Harfoot Song YT post explainer

  

Couple of explanatory notes about this arrangement/production.

As discussed in MY PATREON POST  on this, the Harfoot Song is a working song.

That means it comes from the fine tradition of music that helps people to accomplish a tedious or physical task. Think sea shanties that help sailors haul ropes. Or I'm picturing a film doc I saw once of women felting cloth singing together in Gaelic.

In 'Rings of Power,' Harfoot Nori sings this while she pulls the family's belongings in a hand cart on their  migration.

She's going thru a lot of exertion to pull it, so her breathing is irregular - physical labour is baked into the song.

So try not to rush it - it should go slow.

Also it's a cappella. One small voice travelling into the unknown.

Applied to an instrument, it makes sense for it to be a small portable one. Think  of the violins settlers brought to the New World a la movie 'Red Violin.' Or mandolin. Small guitar could work. Ukulele works for size. It looks like uses were based on a small Portuguese proto-guitar. Small folk instruments could also work, like wooden flute or recorder.

(*This tune adapts well to uke for strumming, in the sense that it doesn't need fully barred chords.)

The song is long, the way a lot of shanties are with multiple verses. But it can get tedious to play on its own. So I made the 3 verses a little different for a guitar solo. V1 is straight up, V2 is in lower register, V3 has trills, lightening the tune as the day's labours reach an end. 

This piece ends up being more of a solo version.

Why Cathedral effect? The lyrics that first stuck with me were: 'My legs are so short and the way is so long.' Cathedral, which is an effect found in iMovie, gave the small voice in big universe I wanted. 

The visual filter also comes from iMovie - 'Dreamy.' The video shot in my home studio in 2023 just didn't work. I felt the Dreamy filter gave the idea of how the impulse to migrate comes from deep cultural memory.

The tune is in Bb major. So you have to practice your chording in these barred chords to strum along.

Recorded on a Denver 3/4 classical guitar. 

If you want to dig deeper into this tune, I tons more support files in the Patreon above - slower audio jam tracks without the effects, short how- to videos, sheet music marked up for guitar, more.

I've been trying to post a freebie element from each Patreon strudy. This is it!

Here's the link to it on YouTube: Harfoot Song on YouTube, LTG

Harfoot Song - Patreon post Feb 2023

Mar 3 is basically Feb 31, right?!

Finally got around to developing a lesson on Nori's song, 'This Wandering Day,' from the Rings of Power series on Amazon, prequel to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Song composed by Bear McCreary.

There's sheet music available out there for piano with guitar chords and piano melody. But not specifically for guitar. Or that break down strum, fingerings etc. for guitar.

My Patreon study has links to sheet music marked up for guitar, audio strum & melody jam tracks, short demo videos for guitar and soprano uke.

Also the usual performance notes, tips and list of gear, apps.

One thing I discovered while working this up is that the chord fingerings in this Bb major key signature is probably easier on uke than on guitar. 

The background on this song is that it's a working song to provide motivation for these tiny denizens of 2nd age Middle Earth, progenitors of the Hobbits, for loading up their belongings & migrating by push or pull cart. So a small portable instrument like a uke works well.  Even tho the song is an a cappella solo, for some reason I'm hearing a small ukulele orchestra in my head. Maybe a few around a Harfoot campfire at end of a travel day. Or perhaps a tribute in later generations to the endurance of their ancestors.

Here's the link to the Patreon post: 

Harfoot Song lesson, LTG Patreon

I've put a stylized variation up on YouTube as a playalong:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGOxPUnl7W0&t=3s

New Patreon page - starts with Christmas uke play-along, 'Down in Yon Forest

I've been hesitant to build traffic to the home studio. Close family member came down with covid 10 days before Christmas. Second (positive) finally gone today, a full 15 days later. And this person was careful too, up to date on shots, etc. Not to get public health political, but it's not over.

So have decided to put fully supported play-alongs online for Patreon subscribers. I'll keep putting up little hints and tips on the socials. But I guess this is reasonable with respect to the amount of time that goes into them. Here's the link to my Patreon page. Here's the Yon Forest post.

