LIVE Ukulele Jam | Songbird x2! Fleetwood Mac & Oasis | Monday 6pm UK

[00:00:01]Hi everyone. Welcome to another live ukulele jam with me, Matt Stead. I hope the sun is shining wherever you are and you're doing well and enjoying these blue skies. It's It's gone pretty sweltering here again today.

[00:00:16]I woke up, both of us this morning thinking, "Ooh, it's quite It's going to be quite nice children's day, a lot a lot cooler." And then it's got like more and more hot as the day goes on.

[00:00:28]>> [laughter] >> It's all fun. And poor Andrian is being bitten by a horsefly, sweltering over there. Sounds like it's all happening, doesn't it?

[00:00:37]>> [laughter] >> My goodness. Hope you're all doing well.

[00:00:41]So, we're going to we're going to appreciate Mother Nature tonight and we're going to do a couple of really sweet songs.

[00:00:49]Both of them with the title songbird, which is great.

[00:00:53]Oh, 30 feet 3 degrees over there in Germany. Goodness, goodness. Happy to be back in the can of appeal groove.

[00:00:59]Looking forward to these tunes and hearing about Bobby as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Oh, thanks, Tim. Yeah, last week we had Last week we had the week off cuz it was Bobby, my son's school play and he's going from primary school to secondary school.

[00:01:16]For any Americans that we've got here, that's like I guess it's like high school to No.

[00:01:22]Oh, I'm not sure now.

[00:01:24]Not sure what you call it over there.

[00:01:26]Anyway, he's he's he's uh he's 11 years old and he's going to big school. So, it was his very last school play at primary school and it was fantastic. They did a They did a lovely version of Robin Hood, which was really funny, actually.

[00:01:42]And he got to play the Sheriff of Nottingham and I think he really enjoyed being the baddie, which was really nice.

[00:01:48]And it was it's so sweet cuz Bobby can be quite shy, but he really got into it and used his loud voice and everything.

[00:01:54]So, yeah. Leslie's tuning in from Peterborough, Canada today, rather than Rhode Island. Wow, that sounds mad, really. You'd imagine it'd be cooler when you go up to Canada, wouldn't it?

[00:02:05]But as as as Karen was saying, Leslie's it's warm up there as well, isn't it?

[00:02:11]>> [laughter] >> Okay. Good luck with your singing lesson, Sarah.

[00:02:14]Hope you're doing I hope you're doing well.

[00:02:17]Okay, so as I say, we've got two songs tonight, both called Songbird, but both from very different uh very different artists. So, we've got um Oasis for the first one, but it's a really sweet Oasis song written by Liam Gallagher on an acoustic guitar.

[00:02:35]Um and then we've got the classic Songbird, Christine McVie's uh famous song from Rumours um and Fleetwood Mac.

[00:02:42]And uh we're going to do uh we're going to do a really uh really sweet version of that with a bit of fingerpicking, which should be >> [snorts] >> um should be really lovely.

[00:02:52]>> [laughter] >> No, he didn't he didn't he didn't cancel, Chris Messengerani, you're right.

[00:02:56]>> [laughter] >> He loves it too much.

[00:02:59]Loads of Canadians tonight. I love that.

[00:03:01]Fantastic. Fantastic. Hi, Laura.

[00:03:04]Okay, so what I'll do is I'll um just before I bring the song sheets on, I just wanted to say about a couple of events that we've um got coming up.

[00:03:13]Sorry, just going to uh There we go.

[00:03:16]Um just going to uh bring up a couple of things on screen. First of all, just a quick reminder, we've still got tickets left for the uh Ukulele Festival of Great Britain, if anyone's interested and they'd like to come. An amazing lineup. Uh we've got Daniel Ward, Sage and Zaza, Heidi Swedberg, Lang Lee uh Ukulele Ensemble playing their debut performance. You might have seen them on the Mighty Ukes, absolutely incredible.

[00:03:41]Loads of amazing raffle prizes. All of the workshops are up now, so head over and grab your workshop places um if you haven't done already.

[00:03:50]Brilliant vendors. There's going to be some absolutely amazing things uh at this year. So, check that out. That's all on ufogb.com.

[00:03:58]That's a really easy one to remember.

[00:04:00]Let me just type that on cuz the the original festival website had a really long Ukulele Festival of Great Britain address. But now all you need to do is just type that in and it'll take you there.

[00:04:13]Hi Harry. Hi David. Hope you're doing well. Hi Anthony.

[00:04:17]It's pretty warm down here, Anthony, but it's uh I'm not complaining. It's It's all good. All good.

[00:04:24]Hi Jan. Hope you're doing well. I'm overlapping people. Let me just take a couple of these out. There we go. And as Harry's here, we should mention the cruise which is run by um uh his wife, Donna, um and Harry of course helping out massively.

[00:04:41]Um and this is our itinerary for next year. Super excited. Um there are still some discounted places available on this. Um in fact, Donna um emailed me today. Um and then it's going to be advertised in Ukulele Magazine. So, if you're thinking of coming along, try and get your deposit down soon. Get in touch with Donna and get your name down cuz we don't want you missing out.

[00:05:03]It's going to be a fantastic cruise. Um I absolutely cannot wait. The highlight of my year, honestly, and I say that just completely genuinely. Me and the family absolutely love it. You get to meet Sandy and Bobby and Sharon as well and hang out with me for a week in on the Caribbean seas. So, really really looking forward to that, guys.

[00:05:23]Um one last one that I wanted to mention just in case anyone's interested, there's still a few tickets for the event that me and Matt are running um next week.

[00:05:31]Uh so, this is Matt who runs the Spanish Ukulele Retreat and the awesome Ukulele Academy.

[00:05:37]Uh he's a lovely lovely guy and um he's put on this live event in Birmingham.

[00:05:42]We're having it at the Eagle and Ball in Gospel Street in Birmingham. And basically it's an all day ukulele event.

[00:05:50]I'm going to be teaching a finger style workshop where I'm going to teach you how chord melody works and look into lots of details about how to make it sound best.

[00:06:00]Matt's going to be running some other workshops as well, some master classes.

[00:06:05]And we're also going to have some performance opportunities for you guys to play some open mic slots if if you're interested. So there are still places available.

[00:06:14]Not Just off of Birmingham city center.

[00:06:18]Really nice place. Pizza included as well. I mean, what's not to like? Hi Shoshei. I hope you're doing well.

[00:06:24]Fantastic. Okay, brilliant. Right. And Anthony's coming as well. So you get to meet Anthony and John as well if he's there. So that's going to be fantastic.

[00:06:34]Okay.

[00:06:35]Right, let's have a look at tonight's sheets then. Bring the sheets on.

[00:06:39]Now this first song, believe it or not, you can play the entirety of this first song using one chord and your little finger. And that's all that you need to do. It's really really simple.

[00:06:52]And sometimes like the simplest things are the most effective. I really really like this this one.

[00:06:58]Oh, hi Indrani. Yeah, I've had these for a few months now. They're my new varifocals but I've been too scared to wear them live cuz I get I get really scared what what people are thinking. They're a bit specky, aren't they? But I like them.

[00:07:12]So [clears throat] this first song is the songbird that's on Oasis's, I think this is their fifth album, Heathen Chemistry. And after kind of Definitely Maybe and then What's the Story Morning Glory, they got a bit of flak, you know, for their songwriting saying it wasn't up there with the earlier stuff. But this album's great. I was looking through it just before we came on air tonight and it's got some brilliant songs. The Hindu Times, which is great, Force of Nature, Hung in a Bad Place, and then side two of the first disc, you get Stop Crying Your Heart Out, Songbird, and Little by Little, which is an amazing run of songs. So, uh so, we're going to play Songbird for this one. Um it's I think it's Liam Gallagher's second song. He had one on Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. He had a song called Little James, which was quite derided for being a bit too sickly sweet. Um but, I think this one he gets it just [music] just about right.

[00:08:12]Um so, let's take a look at it then.

[00:08:15]Um Thanks, Laura. Thank you. Thank you. I just decided to try something new for once. So, uh life's too short, isn't it?

[00:08:25]I'm I'm going for bright clothes, bright glasses, all all the fun stuff from now on. Life's too short to be uh too too too kind of boring, isn't it?

[00:08:35]>> [laughter] >> Okay. So, two chords this one. In fact, you can get Well, there's three chords technically, but you can get away with playing two chords on this one.

[00:08:45]And it's kind of interesting. We're in the key of G, G major.

[00:08:50]And we have two main types of chords in this. We have the one chord. And remember, no matter which key you're in, the one chord is the one that makes everything feel resolved, grounded, and kind of comfortable and at home.

[00:09:05]So, we've colored that yellow cuz that's the bright happy place that we kind of want to head to.

