I'm getting revved up for IGS San Diego. I've got my plane tickets, a hotel on the beach reserved for a few days of relaxation before IGS, a rental car for making visits to Taylor Guitars in El Cajon and to Buffalo Brothers. I'm turning down my "give O-sh*tter" and looking forward to enlarging my "circle of spaz." I can't wait.

I'm really looking forward to learning some more swing. As mentioned on previous threads I've been playing at our thursday night park jam swing versions of "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and just about any standard 12 bar blues tune that I can remember the lyrics to. Sure wish I had a Stephane Grappelli loving fiddle player to jam along with me. Will there be any fiddle players at IGS this year?

I've been playing "Georgia On My Mind" on the Ukulele as well as swing uke versions of "Autumn Leaves" and "White Christmas."

But I want more! I especially love any of the Django Reinhardt tunes with lyrics. For some reason I'm finding that I really respond to tunes that have lyrics and a strong vocal melody. I think this helps me to better appreciate the improvisation upon the melody that follows. And I love to sing. Who was that guy who sang with Django anyway? He's fantastic! The following is a wish list of tunes that I'm desperate to learn:

"I'se A-Muggin'" This is from a Django Reinhardt CD. I love scat singing along to this one. I've looked everywhere for the chord progression to this one. Does anybody know it?

"After You've Gone" With the help of some internet sites and Bob's swing chords I think I may be able to work up a version of this one.

"Nagasaki" The lyrics go by so fast that I can't understand them all. But the tune jams! I would love to know all the lyrics and how to play this one.

"Shine (Foxtrot)" This, as well as all of the above, is from the same CD.

"Russian Lullaby" I love the Oscar Alemĺn version of this. Oscar rocks! And he played a Tricone.

"Besame Mucho" Oscar's version makes me laugh. And he could sing too. Did I mention that Oscar rocks? I don't speak Spanish but I have several friends who could help me with the lyrics to this one. Does anybody know the chord progression?

Here's a list of chords:

F=13x2xx
A7=5x56xx
Dm(Scott's Inversion)=x57x6x
Gm=3xx33x
Bbm6=6x566x
E7=7x67xx
G9=10/x/9/10/10/x
C7=8x89xx
F#dim=5x45xx
Gm7=3x333x
C7+5=8x899x
Fdim=4x34xx
Dm(Bob's Inversion)=10/x/x/10/10/x
Am=5xx55x
F#dim=xx7878 (1st four strings inversion)
Fm6=xx6768 (1st four strings inversion)
C6=8x79xx
Bb=68x7xx
F6=xx7788
G7=10/x/9/10/x/x
Bb7=6x67xx
Gm6=3x23xx

(F)Georgia, (A7)Georgia, (Dm)the whole day(Gm)through. (Bbm6)Just an (F)old sweet (E7) keeps (Gm)Georgia (G9)on (C7)my (F) mind. (F#dim) (Gm7) (C7+5)

(F)Georgia, (A7)Georgia, (Dm)a song of
(Gm)you (Bbm6)Comes as (F)sweet and (E7)clear as (Gm)moonlight (G9)through (C7)the
(F)pines (Fdim) (F) (A7)

(Dm)Other arms (Gm6)reach (Dm)out to me(Bb7)
(Dm)other eyes (Gm6)smile (Dm7)tenderly (G7)
(Dm)Still in peace-(Gm6) full dreams(Dm7) I see (E7)the (Am)leads (F#dim)back (Fm6)to (C6)you. (C7)

(F)Georgia, (A7)Georgia, (Dm) no peace I
(Gm)find, (Bbm6)Just an (F) sweet (E7)song keeps (Gm)Georgia (G9)on (C7)my (F)mind (Dm) (Gm7) (C7) Coda(F)mind (Bb) (C7+5) (F6)

You should notice that some of the chord voicings are slightly different. For example the Bbm listed in the booklet sounds better as a Bbm6 to my ears. (The uke version that I play uses this variation as well.) There is also a slight difference in bars 11 and 12 from the booklet. Give it a try and see what you think. By the way, in bars 7 and 8 is a great turnaround that you can use as an intro. This appears to be relatively common for AABA 32 bar jazz pop standards.

Someone from a ukulele bulletin board sent me the chords and lyrics to "Nagasaki" so that may be my next project.

