In the winter I made a short video teaser for Jesse’s upcoming album by getting him to perform a song off it called Make Hymn Cry. As the only ukulele piece on a rap album, it definitely stands out.
Then it dawned on me this morning to see if I could cover it. As I was trying to figure out the chord progression, I realized it’s a fairly simple song that only alternates between the G and C chords. The strumming in Jesse’s video is slightly simpler than on the album, the latter of which is the pattern I use in my version, and includes the picking arpeggio for the second verse.
Still, it took me half the day just to get comfortable with the strumming pattern because it’s syncopated in a way I’m not used to yet, the rhythm at the end of each bar divided beyond eighth notes into sixteenth notes. This is what long weekends are for.
The main thing I’m concentrating on is counting the beats so I can strum off them and keep track of where the extra strum is at the end of each bar. The next is trying not to speed up, which is a very bad habit of mine, regardless of instrument. I also need to pay attention to softly resting my hand on the strings when transitioning to the second verse; firstly, to prevent the last chord from ringing too long, and secondly, to physically feel where the strings are so I can get my thumb on the C string. I’m definitely not good enough to know where it is at all times. Most of the rest came by itself (i.e. I’m not consciously focusing on it), probably from already listening a few times to a pre-release copy of the album Jesse gave me.
The phrases of the lyrics are also syncopated against the strumming; it always feels like your strumming is late because the first word of every line falls on the beat before each down-strum), which adds another layer of complexity. The fact that I made it through without any major mistakes but fucked it up right at the very end1 is why I can’t stop laughing.
My singing is strained cause I’m trying to project above the strumming to stay in balance, but it’s clearly out of my comfort zone. I’m not good enough to strum softly with control yet, so I cheated and just raised my voice. The thing is, I never practice singing when I’m practicing my playing, usually because I need to concentrate on one thing at a time. Singing practice is also boring by itself, so I never do it, even though I should.
Anyway, I had a good day after learning this little piece, and being able to figure out the chords and the strumming was probably just as fun as being able to play it.
- I lost track of the extra strum in the second last bar! [↑]
You actually can pluck, which I think is more difficult than strumming. But you did lost your beat with the strumming at some point. When I strum I always feel it’s no different from tapping to the beat with you hand, so it’s best to be not too conscious about it and relax.
I find picking and strumming equally difficult actually; each has it’s own challenges. I agree about trying to think of strumming like tapping to the beat with your hand, but in this case, each strum is actually off the beat! It’s the opposite of what we naturally want to do with thy rhythm, and that’s where my brain got confused.
well, holy dang. jeff got some lungs. :]
Ah, I’m working on it. :)
Good stuff and congratulations on persevering with your music…
I can see you now in a kung fu epic sitting in the teahouse strumming your ukelele [whoops, your p’ipa] while the bad guys argue two tables away and throw you suspicious glances because they can see the hilt of your broadsword…
Just don’t do like the famous swordsman/poet Li Po and fall into the river while admiring the reflection of the moon in the water. It’s easy to drown while mistaking the image for the substance. :-)
It’s funny you should say that, cause the soprano ukulele does have a similar high-pitched twang as a p’ipa. They’re even held somewhat similarly, and both have four strings. Makes me wonder whether the lute or the pipa came first.
I like your voice much better than his! Good work. You just need more time to let the rhythm stuff come more naturally. Listen to some gospel music if you want to get syncopation and clapping on 2 and 4 instead of 1 and 3 down.
A FURTHER challenge for later: try patting your knees: right knee gets 3 pats while left knee gets four pats at the same time. The rhythm you come up with will be “pass the goddam butter” (at least that’s how we remembered how to do it). It’s REEEEEEEally hard. But amazing once you get it. Learning four on three is very valuable.
Yeah, I’m definitely not at the point where anything is natural yet. There’s so much to work that I have to focus on one thing at a time.
I should look up some polyrhythm exercises like the one you mentioned. Little tips like that are what music lessons are for. All these mnemonics that musicians use to remember things like timing and notes and chords are frickin’ hilarious.
(That being said, all these little tricks are just fun practice — then when you learn some music, stuff comes out more naturally that you didn’t realize you had in you, because you did all the little weird exercise previously. It just sinks into your brain that way.)
There are three chords! There is a Dmaj in there, as you suspected!