[00:09:11]I'm going to ignore the chord on the end just for a second. I'm going to tell you about that in a minute. But, notice that on the flip side of this G for the second line, we have an E minor, the sixth uh the the sixth chord in the key of G. What does sixth chord mean? Well, if we count up in the key of G, it's literally just the sixth note or sixth chord we get to. G, A, B, C, D, E minor.

[00:09:38]And that sixth chord in any key has a really important function.

[00:09:43]It has melancholy about it because it's a minor chord, and we all know that minor chords have a slight darkness or a slight sadness about them.

[00:09:51]But it also feels relatively at home. It feels kind of relatively comfortable when you go there, so you have a sense of resolution going to it. So, this song kind of really nicely plays between the two.

[00:10:03]Um the sixth chord is the relative minor of one. Don't sweat the theory too much.

[00:10:09]Just know that whenever you play the sixth chord after the one chord, they sound really nice together. And really, if you want to think about the science of it without getting too nerdy about it, the reason it works is that the sixth chord is only one note different from the one chord. In this case, [music] G going to E minor. Can you see that?

[00:10:32]If I was in the key of A, it would be A >> [music] >> and F sharp.

[00:10:36]Again, only one note difference.

[00:10:39]Isn't that cool?

[00:10:41]So, what you can actually do is hold down this G chord like this.

[00:10:46]And then you can add this little finger to the fourth fret of the C string, free minor.

[00:10:52]Now, if you find that a stretch, that's just a neat little thing, right? Cuz you can just [music] literally put down that finger like so.

[00:11:00]>> [music] >> And basically, you can play the whole song like this, which I'll show you in a sec. But if you prefer the more traditional way, you can [music] simply rearrange your fingers into that E minor.

[00:11:13]Okay? Really, really simple.

[00:11:16]Um what we've got is three measures of each. Let's call it four measures for a minute, cuz we're going to ignore that G major seven. Um give me 1 second. I'm just uh do do do do do.

[00:11:29]Give me 1 sec. Just need to um check something. Sorry, guys. Um won't be a sec.

[00:11:46]There we go. Sorry. I was just I was just texting my little boy to tell him to stop playing football against the wall cuz I don't know if you could hear that. Every 5 seconds it was like boom boom Bobby hitting a ball against the wall.

[00:11:59]Sorry. Very unprofessional, but there you go. Right. Okay. So, what we're going to do is play four measures of each of those for now ignoring this G major 7 on the end and that will look and sound like this.

[00:12:13]1 2 3 [music] 4 2 2 3 4 3 2 3 4 4 2 [music] 3 4 Add that little finger down.

[00:12:22]2 >> [music] >> 3 4 1 2 3 4 [music] 1 2 3 >> [music] >> 4 Now, that's basically the whole song, believe it or not, and you can play it just like that. I'll show you what I mean.

[00:12:49]Let's just quickly look at what I'm doing strumming-wise as well.

[00:12:53]Our Sam plays well, people.

[00:12:55]He's really got into his football cuz of the World Cup, but it's a bit distracting when it's banging against the wall [laughter] every 10 seconds.

[00:13:04]Okay. Right. Sorry, guys. Um so, the strumming for this one, remember I like to think about things phonetically.

[00:13:11]We're going to think about this as walk walk running running walk walk running running. Okay? If you're into your downs and ups, that's going to be Oh, let me just move across so you can see this.

[00:13:25]Down down down up down up down down down [clears throat] up down Walk, walk, running, running, walk, walk, running, running. And that's it, right? If you keep that strum pattern going the whole way along as we change between G and E minor, that sound really nice. Have a play and a listen.

[00:13:45]1 2 3 4 Talked to a songbird [music and singing] yesterday, flew me to a place [music] not far away.

[00:13:55]She's a little pilot [singing] in my mind, singing songs [music] I love to pass the time. Going to write a song so she can see, give her all the love she [music] gives to me. Talk about the days [singing] that have yet to come.

[00:14:13]Never felt this love from [music] anyone. [singing] She's not anyone. [music] She's not anyone. [singing] She's not anyone.

[00:14:31]>> [music] >> Isn't that sweet? It just changes really simply between those two chords, and yet you can create a whole song about it.

[00:14:38]It's what I love about lot folk music.

[00:14:40]You just have that one to four um cadence, which is really really nice.

[00:14:45]Our ears love the sound of a fourth. Uh sorry, a sixth. Our ears love the sound of a sixth. It's just a really natural uh combination to do, which is lovely.

[00:14:55]Now, what we can do to make it more interesting, and Liam does this on the acoustic guitar, is to add an extra note to one of the chords to make it even more interesting.

[00:15:07]And you'll see here, if you have a look um on this focus on technique, you'll see what's happening clearly, and I'll talk you through it.

[00:15:15]Let me come in on close cam so you can really see. Let me just move this down a little bit.

[00:15:21]Um and in Johnny, no, worry that E minor chord is the way it is. I'll I'll show you why in a sec cuz that's kind of interesting in itself, actually.

[00:15:31]But this is what happens in the full oasis version. We have this G chord held for three and [music] a half measures.

[00:15:39]Then we go to a G major 7. Now, on a guitar, the on the top couple of strings, that will look like this. They just literally just move up and over like this. If you watch kind of Liam Noble playing this, that's what's happening. On our uke, we're going to do it on the E string like this, okay?

[00:15:59]>> [music] >> And you'll notice we get this kind of a softened chord line cliche, that little mini moving melody that goes like this.

[00:16:07]Have a listen.

[00:16:08]>> [music] [music] >> It's like this mini almost like a bassline um that comes out on guitar, which is really really lovely.

[00:16:26]And what's happening is basically the notes on the E string are going from a G note to an F sharp note, this second fret here of the E string.

[00:16:38]And then when we go to the E minor, the reason we're playing it this way with just two fingers is because we want this E note ringing out on the E string. So you get this.

[00:16:52]>> [music] >> I can really highlight that by stopping when I play the each chord on the E string. Have a listen.

[00:17:01]Do you hear that lovely mini moving melody? And then when we go the other way, >> [music] >> you get it going the other way, which is really really beautiful. It's a really cool thing, right?

[00:17:15]Now, what we going to do, um I realized there's a slight mistake on the sheet. I always make one dumpty, uh, mistake, don't I?

[00:17:23]Um, I noticed tonight when I was playing through, and I'll get this changed, um, that G major 7 at the end only comes in after three and a half measures, not three measures. I'll show you what I mean. I'll do it in slow motion, and you'll see see what I mean. I'll go really slow on close cam, so you can you can see it. Let me just turn this up.

[00:17:45]That's better. Here we go. It will It will be counted like this. One, >> [music] >> two, three, half a measure, [music] one, two, three, >> [music] >> half a measure.

[00:18:08]So, it's just a half measure passing chord. If you want to count that with numbers, that will look like this. One, two, three, four, [music] one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, [music] one, two, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, >> [music] >> three, four, one, two, one, two.

[00:18:34]Like so.

[00:18:36]Okay.

[00:18:36]Take a bit of getting used to. Remember, you can just completely miss out that G major 7 chord if you find it tough. It's It's absolutely fine. Don't worry about it. Let's play that around a few times so you can join in with me and see if you can learn the timing as we go. I'll stay on close cam.

[00:18:54]One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, [music] two, three, four, one, two, one, two, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, >> [music] >> one, two, three, four, one, two, one, two, one, 2, 3, [music] 4. 1, 2, 3, 4.

[00:19:19]1, 2, 3, 4. 1, [music] 2, 1, 2, 6.

[00:19:27]>> [music] >> Here it comes.

[00:19:32]Notice that when I'm strumming there, when I do the the two-beat chords, and that G major 7, I'm just strumming down twice, just down strums.

[00:19:41]So, you get this.

[00:19:43]>> [music] >> Whoops, sorry. Just to kind of make it a bit more simple. So, when you do that G major 7 chord, just do two down strums.

[00:19:53]It makes it a lot easier.

[00:19:55]Interestingly, that the that I'm glad Indrani mentioned it, but the E minor that Indrani was asking about, you know how we normally play it with three fingers here, >> [music] >> and we're altering it so we get this E note on the E string.

[00:20:11]I don't know if you knew, but this is kind of interesting that this is actually a perfectly valid E minor chord. I haven't really thought about it until I was really really looking into it for this song. Because the notes that make an E minor chord are E, which is this one here.

[00:20:27]>> [music] >> Then we have G, and we've got one here.

[00:20:33]We've also got one here.

[00:20:37]And then we have a B note, which is this one here.

[00:20:40]So, E, G, and B.

[00:20:43]When we take this finger off, because it's on the E string, >> [music] >> we get another E. So, we've still got E here. We've got another one here.

[00:20:53]We've still got a G because of the top string, and we've still got a B.