Here are some suggestions for the Fm6. Basically they're variations on grips that drop the root, or drop the 5, or double up the flat 3 ect. I've grouped them by area on the neck.

x8676x
x8679x
x81079x

xx0111 (open string here but I think it's ok)

x3313x
xx3134

x5676x

x1112109x
x11121013x

These may not be aurally pure "swing chords" but they work as 4 tone grips, add some color, and may help you get at a melody note on the first two strings. You can come up with your own a la Ted Greene depending on your fretting hand's limberness. Harmonically analyze the grips you know and make your own changes.

I like the arrangement but I think the bass line jumps around a bit. You may want to reharmonize or use slash chords through some of the changes to get it to walk nicely as you boom chic along. For example, when the melody moves down on "the whole day through" rather than jumping straight from Dm to Bbm6 you could walk through Dm/C. Here's a sample arrangement on the web that shows this type of stuff: http://guitar-primer.com/Charts/Chart-210.html . The arrangement in the Real Book Vol II does this very nicely as well. I'll have to listen to Aleman and Django to get a better bead on how they walk their bass line but I think this is the right path. I'm sure Mando or Bobbie could direct us more specifically.

I'm also not sure how you're getting the melody out but I think that's just me not having spent enough time with your arangement.

Yes, Django usually has a cool walking baseline going on. I didn't think of that. This arrangement was made in haste as a kind of exercise for myself. Since this tune was listed in the IGS Get Started booklet sent to everyone this year, I'm curious to see what kind of arrangement will be taught. I also wanted to get a jump on being able to jam with folks on this tune and some of the other tunes mentioned.

In regards to chord melody, I had a nice little lesson from an old jazz man down at the park named Jim Alpin. He explained to me how to build the various tri-tone chords out of each note in the major scale used in a tune. It blew my mind. Such a simple concept! Kind of reminds me of the time when I first learned modes. But it is alot of work and seems to take alot of practice to make it happen instinctively. He blew me away by his ability to do this.

Actually, instead of chord melody, I was hoping to learn how to do some of that Gypsy jazz soloing stuff. I've been a modal player for a long time and this stuff seems to require appregios and knowledge of how to play the actual melody. Some of these jazz pop standards change key signatures every 8 bars, it seems, which really keeps you on your toes. It seems like the 2nd Mike Dowling Swing video would be the one to order.

Another fun Hot Club jam tune is "Minor Swing". The group I jam with plays it occasionally. The structure is fairly simple.

There's an eight bar A part:
Dm Dm Gm Gm
A A Dm Dm

And an eight bar B part:
Gm Gm Dm Dm
Gm Gm E7 A

A full verse is 32 bars with the structure A A B A. The Hot Club plays it in Am instead of Dm.

I'll be giving a workshop in basic swing rhythm for people unfamiliar with swing, and also be available for swing jamming. Caution: I have been really into playing Besame Mucho, but in THREE, then "flipping it" ---what a fun groove it becomes!

also having the double team of Dowling/Donahue should yield some super swing this week!

F6 | A7 | Dm7 | Gm7 Bflatm6 |

FMaj7 D9 | Gm7 C9 | Am7 D7flat9 |

Gm7 C7flat9 |... Then repeat the first 5

bars:

- the next 3 bars are different. The bridge begins:

Dm Gm7 | Dm7 Bflat7 | . . . unt so viter.

In fact, later research revealed that their favorite tune as they started to do demos was "Besame Mucho". It was the final track on their very first label demo (pre-Ringo), for Decca, that was turned down.

Go back and listen. Early tunes like "And I Love Her", "This Boy", "Do You Want To Know A Secret" could easily be performed/sung as mariachi pieces. The chord progressions and vocal harmonies all fall in place in the Trio format.

A bit off the Swing thread but the six degrees of "Basame Mucho" has some curious twists and turns.

I've since found the english "Dean Martin" lyrics as well. I haven't heard the Beatles or Deano version yet.

