12 bar blues questions

Hi,

I've got a new eleuke and having a blast with it. I noticed in some of your 'user names' references to blues, so hopefully others have been this way before.

The question is, what, if anything, is the 'natural' key for a 12 bar blues on a 'standard' tuned uke? I used to blow a bit of blues harp years ago so I am used to a 12 bar being in E, harp in A. It isn't a comfortable key to do the blues progression in on the uke.

I'm working on Gary Moore's Walking By Myself with the chords and riffs from Chordie and I've tried transposing it to find a more suitable key and it seems to me that G sits better with the uke. It's not so far up the scale - 3 semi-tones - that the vocals become unreachable, and the riffs sit pretty nicely in the upper middle part of the neck so they're fun to play but not so high as to be chipmunk-ey.

The chord fingerings I'm using for the progression are:

G part
0232
0432 (add pinky)
0532 (pinky)
0432
(all x 4)

C part
5433
5453 (pinky - you get the picture...)
5463
5453
(x2)

G part x 2

D
7655
7675
7685
7675

C part

G part

C Db D

Well, I don't know if any of this will make sense or not. I hope I'm not just bringing up questions that have been done to death already, forgive me if I am and just point me to a search bar.

I can only comfortably get the fingerings in on a Concert size neck or bigger. The Soprano is just too tight for me. It works comfortably on the eleuke and the Vox Mini3 amp is a perfect match. Just dial up the amp, play with the effects, and bring the house down.

Love to hear comments and experiences. Thanks.

Hello Bruce,

Have you seen the book Fretboard Roadmaps for 'Ukulele? The whole book is very educational, but specific to what you're addressing here is Roadmap #7, Chord Fragments/Chord Families. I've found that utilizing these chord families I can transpose to any key I need to keep it within my vocal range (which doesn't have much breadth). It would be worth taking a look at. I tried out the chords you were playing in those positions, adding the same notes for embellishment and was able to play it in multiple areas on the fretboard depending on the root formation I used...I also transposed to other keys and was able to find comfortable positions for them as well.

So although not having a key I would say is best, I'd say any key is open to you if you utilize the the formations and chord families as presented in the book I mentioned.

KevinV said:

Have you seen the book Fretboard Roadmaps for 'Ukulele?.

Click to expand...

No I haven't seen that, thanks for the reference. I'll look it up.

Cheers

I may be way off base here because I'm pretty much a beginner but open A seems to work for me for the blues
A7
0100
0120
0130
0120
D7
2020
2022
2023
2022
E7
1202
1204
1205 (stretch)
turn around riff
0434
0323
0212
0100
x2xx
x3xx
x4xx
4445

mix and match as needed

**************************

Here are the chords I use.

A 2100
A6 2120
A7 2130

D7 2020

E7 1202

Probably more simple than you are looking for but it might give you a starting point.

Sorry looks like "cb56" already covered it in more detail.

Thanks guys, looks like open A is another key that works nicely for 12 bar blues. I appreciate you sharing this with me, I'm just feeling my way.

brucemoffatt said:

.............. I appreciate you sharing this with me, I'm just feeling my way.

Click to expand...

Cool! Glad to help. I'm just feeling my way also and the amount of shared uke info here and elswhere on the internet has been very helpful to me also.

Good thread. C works well for me.

C7 part:
0033
0053
0063
0053

F7 part:
2010
2210
2310
2210

G7 part: (if you get in the habit of forming the open G chord with your second finger on the third string and ring finger on the first string this is super easy)
0232
0202
0212
0202

John

brucemoffatt said:

No I haven't seen that, thanks for the reference. I'll look it up.

Cheers

Click to expand...

It is, indeed, a great book, and very helpful.

Thanks John. C does work well that way, and thanks for the tip re the G chord. Switchin G - G7, what a breeze!

What I love most about this forum is the notion that we can rise from the lowest common denominator to the highest common factor by sharing our knowledge around. Just think, if we could all share one thing each week that the group could use, and pick up one new thing each week from the group in turn, by Christmas we'd all be pros. Well, mebbe.

Oh I love your signature by the way. We can make common sense more common by sharing it round a bit, especially if we do it with good grace, humour and some music.

Look at your "A" shapes on a GCEA ukulele, they are the same as "E" on the guitar.
Scales and riffs will match as well.

Good stuff, very helpful to me. Thanks to all!:bowdown:

Happy New Year

There are lots of keys which can work. The key of A (with lots of open chords) might be the best place to start. A while ago I did an 8-bar blues in E because I was transcribing from piano sheet music. Probably made it harder than necessary but I figured out a few things in the process. (Also, you might take stock of which harps you have on hand if you are going that direction.)

So, a couple of things that helped me get kickstarted on uke blues:

Woodshed's How To Play Blues Ukuelele ($17) and well worth it. See the site for a detailed breakdown.

Youtube videos, e.g.: Turnarounds with Brother Sonny/Todd. He's done these in several keys, so search around a bit.

Also useful from a more general perspective: Fretboard Roadmaps (Ukulele) ($10)

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

heymak said:

Here are the chords I use.

A 2100
A6 2120
A7 2130

D7 2020

E7 1202

Probably more simple than you are looking for but it might give you a starting point.

Sorry looks like "cb56" already covered it in more detail.

Click to expand...

Thanks. This is the only way I can play it. I didn't know the names of the two higher A chords, so I appreciate this.

brucemoffatt said:

Hi,


The question is, what, if anything, is the 'natural' key for a 12 bar blues on a 'standard' tuned uke? I used to blow a bit of blues harp years ago so I am used to a 12 bar being in E, harp in A. It isn't a comfortable key to do the blues progression in on the uke.

.

Click to expand...

hey

though alot of blues is in A or E there is no "natural" key.

the 12 bar blues is a form that can be played in any key and still be the twelve bar blues.

when you played an A harp to a song in E, that was called second position harp

I wrote a bit about all that here http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?35505-ukers-guide-to-blues-harp

here is a key of Am song i did on a D harp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGl-q11l6So

this is a key of C song played to using an F harp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7oz2ttjCyU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

good luck

Key of A works pretty well as others have pointed out, and you can also hammer on the 1st finger, 1st fret, 2nd string of the A chord for a blue note effect. I used this in my first entry in Mim's contest, my "bluesification" of "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9qvS8Rch0o
Forgive the shameless self-plug