[00:20:58]So, believe it or not, if you ever struggle with E minor, you can play it as if as a two-finger version, if you like to. I like the sound of this one better, but in this song we want that really nice open E. That's what's going on there, basically. And all you do is you just play that through the whole song. I'll do a couple of um a couple of verses or so, so you can see how it works. And just watch my fingers as I go.

[00:21:25]Join in if you feel comfortable.

[00:21:27]1 2 3 4 Oh, sorry, guys. 1 2 3 4 [snorts] >> [music] >> Talking to the sun [singing] but yesterday flew me to a place not far away. [music] She's a little [singing] pilot in my mind, singing songs of love to pass [music and singing] the time.

[00:21:51]Songs so she can sing, give her all the love she gives [music] to [singing] me.

[00:21:58]Talk about the days that have yet to [music] come. Never felt this love from anyone. [singing] She's not anyone.

[00:22:09]>> [singing and music] >> She's not anyone.

[00:22:15]She's not [music and singing] anyone.

[00:22:20]>> [music] >> Okay. Let me know how you got on with that, guys. Once you've got the hang of it, that's it. That's the entire song, round and round just like that. So, it's not too bad once you once you get the hang.

[00:22:32]Now, we've got an uh a little outro where we just do those change in between those two chords. Nothing changing at all here. If you want, you can have a go at a little bit of a solo on this. Um and if you flip to your um technique sheets in the back, you'll notice I've got the G major pentatonic scale written out here. This applies to both songs tonight.

[00:22:54]So, you can hit any of these dots and it will work as a solo in in song. The reason it works is we're in the key of G, G major.

[00:23:05]So, all of these notes from the G major pentatonic will sound nice. They're They're like brothers of all the chords or sisters. They sound great together.

[00:23:14]Um and the same with the E minor pentatonic. If you can see that diagram, I know it's a bit hard to see on the on the screen, um you'll actually notice it's all of the same notes.

[00:23:26]E G A B D E Same notes, just different order. G A B D E G. Same notes. So, you can pair them up and you get these two lovely little patterns.

[00:23:39]So, the G major pentatonic, you start way up here on the seventh fret of your C string.

[00:23:46]Notice we've got a little gap going up to nine.

[00:23:51]Then we've got a bigger gap here on the E string, seven to 10.

[00:23:56]And same again on the A string. So, from the C string downwards, it's seven, nine.

[00:24:03]Seven, 10.

[00:24:05]Seven, 10.

[00:24:07]Or G A B D E and another G.

[00:24:15]Okay? And that's the My Girl that In Dreams is mentioning.

[00:24:18]>> [music] >> I got sunshine.

[00:24:24]And you can also pair that up with the E minor pentatonic, which goes from the fourth fret of the C string up to the seventh fret.

[00:24:35]Fifth fret to seventh.

[00:24:37]And fifth fret to seventh again. Notice the shape of that, guys. It's big gap, small gap, small gap.

[00:24:47]Whereas this one is small gap, big gap, big gap.

[00:24:53]And once you start to notice these little patterns, then you can start to use it to solo for soloing and you'll start to remember these. It's really, really empowering.

[00:25:02]So, I created a backing track earlier.

[00:25:04]If I just play that for you, um it's not a particularly exciting you won't get a particularly exciting sounding solo cuz you've only got two chords to put these notes against. So, it'll sound relatively basic, but that's cool. Just keep Just keep it nice.

[00:25:19]Um use the rhythm of the song and just have a little noodle. Um I'll play a backing track for you guys in a minute, but just so you can see how it works.

[00:25:27]Let me come in. Here we go.

[00:25:30]This is the E minor pentatonic.

[00:25:37]>> [music] >> G major.

[00:25:42]And when you put [music] those together, >> [music] [music] >> you can get a really sweet solo going.

[00:26:07]So, let's do that. I'll be your backing band and just have a little try of playing around with that look those two lovely pentatonic shapes and see if you can get a solo going. Remember, you don't have to use all these notes. Maybe just pick a little box out of that um that pattern and give it a try. Okay, here we go.

[00:26:27]1 2 1 2 3 4 >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Keep it going, guys. Have a little experiment.

[00:26:56]>> [music] >> Remember, if you hit a wrong note, don't sweat it.

[00:27:02]Because [music] next door there'll be a right note.

[00:27:08]>> [music] >> Remember, you're going to do this on the intro.

[00:27:16]>> [music] >> Or you can do it over the singing part if you like.

[00:27:22]>> [music] >> Okay.

[00:27:25]Just one more time, just to remind you guys that beginners, if you find that quick change a little bit tricky, remember you can play the whole song just going between G for four measures >> [music] >> and E minor for four measures.

[00:27:48]>> [music] >> And just change in between, let's say.

[00:27:51]So, we do it then. Let's try our first song then. So, let's put this all together. Um there's a really sweet video for this if anyone's interested um on YouTube. I put a link in the fascinating facts. And it's just um it's just Liam sat against a tree in the park playing on his acoustic guitar. It's really quite sweet. Uh really quite lovely. And uh I think he's probably emulating John Lennon in that famous shot for the front of the uh the first um Plastic Ono Band record where uh him and him and Yoko are then against the tree. I think it's a birch tree if I remember right. Okay, right. Let's give it a go. From the top then, folks. Let me just twist this down a little bit so you can see. All right, here we go.

[00:28:34]One, two.

[00:28:35]Let's um let's go through the chords a few times and then I'll start singing.

[00:28:40]One, two, three, four.

[00:28:47]One, two, one, two.

[00:28:53]>> [music] >> 1 2 1 2 1 2 >> [music] >> Just keep that going, guys.

[00:29:07]>> [music] >> Talked to the sun [singing] bird yesterday.

[00:29:13]Flew me to a place not far [music and singing] away. She's a little pilot in my mind, singing songs [music] of love to pass the [singing] time.

[00:29:23]Going to write a song so she can see.

[00:29:26]Give her all the love [music and singing] she gives to me.

[00:29:30]Talk about the days that have yet to come. Never [music] felt this love from anyone. [singing] She's not anyone.

[00:29:41]>> [music] >> She's not anyone. [singing] She's not anyone.

[00:29:49]>> [music] >> A man can never dream these kind of things, especially when she came and spread her wings. Whispered in my ears the [music and singing] things I'd like.

[00:30:00]Then she flew away into the night. Going to write a song so she can see. Give her all the love she gives to me.

[00:30:10]>> [music] >> Talk about the days that have yet to come. Never felt this love from anyone.

[00:30:19]She's not anyone. [music and singing] She's not anyone.

[00:30:25]>> [music] >> She's not anyone. [singing] Try a little solo, guys.

[00:30:31]>> [music] >> Hit those pencils on it.

[00:30:37]Or strum with me. [music] >> One more time.

[00:30:51]>> [music] >> Slow it down.

[00:30:56]>> [music] >> Yeah, lovely. It's not sweet song. Let me know what you think of that one. It kind of came out of nowhere cuz you know, Oasis have been known for for kind of their loud just you know, loads of overdrive and chunky guitars and stuff and the wall of noise always. Then we got this really sweet acoustic song from Liam which I think you think is really lovely. Of course they did have their acoustic moments. Everyone knows Half the World Away which I think was the B-side to Roll With It. That's a gorgeous acoustic song that was featured in the series The Royle Family, wasn't it? And there's some their early B-sides were terrific. Some really beautiful acoustic songs. Rockin' Chair's another nice one that you find there as well. So yeah.

[00:31:45]And of course if you've been following the England matches which some of us have been cuz we we're gluttons for punishment, you'll notice they sing Wonderwall at the end of all the English victories which has been really cool.

[00:31:57]We've got to sing Wonderwall lots of times which has been which has been very very much fun. Yeah, I think next match is going to be particularly hard though, isn't it? Argentina. We've got an interesting record against them, haven't they?

[00:32:10]>> [laughter] >> Okay. Um that switch is a bit tricky definitely Indrani. So that's let's have one more time going going through this and see if we can we can put this together.

[00:32:25]I know what you mean Tim. Yeah, they kind of they went off the boil, didn't they? The the album before Standing on the Shoulder of Giants that was pretty hit and miss, wasn't it? There were some pretty bad songs on that. Um but I kind of find with Oasis, you get the odd gem.

[00:32:42]I guess it's like any band, isn't it? A lot of them, they put all their best songs on the first two records, and then it kind of >> [laughter] >> goes a bit downhill after that. But yeah, as I say, this album's lovely. Um the song um Stop Crying Your Heart Out was was uh is another lovely one. And funny enough, [clears throat] I'm probably tempting fate, the BBC played that at the end of the World Cup in can't remember the year, but where we went out to Argentina um after David Beckham got sent off. Do you remember Michael Owen scored that amazing first goal, and then [music] David Beckham got sent off, and we lost 2-1.

