In the days leading to Martin Luther King Jr Day on 20th January 2025, I hear “We Shall Overcome” in my head. We can strum or fingerpick the ukulele to accompany the song. The long melodic notes at the end of phrases and sentences give the opportunity to embellish with arpeggiation.
Experienced ukulele players can look at a leadsheet and play the chords such that the melody notes fall on the highest sounding note in each chord. That’s why it’s advantageous to choose a key such that the melody notes reside on the top strings of the ukulele.
Chord melody arrangements, also known as instrumental solo, are useful as introductions, interludes, or outros.
The regular and steady beats of this hymn-like song offer the possibility of using a repetitive pattern such as that suggested above for high G ukulele.
Practice suggestions
Use your right thumb and middle fingers to alternate with the index finger in the chord melody arrangement above for high G ukulele.
Access to the sheet music
- The lead sheet fits in one-page. The chord melody arrangement spans two pages.
- The pdfs will be e-mailed to all those who registered and paid for the 8-week Ukulele Winter 2025 course. See the Classes Webpage for further details.
- Annual subscribers to 3 Chord Thursday 2025 may request and receive these new arrangements as part of their package, for supporting the thematic song sessions for 2025.
- In due course, these arrangements will be available for purchase.
Notification of new and updated work
There is no ONE way to find out. The best way is ALL the ways.
- Sign up for the celebrated Ukulele Enthusiast e-blast (newsletter) to get on the mailing list for notification of such new arrangements. Use the Google Form.
- Subscribe to this website to get instant notification of these daily tabs. Use the form at the top right hand corner of any webpage.
- Subscribe to the YouTube Channel to get notification of new livestreams and uploads. It’s my intention to record my new work within a week of publishing on this website.
Catalog of new music by Anne Ku
Below is what I know and have done so far and what I plan to do for this week. Each piece is followed by exercises to prepare and support that piece. The “day” column refers to the day in the project, starting on the 1st day of 2025. As you can see, I am several days ahead.
| Day | Title / Topic | Keys | Type | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greensleeves / What Child Is This | Em, Fm, Gm, Am | Lead Sheet Chord Melody | sample score, video |
| 2 | Andalusian Cadence | Am, Gm | Arpeggio Accompaniment | sample score |
| 3 | Auld Lang Syne for high G ukulele | F, G | Lead Sheet Chord Melody | sample score, playalong video |
| 4 | Left Hand Techniques | G | Lead Sheet | definition, sample score |
| 5 | On Top of Spaghetti | C | Chord Melody | playalong video |
| 6 | Auld Lang Syne in F for low G ukulele | F, C | Chord Melody | playalong video |
| 7 | Feed the Birds | Em, Am | Lead Sheet, Chord Melody | sample scores |
| 8 | Accompaniment in 3/4 Time | Am | High G ukulele | sample scores |
| 9 | Accompaniment exercises in 3/4 Time | Am | Low G ukulele | sample scores |
| 10 | Strum & Fingerpick Exercise in 3/4 Time | C | high or low G ukulele | sample scores |
| 11 | Exercise for Waltz Accompaniment | C | high or low G ukulele | sample scores |
| 12 | Oh Susanna! | C | high or low G ukulele | sample scores |
| 13 | Travis Picking exercises | C | high and low G ukulele | sample scores |
| 14 | Puff the Magic Dragon 7 Travis Picking variations | C | high and low G ukulele | sample scores |
| 15 | We Shall Overcome | C | high and low G ukulele | sample scores |