The fretting fingers will also only focus on these strings. The thumb only plays the 5th and 6th strings.

What makes “Stand by Me” a great piece for beginner fingerpickers is its intro. Films and advertisements use the tune to deliver their message. The song has been given different renditions by different artists and personalities all over the world. Tips for playing ukulele fingerstyle solos, chord melody songs, and fingerpicking patterns.ĭuring the pandemic lockdown, I also learned how to play the tin whistle, so you will find easy tin whistle songs here as well.It is impossible not to recognize the unique melody and tune of this early 1960s song from one of America’s best rhythm and blues and soul singers. Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah Well, it goes like this the fourth, the fifth, That David played and it pleased the Lordīut you don’t really care for music, do you? Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen (partial lyrics only) When I'm fingerpicking this song, I try to emphasize the melody notes, so for the first line, 'I heard there was a secret chord,' I emphasize the 1st string for the C chord, and the 4th string for the Am chord. I like to keep this in mind when playing the song so it doesn't drag. 6/8 isn’t meant to be as rigid as 3/4 waltz time ( 123 123)-instead it should be a bit more lilting and loose. When my choir sang a song in 6/8, our director made us get up and dance around the room to understand the rhythm. The song is in 6/8 time, which is counted 123 456. I've also written out the pattern in tab, along with a few other fingerpicking patterns.

I like to play it in a reverse arpeggio pattern, a variation of the basic arpeggio style.Ĥth and 1st strings Pinch strings together with thumb and ring finger (This style is included in my fingerpicking PDF below if you want try it.) I checked on You Tube and there are various fingerpicking lessons for ukulele-many suggest playing the chords in arpeggio style. But after a break, I’m back to loving it again. I almost loved this song to death-I played it so often I got sick of it. Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen doesn’t need much introduction-it’s a phenomenally popular song, partly because of Jeff Buckley’s gorgeous version on his album Grace.

Fingerpicking hallelujah ukulele