Corn Dog, I got to thinking about your comment on bass lines. I have seen web tutorials describing how to play the "boom chick" by playing the 6th string only on the "boom" and playing the rest of the chord on the "chick" part. This is similar to the alternating bass line in country music. Western Swing seems to use this as well. Bob, in class, taught a different way to do this, which certainly sounds more "manouche" to my ears. He teaches playing the "boom" part by slicing with a down-stroke through all of the strings followed by a quick left handed mute release. The "chick" is played in the same manner except that it is slightly delayed in time to make it swing. This is accomplished by either "digging in" by pressing firmly into the strings on this second down-stroke thus physically forcing a slight delay in this second chord. An alternative method that he teaches is to swing your right arm in a direction away from the bridge. I prefer the second method. Besides, I think it looks more exciting when played this way. I apologize in advance if this is "old hat" to you. Your bass line comment got me to thinking about the whole "boom chick" thing which seems pretty much essential for that gypsy swing rythm.

"Hot Club of IGS San Diego" anyone?

Athough there are plenty of walking bass lines that do occur like in this example of a walk up from the I to the IV:

G6=3x243xx
Gdim=6x56xx
G=7x57xxx
C6=8x798x

And I love the example that Mr. Mando sent me via E-mail for "I'se A Muggin'" which really seems to incorporate the G string voice leading in the Christophe part as well as possible D string voice leading in the Anatole part:

Anatole:
D=5x47xx
Bm7=7x77xx
Em=7x57xx
A7=5x56xx

Christophe:
D=5x47xx
D7=5x45xx
G6=3x24xx
C7=3x23xx

Does this look correct, Mr Mando?

In these examples there are walking bass lines as Corn Dog suggests but they come out sounding kind of funny if your "boom" is made by playing only a bass note. I think it sounds better when the "boom" is made by playing the whole chord. That was my point.

Here's my arrangement of "Nagasaki"

G6 = 3x243x
G#0 = 4x34xx
Am7 = 5x555x
D7 = 5x45xx

B/G = 7x578x
C6 = 8x798x
C#0 = 9x89xx
D/G = 10/x/9/12/x/x

Cm6 = 8x788x
G7 = 3x343x
E7 = 7x67xx

First A section:
G6 G#0 Am7 D7 G6 G#0 Am7 D7 (Hot ginger and dynamite. They got nothing folks but that each night)

G6 B/G C6 C#0 D/G D7 G6 D7 (Back in Nagasaki where the fellows chew tobacki and the women wicky wacky woo.)

2nd A section:
G6 G#0 Am7 D7 G6 G#0 Am7 D7 (They got a way they entertain that could hurry hurry a hurricane)

G6 B/G C6 C#0 D/G D7 G6 G6 (Back in Nagasaki where the fellows chew tobacki and the women wicky wacky woo.)

B section:
C6 Cm6 B/G G7 (In Fujiama you get a mama then your troubles increase.)

C6 Cm6 (In some pagoda she orders soda)

B/G E7 Am7 D7 (The earth shakes milk shakes ten cents apiece.)

Last A section:

G6 G#0 Am7 D7 G6 G#0 Am7 D7 (They kiss-ee and hug-ee, boy its nice.)

G6 G#0 Am7 D7 G6 G#0 Am7 D7 (By jingo, its worth the price.)

G6 B/G C6 C#0 D/G D7 G6 D7 (Back in Nagasaki where the fellows chew tobacki and the women wicky wacky woo.)

Another substitution that I like with the vocals is in the line " the whole day through " placing a Cm7 in the transition from Dm to Gm. See what you think.

But I did sit down with a Ray Charles CD last night and worked up "It Had To Be You." Here it is:

Intro: Two G6 Turnarounds in a row.

G6/// G6/// E7/// E7///
A7 A7 A7 A7
D7 B7 Em Em
A7 D7 G6 Turnaround

G6 G6 E7 E7
A7 A7 A7 A7
C6 Cm B/G E7
A7 D7 G6 Turnaround

(G6)It had to be you, it had to be(E7) you. I wondered(A7)around and finally found somebody who could make me be (D7) true and who (B7) could make me feel (Em) blue. And even be (A7) glad, just to be (D7) sad thinking of you. (G6 turnaround)

(G6)Some others I've seen, might never be (E7)mean, might never be (A7) cross or try to be boss but they wouldn't do. For nobody else (C6) gave me a (Cm) thrill. With all (B/G) your faults I love you (E7) still. It had to be (A7) you, wonderfull (D7) you. It had to be (G6 turnaround) you.