[00:33:17]Anyway, [clears throat] >> [laughter] >> let's play it one more time through then, just for anyone who wants to practice those changes one more time.

[00:33:26]Remember, you can hit G and E minor if you prefer. Here we go.

[00:33:30]One, two, one, >> [laughter] >> two, three, four.

[00:33:43]>> [music] >> Keep that going, guys.

[00:33:51]>> [music] [music] >> Talking to the [music and singing] sun that yesterday flew me to a place not far away.

[00:34:07]She's a little [singing] pilot in [music] my mind. Singing songs of love to pass the time.

[00:34:14]Going to write [music] a song so she can see. [singing] Give her all the love she gives to me.

[00:34:21]Talk about her days that have yet to come. Never [music] felt this love from anyone. [singing] She's not anyone. [music] She's not anyone.

[00:34:36]She's [music] not anyone. [singing] A man can never dream these kind [music] of things, specially when she [singing] came and spread her wings. Whispered in [music] my ears the things I'd like.

[00:34:51]Then she flew away into the night. Going to write a song so she [music] can see.

[00:34:58]Give her all the love she gives to me. Talk about the days that have yet to come. Never [music] felt this love from anyone.

[00:35:09]>> [music] >> She's not anyone.

[00:35:13]She's not anyone.

[00:35:16]She's not anyone.

[00:35:18]>> [music] >> Try a little solo, guys.

[00:35:23]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> There we go. Fantastic. Brilliant.

[00:35:54]Brilliant. So, let me know what you thought of that and how you got on. Um David, um for the for the uh for the all three being played before the major seven bar, um that's your G major seven, that one. So, G G major seven and then that E minor.

[00:36:14]But, uh what you can do is just four four um measures of each G and then E minor. One, [music] two, three, four, >> [music] >> one, two three four [music] or with the change one two one one two one two >> [music] >> like that.

[00:36:47]>> [music] >> All right, so have a little have a little play of have a little play around with that and see what you can come up with. So a really really sweet little song, isn't it?

[00:36:59]Thank you.

[00:37:00]Uh more about the scandals they caused than their songs. Yeah, they were pretty naughty boys, weren't they?

[00:37:05]>> [laughter] >> Definitely. That one was written for Nicole Appleton uh who Liam was I can't remember whether he just dated or whether he married her. I got a feeling he might have married her. Uh she was one of the All Saints uh if you remember back in the '90s, so yeah. Thanks, Leslie. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:37:24]Okay. Uh haha [laughter] How many of you try and be uh aren't big You can't say soccer football >> [laughter] >> I'm big football fans. Uh but I get it.

[00:37:35]I get it. I think I like football cuz I'm a simple chap and it's really easy.

[00:37:40]Whoever puts the ball in the back of the net the most times wins the game. I could cope with that. Um anything kind of more complex I just yeah, my brain can't cope with it.

[00:37:50]>> [laughter] >> But for me, I've I've always enjoyed football. I was telling someone recently actually that um I I it's just such a lovely social thing. So we go and watch Swindon. We're um we're uh season ticket holders for our um for our sins and I take my little daughter, Sandy, not so little anymore.

[00:38:10]She's 13. And [clears throat] um we just love it. We sit next to the same guy we've been sitting next to for like um nearly 10 years now and uh we just have a chat before the match. We catch up, it's really It's just really sweet. But, um as I was saying to your friends the other day, it it's one of the few times in a week where I just don't think of anything. You know when you've got all those worries, um have I paid for this?

[00:38:35]Um what am I doing next weekend? Or did I get that right? You know. It's one of those um just hours at 90 minutes in the week where all you think about is does the ball hit the back of the goal? And that's really freeing. So, that's why I love it. Just in case anyone want this.

[00:38:52]So, yeah. Oh, David's saying yes, all three can come off a bar. Yeah, yeah.

[00:38:57]Good good thinking, David. Good thinking.

[00:39:00]Anthony says, "Except West Brom match, goal's not easy."

[00:39:04]>> [laughter] >> Well, Anthony, the guy um my friend Craig, he helps out um at the festival and at the retreats. Um he's a Baggies fan as well, and he comes to watch Swindon with me whenever we have an evening match. Um so, I got I got I got all the I got all the um the grumbles from from West Brom as well. So, it's all good.

[00:39:24]It's no better at Swindon, trust me.

[00:39:27]But, uh yeah. Aw, thank you, Laura. Hasn't it been exciting as well with uh Ferry at Wimbledon? He's been doing amazing, hasn't he? Incredible incredible stuff.

[00:39:39]Okay. So, let's have a look at our next song tonight then. So, it This is a whole different ball game, right? You can kind of already see we've got a lot more going on instead of just two chords, we've got all these extra chords. But, still not too complex when you get down to it. It's one of those ones looks more complicated than it is.

[00:40:00]This one's really interesting, right?

[00:40:02]Because um I was talking about this in one of my live lessons, I think, recently or on the Facebook community.

[00:40:10]Sometimes in songs, we don't start with the one chord.

[00:40:15]And uh someone was asking me for examples, and I didn't think of this one, but this is a really lovely example. This song's in the key of G, not in the key of C. And you might think by looking at it it's in the key of C, because that's where we start.

[00:40:29]The way to tell a key, if you're not sure, is find the chord where everything feels comfortable and relaxed. Think of the chord that you might play right at the end of uh song, and it kind of just finishes it. And if it's not there, it doesn't feel finished. You'll see what I mean. If I was to play through um a little bit of this song, I'll teach it you in just a second.

[00:41:01]>> [music] >> Notice when I hit the G, when I put that together with the [music] lyrics, that's where it feels rested. Let me just flip so you can see this. For you, there'll be no [music] more crying.

[00:41:20]For [singing] you, the sun will be [music] shining.

[00:41:28]Do you see how the G feels like the most relaxed of those two chords? And you know >> [music and singing] >> that when I'm with you, it's all right.

[00:41:40]You know it's all right.

[00:41:43]You have that relaxed feeling whenever we hit the G. So, that tells us that we're in the key of G, and that G is the one chord.

[00:41:53]And that's what's Oh, crumbs, that's really interesting. [laughter] Leslie, well spotted. That's really funny. It's Yeah, definitely in the key of G. I must have copied and pasted that from the previous weeks. That's funny after me going on about the fact that it's in G. Um ignore where it says C major at the top there on the top left it it should say G major. That's just me being silly a silly sausage. Um but yeah, that G is the one that feels rested on so we can we can kind of uh feel um >> [clears throat] >> we can kind of know that we're in the key of G.

[00:42:26]Um now the the cadence a cadence is a fancy pants word for one chord leading to another and having some resolution.

[00:42:37]And this is one of the most famous cadences of all time. The four chord G A B C going back to the one chord. It's called a plagal cadence. You don't have to remember that but if you're interested a plagal cadence. All of these cadences have different names. A five to a one is called a perfect cadence.

[00:42:58]And four to one is a plagal cadence.

[00:43:01]It's often referred to as an amen or amen cadence because it's used at a lot of in a lot of hymns at the end. If I was playing a hymn in G >> [music] >> Amen.

[00:43:21]Amen.

[00:43:24]It kind of comes a lot um at the end of hymns.

[00:43:28]But it's also something that's used in hymns in a lot of verses where you have the four just resolving to the one. And I think that's why this song has an almost like hymn-like quality about it.

[00:43:38]You could imagine singing this in church, couldn't you if you're religious? It's got that kind of feel to it.

[00:43:45]So that's the opening thing. We've got two measures of um the four chord >> [music] >> resolving to that lovely one chord G.

[00:43:57]>> [music] >> We do that again.

[00:44:05]In a minute I'm going to show you a picking pattern for this one, but if you want to do a really nice gentle strum, which sounds glorious for this, just use your calypso strum.

[00:44:15]That's your down down up up down up.

[00:44:18]Okay, like this. Down down [music] up up down up down down up up down up. [music] Or as I like to think about it, walk running and running [music] walk running and running walk running [music] and running. People often get stuck on this this strum cuz it's really tricky, isn't it? Cuz it's got those two ups in it. Just one little quick tip if it helps anyone.

[00:44:47]And this is what all these sessions are about. Sometimes you just pick up one tip and you remember it and that's brilliant, right?

[00:44:53]Well, what my tip for the calypso strum, down down up up down up, is to do a little windmill after the first half of the strum. I'll show you what I mean. As soon as I do it, you'll see what I mean.

[00:45:08]Down down up and then windmill up down up.

[00:45:15]The reason I think that's powerful is it naturally gives you the timing. Down down up up down up down down up up down up. Do you see what I mean? It fills in the gap between those two ups.