My first Patreon post is a Christmas play-along for uke. I've done it on banjo uke. It's a slightly lesser known tune, ' Down in Yon Forest.' Canadians will perhaps recognize as a Bruce Cockburn Christmas offering.

It's adapted from Steve Kaufman's Smokey Mountain Christmas. Steve has 2 volumes of this, 1 for guitar, and 1 for mandolin/violin. I just adapted the notes and chords for ukulele.

The collection includes a breakout solo for the instrument on each song. My play-along includes finger-picked melody and chording files, as well as a combined clip. I also did a separate set for the solo part. Found a new app for combining audio files, BandLab. I'm kind of analog for doing it on phone. But it's working great for me on computer.

The main song is pretty easy, altho in Dm with the Bb in it. Here's a link to jpgs taken on phone cam for partial screenshot of sheet music. Album includes jpg of charts of chords used, as well as chord 'map,' which shows the order of the chords in song. Also a badly aligned video clip of the solo. 

The book is well worth it, with fresh arrangements for what can be over-played Christmas tunes. You can get the book or ebook on MelBay.com.

My goal is to post something fresh to the Patreon once a month. It's a toe in the water. See what you think!

And by all means shoot me a note if you have a play-along you'd like to see, or an explainer developed.

Beginner uke (or guitar) program, 7 weeks

 

This is a slightly longer program for beginning stringed instrument players. To keep kids going thru a few more weeks of winter. 

(I do have a short 4-week program for beginners. HERE'S the link to it.)

Virtual, Zoom-based for families trying to keep distant from face to face learning during pandemic until the weather warms up and there can be more outside interaction.

It's colour-coded, coordinated to desk bells for frame of reference.

Can be used for ukulele or guitar.

It's also important for new (especially young) learners to work on finger strength, so each lesson 30 minute lesson dedicates 10 minutes to a fine motor activity. The two methods used here are clay play (with plasticine) and forming coloured yarn strands. I've created an online album that shows a map (overview or flow) of the program. Click HERE for the online album for the 7 -week course.

Materials needed: uke (or guitar), plasticine, clear plastic page sleeve, small balls of red, green & blue yarn, lucet or yarn corker. (If you are local to me and can arrange to pick up, I can provide you with most of these material. You will need your own instrument.)

Here's of guideline of the content for each day:

Day 1. Learn what a scale is. Finger warmup - Plasticine string snakes.  Learn what a scale is. Watch video of 'Doe a Deer' from Sound of Music (link to in on YouTube HERE). Look at set of bells to see where notes/colours of C major scale fall on a staff. Find corresponding notes on open strings (important for tuning). Sing/play Doe a Deer picking tonic note.

Day 2. Strings & tuning. Finger warmup - plasticine - start clay dot art piece (will continue working on this in next lesson).  Review Doe a deer song.  Tune ukes to note names. Review at bell colour notes on staff. Find corresponding notes on uke fretboard.  Isolate arpeggio (1, 3 & 5 notes). Prepares the ear for these notes together forming a chord.

Day 3. Find all 7 notes of scale on uke. Finger warmup - plasticine - clay art piece. Look at bells against a piano keyboard. This shows that not all notes have a half tone between them. On uke/guitar, this shows how most notes have 2 frets between them, but some are just 1 fret apart0. Student don't have to memorize this, just be aware of it. Find corresponding notes on uke fretboard. Play Doe a Deer using all notes.

Day 4. Form C chord.  Finger warmup - make red lace representing C note. On uke - go up and down scale. Review arpeggio.  (Can look at arpeggio song from Aristocats. Link to 'Scales & Arpeggios Song on YouTube is HERE.) Form C chord. Play silly 1-chord song. Vary rhythm. Try pluck, then strum pattern.

Day 5. Form partial F chord. Warmup - make yellow lace for E note. On uke - review arpeggio. Students are encouraged to manipulate yarn with the left hand (or less natural hand) as well as this will strengthen the chording fingers (alternately string plucking fingers). Play 2-chord song, Row your boat from Kids Uke book.

