UD#120 Relaxing Chord Melody!
UD#120 Relaxing Chord Melody!
from Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek
Here is a song that I wrote for a student who worked as a massage therapist. I had plenty of chord melody arrangements that he liked the sound of, but he found them too difficult! I had some really simple chord melody arrangements, but he found them unappetizing. We needed to find a balance between playability and musical sophistication. So, I composed “Spa Song,” in class, with him watching and giving feedback. Since then, many of my other students have enjoyed playing it. Have a watch and listen:
Here is the sheet music:
My suggestion is, as always, that you play the melody on its own first. Then, strum the chords through once or twice. The song also works as a duet if you to want play it with a friend. One of you can strum the chords, the other can pick the melody.
When you tackle the chord melody, you’ll notice that it uses mostly open chords. But, there are a few “up the neck” inversions as well. It can be helpful to play these chord shapes on their own a few times, so that they will be more familiar when you get to them in the arrangement.
In bar 10, we use a Dm7(5th-fret). To play this shape, we generally bar the 5th fret.
When combined with the melody note, it becomes a Dm9. Pretty cool!
In bar 19, we use an Ab on the 3rd fret. For this chord, we bar the 3rd fret.
My students find the chords in bar 16 exciting sounding. A kind of flamenco vibe.
Take a normal open A chord like this:
Raise the two fretted notes, but leave the two open notes. That’s a Bbmaj7(#11). Cool sounding!
There are also a few left hand fingering suggestions that will (hopefully) make life easier for you. In bars 1, 5 and 13, I recommend you use your pinky for the G note, to free up your fingers to play the next chord.
That’s all for this time.
Guido