Yesterday, I released my 11 Easy Spirituals video with free PDF sheet music. Already, the video has been watched 841 times on Facebook with lots of likes and loves, but … Never is everyone happy, even with free stuff. I got this letter in my email box this morning:

“I LOVE the idea of this, Ryan. Unfortunately I am too much of a beginner to know most of the chords you use, even though there are only a few chords per song. How about a bunch using the familiar A A7 B7 C D D7 G G7 E E7? Bar chords are beyond my old arthritic hands, and several of the chords I have never even seen in uke tunes before. I know the teacher in you wants us to improve and become more proficient. But some of us just want to strum and sing along easy peasy. Thanks for listening.”

Usually, I just ‘let it go’ when it comes to criticism, or at least try to, but this person was too nice to ignore, so here’s my response:

Thanks for taking the time to write. I have to disagree about the difficulty on most of the songs I’ve included in this collection though. You can’t ask for anything easier than a song that uses Dm and F (one finger different from each other), or Fadd9 and C7 (both one finger chords) as the only two chords in their songs … just because a chord sounds unfamiliar doesn’t mean it is a difficult chord. In fact, many of these fancier sounding chords are easier to play than their plain vanilla counterparts. For example, Bb is a common chord but is notoriously difficult for beginners … in There is a Balm in Gilead, I substitute the much easier to play Bbmaj7 chord which has a similar shape to the easy peasy Em chord. As far as barre chords go, I’ve only included one in this set, the very common D7 barre, but it is easy to substitute the ‘Hawaiian’ D7, which is much easier to play (the fret numbers for that version are 2020). The only song in the set that might take more than 15-minutes of isolated chord practice is I Want to Be Ready, with the Bbadd9 chord from what James Hill calls the ‘don’t lift a finger set’ (where the pinky stays on the 3rd fret of the 1st string for all three chords) … once learned though, this becomes a fantastic substitution for the very common, and much harder, Bb chord (you can’t play in the key of F without it, or one of its substitutes). Anyway, I know there are those that just want to use the same chords over and over again, but I personally find that too limiting. I think 10 out of 11 of these chord sets could be mastered with 10-15 minutes of isolated practice.

What I didn’t say, but really wanted to, was that if something isn’t important enough for you to practice for 10-15 minutes, then you should just move on and do something else that you are willing to invest a little effort into. If you want the ultimate in ease, there’s nothing wrong with karaoke … after all, singing (even singing badly) is great for your health and well-being.

Post filed under All UkulelePlay! Blog Posts.