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Curt Sheller
Curt Sheller Publications
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Curt Sheller • All Things `Ukulele and Jazz Guitar
The Basics and Beyond!!! Take your playing to the next level.
The Internet's largest collection of information for ukulele and jazz guitar.
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Arranging Melody and Chord Solos for Ukulele
- There doesn't have to be a chord for every melody note.
- Chords can also played before or after the melody.
Example from measure 2 of the Beatles classic Yesterday.
- Play chords for dotted quarter notes and long duration notes and when there is a chord change.
- Add melody notes if needed and wanted.
- If melody is an arpeggio sustain notes to get chord.
Reference: QuickStart Arpeggio Fingerings for Ukulele 3 volumes.
"C", "G" and "D" tunings. (link) - If only one note is changing from one chord to
the next only play changed note while sustaining the pervious chord.
Example from first measure of Yesterday.
- Change all diminished triads to dim 7 4-part chords.
- Augmented triads can be 7#5.
- Do not avoid the effectiveness of triads
A Guide to Ukulele Chords (link)
This book provides a guide to the common basic chords all ukulele players should know, an introduction to movable chord forms, and more advanced 4-part jazz chords. All presented in common ukulele keys. Building on what chords you might already know.
- Use chord substitutions to fit the style. Fancy 7#11, b9, #5 or a 13th might not fit your basic frokc, country, folk and pop songs.
Example from Autumn Leaves.
The original chord for this measure is the I chord of the key (Bbmaj7). A III chord, a diatonic sub is substituted and its V chord added. Also creates a nice chromatic movement to the IV chord.
A full melody and chord solo arrangement of Walk Don't Run is available.
Reference: Harmonic Analysis for Scale Selection and Chord Substitution (link)
- Look for places for Contrapuntal motion: parallel, oblique, similar and contrary motion in your chord voicings. Contrapuntal motion is the general movement of two melodic lines with respect to each other.
- Double stops, octaves, intervals, arpeggios, sequences
and chord scales.
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Example from Walk Don't Run. A song written by jazz great Johnny Smith and made famous by the Ventures.
A full melody and chord solo arrangement of Walk Don't Run is available.
- Chromatic passing chords and fills.
- Closed chord voicings. The re-entrant tuning of the ukulele gives you this automatically.
- Incorporate open strings in to chord voicings
- Non-traditional chords families.
- Alterations, upper partials (chord extensions) and substitutions. Root to 9, b9, #9, third to 11, #11, fifth to 13, b5, #5.
- Alterations should not change the chords existing
harmonic function.
Reference: Harmonic Analysis for Scale Selection and Chord Substitution (link)
- Embellishments
- Idiomatic cliches
- A melody of a ninth can be harmonized by raising the root of a chord 2 frets or lowering the third of a minor chord one fret and the third of a major seventh or seventh chord two frets.
- A melody of an eleventh can be harmonized by raising the
third of a minor chord two frets and the third of a major seventh
or seventh chord one fret. Or, lowering the fifth
of a seventh, minor seventh or major seventh chord two frets.
The Advanced Guide to Ukulele Chords - Volume I (link)
Commonly referred to as "jazz" chords. The Advanced Guide to Ukulele Chords Volume I provides detailed information on voicing 4-part chords.
- Learn the critical notes of a chord such as the thirds and sevenths of major minor and sevenths chords. Without these notes in the chord you loose the essence of the chord.
- Intros, Endings and Interludes equal an arrangement.
- Theme variations
The two most critical notes are the melody and the seventh of a chord.
Leaving out the root and fifth of a chord implies 5, 6 and 7 part harmony.
for more information on building ukulele chords see my books from my Advanced Guide to Chords and Progressions series.
A Few of the many Fake Books I have
The Real Book
Volume I
The Real Books are the best-selling jazz books of all time. Since the 1970s, musicians have trusted these volumes to get them through every gig, night after night. The problem is that the books were illegally produced and distributed, without any regard to copyright law, or royalties paid to the composers who created these musical masterpieces.
