Another New Toy - A Capo

I have always made use of a choice to use a capo when playing guitar but fought shy of using one on my Ukulele. No particular reason, especially whether it is right or wrong, but it seemed to take up too much room and restrict the fretting hand - especially some chords which needed a very high position of the hand - D (2220) springs to mind.

However since I now play in a club with other ukulele players, I often find that the songs in our song books are often in a key which I find uncomfortable to sing along in. However, I did not want to play those songs at home in a different key so I looked once again into the idea of a capo. A quick look at Amazon came up with this model ...

This elasticated model seemed to offer a much better chance of being able to play those problematic chord shapes. No hinderance on the underside of the neck to positioning the left hand and low enough to be able to reach over with the LH fingers.

I soon found that even 2-3 semitones up the neck allowed me to be more comfortable with singing those songs which challenged my vocal range. One such song was "Something" from The Beatles catalogue. Singing it the key which was used in our song book, meant I had problems with most of the verse - I had to sing very low  but could not cope with raising my voice to the next  octave above. Raising the key just two semitones with the capo has made it so much easier to sing for me. And I don't have to learn new chord progressions. Still very low but now acceptable - just; what do you think?

The use of open strings is also crucial to this as I am obviously picking notes which are found in open chords. Just another reason why the opportunity to use a capo is useful.

Thanks for visiting, I have more recordings which I have been busy making, and look forward to sharing them in future posts

Lyrics and Chords: My Uke Is Gonna Get Me Through The Day

I have been asked for the chords to this song (quite flattered really) so I give the lyrics and the chords I play, in full here.
NB at the end of some lines I play G/Gsus4/G, etc as a little riff.

My Uke Is Gonna See Me Through The Day 

by John Dyhouse

refrain

[G]/ When I ‘m feeling [E7]/ low

[A7]/ Got no place to go

[D7] And no one’s ‘round to raise my sorry [G]/[Gsus4]/[G]/ mood.

[G]/ I don’t sit a [E7]/ round/

[A7]/Staring at the ground

[D7 ] I Pick up my 4-string and I start to [G] play … [D7]

verse 1

Oh my [G] uke is gonna [C] get me through the [G] day

[C] Raise my voice and [D7] strum along and [Bm7] play

[C] My spirits soon will [D7] rise, [G] soaring to the [C] skies

Oh my [G] uke is gonna [D7] get me through the [G] day [D7]

verse 2

The cheerful sound of strumming is so cool

Takes me back to days I spent in school

No cares to weigh me down, no sign of a frown

Oh my uke is gonna get me through the day

verse 3

No pills or potions do the same for me

I’ve tried them all, they fail it’s plain to see

But when I hear those chords, I’m never ever bored

Oh my uke is gonna get me through the day [no D7 chord]  [G / Gsus4  G]

My first solo public ukulele performance

Although I have been playing guitar for more years than I care to remember, I have only very rarely played and sung in public. Once or twice at parties and with small groups of friends and once playing Shadows covers at a fan meeting.

Since taking up the ukulele, I have spent a few months jamming with a new club/group (UkuleleCentralUK) which meets every other week. I have found a certain confidence amongst this very mixed ability gathering and even did an open mike spot a few weeks ago. We played a concert of christmas songs in late december for an audience of friends and family and I very much enjoyed it.

For red-nose day this year, we gave our second concert to the same (?) audience BUT we had several solo spots to break up the set list. I even volunteered to perform the song I did at that open mike spot only a few weeks earlier. I was very nervous but put in a lot of practice. (I didn't know That there were so many places where I could potentially go wrong.) And eventually felt confident that I could manage to get through the whole thing without making a fool of myself, especially as at our "dress rehearsal" I had started three times due to making what I thought were bad mistakes.

On the day, still nervous, I felt that I rushed through the song because of those nerves but managed to cope and even get over a couple of errors without the listening audience realising - I hope! It certainly felt good to have done it and got it out of the way. I now feel as if I am ready for more, so am now practising a few "different" songs which are not yet part of the group's repertoire.

The song? It was one which Joe Brown popularised by playing it to finish the Concert For George. Many of you will know, I am sure, that it was "I'll See You In My Dreams". A lovely song written in 1924, with lyrics by Gus Kahn.

See my last post for an early (for me) version of this number.

Poetry?

Just a little promotional message, I have decided to publish in a new blog all those lyrics which never made it as songs but which still stand on their own as poems. Its a fine line and one which is easy to cross and which I have crossed many times.

I write mostly to sing but sometimes the words are better than the music. Or sometimes they simply stand on there own and can be read as poetry. So if you see my videos on YouTube, I will be singing them. But you may see the same words referred to as a poem elsewhere. It matters not what I call these words, I hope they are good enough to stand either way as good examples of creative writing.

But let me tell you about the new blog, it is called, "Poems and Poetry on Life" I will be posting excerpts of poems as I publish them on various sites I am investigating as publishing platforms.