Greetings Ukulele Friends, Neighbors, and Family! Whoa! The time has come and we’re going to do some finger picking! I think the Sister Rosetta Tharp classic Up Above My Head is the right way to begin. By now you’re familiar with the song and a certain level of familiarity and comfort is a helpful starting point. The beauty of this is that the finger picking pattern itself is quite simple (I know, easy for me to say! But it really is….) and yet it sounds endlessly satisfying. That’s the uke isn’t it? We always get a lot for our efforts. I recommend staying loose and playing as slowly as you need to to make it smooth while working this out.
We’re getting into some deep waters so please let me know how you’re doing with this one and what you’d like to learn moving forward!!
Dan Zanes
Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:
Ukulele
Print Chords & Tab
Loop 0:00 Run-Through of Up Above My Head
Loop 1:11 What You Will Learn Today
Loop 2:37 Fingerpicking Breakdown
Loop 8:50 Closing Thoughts
Loop 10:02 Practice Loop of Whole Song
Comments
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Hi Dan,
That video helps, and I will work on the timing/phrasing this week.
I think the key change helped, here is a quick version that I tried after I tunned my uke up a step.
Thanks,
Ryan
hey there Ryan!
yeah man....sounding good!
see if you can dig into the phrasing a bit more and count along the way i was in the video.
the good news is that there are no wrong answers! i like the videos to check progress so keep them coming!
yr pal,
dan
Hi Dan and Ryan -- it looks like our video transcoder is slow these days. We will take a look. In the mean time -- Dan's video is up. Enjoy.
Thank you Mike!!
much appreciated, these videos are so helpful....
dan
Hi Dan, thanks for taking the time to reply and make a video.
I think I will spend a bit more time working and singing with your video and I will also try playing I in the lower key that you suggest.
I will let you know if there is any progress.
***i was having problems uploading videos, it seemed to take forever and nothing happened. I fixed it by changing the file name for the video, I don't think SJ likes certain types of file names***
hey there ryan...i'm having trouble uploading the video i made. i'll try again tomorrow!
i think it's going to help you with phrasing....
dan
This is where I am at with the singing/prasing and uke playing, singing is new to me and I am still trying to find my voice.
I think I am singing lower that what you were in the video, so I don't know if that means I am flat or just out of key. I can sing a bit higher when I sing along with the video, but it feels more natural for me to sing a bit lower when I do sing it by myself.
Any thoughts or ideas?
hey there ryan!
i love your playing on this one. i want to take another few minutes to look at it and think of a clear answer for your question about singing.
i'm going to get back to you asap but didn't want to see another day go by without saying that i really appreciate your playing on this one...and i think you're closer than you think with the singing!
back soon...
yr pal,
dan
hey there ryan....
i had a chance to listen with more thought to the vocals. i see that you're not quite where you might want to be as far as matching the way i do it. however, what you're doing is pretty great! i'm going to post a video that illustrates how you could count the song and that should help with phrasing. as far as the lower register you're singing in it's a harmony part and quite cool i think. keep experimenting though...if you can sing along with my version you have enough range. other wise you could transpose and use Em, Am, G and B7 chords instead of Dm, Gm, F, and A7....that way you'd be in a low range but not AS low...
ok, let me make this video.....
you're doing really well though, man...i love your style!
yr pal,
dan
I am working on this today, the phrasing of the singing is the most difficuilt part for me.
hey there ryan!
ok, this is a common situation. not even a problem, just a challenge that many of us face along the way.
i'm guessing that you're pretty cool with the guitar playing. if that is the case why don't you try and sing it without the guitar? handclaps are a good way to keep it grounded (or a metronome). once you feel comfortable stir in the guitar but go one line at a time over and over until you're comfortable.
and don't be hard on yourself! just stay with it.
let me know if this helps.....
good luck, cousin!
dan