At the request of my ukulele students, I recorded my first video tutorial. The song “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” is ideal for beginners as it gets them to practise frequent switching between the easy chords of C and F. It rarely requires the more challenging G7 chord.
Written in 1963, the song was first recorded by The Exciters, an American band, but made internationally famous by the British group Manfred Mann the following year. Nearly two decades later, in 1981, it was featured in the movie “Stripes” and since then has been associated with that sort of call and response march.
As this song was sung acapella (without accompaniment) in the movie, it makes sense to limit the amount of musical accompaniment. The ukulele is useful to keep the singers in sync (rhythmically) and in tune (melodically). It’s an excellent song for vocal harmonisation.
If you search for its lyrics and chords, you’ll easily find many versions in different keys. Richard G’s song sheet lays out the song in C major nicely on one page (A4-size), no need to turn pages. However, it doesn’t show you the kind of strum and call and response possibilities.
Bytown Ukulele’s song sheet in the key of G, available as Word Doc and 2-page PDF, suggests single down strokes at strategic locations.
In a ukulele jam session, it’s common to split the group into two. One could consist of one person — the leader who “calls” — and the other is the main group who “responds”. Alternatively, there could be two groups, as in a class situation.
I decided to explore different ways to make this song more interesting in my adult beginner ukulele class. which meets weekly in Dorchester (part of Boston), Massachusetts. I will be offering this adult beginner course in four locations in Massachusetts: Dorchester , Brookline, Milton and Arlington.
Meanwhile, we will do this song at the forthcoming Valentine’s Fun with Ukulele free event at the local library.
Download my one-page song sheet with instructions on strum patterns and two vocal groups.
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