Easter goodies

Here are a couple of Easter goodies for you by one of masters of swing using a uke, Gerald Ross

http://geraldross.com/listen.htm

Spring is here

Hi, everyone.

This morning with all the storms around us, it looks like Spring is here in Oklahoma.  Dorothy even asked if our safe room was ready (and I assured her it was).

Spring also brings an opportunity to select some special songs to work on.  You can Google "songs about spring" or something like that and get some suggestions.  Some of these are in our Daily Uke books too.

But there are also a wide variety of themes we might look at that match the coming months.  These include Mothers Day, Fathers Day, and the two patriotic days, Memorial Day and Fourth of July.

So if you have anything you want to share, and they are not already in our Resources or the song books, you can send them out by email, or bring some copies to share at our meetings.

Our next meeting is Thursday, April 4 at the NYC pizza shop.

And if you are up to a bit of travel, on Saturday the 6th is the monthly OCTMA meeting, always a nice meeting with new folks to meet.

Need Motivation?

Now for those of us who never seem to get beyond the top few frets, here is something to give us some motivation.

jokes

A little musicians humor please.

Some good ones here.

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?78846-musician-jokes-please

March 26 Meeting

Just a reminder that Spring, while officially here, is just around the corner.  Our winter weather will be over soon.  Easter and Passover is upon us.

The song Easter Parade is on Page 289 of the Yellow Daily Uke book.  Let's try this out this Tuesday at the Western Country Diner.   If you have some other songs that are appropriate, bring them along.

Hope to see you there

Ralph

March 12 Meeting

Our next meeting, this Tuesday at the Western Country Diner, will be before St. Pat's day.  There are three Irish theme songs in the Yellow Daily Ule book -- Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling and Danny Boy.  Would you like to try them out?  They don't seem to difficult.

And since we have some beginners with us, we will also do a few songs that have proven to be good ones for those just starting out.

Go to the Web Page  https://sites.google.com/site/tulsaukuleleclub/Resources   and download Take Me Back To Tulsa.  This is a two chord version of this Bob Wills number.

Hope you can make the meeting.

Ralph

D and D7 chords

At the club meeting last night we had a short discussion about different ways to play the D and D7.  I'll take a couple minutes to try and explain my thoughts on the choices.  I'll only discuss working in the top 5 frets (but the experienced player will work the entire fretboard).

There are two common ways to play a D ( D,F#,A) -- 2220 and 2225.   With 2220, the A note is doubled and with 2225, the D note is doubled.  I play the 2220 with three fingers and the 2225 with a bar on the 2nd fret and the pinky on the A, 5th fret.  Which to choose?  I tend to minimize hand and finger motion and select the one base on the preceding chord fingering or the fingering for the subsequent chord.  Or, since the only change is on the A string, if I want the highest note to be the A (2220) for a lower tone or the highest to be D (2225) for a higher tone. Personally, most of the time I make the selection based on minimum hand-finger movement in the chord sequence.

Now there are at least a half dozen ways to play a D7 chord  (ACF#D)  in the top 5 frets.  All the books show 2223 and some show 2020, sometimes called the Hawaiian D7.   2020 does not really give a D7 chord -- there is no D note in that fingering, but the tone is similar to a normal D7 and it is accepted as a D7 in the ukulele world.  In some cases it is easier to finger the 2020 in a chord sequence, other times 2223 is easier.  For example, if I am playing a C chord, going to a D7, it is easy for me to keep my ring (or pinky) finger on the A string and drop the pointer finger and bar the 2nd fret to get a D7 -- this gives 2223.  Sometimes it is easier to do a 2020 from other chords.  Generally I try and listen to the song melody and then select the one that is best for the melody.  2020 gives a lower tone that 2223 with the C and A strings both giving lower notes than 2223 since they are open strings in that fingering.  I see that most of the recommendations in the Daily Uke book  for D7 is 2020, so it is very acceptable.

Lone Star Uke Festival, March 8 & 9

The Lone Star Ukulele Festival is this coming weekend, starting on Friday morning.  Classes and workshops during the day on Friday and Saturday and concerts in the evening.  Expect some extensive jam sessions too.

Here is the link    http://www.lonestarukefest.com/

Here are some workshops designed for all levels of players and the concerts should be great too.  The workshops cover a wide range of material, not just playing the uke, but singing and songwriting too -- check the web page for specifics.

Bytown song book links

Every club seems to have their own collection of songs that they enjoy playing as a group.  I've added a link to the Bytown collection in the Handy Links section.

They have pulled together a number links to on-line of song books.  I think most of these are from England, but they can all be useful.

It is too bad that there is not a master index of songs and what book contains the song, but one can easily browse the links to find the songs in each book.

The combination of the various club books, the Internet and the large number of printed books (including the two Daily Uke books) give us a huge resource for our musical adventures

http://www.bytownukulele.ca/Songbooks.aspx