Song Help Request "Shine On Your Shoes" as played by George Harrison

Shady Wilbury

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Hi, guys.

This is an odd one, but I've submitted two videos for the current Season of the Ukulele, which is Broadway week. I was looking for an actual Broadway song to do as my third, and it turns out that this song fits the bill. However, I can't work out exactly what George is playing. Can anybody give me a hand?



Many thanks,

Shady
 
Love George Harrison and all he has done for music!

A section is:
C///|dm///|C///|dm///|
C/A7/|D7/G7/|C///|C///|

B section:
em///|B7///|em///|B7///|
D7///|D7 G7 D7/|G7///|G7sus2/G7/|

C=0003
G7=0212
A7=0100
em=4432
B7=2322
G7sus2=0210

For the solo, it repeats the A section but with an interlude between G#7 (1323) and G7
Some fancy strumming for the solo similar to George Formby style

Hope this gets you started. :) Good luck!

( o )==::
 
Last edited:
Thank you...thank you so much.

I really appreciate your taking the time to figure that out.

Take care,

Casey
 
I love that uke!
 
Me too, Mike.

I've been wondering what it is, and the closest I can get is a Kamaka, but it must have been customised in some way.

Take care,

Casey
 
I blew my screen up to 500% to try and see what was written on the head stock. I couldn't make anything out other than what appear to be a couple of stylized "X"s in the brand name.
 
I LOVED this! GH has always been one of my favorites, but I had missed this video. Thanks!

Now to try to learn to play it. The A Section is no problem. The B Section I'll get without much trouble. The soloing and the fancy strumming? There's the challenge for me....;)
 
Having watched this a few times, now, and referring to Section A, I'm surprised to see that George fretted an open C chord (0003) with his pinky finger, and a D7 (2223) with his index and ring fingers.

I have been taught to use my ring finger for a C, and my index and middle fingers for D7.

By all means, I'm not one to say that Mr. Harrison was doing it incorrectly! I just find it interesting to see that he did it differently than I was taught. It just goes to prove the contention that there is no right or wrong way to do these things; it all depends on what works for you.

I so admire GH's uke playing style! Not overly Formby-ish, for my taste, and not guitar player shredding, either. Just a nice balance of chord strumming mixed with some strumming embellishments.

Perfect, IMHO....
 
Love George Harrison and all he has done for music!

A section is:
C///|dm///|C///|dm///|
C/A7/|D7/G7/|C///|C///|

B section:
em///|bm///|e///|bm///|
D7///|D7 G7 D7/|G7///|G7sus2/G7/|

For the solo, it repeats the A section but with an interlude between G#7 (1323) and G7
Some fancy strumming for the solo similar to George Formby style

Hope this gets you started. :) Good luck!

( o )==::

Maguwa, could you help me to understand the chord fingerings in Section 2? It all happens so fast, and his hand obscures a lot of it for me....
 
Having watched this a few times, now, and referring to Section A, I'm surprised to see that George fretted an open C chord (0003) with his pinky finger, and a D7 (2223) with his index and ring fingers.

I have been taught to use my ring finger for a C, and my index and middle fingers for D7.

By all means, I'm not one to say that Mr. Harrison was doing it incorrectly! I just find it interesting to see that he did it differently than I was taught. It just goes to prove the contention that there is no right or wrong way to do these things; it all depends on what works for you.

I so admire GH's uke playing style! Not overly Formby-ish, for my taste, and not guitar player shredding, either. Just a nice balance of chord strumming mixed with some strumming embellishments.

Perfect, IMHO....

It may come from playing guitar. When you finger a G chord on guitar you (usually) use your pinky on the 3rd fret first string and ring finger on the 3rd fret second string.
 
It may come from playing guitar. When you finger a G chord on guitar you (usually) use your pinky on the 3rd fret first string and ring finger on the 3rd fret second string.

You're probably right about that. I learned to play guitar improperly, as I was self-taught. I formed a G chord with my index, middle and ring fingers....
 
Hey mailman, I updated my original reply, fixed a few wrong chords and added fingerings. Hope this helps!
 
Thanks for this, Maguwa - I'd seen this video before and searched for the chords online - I found them, but they're slightly different from the way George played them! It's great to see both! George's are easier, with that Dm ..... brill...... I just love this song! :0

And I understand that George favoured Kamakas......
 
Me too, Mike.

I've been wondering what it is, and the closest I can get is a Kamaka, but it must have been customised in some way.

Take care,

Casey

You’ve probably all moved on since posting these questions, but George’s wife Olivia posted this on Instagram, with the info that it is a “Keoki” uke made by renowned luthier Danny Ferrington. Danny too posted this info, on Twitter. Ferrington has made guitars and other instruments for the likes of GH, Eric Idle, Johnny Cash, Kurt Cobain.
 
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