[00:45:37]And obviously, once you speed it up, once you've got it, you can lose the windmill all together. But just a little tip on the calypso strum if you find that really tricky to do. If you do find that difficult to strum, you can absolutely just strum [snorts] up and down on this as well. It won't sound as sophisticated, but it's perfectly fine and you'll be able to play in tune with us, which is great.

[00:46:01]And Doe was just saying um she was unable to strum the G major 7 with the index on all three chords.

[00:46:08]Um however, no problem playing using index, middle, and ring fingers.

[00:46:12]Yeah, that's a that's a good thing. This is from the last song, but if you if you are struggling to do this, >> [music] >> what you can do is just squeeze that in like so.

[00:46:26]Or just flatten it so. It's got to be what do they call it? Horses for courses. Do whichever one feels most most comfortable for you.

[00:46:35]Okay, so that's have a look at the um let's have a look at doing the first part of this then. Just that C to G.

[00:46:41]Really lovely. Such a beautiful song this. I absolutely love it. This was off Fleetwood Mac's uh Fleetwood Mac's biggest-selling album. Um you've probably all got a copy of this on CD or on your phone or record. Uh Rumours just an amazing album, isn't it? I mean, I was talking about that Oasis album having a good run of songs, but how about this? Second hand news, dreams, never going back again, don't stop, go your own way, songbird, the chain, you make loving fun, don't want to know, oh daddy, and gold dust woman. But I mean, wow.

[00:47:16]Don't stop, go your own way, songbird, and the chain. I mean, come on. What amazing what amazing uh songs.

[00:47:23]Absolutely fantastic.

[00:47:25]Okay, so that's have go sorry, getting distracted now on my records.

[00:47:30]>> [laughter] >> Okay, let's flip over and let's try this start of one of these verses.

[00:47:36]Just [music] roll this C.

[00:47:39]For [singing] you, there'll be no more crying. [music] For you, [singing] the sun will be [music] shining.

[00:47:58]Did you see what I mean about that almost hymn-like quality? It's really sweet, isn't it?

[00:48:02]Now, the next bit we've got two minor chords, an A minor, and then we follow that with the six chord, an E minor. So, adding those minor chords in is really important at this stage in the song because it really adds a sadness to it. And remember, if we're thinking about my color system, the four and the one chord, major chords, both bright, happy colors, right? Bright orange, yellow. Whereas the the two and the six chord, purple and green, not too dark and depressing in terms of colors, but they they have a mellowness about them. And you'll feel it when you hit this next line. So, we have that A minor >> [music] >> to the C.

[00:48:47]And then the six chord, beautiful E minor. Now, you can play it with two fingers again, but I'm going to go back to the traditional way of playing it [music] in this song.

[00:48:58]Notice that when I change to the C, I can keep two fingers down if I want.

[00:49:03]And then back to G.

[00:49:04]>> [music] >> Let's try a whole verse, then. I'll bring the next sheet on so you can follow it with the words.

[00:49:13]One, two, three, four.

[00:49:16]For you >> [music] >> there'll be no [singing] more crying.

[00:49:25]For [singing and music] you the sun will be shining.

[00:49:33][music and singing] And I feel that when I'm [music and singing] with you it's all right.

[00:49:45]I know [music] it's [singing] right.

[00:49:50]Then we have the same thing for the for the next verse, which is really lovely.

[00:49:55]Now, the chorus is interesting. We've got the five chord that start the chorus, and that's a relatively unusual chord start chorus on. We tend to get the four chord or the relative minor. Um but here, the five chord creates a tension, and basically you're wanting to go back home.

[00:50:13]And it's kind of clever. What you're doing is you're going back home to a melancholy home, that greeny minor, the first time.

[00:50:21]And then you go back home, but the second time you go to the traditional, the the kind of happy, rested one chord.

[00:50:30]So, both of those lines in the chorus have a feeling of going back home, but when we hit this one for the bright yellow, we feel really at home, really relaxed.

[00:50:40]And notice it makes like a harlequin thing. Notice we're going five, four, and then six, and then four, five, one.

[00:50:47]So, it's like it's flipped, but it works beautifully.

[00:50:50]Let's play that with the words, so you can see how it how it sounds.

[00:50:55]One, two, and the songbirds >> [singing and music] >> are singing like they know the score.

[00:51:06]>> [music] >> Notice it does feel kind of rested on that E minor.

[00:51:10]And the songbirds >> [music] >> are singing like they know [singing] the score.

[00:51:17]>> [music] >> And then when it goes to the G, I love you, [singing and music] I love you, I love you like never before.

[00:51:27]>> [singing and music] >> It feels really rested because we've hit the one chord. Really beautiful, isn't it? Really, really gorgeous and and and simple.

[00:51:39]Um the second verse, notice that the the bottom line is different. It it's it looks more complex than it is, but basically when you get to the E minor we go we have two E minors, then a C, then a D, then a G. Whereas here it just goes straight back to G. The first two lines here are exactly the same as the first two lines. There's just a slight difference in the second verse, which is really nice.

[00:52:07]Then for the outro, we get the perfect cadence because a fifth we call it a perfect fifth. And that's like the most tension followed by the most at home, if you like, which I think is really sweet.

[00:52:21]Like never before. [music and singing] Like never before.

[00:52:31]So, if you want to be fancy pants musicians, you now know what a perfect cadence is. Five chord back to the one, red to yellow.

[00:52:39]And a plagal cadence, the amen cadence, four chord back to the one chord. That's orange to yellow. Cool, right? I I love nerdy stuff like that. It's great. And Trish is saying they love we love our records the best and those liner notes, too. Yeah, exactly. Um part of reason I um Oh, thank Trish again, really appreciate it. And part of reason um I love records is that uh I love that analog thing. I I've kind of felt like my life has got a bit too busy in recent years. So, at the weekend I'll sit down and I'll listen to records and I'll I'll read through the lyrics whilst they're playing. It's just so nice. And uh you get you get the great sleeve pictures and everything. It's like a load of stories, isn't it? You know.

[00:53:27]Particularly great for the Fleetwood Mac one um for Rumours because you can kind of you can look at all the photos and wondering what was happening at the band with the band cuz of course um they they kind of almost swapped partners, didn't they, basically, during and Christine, I think, went off with the sound engineer or the lighting engineer, and oh, it all got really messy, didn't it? And then Lindsey and uh Stevie broke up. Oh, crazy times, crazy times.

[00:53:56]Okay, so that's basically the how to play through the song in a simple way.

[00:54:01]If you want to make this sound really effective, one of my favorite things to do is to put a really simple picking pattern on this one.

[00:54:09]And the beautiful thing with this, as with many, many songs, is that it doesn't have to be complex.

[00:54:16]Now, I I could be guilty of overusing this picking pattern quite a lot, but some songs it just works so well on it, and I think this is a perfect example.

[00:54:27]It's over here, and thank you, Karen, for um the brilliant diagram here for the picking pattern. Karen's been really busy working on her picking pattern um leaflet for us book, a bit like the uh one that we use for the scales reference sheets, and this is from that. Thanks, Karen, for all your work. Um and she's been waiting for forever for me to get back to her about a couple of things on that, but I September, Karen, I promise it'll be quieter. Um but we we shall get there.

[00:54:55]Okay, so >> [laughter] >> Yeah. Uh Trish says, "Before the internet, we got a lot of lyrics wrong, especially Mick Jagger." Yeah, definitely, [laughter] definitely.

[00:55:05]I'm always the same. There was always that song growing up that um Oh, what was it? Um "My lover's got no money, he's got his strong beliefs." And I always heard it as "My lover's got no money, he's got his trampoline." And I did that a lot of other people.

[00:55:20]So, let's have a look, then. So, this picking pattern is really much more simple than it looks.

[00:55:27]We're just going to quick We're just going to really simply pick the C string with our thumb coming down, the E string with our finger coming up.

[00:55:35]Doesn't even matter which fingers use. I like to just use my thumb and my index finger.

[00:55:42]So, I'm doing thumb index on the middle two strings.

[00:55:45]Thumb index on the outer two strings.

[00:55:49]Inside, I come really close.

[00:55:52]Inside outside inside outside thumb finger thumb finger C string E string G string A string.

[00:56:08]And if you practice that little bit each day, notice how it's like a This looks like a bike, doesn't it? Kind of like my fingers are cycling on a bike.

[00:56:19]Inside outside inside outside inside outside. Really simple, but once you get the hang of it, you can do it round and round and it works on any song that's in 4/4 time. The reason I particularly love it is you get your lowest note on your uke. If you've got a high G, this is.

[00:56:37]Followed by next highest, next highest, >> [music] >> and then finally the highest of all.

[00:56:42]So, you get lowest note to highest note.

[00:56:49]Inside outside [singing and music] inside outside inside outside inside outside. Thanks, Garin.

[00:56:56]Okay. So, let's let's see what that will sound like with the song.

