[lisadmh]

Thanks @Andrew. The positive vibes are always good to get back.

[lisadmh]

I play a low G soprano. I don’t have great stretch, so soprano works better for me. I think low G sounds great on a soprano.

[lisadmh]

I play an Outdoor Ukulele. It’s very solid, perfect for the beach, and sounds great.
UKULELES

[lisadmh]

Oh, that’s a cool resource Robin. I still like the ezfolk limo for the quick visual, but this seems to provide even more options.

My fingers remember chords quite well, but sadly my brain does not. I don’t know what’s called what where on the neck, but I can find lots of chords that sound good.

[lisadmh]

Do you have 2 ukes? It’s great to have one of each. These days I only play low G, but when I stayed with low G I definitely played both so I could still play my old songs.

[lisadmh]

Here’s mine. I love this one. I’m slightly off tab here and there, but I like it. I hope you do too. Adapted to low G – that was the hardest part, but I only play low G these days.

[lisadmh]

Nice set, Robin. A Forest Stroll is just my style but my outdoor (beach) uke only has 12 frets. I would love to get Moon on my set list. I’ve never managed to memorize all the way through. I should try that one again.

[lisadmh]

@Bumble. I just pulled Paint out Blacker (concept lesson) out of somewhere in my brain with remarkable ease. It’s a song I learned a few years back, but never got it clean because of one or two chord changes I struggled with. Now it’s good enough to go on my set list and I don’t even know where it came from. How do I remember songs? It’s like my fingers just remember. Weird.

[lisadmh]

Thanks janaq1! It’s so cool that people even listen. Yeah, lots of cat lovers in these parts. They’re great inspiration for songs. 🙂 I love that I have that song for my sweet Kali.

Nice video. Interesting indeed.

[lisadmh]

Thank you Bumble. I am honored that you like my little tunes. I can’t imagine that someone else likes the little things I make up! That’s really cool to me. Thank you for taking the time to go through them and respond

I’ll tell you how I work, as one novice to another, with full disclosure that I have no composition training and @Andrew is probably crawling out of his skin if he reads this. No matter, this is about fun for hobbyists. 🙂

I come up with the chords in a couple ways. The easiest is to go here:
https://ukulelego.com/ukulele-chord-progressions/#dm-gm-a-f-bb-e7-a

Cycle through and find something that pleased you and go with it. Then, what would Andrew say? Go up the neck. So, go to the ezfolk dot com Website (i’ll post it after so it doesn’t go through to moderation because of two URLs) and find the same chords higher up on the neck in places you can get your fingers around. That’s how I started and wrote a few songs with nothing but messing around with those 2 sites.

Andrew also posted a challenge to write a song based on another song. That is my second method and it’s how I wrote Inspired Tonight and Parking Lot. Pick a song you know and like. Look at the chords and notes. Mix them up. Try different techniques and fingerpicking patterns on them. If it starts high, start low. Use the same chords but do different things with them. This is outrageously fun. Just mess around with the chords and notes and patterns til something magically comes out that’s cool. It gets me more intricate pieces than the first method.

I’ve also tried to figure out how to pick chords with the circle of fifths, but that’s a bit of a stretch for me. It works when it works, and the site to find the chords at different places on the neck works work this too.

Part of it all is magic though. Some days, you create something and you don’t know how. Other days you don’t. But when you do, there’s nothing like it. I get so ridiculously excited when it works. 🙂

Don’t be afraid. Try it. Then try it again. Eventually something will come out and it will be yours.

[lisadmh]

@The_bumble_bard, here they are!

My Originals

[lisadmh]

Here are my thoughts based on the way I see too many people playing:

Break out of the strum-strum-strum and sing rut. Rockclass101 can help you with that!
Travel way up the neck. Rockclass101 can help you with that!
Add a backbeat. Rockclass101 can help you with that!

TL/DR: Join Rockclass101!

[lisadmh]

It seems I don’t have recordings of many originals. I’ll do this next weekend!

[lisadmh]

Thanks! I play at the beach all summer, running through them all regularly. That keeps them stuck in my memory. I certainly do lose a lot of songs I learn. These are the ones I’ve made stock over the years. The harder ones were all challenges at some point.

Yes, the long video was me. That’s how I roll. 🙂

I have posted a few originals. They’re not very good, lol, but they entertain me. Let me see what I can find…

[lisadmh]

I have cards on a ring with my songs. Green for playable, pink for needs work. All are either my originals or from this site. I run through them often on the beach. They’re not all so clean I would play to strangers, but they’re all clean enough to play by memory for fun on the beach. I’m proud of my set list!

My current (green) set list is

A Grain of Sand (original)
Can’t help falling in love
Here comes the sun
Inspired tonight (original)
Étude 21
Étude 1
Étude 24
Day-o
Étude 3
Wonderful tonight
Waltz in C
Étude 14
Beginner blues
Now and then (original)
Étude 17
Étude 18
Surf and sand (original)
A beautiful life (original)
Golden skies
Moondance
Morning Dew
Jurassic Patk
Lover’s March
Parking lot (original)
Study in b minor
Waimanalo blues
Fields of gold
One finger Étude
Étude 29
Daybreak

• This reply was modified 9 months, 3 weeks ago by lisadmh.

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