Chords for Ukulele Basics-This Land is Your Land

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_ _ Hey folks, I'm [G] Randy Geldersleeve and welcome to our Adventures Learning Ukulele Songs.
This
is part of my Ukulele Basics series and also goes along with the Fluke class that I'm offering,
which stands for Forest Lake Uke Group.
So, today we're going to be playing in the key
of C, and the song that I'm using to illustrate the key of C is the Woody Guthrie standard
chord, This Land is Your Land.
Let's start by taking a look at the chords we'll be using
from the key of C.
Let's assume you're all tuned up to standard tuning, which on the
uke is _ G, [C] C, [Am]
E, A.
That's from [G] the fourth string down here [A] to the first string closest
to the floor.
Our first chord in the key of C is of course the C chord, the home base
chord in whatever key you're in is going to be the letter name of that key.
So in
this case it's C, and here's how you play the C.
You just put your third finger, your
ring finger on the third fret on the first string.
Now, when I say on the third fret,
I don't mean exactly on top of the third fret, I just mean up against the third fret.
_ Press
it down, get a clear sound, [C] and let's strum.
_ There's a C.
[B] Okay, our second chord that we'll
need for this song is F, and that's also called the four chord.
The chords in a key
are assigned numbers and that represents the relationships that the chords have to each
other.
So the F chord, I'll try to move my fingers so you can get a good look at it here.
You'll put your index finger on the second string, first fret, middle finger on the fourth
string, second fret.
Here's what it sounds [F] like.
_ _ _ [G] So let's move on.
Our next chord is
the G.
This one you'll find probably a little more challenging if you're a beginner, and
it's a triangle shape.
You put first finger on the second, sorry, put first finger on
the third string, _ second fret, middle finger on the first string, second fret, third finger
on the second string, third fret.
You include the fourth string.
All these chords, we play
all four strings.
_ So there's G.
_ We need one more for sure for this song, and that's an
A minor, which is about as easy as a chord can get.
You just put your middle finger on
[E] the fourth [Am] string, second fret, hold it down, _ _ and you get that nice minor sound.
Now there's
an additional chord that we can throw in that technically isn't in the key of C, but
it actually sets up one of the moves in the chord progression nicely, and that is C7.
C7 is very easy.
You just put your first finger on the first fret, first string.
[C] Here it is. _
_ Now we have the chords that we need to play This Land is Your Land.
_ I'll play through
the chord progression slowly with the chord symbols on the screen so that you can follow
along.
Then I'll follow up playing the song and singing at something closer to normal
tempo.
Now I should point out there's one interesting feature of this song, and that
is we're in the key of C, but the song itself starts on an F chord. _ _
_ Songs just simply do
that sometime, and again the key that we're in is really the home base, not necessarily
the place that we start.
If you think about the melody of this song, _ _ [F] it climbs up from
a C note up to a first chord that is our F.
So those first few notes are what are called
pickup notes.
So it would be something [C] like this.
This [F] land is your _ land.
So anyway, back
to the chords.
I'll set it up so you can see my hands closely moving through the chords.
Here we go.
Slow version of This Land is Your Land.
Again, we'll be starting on an F chord.
I'll count off and play pickup notes to get us started.
_ Here we go.
One, two, three, four,
one.
_ _ [E] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Okay, now a relaxed tempo with a little bit of singing with my slightly raspy voice
this morning.
Here we go.
One, two, three, four, one.
This land [F] is your _ land.
_ This land
[C] is my _ _ _ _
_ [G] home.
_ _ _ To the [Am] New York _ _ [C] Islands.
From the [F] Redwood Forest _ to the Gulf [Am] Stream _ waters. _ _
_ _ [G] This land was made for you [Am] and me.
Here's a verse. _
As [F] I went walking _ _ that [C] ribbon of
highway, _ I saw [G] _ above me _ an [E] endless _ _ [C] skyway.
I saw [F] beyond the clouds a starry sky.
I saw _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Am] _ the sun _ rise up above me.
I saw the sun rise up above me.
I saw the sun rise up above [G] me.
This land was made for you [Am] and me. _ _ _
This land [F] is your land.
This [Am] land is my home. _ _
_ [G] From the _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ [C] New York Islands.
[E] From the [F] Redwood Forest _ to the Gulf Stream [Am] _ waters. _ _ _ _
[G] This land was made
for you [C] and me.
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _
I hope you've enjoyed our session playing This Land is Your Land in
the key of C.
I look forward to next time when we'll be playing in the key of G.
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _