____________________
__0____7___7__6___6__5___5__ __4__0__1__2________
__0_________________________ ____________________

Play the notes on the bold counts 1 2&a 3&a 4&a , 1&a 2&a 3 4

Last time through, play the last bar as:

___3_____________X___1___
_____________________0___
___4_________________0___
_______0__2__3_______0___
 
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Thanks, guys. I appreciate the help. You guys actually just gave me an idea. Last year while Hunting, I had an accident and almost died.

No, I wasnt shot accidentally. I almost drowned when I fell in the water.

I wrote lyrics, so maybe I'll turn it into a blues song....

Who knows!

Anyway, thanks for all the help.

Jared
Woke up one morning, I was feeling fine
Looked out the window of my duck blind
Got a bit thirsty and went to the water
Fell right in and I ... START....TED ...TO ....HOLLER!

Oh me oh my, I got the duck blind blues...

And so on and so forth
 
Wendell Ferguson sang something like:

When you sing the blues, you always repeat the first line,
Yah, when you sing the blues you always repeat the first line,
That's what makes the blues so easy, you only have to think of one rhyme.


If you wanna play the blues you only have to know three chords,
Yes to play the blues you only have to know three chords,

(Fumbles around making an awful noise, then sings)
I guess I'll have to learn one more.
 
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