[00:57:01]If you're using the chord boxes, you're going to play for this pattern twice on every box every measure.

[00:57:12]And then >> [laughter] >> G tries to say sweet dreams are made of cheese, who am I to disagree? Very good.

[00:57:23]Very good.

[00:57:24]Okay.

[00:57:25]>> [music] >> So, if I was going to do the opening section for you, there'll be no more crying. Hit that inside outside.

[00:57:39]For [music] you.

[00:57:44]>> [music] [singing] >> For this next line, because the chords are only for a measure each, you're just going to play twice through on each measure.

[00:57:54]>> [singing] [music] [singing] >> Isn't that lovely?

[00:58:08]I'll do that with a little bit of the with the with the lyrics so you can see it. Have a try with me. Inside outside inside outside.

[00:58:18]For you.

[00:58:22]>> [music] >> There'll be no [singing] more crying.

[00:58:28]>> [music] >> For you. [singing] The sun will be [music] shining.

[00:58:38]And I feel >> [music] >> that when I'm [singing] with you, it's all right.

[00:58:48]I know it's right.

[00:58:53]>> [music] >> To [singing] you.

[00:58:58]I'll give the world.

[00:59:04]For you. [music] I'll never [singing] be cold.

[00:59:14]Cuz I feel that [music] when I'm with you, it's all right.

[00:59:20]>> [singing] >> I know it's [music] right.

[00:59:26]I'll just do one chorus so you can hear it.

[00:59:29]And the songbirds are singing like they know [singing and music] the score.

[00:59:39]And I love you, I love [singing] you, I love you like never before.

[00:59:46]>> [music] >> Isn't that lovely? So, really really great one. Pam's taken the words you took the words right out of my mouth. A great piece to practice picking on.

[00:59:59]Chords are so familiar. Sounds great, too. Yeah, absolutely. It's a lovely lovely lovely one to do that.

[01:00:06]Thanks, Lance. Really appreciate that.

[01:00:08]Thank you. Thank you. Good to see you again, mate, as well. Good to see you.

[01:00:13]Fantastic. Okay. So, let's piece this one together. Now, there's a very very short space here on verse two where you can do a little bit of a solo if you'd like to.

[01:00:26]We're in the key of G, remember? Even though it looks like C because of that first chord, we are actually in G. So, you can still use those same two patterns that we use in the first to do a little solo on.

[01:00:38]Let me line up a thing. Now, this one sounds really nice if you take it really slow and steady. So, you don't have to do anything too crazy. Just a few notes at a time. Something like this.

[01:00:56]>> [music] [music] [music] >> So, for this one, just if you want have a little go on that bit, just keep it really, really simple. I'll just I'll play it that a couple of times so you can have a noodle and test yourself have a little play, which would be great.

[01:01:34]We've got some great misheard song lyrics coming through, by the way.

[01:01:37]Here we go.

[01:01:39]two three four. Have a little noodle.

[01:01:47]>> [music] >> Hit those pentatonic noodles.

[01:01:54]And then you would come back in with a singing here. [music] And [singing] it feels just like da da da.

[01:02:03]Da da da. So on and so forth. All right?

[01:02:06]So have a little try. If you want to do a few notes there, you can do. If not, just just pick along with me and enjoy the ride.

[01:02:15]Oh, no worries, Sonia. We shall see you again soon. You take care. Remember, if you want to watch back, you can you can find these archived on the website anytime. All right? And remember, if you find that picking pattern difficult, just strum it.

[01:02:27]>> [music] >> It sounds really beautiful strummed anyway. It's really, really lovely.

[01:02:33]>> [music] >> I think I'm going to fingerpick this all the way through just because I like the [music] way it sounds. But if you want to strum, absolutely fine as well.

[01:02:44]I think that's it. Should we give it a go? Let's give it a try. Gone really quick tonight. Sorry, guys. I hope I haven't forgotten to to to tell you about anything. No, I think I think we've pretty much got that. Yeah, let's give it a go then. We might play it through twice anyway so you can practice that picking pattern.

[01:03:00]Okay. Let's roll the C to a G just to get us going.

[01:03:06]We'll do this a couple of times.

[01:03:16]Then we'll have a little Q&A at the end.

[01:03:21]For [singing] you, there'll be [music] no more crying.

[01:03:30]>> [music] >> For [singing] you, the sun will be shining.

[01:03:39]And I feel that when [music] I'm [singing] with you, it's all right.

[01:03:47]I know it's [music] right.

[01:03:52]To you, I'll give the world.

[01:04:01]To you, I'll never [music and singing] be cold.

[01:04:10]Cuz I feel that [music] when I'm [singing] with you, it's all right.

[01:04:17]>> [music] >> I know it's right.

[01:04:24]And the songbirds singing, like they know the [singing] score.

[01:04:32]>> [music] >> And I love you, I love you, I love you like never before.

[01:04:41]Try a little solo. [music] Then back in with the lyrics after this chord.

[01:05:00]And I wish you all [singing and music] the love in the world.

[01:05:10]But most [music and singing] of all, I wish it from my soul.

[01:05:18]And the songbirds are singing like they know [singing and music] the score.

[01:05:27]And I love [singing] you, I [music] love you, I love you like never before.

[01:05:36]Like [music] never before.

[01:05:40]Like [singing] never before.

[01:05:47]Yeah, lovely, isn't that isn't that sweet? Um, let me know how you got on with that one, guys. Um, we can do a little Q&A at the end. Um, Anthony, if you're still there, um, can you just write your questions that you sent me earlier in the comments cuz I've got Normally, I write them down on my phone and I ping them over, but I completely forgot to do it. So, if you still got those questions, Anthony, just ping them in the comments now. I'll do it at the end, so I think that could be cool.

[01:06:14]We'll do that one more time in just a minute. Um, still get lots of misheard lyrics coming in, which I'm having lots of fun with. Um, Indrani was saying she had no idea what a gabardine suit was in Simon & Garfunkel. Do you know what?

[01:06:26]I've never really thought about that, Indrani. I don't know what a gabardine suit is, either. I'm guessing it's a particular particular tent type of cut or something, I don't know. Yeah.

[01:06:36]Um, Elton John had terrible diction for years. I was baffled until I looked up the lyrics of many of his songs. Yeah, the one that always got me with Elton John was that "Revved up like a deuce and a little runner in the night." I always thought it was revved up like a deuce, and then I realized it was revved up like a juice, revved up like a juice, which is a type of car, isn't it? Like Deuce Coupe, little Deuce Coupe.

[01:07:01]>> [laughter] >> That's quite good fun, isn't it? I think there's some good YouTube videos where people accidentally mishear lyrics on purpose, and it's always good isn't it?

[01:07:10]Laura saying I meant to say this Laura saying Eva Cassidy made this song for me absolutely yeah her version is really beautiful isn't it? Same with her somewhere over the rainbow as well really really gorgeous absolutely absolutely. Oh it's a particular type of fabric apparently there we go.

[01:07:29]You learn something new every day it's what do you call it it's every day is a school day.

[01:07:36]>> [laughter] >> Fantastic brilliant thanks Anthony yeah just ping it in the comments and I'll bring it bring it in at the end there cuz Anthony had a question if anyone's got any other questions ping [clears throat] them in the comments and I'll deal with that at the end.

[01:07:51]Okay let's play through that one more time then cuz it's such a short song and it's so sweet let's just do that one last time and then we'll get a Q&A at the end and I'll tell you about a few things that are going on here we go.

[01:08:03]1 2 3 4 For you >> [singing and music] >> there'll be no more crying for [music] you the sun will [singing] be shining >> [music] >> and I feel that when I'm with you [music] it's all right I know it's [music] right to you >> [music] >> I'll give world to [music] you.

[01:09:07]>> [singing] >> I'll never be cold cuz I feel [singing] it when [music] I'm with you.

[01:09:19]It's all right.

[01:09:21]>> [singing] >> I know it's right.

[01:09:28]And the songbirds >> [music] >> are singing like they know the [singing] score.

[01:09:37]>> [music] >> And I love you. I love you. I love [singing] you like never before.

[01:10:05]And I wish you all the love >> [music] >> in the world.

[01:10:15]But most of all I wish it for myself.

[01:10:20]>> [singing] [music] >> And the songbirds are singing [music] like they know [singing] the score.

[01:10:32]And I love you. I love you. I love [music] you like never before. [singing] Like [music] never before.

[01:10:46]Like never [singing and music] before.

[01:10:52]>> [music] >> Fantastic.

[01:10:56]Isn't that lovely? What a gorgeous, gorgeous song. It's hard not to get a bit emotional when you're singing that one, isn't it? I got got quite into that one, which is yeah, beautiful, beautiful song. Well done, Christine McVie, and sadly no longer with us. Brilliant, brilliant musician. A lot of my favorite songs from that period are by Christine McVie, which is lovely.