Hal Leonard is very proud to present the first legitimate and legal editions of these books ever produced. You won't even notice the difference, other than that all of the notorious errors have been fixed: the covers and typeface look the same, the song list is nearly identical, and the price for our edition is even cheaper than the original! Every conscientious musician will appreciate that these books are now produced accurately and ethically, benefitting the songwriters that we owe for some of the greatest tunes of all time!
The Real Little Ultimate Jazz Fake Book
635 songs spanning nine decades of music! Includes music from all jazz genres: traditional, swing, bebop, Latin, modern, standards, and more! Songs: All the Things You Are • Bag's Groove • Basin Street Blues • Desafinado • Donna Lee • The Girl from Ipanema • I Concentrate On You • Little Boat • A Night in Tunisia • Ornithology • 'Round Midnight • Solar • Song for My Father • Take the “A” Train • Tuxedo Junction • Waltz for Debby • and many more!
The Daily Ukulele, 365 Songs for Better Living
Strum a different song every day with easy arrangements of 365 of your favorite songs in one big songbook! The Daily Ukulele features ukulele arrangements that feature melody, lyrics and uke chord grids and are in ukulele-friendly keys that are particularly suited for groups of one to one hundred to play and sing. Includes favorites by the Beatles, Beach Boys and Bob Dylan, folk songs, pop songs, kids' songs, Christmas carols and Broadway and Hollywood tunes, all with a spiral binding for ease of use. Also features a Tips & Techniques section, chord chart, and vintage ukulele-themed photos and art throughout. The Daily Ukulele offers ukulele fun all year long!
You'll need a copy of Adobe®: Acrobat® reader (version 3.0 or higher) to view or print the PDF file. If you don't already have a copy, or if you have an older version, you can get the latest reader for free from Adobe.
Lessons, TABS and Songs are intended FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
Portions of copy regarding particular songs is from WidipediA, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
Hard Copy Book: $7.95
PDF Download: $4.95
“A strum is the execution of a rhythmic pattern — in a specific style”
A Guide to Ukulele Strums
One of the first skills a ukulele player learns is the art and craft of strumming, playing rhythm. This refers to an accompaniment technique suitable for the singer, singer - songwriter or someone who plays a support role for another instrument.
Strumming requires a specific set of skills. They are: 1) Memorization of chords 2) The ability to switch chords smoothly and 3) The ability to choose and execute a suitable rhythmic strum. It is this 3rd skill that is our focus in “A Guide to Ukulele Strums & Rhythmic Patterns”.
Though strumming looks natural to the casual observer, it is anything but natural to the beginning ukulele player. Even experienced players have difficulty in identifying and executing certain strums. Though this is one of those topics that is typically taken for granted, there is much to learn about rhythmic feels, accents, dynamics, strum direction, feel, percussive accents, idiomatic styles and tempo variation.
First and foremost, the subject of strumming is inseparably linked to rhythm. Though an ability to read rhythm is helpful, it’s not necessary to profit from this material.
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Content is always being added and updated. So check-in often. Thanks, Curt
P.S. You may think from the look of it that Curt Sheller Publications is a slick, profitable business, but it's actually not (maybe a car payment a month, cheap car). I spend a lot and time money creating the content, lessons and books for this site (a labor of love), so if you dig my content and want to see more of it. I could use your help by spreading the word and maybe buying a book or two if you haven't already, to help defray the cost of running the site. Thanks in advance for your help. This is a labor of love and I'd do it even if I didn't make a lot of money, hey I don't!
You can also make a donation to the lesson-site fund. Button in the sidebar of the site.
If I'm not teaching, I'm working on this site and new lessons, books and goodies.
MELODY_AND_CHORD_TIPS.PHP | Updated: Monday, 26th March, 2012 @ 08:37am