Songs and arrangements
83 posts
Heavy Metal Jones
Tamás GállI know I recently made a post about the Indiana Jones soundtrack, but while testing the electro-acoustic ukulele and strumming whatever came into my head, I suddenly started playing the Indy theme. It sounded surprisingly heavy, so I thought I would share it with you: This recording is what is known…
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Házasodik a tücsök — accompaniment tutorial
Tamás GállRecently we learned the melody of the song beginning “Hol jártál, báránykám?”. This time I would like to show you the accompaniment to “Házasodik a tücsök”. It is a lovely folk song from western Hungary, and I am sure very many people — probably everyone — know it. We need three chords for this song…
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Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
Tamás GállIn another video we are going to work through Creedence Clearwater Revival's Have You Ever Seen The Rain. The band's name may not mean much to everyone, but I am certain almost everybody has heard some of their songs. The group was at its peak in the late 1960s and the 1970s. One musician stands out…
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Grease – Summer Nights
Tamás GállOne of my favourite musical films when I was young was Grease (released in Hungary under the title Pomádé). Unfortunately I have not seen it for a long time, but I still know the songs by heart, and I suspect many people who love 1950s rock and roll are the same. The story of the film is extremely s…
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Give Peace a Chance
Tamás GállThis song has a sadly topical relevance. I hope the war between Ukraine and Russia ends as soon as possible — a war that perhaps no one truly believed would happen . According to Wikipedia, “Give Peace a Chance” is one of John Lennon's best-known songs. It was recorded on 31 May 1969 in room 1742 of…
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Fyodor M. Dostoevsky and the Devil
Tamás GállFor a long time I have had the thought that it would be worth arranging something by Tamás Cseh — and making a video about it — because his guitar-and-vocal format, even though many songs later add further instruments and sometimes a whole band, seems naturally suited to ukulele and voice as well. I…
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From Me To You, Egérkém!
Tamás GállAfter a break of more than a month, the blog is finally being updated again. The move and unpacking are behind us, although more big tasks lie ahead. In any case I finally managed to record raw material for several tutorial videos. First up is the excellent Beatles song From Me To You, presented in…
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From Balatonlelle to Szigetvár (Route 67)
Tamás GállWith Republic's song 67-es út (“Route 67”), which made the podium in our previous poll, we will learn three new chords and revise G major, which we already memorised for Let It Be. The three new chords are D major, A major and B minor. Important: if a chord has no additional marking — just a letter…
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Folsom Prison Blues
Tamás GállI have been planning for a long time to write a blog post about Johnny Cash and arrange one of his songs — and perhaps I will eventually do several. In my view he is one of those songwriters and performers everyone must have heard of, whether they like his music or not. His life would deserve a sepa…
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Five Foot Two – chords and picking technique
Tamás GállThis song may not be as widely known in 2018 as it was in the 1920s. I would like to introduce it to you now, but above all I want to encourage you to learn its chord progression, which I think is extremely effective and very well constructed. There have been countless versions of the song, and it i…
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Elvis – Heartbreak Hotel
Tamás GállI usually begin blog posts about song arrangements by briefly introducing the performer and the song. I hope nobody minds if I skip the introduction to Elvis. And if anyone happens not to know this song, which is already 62 years old this year, they should urgently correct that omission! You can fin…
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Egyszer egy királyfi — and a giveaway!
Tamás GállIn the video below I would like to teach you a ukulele arrangement of a sung fairy tale. The story itself continues for many, many “verses”, or sections. Memorizing the text is almost an impossible mission for me , but the chord accompaniment is much simpler, and the bright, chiming sound of the uku…
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