We learn from WIKIPEDIA that “Octopus’s Garden” is a song by The Beatles written and sung by Ringo Starr (credited to his real name Richard Starkey) from The Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road. George Harrison, who assisted Starr with the song, commented: “‘Octopus’s Garden’ is Ringo’s song. It’s only the second song Ringo has ever written, mind you, and it’s lovely.” He added that the song gets very deep into your consciousness “…because it’s so peaceful. I suppose Ringo is writing cosmic songs these days without even realising it.” It was the last song released by the Beatles featuring Starr on lead vocals.
The idea for the song came about when Starr was on a boat belonging to comedian Peter Sellers in Sardinia in 1968. He ordered fish and chips for lunch, but instead of fish he got squid (it was the first time he’d eaten squid, and…
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Performance by Ukulele Mike . . .
TWO short excerpts from the Chord/Melody arrangement below . . .
Opening of Chorus:
It’s A Small World is Contained in the Chord/Melody eBook THREE . . . The collection can be purchased by making a payment of $20.00 through the paypal button on the Ukulele Mike website: http://www.ukulelemikelynch.com Once purchased, it will be personally emailed to you within the day . . .
Table of contents . . .
Each of the Chord/Melody ebooks can be purchased separately for just $20.00 or all together at the new “TRILOGY discount for just $50.00
Announcing the release of the NEW Chord melody ebook FOUR $25.95
All 4 of the Chord melody ebooks can be purchased at a combo discount of $70
Questions regarding any ukulele resources, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com
We learn from Wikipedia that “Cradle Song” is the common name for a number of children’s lullabies with similar lyrics, the original of which was Johannes Brahms‘ “Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, gute Nacht” (“Good evening, good night”), Op. 49, No. 4, published in 1868 and widely known as Brahms’ Lullaby. The lyrics of the first verse are from a collection of German folk poems called Des Knaben Wunderhorn and the second stanza was written by Georg Scherer (1824–1909) in 1849. The lullaby’s melody is one of the most famous and recognizable in the world, used by countless parents to sing their babies to sleep. The Lullaby was dedicated to Brahms’ friend, Bertha Faber, on the occasion of the birth of her second son. Brahms had been in love with her in her youth and constructed the melody of the Wiegenlied to suggest, as a hidden counter-melody, a song she used to sing to him.[1] The lullaby was first performed in public on 22 December 1869 in Vienna by Louise Dustmann (singer) and Clara Schumann (piano).
This is most definitely one of the easiest of my Chord/Melody arrangements. . . It’s a great one for newbie solo ukulele players. It involves no chord barring whatsoever . . . Below is a short excerpt from the opening measures of the song . . .
Just be sure to pay attention to where the melody goes. It starts on the 2nd string throughout this whole opening sequence. Therefore, do not play the 1st string. This is probably the most difficult concept for ukulele strummers to get used to when playing solo instrumental pieces. Below is an excerpt from the BRIDGE section . . .
Now, momentarily, the melody jumps upto the 1st string but soon comes down to the 2nd and then to the 3rd string open. So, it’s very important to pay attention to where the melody resides in all solo instrumental playing, but especially in the Chord/Melody format.
The “Brahms Lullaby” is contained in the Ukulele Chord/Melody eBook THREE and can be purchased by making a payment of just $20.00 through the paypal button on the Ukulele Mike website: http://www.ukulelemikelynch.com Once purchased, it will be personally emailed to you within the day . . .
Table of contents . . .
Each of the Chord/Melody eBooks can be purchased separately for just $20.00 or all together at a new TRILOGY discount of just $50.00. . .