Day 6. Form partial G chord. Warmup - make blue G lace. Braid 3 laces together. This becomes a physical representation of the 3 notes together in a chord.. What a chord 'looks' like. On uke - review arpeggio. Form part G chord. (Try walking fingers analogy for how to play fingers. Gives students chord is more than 1 finger. If this is too hard, do 1 finger G7 chord). Play 3-chord song, Twinkle little star from Kids Uke book. 

Day 7. New 3 chord song.  Review relevant learnings to day. Introduce song such as On Top of Old Smokey (orig lyrics are refreshing. Revert to On Top of Spaghetti for fun.) With these 3 chords, new players can play a huge range of folk or pop songs.

Lessons aim to be 30 minutes long. I will tend to go slightly over to have a song to takeaway, rather than go strictly by the clock.

Cost: $20 per lesson. I can work out a deal for 2 or 3 children from 1 family or location on screen at same time. Total: $140 ($20x7). I'm offering the Pandemic Survivor discount on this  program of 1 free lesson, which is $20 off). So Pandemic Survivor deal is $120 in total. I can take etransfer or cash. Payment for this package is due at start of first lesson. Please give 24 hours notice to cancel or reschedule.

This is a rough outline. We can cover more or less info than indicated depending on interest level. (It's not a race. Getting thru it faster isn't the goal here. ) But we'll end up at the same spot by last lesson.

Hope that helps. Send me a message at email bottom of blog for more info. You can also reach out by DM on my FB, Instagram of Twitter pages.

Stay well, everyone. Six more weeks until spring. We got this!

Fingerstyle Yule-kulele, Part 2 - Coming up with your own arrangement with fingerstyle embellishments

The peculiarity of the uke is the re-entrant tuning, meaning what would be the lowest sounding string on a guitar, ie closest to your thumb, is not the lowest sounding on the uke.

The banjo also has re-entrant tuning. Likely that's why the banjo uke was such a perfect hybrid when it emerged in the 1920s. 

The drone effect of the banjo's, well, drone string gives an idea of how we can use the high G string on the uke to enhance the drone effect.

However I personally don't feel the vibe of stunt uke or George Formby banjo uke. Obviously Formby types gravitated to the instrument for its big sound projection in small package capability.

The vibe i do feel, tho, is sort of Pa Ingalls/post US civil war era tunes.

I looked for a Christmas tune in the Pa Ingalls fiddle songbook. But  it seems holiday tunes as the time were more serious hymns. (Found some - see Postscript.)

I had the image in my mind of Mary and Laura getting so excited about the piece of candy in their stockings, and their amazement at seeing a Christmas tree. Garth Williams' illustrations were simply the best!

In my simple Snowman uke Christmas tunes book,  pretty much all the tunes are in C and F major, so no need for the low g tuning. In that book, Jolly Old St. Nicolas jumped out. So I went around this tune 3 times, first in  full pinch mode, next in a  pinch and pick out mode, finally in a slowed down simplied pick out of the arpeggios. So that's to show the girls' excitement Christmas eve in 2 phases then slowing down before bedtime. Here is a link to my sheet music. You might need to download and enlarge in a photos app.

Similar to in my previous post on reading fingerstyle: 1. Play the melody in notes, 2. Play thru again with chords, 3. Make note of which notes within the chord you NEED to bring out the melody, and which notes within the chord you can DROP to simplify and gain nimbleness. Here's a little video clip.  In this case i think the flubbs work with the tired Christmas vibe i was going for (that's my story).

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. Happy holiday & best of the season. Have fun and keep improving your chops!

Postscript. In the collection of Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas chapters, there are mentions to songs Pa played on Christmas eve.  There are also verse excepts & a full  piece, Merry Merry Christmas at the end. Here's the link to a little online album with some pages relevant to this from that picture book. I'll make a note of songs and first lines Pa played on Christmas eve for future reference:

* Nelly Gray...

* Money Musk

*the Red Heifer

*Devil's Dream

*Arkansas Traveller (baby bumblebee tune).

