Just A Closer Walk With Thee - ukulele chords

One of my favorite gospel songs!  I still remember the first time I heard it when I was about 8 years old.  It was right around the time that White Men Can't Jump came out....if you're at all familiar with the movie, you know that the opening scene features an awesome performance of this song by the Venice Beach Boys.  Do yourself a favor and check it out here on YouTube.  You may also be asking yourself what I was doing watching such a vulgar movie at a very young age.  Well, I have an older sister and brother.  In their defense, it was the edited TV version that we had on a VHS tape.  From the moment that I first heard this tune, I knew it was awesome.  Hope this chord arrangement will be a good guide for you to start jammin' on this one.  As always, if you need to reference a chord, check out the Ukulele Chord Finder (just be sure to switch it to "soprano C" for all of you GCEA players.  Here's a little video of me playing around with it if you need a little guidance.  Enjoy!

Snazzy little intro: A, F#min, A, Cdim, D6, A, F#min, A, E7

A.........A#dim..................E7
Just a closer walk with thee
......................................A
Grant me Jesus is my plea
..............A7..............D......Cdim
Daily walkin' with thee
..........D6...A............E7.............A
Let it.....be.  Dear Lord, let it be




.....just rinse and repeat.  Oh yeah, don't forget to have fun with it!

Queen - Good Company ukulele chords

One of my favorite Queen songs!  Good Company is a nice little folky ukulele piece and it's fairy simple to play.  You can even throw in some triplets and syncopation to make it give it a little extra ragtime feel.  If you're looking for the chords, here's a link from the folks at Ukulele Hunt with chords and tabs.  We are greatly indebted to them for doing all the leg work on this one.  

Of course, this tune (written and sung by Brian May) comes off of the classic "A Night at the Opera".  This album definitely lands in my top 5.  Probably the most amazing thing about this song is the fact that all the instruments in the "jazz band" parts were played with an electric guitar.  I have a DVD of the making of this album and the part where the engineer actually solos out the individual guitar parts for this is absolutely incredible. 

Anyway...enjoy the link and happy Uke'n!

Vintage Harmony ukulele: replacing a broken bridge

This is sort of a good news/bad news post.  The  good news is that the original tuning machines on this Harmony uke didn't need to be replaced as I originally thought.  They just needed a little tightening up.  The bad news is that when I went to string this sucker up, I heard a brief cracking sound and then a very loud SNAP!  The front part of the bridge must have had a crack that I couldn't see and it gave way under the tension of the strings pressing down and ever so slightly forward on the saddle.  But I guess it's not all that bad...at least now I get to show you

Vintage Harmony Ukulele: replacing the nut

need to do some sanding to get this old glue off

There we go!  Sanded, cleaned up, and ready for a new nut.

The next step to getting this old Harmony uke back into playing condition was to install a new nut.  If you need to replace the nut on your uke, taking off the old one is pretty simple.  Any nuts I've taken off in the past haven't been glued on super well and easily popped off with a pair of pliers and a little bit of force.  There was no nut on this one, which allowed me to skip that step.

As you can see in the first picture, there is still a bit of dry glue where the previous nut was sitting.  This needs to be sanded off before installing the

Vintage Harmony Ukulele: replacing the saddle

with the old saddle removed

Sliding in the new saddle

Just a little bit more....

Hurray

 The first thing that I tackled on this project was replacing the saddle.  The original saddle (not pictured) was a black piece of plastic and was pretty worn.  Not the most desirable saddle choice.  


 I'm happy to have found this uke in a local antique store for $20...but I also don't want to sink a ton

Vintage Harmony ukulele repair project

 I went with my wife and daughter to the antique store yesterday and stumbled upon this vintage Harmony soprano ukulele.  A little info about the harmony company taken from easyukulele.com

The Harmony Ukulele Company went out of business in 1975. Their name, however, is a familiar site to anyone who plays the ukulele. For the greater part of the 20th Century, this name was synonymous with ukuleles for most people. They made both traditional

Hello Dolly! ukulele chords

Here's a little video of me playing it (with an improvised jazzy breakdown)....





And here's the chords w/ the lyrics. If you get lost on the changes or strumming patterns just refer to the video for guidance. Above all, you don't have to play it exactly the same way that I play it or anybody else plays it. Music is about having fun and experimenting!

If you need to find the chords for this one, I'd recommend this ukulele chord finder. It's a pretty nifty tool to have. If you're trying to follow my video, just make sure that you select the "soprano - C" option on the chord finder so you'll be in the same key.


Intro (on the 5th fret): D9, D7, F - do this 3 times and then......Fmaj7, (now move back down the fretboard toward the open chords), C, Cdim, Dm, G7


.....C.........................Am
Hello Dolly. This is Louis, Dolly
................C....................Cdim....................Dm........G7
It's so nice to have you back where you belong
..............................Dm
You're lookin' swell, Dolly
..............Bb
I can tell, Dolly
........................G.........................G7.........................C.....Cdim...........Dm.....G7
You're still glowin', you're still growin', you're still goin'...................strong
.....................C..............................Am
I feel the room swayin' while the band's playin'
..........Gm7............Gm6...............C7.....F.........E7
Our old favorite songs from way back when

So.....
Am.............Em
Take her wrap, fellas
Am...........................Em
Find her an empty lap, fellas
Dm........................G......G7
Dolly will never go away again

C, Cdim, Dm, G7

Jazzy breakdown part (played up on the 5th fret): Fmaj7, Dm7, Ddim, C

now play the intro part again.....and then....

...................C.................................Am
I feel the room swayin' while the band keeps playin'
............Gm7........Gm6.................C7.....F.........E7
Our old favorite songs from way back when

So.....
Am.......Em
Golly gee, fellas
Am.............................Em
Have a little faith in me, fellas
Dm.......................G.....G7
Dolly will never go away
Dm.......................G.....G7
Dolly will never go away
Dm.......................G....G7
Dolly will never go away again

C, Cdim, Dm, G7, C

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Ukulele chords

Since it's Christmas time, I thought it appropriate to finally update this blog (yeah...it's been awhile). Here's the chords to one of my favorite Christmas songs, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". I hope that you have a Merry Christmas! If you need some help with the chord formations, click here.



....Em
God rest ye merry, gentlemen
....C..............B7
let nothing you dismay
...Em
Remember Christ our Savior
....C.................B7
was born on Christmas Day
...Am...............G
To save us all from Satan's pow'r
.....Em.............D
when we were gone a-stray

Chorus:
..G..........B7..........Em
O tidings of comfort and joy,
............D
comfort and joy!
...G.........B7..........Em
O tidings of comfort and joy