[01:11:18]Oh, fabric of gabardine has a diagonal twill weave. Love it. Love it. And I think we had Where is it?

[01:11:29]The fabric is made in the mills in Aberdeen. Oh, fantastic, fantastic. I think I can picture it. From what you two have said, I think I can kind of picture the suit. I'm I'm going to Google it afterwards so I can see a picture of it, but I think I yeah, I think I know exactly what you mean. So, love it. Love it.

[01:11:46]And [snorts] Karen, yeah, absolutely, this song is definitely in G major.

[01:11:51]Yeah, ignore what it says at the top of the sheets. It's It's definitely in G major.

[01:11:55]If you're changing them, in G. Yeah, fantastic.

[01:11:59]Anthony So, Anthony had a couple of questions. If you ever have any questions with your ukulele that you want to share with me, if you're a member on the website, obviously you can send it via the ask Matt function. And but if you'd like to share it with others and have their input, and it's a really good way for everyone to learn, just put that you'd like me to mention it in Can I Get A Peel and I'll do so as well. You'll also find contact form and everything on there.

[01:12:25]And Anthony was asking, "When we play solo in front of an audience, do you think that the reason we suffer from nerves is that in a way we reveal part of ourselves, a secret part, our vulnerability?"

[01:12:39]Yes, >> [laughter] >> absolutely, Anthony. I mean, that's that's a brilliant question, by the way, Anthony. And I've been quite open with everyone about the fact that I've suffered from stage fright terribly over the years. Sometimes I've completely crumbled apart at gigs. It's just something I've always always had. I think I have a a kind of a nervous personality.

[01:12:59]Uh let me just put that across.

[01:13:02]Um so um oh, by the way, thanks, Pam.

[01:13:05]Just wanted to bring that in cuz that's a lovely thing to say. Yeah, it's a gorgeous song, isn't it? I'm Christine takes the plaudits, not me. Uh >> [laughter] >> so, yeah, lovely. Thank you. Thank you.

[01:13:17]Um so, yeah, I think it's a little a little bit of a few things to be honest, Anthony. I I think partly the nerves is just the fact that it it is a scary thing to do, right? Actually just um sitting up in front of an audience and playing. I mean, it's you're kind of playing in front of your peers or strangers. It's it's slightly terrifying. It's like public speaking.

[01:13:39]And everyone feels the same, right, about public speaking? But I think, Anthony, you're completely right. I think you do show a bit of your soul. And my favorite performers are the ones that aren't afraid to be emotional on on stage. That could be well said doing guitar solo or it could be in a in a performance as well. Um but I think one of the best things to do is um is to use that to your benefit. So, something I kind of took this from uh my friend Jeff Peterson. You know Jeff, he's taught retreats and stuff. Brilliant guy, amazing player.

[01:14:12]And I've noticed that he's very relaxed when he plays live. And he'll often do this. You Notice it have a nice next time you see Jeff playing and see if you can spot it. He'll often be playing away.

[01:14:23]>> [music] [music] >> And he'll just close his eyes.

[01:14:36]Breathe and smile into the music. And I always found that such a lovely thing in Jeff. And I've I've tried to bring that into my own playing. When you relax, you show your emotions. I think it's a bet- a better performance, but I do agree that's that's kind of that's one of the things that makes it so difficult at times or kind of feel so intense. But, use that to your benefit.

[01:14:58]You What you can do is if you're really nervous at looking at an audience, you know, particularly sometimes the smaller audiences are the scariest cuz you can see every face. They're right in front of you, right?

[01:15:09]Just try and get into your own little space.

[01:15:13]>> [music] >> Imagine you're sat at home in the lounge.

[01:15:17]You could even look down cuz that just makes it look as if you're melancholic, which isn't a bad thing, right?

[01:15:22]>> [music] >> Just try and lose yourself in that moment.

[01:15:31]>> [music] >> And if you make a mistake, don't worry about it.

[01:15:39]Because when people see you playing, most people I find, including myself when I see other people's playing, is they want it to feel honest.

[01:15:50]And I would rather see someone playing honest and badly than someone showing off noodling and their passion isn't in it. They're just kind of showing off.

[01:15:59]So, don't be afraid to show that vulnerability is what I'm saying. Bring it out when you're playing and that's a really really nice thing to do, for sure.

[01:16:08]Uh Karen saying could be like a preparation. Absolutely. Generally, you've probably heard me saying this when we talked in lessons and things with with with various things like my Wednesday afternoons and that.

[01:16:22]Um normally when we go wrong when we're playing ukulele, it's panic.

[01:16:26]It's not because we we >> [music] >> we're not kind of we're we're we're really nervous or for a bag of nerves and things. Often, it's just that sheer panic. And that's because the piece isn't totally ingrained yet. So, what I've started doing in more recent years, the the classic example of this was last year's Shrek Fest when it was I was abysmal because I I prepared a set and I had it down like I could do it from memory perfect. Then I decided at last minute I was going to play all Beatles songs which I hadn't learned yet. I was reading off my iPad.

[01:16:58]Then my iPad didn't work so I was completely screwed basically and I should have just gone back to the songs that I knew off by heart. I didn't and I I was a bit awful. So ever since then [laughter] and to other gigs I've always made sure that I have my set list down a month in advance and I practice the heck out of it. Basically you practice not to a point that you get it right. Practice it to a point that you can't get it wrong and and that really helps for sure. So that's that's another good way of doing it. So yeah. Um, Anthony says just a thought too philosophical but I have no problem with karaoke but ask me to play you can I go to pieces.

[01:17:36]I think that's probably two things Anthony. First of all when you do karaoke particularly if I know because of your taste particularly if you're doing Roxy music there's probably a part of you where you're in another character. You're kind of you know, you are Brian Ferry or you are I don't know Freddy Mercury whatever it is like it kind of feels like almost like you're playing a part and maybe that's a bit less nerve-racking. Whereas where you're being yourself something you've written or something that you really care about it can maybe a be a bit harder but at the same time it's more beautiful, right? People will appreciate it more. So I think yeah, there's an element of that. Also the element of ukulele it's tricky, right?

[01:18:15]Cuz there's an added element you're having to think about your strumming, picking, timing, all of those things the way you're sat, you know, other than just singing. So it's probably a bit of that. So abso- absolutely. Yeah.

[01:18:31]Um, I'll go to the low G one another time I think Anthony. Can you can you remind me about that and I'll um I'll talk to you about it on uh Saturday um and we'll we'll maybe um squeeze that one in, too. Into next week, as well.

[01:18:44]I'm sure she's saying, "Question about picking. When I pick, it sounds very floaty." Oh, thank you. Um so, that's probably it's probably just the way I do it. Let me just bring that in. Do do do do do do.

[01:18:59]These are great questions, by the way, guys.

[01:19:02]Okay. So, I guess maybe the the the thing is with [music] the picking is to make it really nice and natural. What what I tend to do is I I pull these fingers in towards the palm [music] of my hand. The reason I'm showing you that is what it does is it kind of allows the note to ring out as you hit the next few. So, if I do a G chord and I play the middle two, >> [music] >> notice that by the end of that pick, all four are ringing out. If I accidentally touch one of the strings, >> [music] >> it kills it dead, look.

[01:19:45]So, try and keep that cycling going.

[01:19:47][music] Make sure you don't touch any of the other strings.

[01:19:54]And try and get into [music] as as rhythmic a pattern as possible.

[01:20:00]Just relaxing into it. Remember, you can practice these things dead slow.

[01:20:04]>> [music] >> But, I think it's that cycle. When I had um when I had a tennis coach back in the day, it sounds like a bit of a weird analogy, but when I had a tennis coach back in the day, he always used to say, "Hit through the ball."

[01:20:17]So, a lot of tennis players, they hit the ball and they stop, and that creates a certain kind of spin, you know? It can be useful for back spin and things like that, but it's not a natural hit.

[01:20:26]Whereas, if you hit through the ball and you keep that arm going, you get a more natural hit. And I know it sounds crazy, but it's the same thing with this finger picking. So, you don't want to hit hit the string and stop.

[01:20:38]Pick [music] through the string.

[01:20:41]Keep it really natural like that. Like you're just kind of cycling. [music] And that will make a nice kind of smooth smooth finger finger picking pattern for sure.

[01:20:54]Oh, Laura, do it. You should do it.

[01:20:56]Everyone gets scared, but it's amazing, you know, it's it's uh it can be a bit of a terrifying thing to do, but it's great to share your playing with everyone. And uh I think it's really good. I think it's really encouraging to share it. So, uh yeah, totally totally get that, Laura.