The G6 turnaround is the typical one in my last post. This is two beats each of G6 G#0 Am7 D7. With two beats to each chord then this is thus two bars worth of a turnaround. Ray does appear to begin this tune with two whole turnarounds or thus 4 bars with a nice horn arrangement over it.

I am absolutely amazed at how Ray Charles can be so damn slow and still swing like crazy. To play along with the record you have to find someway to move or sway your body in order to keep the swing beat going at this slow of a pace. Also, Ray plays this in G# so you will have to move everything up a fret.

What about the solo you may ask? Well, since Ray plays it so slow he truncates the whole thing in order to fit it under three minutes like they did in the old days. Basically, he just plays this:

G6/// G6/// E7/// E7///
A7/// A7/// A7/// A7///

Then jumps to the end by singing, "For nobody else gave me a thrill..."

There are some nice web sites with chord charts but they often have variations that I find confusing. This one was a real challenge to try to work up because its so slow. And its hard to figure out exactly how the words fit around the chords (or is it the other way around) so I had to really work on making it solid to sing over top of it.

Well, here it is at last! I tried to limit open strings for muted swing rhythm but I've listed alternate chords and or inversions in parenthesis.

G6 = 4435 (G = 0232)
G#0 = 4545 (G#0 = 1212)
Am7 = 2433 (Am7 = 0000)
D7 = 2223

E7 = 4445 (E7 = 1202)
A7 = 2434
D7 = 2223
B7 = 2322
Em = 4432

C6 = 2433 (C6 = 0000)
Cm = 5333
B/G = 4232 (I may be naming these slash chords inversely. Perhaps this should be called a G/B. Either way, I think any G chord sounds good in this tune if played as 0232.) Another alternative is Em7 = 4435.

If your swingin' on a Charango you just have to figure out what to do with that first string. As y'all know, courses 2 through 5 are tuned just like a uke but the 1st course of a charango is a 5th above the 2nd course.

Now you too can satisfy your friends and neighbors with this swingin' ukulele version of an old jazz classic.

Happy Holidays.

[This message has been edited by Roy Smeck who feels that all ukes should be tuned ADF#B instead of GCEA (edited December 14, 1932).]

uke tuning GCEA
charango GCEAE

first string, same as the third. So if Scott posts a G7 chord 0232 on the uke, just add another three like so, 02323. If the fingering on the charango is too tough this way, decide which of the first and third strings you want to mute.

So, over the last hour or so, I've spent playing around with "Nagasaki" on the Ukulele using the arrangment that I posted for guitar. Its been a real eye opener and I can feel my brain expanding with this exercise.

"What gives," you may ask? Well, the uke chords that I posted for "It Had To Be You" are pretty much the same ones used in "Nagasaki." But things don't quite work out right when you try playing it up to Django tempo. I know that drDAve has a uke and is thinking about making a trip to Samois. I want him to be prepared when using the uke to swing along with the gypsy guitarists. I hear that those gypsies can be kind of hard on the gadjos. Considering how worked up he was over the "guitar wars" thread I fear that it won't take much before he starts trying to crack some gypsy skulls with his National.

Interestingly, a fellow on a uke bulletin board originally E-mailed me the lyrics with uke chords for this tune. I really couldn't make heads or tails of how it worked. The version sent to me leaves out the ii chord in the ii V7 I progression. I ended up using knowledge gleaned from Pat Donahue's instruction (along with lyrics provided by E-mail) to work up my version for guitar. Thanks Pat!

So I've come full circle by going back to this tune on the uke again, this time using my arrangement for guitar as a guide. I learned a few things in the process.

Most importantly, I've learned that you can cheat! Cool!! For example, note that in the A section there is a progression of G6 G#0 Am7 D7. This is so prevelant in jazz. On the uke you can play this literally as: 4435 4545 2433 2223. Two strums per chord in muted swing fashion, of course.

These are advanced chords even for uke players. Alternatively you could play this progression as: G G#0 Am7 D7 with these fingerings: 0232 1212 0000 2223. This works nicely on the uke at higher tempos. But that ii chord gets tricky if playing in other keys. I've learned to cheat by substituting a basic C chord and thus you could play this as: 4232 4545 5433 2223. This substitution of a bar chord works well later in the tune.