* Oh Charley he's a fine young man

* Twas a calm still night...Lily Dale

*Polly put the kettle on

*Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines

*Merry Merry Christmas

Fingerstyle Yule-kulele, Part 1- Working thru a fingerstyle piece

For anyone wanting to work up a little bit special ukulele piece for the holidays -

There are lots of fingerstyle pieces for ukes tuned to low g. If you go to a sheet music site and search uke, fingerstyle, christmas, there are quite a few choices. The one here is from Musicnotes. com, i think. But my other go-to is Sheet Music Plus.

So let's look at First Noel used here. Step 1 - pick out the notes of the tune on your uke. Step 2 - Now go thru the song using chords. Remember that chords are just arpeggios. So the chords for a certain section will have the notes for the tune in that measure in it.

Step 3 - have a pencil ready and a flat surface. You're going to mark up your sheet music as you go with  tips to yourself about how to finger the chord so that you can emphasize the note and be prepared to have an easy fingering for the next note that's coming. This is a very wordy way of saying it, whereas the exercise of doing it isn't that hard.

Simplified - Identify the notes you NEED to hit the melody. Peel off or SUBTRACT the fingers from the full chord that you don't need. You rarely need the full chord.

Here's a link to a jpg of the sheet music.

For instance, at Bar 4, we have a C chord with notes C, E & G indicated. Well, I felt I need the G for the tune. For the chord effect, i don't need the whole chord and to twist my fingers up like a pretzel. Need G, so cant also have E on string 2. We can get a 2 note harmony from C on the low string at 5th fret. Like a double stop in violin. And the lower C doesnt dominate like the high C would over the G. Finger this stop in the F chord shape formation.

That's just one example. I'm not going to take your fun away and make all the suggestions for you. The main points are, you don't need the whole chord - subtract from it the fingers you really don't need.

Since we found a fairly complete arrangement, i played pretty much as written. Here's the link to a short VIDEO CLIP. (Be kind. I'm just a part-time uke player  - Chet-Knopfler joke.)

In the next post, Part 2, we'll take a look at how to come up with the barebones of your own fingerstyle adaptation or arrangement.

Uke Low G Experiment - Drop Tuning

How do you get the Low G range of tones for fingerpicking out of a uke tuned to High G, 4th string? In a way that the student doesn't have to swap strings.

This was the consideration when we tried to fingerpick Ashoken Farewell in key of D on uke. See this blog post for my Ashoken Farewell TUTORIAL. It has links to playalong tracks and sheet music.

Guitar players often play 'drop D' tuning. (There are other atypical tunings as well.) This means the lowest, thickest string, which is usually tuned to low E, gets tuned down 2 semi-tones to a lower D.

The trick is that you have to remember that all notes played on the lower pitched string will be found 2 frets up the finger board.

The same principle could apply to uke. But the problem is that 4th G string loses responsiveness when it's tuned close to an octave lower. It doesn't stay in tune.

I tuned an old uke down as far as it could go, which seemed to be an A. The song in question features low Bs, low As and a low G. It sort of worked to adapt the sheet music and drop the low G, instead playing a couple of Bs, and then the A.

I tried this re-tuning also on a newer uke. It wouldn't tune down to A. Only to B. But honestly, it worked as well, to tune to low B. You can't get the low A. But it works to just hit the high open A.

I did a video of the experiment. There's a false start after the initial tuning sequence, at around the 2 minute mark of the attached VIDEO. 

Conventional wisdom seems to be to use something like a D string from a classical guitar to get the low G. But the student may not be ready for the restringing operation at tis point. (That involves buying a D string, figuring out how to restring, and perhaps leaving the uke strung that way, while you may not be sure that's what you want to do.) 

Another option is having 2 ukes, each with distinct tuning. I suppose if you can come by a free or cheap 2nd uke, this is an ok plan. Again, not optimal perhaps for beginners.

Drop tuning offers a workaround while the student decides whether or not to commit to re-stringing for low G. 

If this ancient uke with strings from who knows when (likely the '60s. I think i restrung this instrument at one point. But i honestly can't remember) can do it, any uke can.

There are a couple more steps i should try to complete this experiment. Maybe a thicker string for the 4th  might hold a lower tuning. (either classical guitar D string or low g uke string.)*

*Low string tuning up experiment. I have a uke outfitted with D classical guitar string. Well settled. It doesnt tune up to high G. I only tried this to a certain degree. There was lot of tension on the string and instrument, and i didnt want it to pop, and break pieces off the uke. *Need to try tuning up low g made for uke string.But i suspect the string companies would rather you buy more strings than fewer.

Also, would another brand of string also both hold upper and lower tunings better. I will report on this in future?**

**Better string experiment result - i tried this with a fresh new good quality high G string. Gave it a couple of weeks to settle. It still doesnt tune far enough down to the low g.

This solution described here, which we'll call 'Tune 4th string as low as it will go,' is meant as a workaround for an on the spot adaptation  to fingerpicking lower notes on a soprano uke, which doesn't require  getting new strings or a re-stringing exercise.

Post script 1 - i've gone thru a couple of beginner to intermediate uke books lately. They seem to be written without needing to play lower than a low C note.  So a student likely can avoid encountering this problem for a while.

Post script 2 - Is changing strings such a bad idea? No - players are going to have to change them anyway if they break. What might be the 2nd best option is if a low g might tune up to and hold a high G, a player would have the opportunity to upgrade to a better quality string from off the shelf, and only do it once (at the beginning) and  have a wider range of tones and options. But i mean, even if you change to a low g, you can still get the high G range out of the 2nd (highest) string.  Changing to log g string for uke might be the most logical option.

Post script 3 - I have put on a bona fide for uke low g string. Aquila red. A wrapped nylgut string. You will read that it's expensive. I dunno. It was around $10. It settles faster. Has a better sound than classical guitar D. To be honest, i would immediately add this string to a new instrument.

Into the Great Wide Open w Simple Uke strum - Playalong this week 051320

Finally, right?!

Three tracks in total: 1. MELODY LINE SOUNDWAVE VIDEO - guitar picked, 2. STRUM LINE GUITAR, 3. STRUM LINE UKE. Remember to turn down your volume for Google drive audio play at link.

These tracks are NOT synched. So you can strum along with the melody track. Strum tracks guitar and uke give an idea of what your strumming would sound like.

Notes on the tracks:

1. Picked line. I tried arrangement shown at end of this online photo album on both classical (wider fret separation) and western acoustic electric. The notes are easy enough but they are very widely spaced on the fretboard. It was easiest to play the G, A, B upper register sequences  with index finger barred across Fret 5. Then you can make B at 7th fret with ring finger, high E string. A note is just barre on string 1. G note is pinky, (8th Fret), String 2/B string. E note is  barred 2nd string. D note is ring finger (7th fret), 3rd/G string. This eliminates the sliding up and down action on the hi E string = more control.

This track has longest count-in:  2 full measures + 1 beat rest.


2. Guitar strum line. Very simple version. The sheet music gave a run of 4 Em chords, twice, to lead off. Too boring. If you take the guidance in the chording, and change your fingering to hit the alternate base note shown after the slash (it doesnt matter if it's the actual lowest note or not - the variation sounds better), you get a  slow descending mid-range line that's not too hard and sounds better. HERE'S a link to my lyric sheets with hand-drawn chord charts. Play Em with tall boy and ring fingers so that when you want to make the C#, index can slide down to the 4th string E note and ring finger can reach the C# base note in an easy move.

I just did 1 strum per chord in the verse section to show that simple can work fine. You can jazz this up by adding a  faster strum pattern.



3.  Uke strum line. I've wanted try this experiment for a while. An easy rock song where chords can be formed with 1 or 2 fingers. For small hands and new learners. Here's the link to an online photo album with jpgs of the lyric sheet with simplified uke chord fingerings.

