This year’s Valentine’s Day falls on Friday. In anticipation, I am introducing love songs that are easy to play on the ukulele for my students in and around Boston, Massachusetts. These songs are suitable for anyone beginning their musical journey of accompanying themselves on this four-string instrument. Let’s begin with The Cure’s 1992 hit “Friday I’m in Love.”
This five chord song is deceptively challenging because the British rock band sings it in the key of E flat, a nonstarter for ukulele players and guitarists alike.
Ukulele song sheets typically have it in the key of D. To sing along with The Cure’s official video and play it in this key you would need a capo. Still, this key includes the B minor (Bm) which is a formidable barre chord for ukulele players. Besides, I don’t recommend using a capo on the ukulele.
In the key of D, ukulele players with low G-tuned ukuleles can play the introductory riff. Students in the second session of my new note-reading workshop can read these notes.
The latest edition of the Ukulele Wednesday compilation of song sheets shows the song in the key of D on page 114. I like that every song is fitted exactly on one page — a single sheet of paper.
Bytown Ukulele, the Canadian ukulele club, lists this song with a Word document (instead of the usual PDF), allowing you to edit and print or save as PDF.
Even easier than the chords in the key of D is to transpose it to the key of C to get the easy chords of C, F, Am and G; and the not so easy B flat chord. Incidentally, I consider G and G7 to be the first rite of passage, the first hurdle to overcome for beginning ukulele players. The second is the Bb because it requires using one finger to press on two strings on the same fret. I use Jim Carey’s Ozbcoz website to transpose, edit text, and change layout.
What is easy to play for beginners on the ukulele? The chords of C, F, Am and G (or G7). These chords are used in hundreds of popular songs. See my next blog post.
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