I’ve created an arrangement of the classic Simon and Garfunkel tune, Bridge Over Troubled Water for low “g” ukulele. It is a chord/melody solo. I’ve included the lyric to the first verse merely as a guide for learning the arrangement.
Enjoy!
Download: Bridge Over Troubled Ukes
Here is a simple arrangement for solo low g ukulele of the old standard, “You Always Hurt the One You Love,” that was requested by one of my students. Though I’m mostly familiar with the Spike Jones version with crazy bells and whistles, this version is based more on the version by the Mills Brothers, et al who start in 3/4 and play it nice and slow.
Have fun!
Download: You Always Hurt the One You Love-uke
Download: O What a Beautiful Mornin’ high g
Here is a recording of me playing it.
Since it’s exactly the same 3 times, I tried to vary the dynamics (loud/soft) each verse and I slightly varied the rhythm on the 3rd verse to keep it from sounding “cut and pasted.”
As with every chord solo, the trick is to keep the chord shape down while playing the melody notes.
This solo utilizes the uniqueness of the high g string.
“h” simply means “hammer on.”
“Molto rit.” means: SLOW WAY DOWN
“a tempo” means: Back to original tempo
It’s hard to be sad when playing this song. I’ve included the lyric to help you know where you are and in case you want to sing along with the uke.
Let me know what you think!
Yeeeee Haw!
KaraUke ® is the band or orchestra without the solo ukulele so YOU get to provide the solo instrument.
I arranged the popular standard, “Wind Beneath My Wings” for solo ukulele (low g) and recorded it. Upon listening to the recording, I thought it would be nice to add a bass, so I did. It really needed pretty picking guitars so I added those. Then I thought, “If there’s a bass, there should be some drums,” so I added drums. I’ve always loved strings so I added those too. The trombones and french horns were just aching to play too so I added them. So now it’s uke and orchestra.
Download: Wind Beneath My Wings2 low g
Here is the arrangement played with the orchestral accompaniment:
and here is the KaraUke version:
Let me know if you’d like to try more KaraUke. Enjoy!
Here is a version of “Side by Side” I created for beginners. The first section repeats three times within the song and the middle section is based on familiar chord shapes so it’s not as complex as it looks.
I look forward to your feedback.
Enjoy!
Download: Side by Side-Beginner ver
First a brief entry from Wikipedia:
“Side by Side” is a popular song with lyrics by Gus Kahn and music by Harry M. Woods written in 1927, now considered a standard.
It has been recorded by many artists, but is probably best known in a 1953 recording by Kay Starr.[1] Harry Woods, who practised songwriting only as a sideline, wrote numerous 1920s standards, including “When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbing Along”, “I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover”, and “Try a Little Tenderness”. He composed his songs on piano, despite the fact that he was born without fingers on his left hand.[2]
So, fellow uke-stars… If Harry M. Woods can compose those great songs on the piano with only one fingered hand, you all can learn this arrangement with two!
Just take it a couple of bars at a time. Master those bars before moving on. There is a lot of repetition, as in all of these songs, so once you get the first section, you’ll have half of the arrangement.
Download: Side by Side v3.
And here is a recording of me playing it.
There is a count off so you can play along.
Have fun!
Hope you all had a great weekend! To get the week started on track, here is a fun arrangement I did of Chattanooga Choo-Choo:
I originally posted version 5, but this version, v6, reflects what I actually played on the recording which you can hear by clicking the play button below. CHOO, CHOO!!!
Download: CHATTANOOGA CHOO-CHOO v6
“Marie,” by Randy Newman is stunningly beautiful and sad. Though I consider it to be easy enough for beginners, you do need to be able to play the chord shapes in the song. I suggest starting with those. Then play just the top note of the TAB as that will be the melody. Then see if you can combine the melody with the chord shapes. Try to master (more or less) just a couple bars at a time. And skip around the tune. You’ll get more bang for your buck by learning it out of order. The reason for this will become clearer in time.
Download: MARIE2-uke
And here is Randy singing it so you know how it goes. I will record it myself and post it when time allows.
Enjoy!
Gordon