For Em chord: just use tall boy and ruby ring finger on middle 2 strings, 3rd and 4th frets. For the descending mid effect, take off ruby on 2nd strum & add index 3rd string 3rd fret for 2nd chord. 3rd strum - leaving tall boy on, slide index to 2nd fret, 3rd string. 4th strum - tallboy on, slide index to 1st fret. It's worth a shot :) Try to emphasize just the middle 2 strings when you stum.

If too hard, just play all Ems. Another player can express the descending base.

G chord variation - barre 2nd fret, w tall boy on 3rd fret, 2nd string. Try to strum mainly the 3 high strings. (you can rotate the uke slightly toward body to  make it harder to strum the low string).

C variation - you can leave the barre on for the G, and just move tall boy to the high string, 3rd fret. Take the barre off in a spot or 2 where you want the C to sound cleaner or less muddy.

D chord variation - leave barre on as for G, no tall boy. Tilt uke slightly away from the  body and try to strum mainly the lower 3 strings.

F chord variation - just play with 1 finger, index on Fret 1, 2nd highest string. Try to  strum mainly the 2 high strings.

Chorus - is mainly G & D. Strip out any chord changes that happen too fast. The song will still sound good!

Trying a new app that makes a soundwave video of an audio track, uploaded to Youtube. I only get 10 mins of vid per month. So will  only convert 1 track per playalong to video. That will be the pick track so that you will have something to see & bigger Play button to hit.

Cheers!

Playalong this week - 042620 - Raindrops

This selection just seemed to fit the season, the times - everything!

Arrangement is picked out melody on guitar with strumming on uke.

So 3 tracks: 1. pick + strum, 2. pick only, 3 strum only.

I sketched out my own lyric sheet with uke chords - jpg linked in  HERE. Hope you can read them. These aren't full chords. They're just the basics to allow for changes in time with the tune.

I sound a bit spastic but i'll leave the wonkiness in. Shows some spasticity can still sound ok.

Remember to turn your volume down. I do mix these low, but the end result sounds really loud to me.

"Did me some talking to the sun, said that I didnt like the way he got things done, sleeping on the job..."

Track Links

1. Pick + Strum

2. Melody only

3. Strum only.

Play Along - Can't Help Falling in Love with You

Gear

Ok gang. Silver lining of Covid19 - have taught myself how to pick notes on uke and basics of GarageBand - woot!

This is a bit of an experiment - I've recorded melody and picking lines for this Elvis tune separately in GB, as well as together. So whether you're a budding fingerpicker or chorder, you can solo on this tune.

Since it's a pretty familiar tune, I will post some kind of short form for chords and notes.

(Did you know GB has a built in tuner and metronome? :O And convert audio to midi in order to output sheet music - haven't got that far yet...). Links to mp3s below.

Why this tune - I've been fond of the Eddie Vedder uke album for a while. In an online video, he talks about being first drawn to ukulele by a man who played a dynamite version of this song. And my mom loved Elvis. And in pics of my dad when he was a young man, he looked a bit like Elvis. Many reasons.

My version is not nearly dynamite, but it's an all right playalong test. (Try to ignore the weird shushing background noise on the picking line- sorry. Next day note - i have re-recorded this track at lower input level. Still hissy. It's passable if you turn down volume in player window. I have recorded strumming to melody line before, but i think i recorded on phone, and listened to strumming on headphones on computer. The hiss I guess is doing both thru computer. Will fix next time.)   :)

Can't Help, chord & pick 

Can't Help, chords only

Can't Help, picked melody line only

Strum Line - Chord Map

Verse

D, F#m, Bm, G, D, A
G, A7, Bm, Em, D, A, D, (A7 turnaround)

Chorus

F3m, C#7, F#m, C#7, F#m, B7, Em, A7


Picked Line - Tune (lowest G string tuned to low G)


Note names (go for it, play without a staff!)


Verse

DAD, EF#GF#E, ABC#D, EF#GF#ED


Chorus (Sheet music in pic below is from Musicnotes.com )


C# F# C#AB, C# F# C#AB, C# F# C#AB, AA F#AF#G


* You can play along with same chords and notes on guitar as well

Sheet music, Musicnotes.com