UD#126 Bluesy Bending!
UD#126 Bluesy Bending!
from Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek
In the lead up to Chord Melody Club on May 31, I thought it would be fun to do a ukulele band arrangement of “Hip Hug-Her.” Here is a clip of the original tune by Booker T. and the MG’s:
Here is the uke band version that we will be working on today!
Click to listen:
Get the sheet music!
Here are the 3 main parts of the arrangement in sheet music form:
For layout reasons I’ve put the “Solo” part on the a separate sheet.
Bending!
There are a lot of bent notes in the solo part. Bending is a technique where we stretch the string to raise the pitch of a note. It is commonly used in blues and rock playing. It gives us expressive access to “micro-tones,” the notes between notes. Here are some pointers:
1. You can bend by pushing the string up towards your face or pulling the string down towards the floor, depending on which string you are on and how much you are going to bend it.
2. It’s best to use more than one finger to bend!
3. We usually bend a note to a semi-tone or a whole-tone up. Play the “target note” before you practice a bend so you have a destination in mind. It’s like singing. If you can’t hear it in your head, you can’t sing it or play it. If you can’t hear the target note in your head, you can’t bend to it.
Here is a video on the topic. I work through the three points above and then play the solo part along with the recording.
I also spend some time looking at hammer-ons and pull-offs which feature at the end of the arrangement.
Enjoy!
Practice time!
I made a couple of Karaoke versions of the recording. You can practice along with these and experience what it’s like to be the only one playing the part! Join the band!
All for now!
See you next time!
Guido