Next Meeting 18 April 2016

RIP Merle Haggard 6 April 2016

Be ready on Monday for Three (or Two) Chords and the Truth

The Next Time

The next Ukearist meeting is on Monday 16 November, and time for a try out of two new songs, one 50 years old, and (maybe) one from 2015 that sounds in some ways far more than 50 years old.

The Last Time from the Rolling Stones in 1965; the original was in E, but on the ukulele D may work better to use the same kind of patterns for that ancestral Brian Jones riff. I’m not sure that any of us can imitate his 1965 coiffure style these days though….

Bad Girl from Pokey Lafarge in 2015. Brought to my attention by the Ukulele Boudoir team behind the totally wonderful  L’Hebdo 2014 songs, who four weeks ago put out a couple of new kitchen table videos on Youtube, and are now calling themselves The Dust Sweepers. If you don’t want to wait until Monday, the Dust Sweepers video has a link to the words and chords.

choochooKchoo

Dark Star

After the discussion at our last meeting, I checked our records and we at the Ukearist haven’t played Dark Star for over a 1000 days either. But I reckon there is no real hurry, and guess it can wait a little longer.

Instead, for our next meeting on 19 October, something else from the Grateful Dead, but a few years later and a bit less jaggy, -and much shorter- Friend of the Devil, from the 1970 album American Beauty. Check out the original studio version with that great easy descending riff from the G chord to the C -and one of my all time favourite LP covers. And Ukulele Underground’s Aldrine , in his ukueleoversoul persona has  a fine uke version, though he leaves the riff out…. I will bring the dots in the key of G as in the original.

And in contrast from Ringo Starr,  a staple of Uke groups that we don’t seem to have threshed over yet, Octopus’s Garden.

Truckin

see you there

Tomorrow’s Meeting 5 October 2015, Hank Williams, Beatles, Rolling Stones

New songs to try out tomorrow:

Window Shopping. Great Hank Willliam’s song from 1951, that I heard for the first time on Monday. Get practising those steel guitar riffs.

I Feel Fine. From the Beatles , reduced to a key I hope we can sing!

Can I Get A Witness. From the Rolling Stones in maybe the 1960’s?. Challenge time. Real finger mangler, changes chords every two beats, – great piano playing! But lots of opportunity for respite ahh ahhing as well.

See you tomorrow

1 minute 50 seconds

At Monday’s Ukearist there seemed to be a small but enthusiastic core keen to redeclare their youthful intentions, and revisit the ooowaas and wop wops, and work towards that bumps a daisy riff. So if you have 1 minute and 50 seconds in the two weeks before our next meeting on 9 February, then pop over to Youtube and type in ‘ I’m not A Juvenile Delinquent Amboy Dukes’.
If you can sing along in pitch (F)….. wow!
Otherwise I’ll bring along the words again, with the pitch moved even further down from C to A

Songs of Sun and Summer

The next Ukearist on Monday 30 June, will be a themed night celebrating sun and Summer, so let’s hope this does not chase the current glorious sunshine away. There are quite a few suitable songs already in the folders already, Summer In The City, Sunny Afternoon… and so on, and following on from some suggestions last night, and a little internet research on what other Uke groups think a Summer song list should include……., I will bring along copies of:

Summertime Blues        Eddie Cochrane

Here Comes The Sun     The Beatles

All Summer Long             The Beach Boys

Under The Boardwalk      The Drifters        Chorus easy, verses not so easy…….

Surfin’ USA                       The Beach Boys  (…….I think most Beach Boys songs would qualify on this theme……)

Good Day Sunshine          The Beatles

 

So wax down those boards, and get working on the bushy bushy blonde hairdos

Peter

Christmas Songs

Only 21days of strum until the Ukearist Christmas party on 16 December, and time to winterwonder about the song list. Last year we decided that a lot of the songs in the Christmas Songbook could have better keys/ chords; and wondered if we should compile our own…. Unfortunately we did not make a note of which of the songs in the book needed tweeking.

As a start, here is a list of the songs I have in my personal Christmas folder; I have reformatted many of them from the original, and most are in the Ukearist folders already.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Key C from Uke Hunt

White Christmas.  Key C from Ukulele Mike

Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer (including intro).      Key C from Gene Autry

Winter Wonderland (including intro from Keonepax).    Key C – from Keonepax with Bosco and Honey

Frosty The Snowman.  Key C from Richard G

Santa Claus is Coming To Town. Key C from Richard G

Let It Snow. Key Bb. From Coveywood/ Piers Partridge

Mele Kalikimaka. Key F from Richard G. (This was my Christmas 2012 new song – from Bing Crosby and the Andrews sisters)

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire). Key C. From ukuleleunderground. (My, new to me, song for Christmas 2013)

Run Run Rudolf (Chuck Berry). Key F My other new Christmas song 2012. From Ukulele Hunt

Suggestions about other songs? If you have the previous songbook it would help if you could sing through some of the songs that are not in the list above before the next meeting, and identify ones in undesirable keys/chords.

p

Peter

Monday On My Mind

Following some vague musings at the last meeting, I have had a go at translating the guitar parts for the EasyBeats (1967) Friday On My Mind into ukespik; so if you get a chance, give the original a listen before the next meeting this Monday night.

p

Next Meeting 11 March

This month’s tune is Hotel California, The Eagles take on the high life in 1970’s Los Angeles, and our source once again is Aldrine Guerrero at Ukulele Underground. This time it’s what UU calls a ‘Whiteboard Request”, and not quite as fancy as their usual instructional videos, and there is no YouTube play Along – But it’s in the same key as the Eagles original , so you can play along with them. I’ve committed the words and chords, picking for the intro (doesn’t work with a low G….) etc to paper and will bring along copies for everyone.

P

Last Monday’s Meeting

As another of the occasional glimpses into current Ukearist repertoire, these were the songs we trilled along to last Monday 3 December 2012.

 

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Happy Together

Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright

Do You Believe In Magic

You Are My Sunshine

O What a Beautiful Morning

Singing In The Rain

Good Riddance/Time of Your Life

Waterloo Sunset

Wheels On Fire

Rhythm Of The Rain

Heart of Stone

The Weight

American Girl

Brown Eyed Girl

Run, Run, Rudolf

Sloop John B

Get Back