Now available the NEW Chord melody ebook FOUR. It can be purchased by making a payment of $25.95 through the paypal button on my website http://www.ukulelemikelynch.com Once purchased it will be personally emailed to you within the day
The entire QUARTET of Chord melody ebooks can be purchased at a discount of just $70
Questions regarding any ukulele resources, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com
“Close To You” by The Carpenters . . . . The “Classic” YouTube Ukulele Tutorial by Ukulele Mike Lynch
This Video Tutorial was done in those early days when I actually numerated the tutorials . . . This was Video Lesson #240 and since then for many and various reasons I no longer number then . . . but they are somewhere up to over 500 by now, I think . . . Nevertheless, #240 still sticks out as one of my personal favorites. . . I enjoyed doing it out in my backyard dealing with the neighbor’s barking dog but always loving the birds chirping around me. . . .Unfortunately, nowadays YouTube has decided to paste commercials at the beginning of many of my tutorials . . . . Oh well, at least they leave them up. . . . As opposed to a number of years ago when they deleted me for a period of time until so many people protested that I got put back on . . . . POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!! I recently tried to recapture the feeling of this tutorial when I did “Carolina In The Morning” just 3 weeks ago . . . Nothing better then the wonderful ukulele in the great outdoors . . . Enjoy and Happy Strumming, Mike Lynch
Questions regarding any Ukulele resources, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com
“A Time For Us’ – Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet . . . . Chord/Melody arrangement by Ukulele Mike Lynch
I chose to arrange this piece in the Chord/Melody format. . . Easiest way to perform solo Ukulele songs. . . Only the thumb is used to strum the chords. . . no fingerpicking is involved. Below is a short excerpt from the opening of “A Time For Us”
Be very careful in performing Chord/Melody pieces to follow closely where the melody goes. . .In the above excerpt, the melody starts on the First string then quickly drops to the Third string. . . Then by the 3rd measure it’s back up to the First string again. So be careful not to play the strings above the melody note. . . This is quite different from normal rhythm chord accompaniment for song where you would typically play all 4 strings all of the time . .
Below is another short excerpt from you to try. . .
There is very…
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This is one of the very earliest of my YouTube videos that I did when I was still teaching in the classroom at Christ The King School in Seattle, Washington. . . I taught this to my 6th grade students and we ended up performing it that year at the Spring Concert. . . Although it was originally produced for my students in the classroom it has enjoyed wide viewage worldwide for hundreds of thousands of ukulele players everywhere. . . . testifying more than anything to the great love people have for this classic Louis Armstrong song . . . Enjoy . . . and Happy Strumming, Ukulele Mike
Questions regarding any Ukulele resources, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com
OVER THE RAINBOW “DeCoded” by UKULELE MIKE -The essential importance of “DYNAMICS” in playing the ukulele
I can’t begin to tell you how many times people have asked me “How do you strum the Iz version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow. . . I’ve done 2 YouTube videos of it . . . even did one that attempted to more thoroughly explain the strum. . . I don’t think I’ve ever done it justice. . . So here I am again to try to explain what Iz was doing as he performed this classic iconic version of this classic iconic song.
First off . . . One needs to have a good handle on what we call the “Swing Shuffle” or Syncopated 8ths strum. . . . Down up DOWN up Down up DOWN up. . . it can be played with the nail of the index finger going down and the flesh coming up or in another way you can use the thumb going down…
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“Somewhere Over The Rainbow” – IZ Version . . . . TWO YouTube Ukulele tutorials taught by Ukulele Mike Lynch
Quite a few years ago I began producing Ukulele Video Tutorials and uploading them to YouTube primarily, at the time, for my elementary and middle school students at Christ The King School in Seattle, Washington. . . . I was quite unaware of the scope of YouTube and internet and never dreamed my tutorials would reach such a huge population of Ukulele enthusiasts worldwide. In those early years, I produced a video to teach the chord fingerings and strumming patterns for the IZ VERSION of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” . . . I subsequently produced a second YouTube video to further explain in more depth the strumming pattern. Both of those videos have now enjoyed viewing by nearly 2 and a half Million people worldwide. . . Quite a bit larger then my school kids here in Seattle. Over the years I’ve produced hundreds of more tutorials for both YouTube and VIMEO but these two tutorials are by far my most popular. I wish to combine them both here for your pleasure and simple access . . . Enjoy and forever “HAPPY STRUMMING”
Here is a link to another blog which discusses the subject of DYNAMICS in music and how it applies to the strumming pattern for “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”
Questions regarding any Ukulele resources, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com
You Tube video tutorial by Ukulele Mike Lynch
UKULELE MIKE LYNCH - All things UKULELE 