Three Chord Thursday: pluck & strum songs

For Thursday 17th September, we explore three chord songs that are performed by both plucking and strumming, as celebration and acknowledgement of the end of the first Pluck & Strum Series (a seven-week summer course) and the launch of the another series (eight-week autumn course). As usual to participate, please register in advance to get the Zoom details unless you’ve registered previously and have the zoom meeting info. If you register an hour or less before we start or after we start, it will be too late to get the details needed to get into the session.

What are the different ways you can pluck and strum a song? Pluck the recognizable riffs in the introduction, interlude and ending and strum as accompaniment for the body of the song. You can always create your own.

This is a special thematic session to introduce songs that sound well with both plucking AND strumming techniques. Below are songs “curated” for Anne Ku’s bootcamp, pluck & strum, and fingerstyle classes. For this song session, we welcome more than one performer per song.

1. In the Summertime  – Kevin & Mary (NJ)
2. Let It Be  – Emily (FL), Virginia (NY)
3. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star – Lennart B. (MA)
4. Mr Tambourine Man  – Mike (FL) (Bytown in G), Mike (MA) – (1-page in D)
5. Moonshadow  – Anne, Adrienne (TX)
6. Norwegian Wood  – Rachel M., Michaela H.
7. Pineapple Mango – (1-page songsheet) (2 page PDF) (5-page PDF)
   Jeannie K., Mary K., Louise-Marie
8. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head – Lizzy S., Bruce B., Beth A.
9. Time in a Bottle –  (Scorpexeuke) – Steffi A. (MUJ – 2-page for two versions)

The line-up (order of songs) will be as follows, from easiest to most challenging.

Easiest:

• In the Summertime (three chords) – Kevin & Mary (NJ)
• Let It Be – Emily S. (FL), Virginia K. (NY)
• Twinkle Twinkle (three chords) – Lennart B. (MA)
• Mr Tambourine Man (three chords) – Mike S. (FL), Mike S. (NJ)

A little more challenging:

• Moonshadow – Anne, Adrienne (TX)
• Norwegian Wood – Anne, Dr John (UK)

Challenging:

• Pineapple Mango (three chords with syncopation, in Hawaiian) (video) –
  Mary K. (AZ), Louise -Marie M. (MA), Jeannie K. (MA)
• Time in A Bottle (video) – Steffi A. (MA)
• Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head –
  Bruce B. (IT), Beth A. (MA), Lizzie S. (MA)

What determines the skill level required to play a song? Tablature (tabs)? Number of chords? Tempo? How frequently the chords change? Syncopation? Switching chords within a strum pattern?

On average, we can fit up to ten songs in one hour. We welcome participants to volunteer to “perform”, so as to solo or relay (tag) with other performers while everyone else’s microphones are muted. Once confirmed, these performers are requested to arrive early, by 2:30 pm EDT to do a sound and light check. Use the Google Form to request a song to perform. You’ll get an e-mail to confirm within 24 hours and your name and location will be added to this webpage. The line-up is determined before the session begins.

Three Chord Thursdays are free to join and perform. However, if you’d like to support this weekly song series, here’s a way to donate your spare change into the tip jar. Click: Contribute to Anne Ku’s ukulele song sheet arrangements.