So how about the guitar part in Nagasaki that uses the rhythm changes? How do you play that on the uke? Well, the G6 G#0 Am7 D7 part works nicely in all kinds of ways on the uke but it starts to get real tricky if you try to play those guitar "rhythm changes" on the uke: 4232 4435 2433 3434 2225 2223 4232 2223 (Back in Nagasaki where the fellows chew tobacci and the women wicky wacky woo.) This works nicely but you really have to practice it.

Cheat with this instead: 0232 4435 5433 3434 2225 2223 4232 2223

Try substituting the B/G chord (or is this a G/B chord? Note this can also be called a Em7 chord in the Django/Rhythm changes lexicon.) as G#0 chord! This works beautifully, doesn't employ open strings, falls right under the fingers nicely, and thus becomes: 4232 4545 5433 3434 2225 2223 4232 2223. (Back in Nagasaki where the fellows chew tobacci and the women wicky wacky woo.) Cheating is fun! If the gypsies don't like it then consider making threatening jestures with a National guitar.

"What about the B section," you may ask? (Leo, I hope you shared that bottle of wine with Mr. Mando because he still owes me the B section for Oscar Aleman's "Besamé Mucho.") Let's cheat some more for the B section! If you scroll up the page you'll note that it goes "In Fujiama you get a mama" with guitar chords as C6 Cm6 but we'll play along with the guitarists using the uke chords of C and Cm as: 5433 5333

Keep playing along with the gypsy guitarists for the "then your troubles increase" part by using uke chords G and G7 as: 0232 0212 (or 4232 4532)

"In some pagoda she order soda": 5433 5333.

"The earth shake milk shakes ten cents a piece." 4232 4445 0000 2223.

And now for the disclaimer:

Working up tunes from one instrument to another is a great way to sharpen you skills. I would like to point out that I am not a schooled musician by any means. I'm just learning how to do some of this stuff and I'm happy to be able to use information gleaned from IGS to make it happen. Its certainly possible that I may have made a few mistakes or commited a musical faux pas or two. I posted this thread in an attempt to share what little I have been able to cram into my skull recently. And it certainly should not be viewed in any way as encouraging or inciting folks (drDAve) to cram their National guitars into the skulls of poor unsuspecting gypsies. This should, of course, only be reserved for last resorts.

Scott,

there's an even easier way to play this

G6 G#o Am7 D7 progression.

on uke:

G6 0202
G#o 1212
Am7 2000
D7 2223 (or 2x23)

on charango:

G6 02020
G#o 1212x
Am7 20000
D7 2223x (or 2x23x)

It fairly snaps under the fingers of its own accord. The only tricky part is to make sure you finger the G6 with your ring and pinky fingers and the Am7 with your index. If you do that, the chord changes fall right in.

to learn other charango chords, go to:
http://www.power-chord.com/gaff/mapper/

and select from the "user-defined" tunings. I have one called "charango concert" that will map scales, modes, chords on a concert-tuned charango (GCEAE).

It also works for the Keith Richards charango, otherwise knowns as the uke.

on charango:

Switching this song to the key of F makes many fingerings much easier, by the way. I've seen you post that website before but its a good exercise to try to figure out some of this stuff by yourself. In particular I feel like I'm gaining some insight into chord structure and harmony by exploring some of these variations.

Its strange how many chord progressions on the uke all fall nicely under the fingers in a logical manner requiring little finger movement. This does not always seem apparent on the guitar. Although some of those gypsy chords are really elegant in how they require little movement from chord to chord in support of the melody.

If you've had a chance to work your way through my uke version of "It Had To Be You" you should notice that there is a nice flow of chords from A7(2434) to D7(2223) to B7(2322) to Em(4432) to A7(2434) to D7(2223) (I wondered around finally found somebody who could make me be true, whoa make me feel blue and even be glad just to be sad thinking of you) that falls just under the fingers with almost minimal movement.

It really is an eye opener to see how closely so many chords are related physically by only changing a finger or two. This stuff become so much more apparent on instruments with fewer courses. Tom, wait and see what happens when you get around to buying yourself a mandolin! A mandolin (tuned intelligently in 5ths like a stringed instrument should be) will make you wonder why anyone ever came up with the crazy idea of tuning an instrument in 4ths.