[01:21:12]And Rebecca is saying, "When's the best time to send you questions or videos uh for the monthly club? Um is there a better timing for you since you can have busy times?" Uh best bet, to be honest, Rebecca, if you send them just a few days beforehand, um just because they're more likely to stay present in my mind and I'm less likely to forget about them. Um so, yeah, just maybe two or three days before. So, I think the next Yuke Club is August the 5th. It's around then, isn't it? So, maybe if you send them at the start of August, that'd be fantastic. Um the other thing that would really help if anyone's sending in questions for the um uh for the monthly Yuke Club, just make sure in the email or the Ask Matt that you put the title that it's for that, cuz otherwise I'll reply to you straight away, which is obviously useful. Um but if you want it asked at the monthly club, if you just put that in the title, that really really help me as well. So, yeah, thank you. Thank Thanks, Rebecca.

[01:22:11]Um Shosho is saying, "Uh when I pick, it sounds like discrete notes." Yeah, I think it is that cycling thing. I think it's that cycling thing, Shosho. Just really kind of concentrate on picking through those notes. And you can do it um with any pick pattern. So, if you come in top to bottom as well.

[01:22:31]Notice how much that finger moves in [music] towards my hand.

[01:22:40]The other thing that might make a difference is obviously I've got my nails. You don't have to have super long nails like this, but if you give them a kind of crescent shape, it means that as you hit the string the the string slides along the nail, which makes it a softer sound.

[01:22:56]>> [music] >> And in fact, if I come kind of at this angle and I pick, you'll hear it sound more aggressive.

[01:23:02]>> [music] >> Whereas if I angle my finger like this >> [music] >> and I play on the ramp of those nails softens everything. So, remember that 45° as well. We don't want it to be like this or like this. I mean, this can be nice for flamenco but nice 45°.

[01:23:25]Play across the ramps and that should help as well. So, yeah, absolute absolutely.

[01:23:32]Ah, that's cool. The people people were um talking about Jeff playing and how he shuts his eyes and fixes on the music and all of this the audience when he's done. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. It's concentrating and it I don't find it kind of a bad thing like some people worry of. You close your eyes.

[01:23:50]Um it's kind of it looks like you're ignoring the audience, but actually you're giving a really honest performance, aren't you? Cuz you're you're listening to your own playing, you're really enjoying it. And then uh Jeff as always gives a story behind his music and everything and acknowledges everyone at at the end, which is great.

[01:24:08]So, yeah, absolutely.

[01:24:11]Uh Inyani says practice only helps to a certain point. Unfortunately, she's able to invent ever new mistakes even in pieces that I've practiced very thoroughly. I know, I know. There's There's all sorts of things um in terms of of going wrong and I do I do totally I do totally get that. Absolutely.

[01:24:30]I I think a few [clears throat] just general practice tips in terms of kind of nerves and things like that. If you're playing a venue or an open mic session, try and get there early. I find if you're kind of relaxed and you've you've kind of understood what the place is like, you get you know exactly how you're going to play on stage.

[01:24:51]As you practice, do exactly as you're playing on stage as well. This is a for anyone that is doing an open mic. You might not get up on stage, but for instance, if you know that you're going to stand up at an open mic, practice stood up because if you practice sat down, when you do come to stand up, everything will feel so different cuz the angle of your ukulele is different.

[01:25:11]You'll feel tighter and more tense. So, really think about that as well.

[01:25:16]And don't forget to breathe.

[01:25:18]It's something that I'm terrible at. I I kind of I get chatting to people in the crowd whenever I'm at a festival and then I go on and I'm like it's all really last minute and I'm not relaxed.

[01:25:27]Whereas if I go into, you know, backstage or whatever beforehand, I'd just breathe it out. Do some circular breathing.

[01:25:36]Really really deep.

[01:25:39]And just kind of really relax yourself before you go on. Even meditation if you're able to is really great way of relaxing before you go on for sure as well. So, yeah. Thanks, Anthony. That's That's really really appreciate that. He says, "Good job Brian hasn't heard me.

[01:25:56]Read somewhere he dances like an old man digging rate of entrance." [laughter] That's so good, Anthony. I can completely picture that now. [laughter] Oh, man. Sorry. I That's brilliant. Brian Ferry Anthony's talking about from his favorite band Roxy Music. That's brilliant. And you do do a very good Brian impression. I know because we did one together in the room, didn't we? And it sounded cool. So, >> [laughter] >> you're absolutely fine. Absolutely brilliant.

[01:26:27]Um if anyone um wants more information on um performing live, whether that be in front of a camera or open mic or anything like that, um on uh my YouTube channel, and it'll be on my courses as well. Um I did a video on uh performance anxiety and how to overcome it. And there's some really useful worksheets there that you can read through, and it'll give you some ideas um in terms of things to help you overcome nerves. Um as I say, it's something I've always suffered from, so I really like to help out people as much as possible if if I can. Um so, check that out. Um if you go to learn ukulele.com, and then um go to um live at the top, and then you'll find a workshop archive um under there. And it's one of my old live lessons. I did one. I've got a feeling it's on YouTube somewhere as well if you if you want to take a look.

[01:27:22]Um look up overcoming nerves Matt Stead, and and you should find that. It should be great.

[01:27:28]Yeah, that's it. Yeah, it applies to sports, doesn't it, Rebecca? It's just as with music. Yeah, exactly. Practice how you're going to play. Yeah, totally.

[01:27:36]It's a good good way of thinking about it. And the other thing is, I know just a general bit of advice as well that no matter whether you're just recording a video for like a monthly Uke Club, and I need some new videos for next month.

[01:27:48]Send them in. Um or whether you're playing open mic, or you might be playing Wembley, I don't know. What whatever it is, remember that generally people want you to succeed. That's something that I always remind myself.

[01:28:00]Everyone is there because they want you to entertain them. They want to enjoy your song. They want that honesty and truth, and they want to enjoy it. So, um know that everyone's on your side. And if they're not, they're a Wally and they don't deserve it anyway. So, >> [laughter] >> all right. Just one last thing to remember. So, yeah.

[01:28:21]Go on, Laura. You can do it. Yeah, I think it should be challenge Laura. See if you can get a an open mic video for one of our next monthly youth clubs. Go on, you can do it. You can do it. I've got faith in you.

[01:28:33]Fantastic. Right, well, I'm going to love you and leave you guys. Just Just remember, if anyone's about in the UK this weekend and they're at a loose end, come and join us in Birmingham for this special one-day event. You'll have such a fun time. It's going to be absolutely cracking.

[01:28:50]Really looking forward to it. And I'll be there all day as well, so we can have a really, really good old catch-up, which will be lovely.

[01:28:57]And who doesn't like pizza and ukulele, right? So, come and join us. There's still tickets available. The link's on the flyer and it's on my website under events. Get in touch with me and book your place. It's It'll be well worth coming along.

[01:29:10]Um, if you haven't booked workshops for when you're in Cheltenham, get on and and and put your places down just because a couple of them are close to selling out now. So, get your workshop places. Still tickets available. We've got day tickets for the Saturday and the whole weekend tickets as well.

[01:29:31]So, come along if you can. It's going to be an amazing festival this this August. Cannot wait.

[01:29:38]Um, and of course, we've got our amazing cruise next year as well. Come cruise with me. Come cruise. Let's cruise away.

[01:29:49]And if you haven't heard, next year I'm doing a a brand new thing which I'm really excited about. We We're going to do Aloha Britain, which is going to be a lovely weekend set in the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside. I went out hiking on my own this Saturday in Gloucestershire and I took lots of photos around my Facebook. And it's just like every time I go out in the British summertime, I just think, "Gosh, like it's really easy to take it for granted how beautiful it is."

[01:30:18]So, come and join us in the British countryside next year for the Aloha Britain. And we're bringing Craig and Sarah back and Corey Mau, who's going to teach you about Hawaiian culture. And one of our absolute favorites, of course, Jeff Peterson as well. So, come and join us for that if you can.

[01:30:36]If you want to spread costs, we've got 0% finance, so you can book your place and pay over the years, absolutely fine as well.

[01:30:44]Talking of the British countryside, I'll see some of you next month anyway for the ukulele retreat, which I'm really really excited about. Loads more information on that coming soon in terms of the lessons and the plan. I'll try and do a bit of live stuff for you guys as well who can't make it live. We'll do some live streams and stuff. So, going to be loads and loads of fun.

[01:31:05]Well, take care everyone. Much love and I'll see you We'll be back next Monday as normal. So, next Monday, we're doing songs about What are we doing songs about? Oh, yeah. It's songs about you and me. You'll see what I mean when you see the sheets. You and me songs.

[01:31:22]And don't forget the monthly Uke Club as well. So many things to tell you about. I need to write more down, really. Anyway, you know what to look, right? Look on the website.

[01:31:32]>> [laughter] >> Take care everyone. Much love and I will see you soon. Bye.