UKULELE MIKE LYNCH – All things UKULELE

Below is a short excerpt from my Ukulele Chord/Melody arrangement

This is a very short piece and should be considered for early solo ukulele players.  It does have some minor barring such as the G7 chord in the second measure but for the most part the left hand fingering is not too complex. . .

“Hush Little Baby” is contained in the Chord Melody eBook THREE.  It 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 collections can be purchased separately for $20 or all together at a new “TRILOGY” combined discount of 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 price of  $70.

Questions regarding any Ukulele resource, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com

You Tube performance . . .

Through WIKIPEDIA we learn that John Denver described how he wrote “Sunshine on My Shoulders”: “I wrote the song in Minnesota at the time I call ‘late winter, early spring’. It was a dreary day, gray and slushy. The snow was melting and it was too cold to go outside and have fun, but God, you’re ready for spring. You want to get outdoors again and you’re waiting for that sun to shine, and you remember how sometimes just the sun itself can make you feel good. And in that very melancholy frame of mind I wrote ‘Sunshine on My Shoulders’.”

It was originally the B-side of one of his earlier songs, “I’d Rather Be a Cowboy”. As the Vietnam War came to an end, the song took on a new significance and began to receive airplay on adult contemporary radio stations. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 90 on January 26, 1974 and moved into the number one spot nine weeks later, remaining at #1 for one week. The song also topped the adult contemporary chart for two weeks in 1974. Billboard ranked it as the No. 18 song for 1974.

This is actually a very short song. .  It has little left hand fingering complexities except for one little jump up to the higher inversion chords later in the piece.  Below is a short excerpt from the beginning measures of the song.

Below notice that we do have some upper fretboard inversions

The higher inversion F chord is played by barring the 5th fret with the index finger while placing the little finger on the 8th fret. . . . The higher inversion Dm7 is played by simply barring the 5th fret with the index finger.

“Sunshine On My Shoulders” is contained in the Ukulele Chord/Melody eBook THREE. It 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 Chord/Melody eBooks can be purchased separately for just $20.00 or all together at the NEW “TRILOGY” discount of just $50.00

Announcing the NEW Chord melody ebook FOUR  $25.95

Now all 4 of the Chord melody ebooks can be purchased at a combo discount price of  $70.00

Questions  regarding any Ukulele resource, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com

Performance of “O Shenandoah” by Sissel

From Wikipedia we learn that “Oh Shenandoah” (also called simply “Shenandoah” or “Across the Wide Missouri”) is a traditional American folk song of uncertain origin, dating at least to the early 19th century.

The song appears to have originated with Canadian and American voyageurs or fur traders traveling down the Missouri River in canoes, and has developed several different sets of lyrics. Some lyrics refer to the Native American chief “Shenandoah” (Oskanondonha) and a canoe-going trader who wants to marry his daughter. By the mid 1800s versions of the song had become a sea shanty heard or sung by sailors in various parts of the world

Until the 19th century only adventurers who sought their fortunes as trappers and traders of beaver fur ventured as far west as the Missouri River. Most of these Canadian and American “voyageurs” in the fur trade era were loners who became friendly with, and sometimes married, Native Americans. Some lyrics from the early 1800s tell the story of a trader who fell in love with the daughter of the Oneida Iroquois pine tree chief, Oskanondonha (1710–1816), called Shenandoah. His name means “deer antlers” (Oh-skan-ohn-doh in Oneida). Also called John Shenandoah or John Skanandoa, the chief lived in the central New York state town of Oneida Castle. He was a co-founder of the Oneida Academy, which became Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and is buried on the campus grounds

Within all of my Solo Ukulele instrumental collections even including the fingerpicking collection, I have made an attempt to include pieces of a wide variety of difficulty . . . This piece is one that I chose to aid early solo performers learn how to play actual melodies and chordal harmonies beyond the traditional chord strumming for song accompaniment.  Take a look at the opening measures of this song and I think you’ll soon see how accessible this piece is for the neophyte solo performer.

The left hand chord fingering in this piece is not too challenging.  Its a great song to begin on.  Notice that the melody begins on the 3rd string open then jumps up to the 1 st fret on the second string. . . . Eventually by the final measure in this excerpt the melody lands on the 1st string.  As in all solo instrumental playing, it’s common for the melody to jump from string to string.  This aspect of solo playing is probably the most challenging. . . You see, in solo playing we don’t just hold down a chord then strum it. . . We actually have to pay attention as to where the melody is going. . . . This does take some time, practice and by all means a ton of patience. . . . So be patient with yourself and just enjoy the process.

“O Shenandoah” is found in the 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. . .

The table of contents . . .

All three collections can be purchased separately for  just $20.00 or all together at a combined discount of just $50.00

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Chord melody ebook FOUR sells for $25.95 and can be purchased through the PayPal button on the Ukulele Mike website http://www.ukulelemikelynch.com 

All 4 of the Chord melody ebooks can be purchased at a combo discount of $70

Questions regarding any Ukulele resource, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com

This old Italian Classic and iconic hit from the great Elvis Presley works supremely well as a chord/melody arrangement . . . See below a short excerpt from the opening measures . . .

The opening 3 notes are what we call “pick up” notes. . . It’s common in chord/melody playing to frequently have melody notes play without chordal harmony and then land on a full chord as found in that F chord at the beginning of first full measure.

“It’s Now Or Never” is found in the Chord/Melody eBook THREE and 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 THREE collections can be purchased separately or all together at a new “TRILOGY” combined discount of just $50.00  . . .

Questions regarding any ukulele resource, please email: TheUkuleleMan2012@hotmail.com