UCL UKULELE BOOSTER COURSE

EXPLORING THE BEATLES

WEEK 5

NAME:______________________________

WELCOME TO WEEK 5

This work book is for UCL purposes only. There are 16 chords contained within the following 2 songs that you will get to explore in week 5. Your final week of Series 1:

9. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds | Key: A 10. With A Little Help From My Friends | Key: E

CHORDS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 Watch [VIDEO TUTORIAL 5.1] to practice these chord positions. Most of these chords are in open position, which means some of the open strings played will be part of the chord notes.

ALTERNATIVE CHORD SHAPES

We recommend that you play along with the video tutorial to familiarise yourself with them and to warm up before you begin exploring the next two songs.

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 [VIDEO TUTORIAL 5.2] Same rules apply…The more you practice these new chord positions, the more likely you are to remember them and with the ability of playing them with ease.

SONG 7: LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS

SONG ELEMENTS: And now the fun truly begins! Here’s where it gets really creative/bizarre. Nothing actually makes much sense….until you play it! With key, tempo and time changes, it is an extraordinary song and good fun to play after much, much practice. ATTRIBUTES KEY: A [A Major: Intro/Verse] Bb [B Flat Major: Bridge] G [G Major] Finishing on a D to make the crossover back to the key of A easier! TIME SIGNATURE: The verses and bridges are in 3/4 and the chorus is in 4/4 [See song structure layout] TEMPO: Varies between 93BPM to 138BPM

STRUMMING PATTERNS: STRUM A STRUM B STRUM C

[VT5.3] COUNT IN: 1, 2, 3 SONG STRUCTURE: This song starts in a 3/4 time signature at around 125BPM with RIFF 1 (below). Watch out for that pull off (P) from 5-4 on the A string in the last bar. You can also play the chords as single strums. The riff can carry on into the verse, otherwise play the chords for simplicity – especially if singing along. The tempo starts to pick up at the end of the 2nd verse and again into the bridge section. The end of the bridge section uses the kick drum for a count of 2, 3, 4 to help with the key change into 4/4 time for the chorus and a slower tempo of around 93BPM. The verses following the chorus go back into 3/4 time. There is no count in for the final chorus which repeats to fade.

PICKING PATTERN

P

SONG STRUCTURE: SECTION Bar 1 Bar 2 Bar 3 Bar 4 Bar 5 Bar 6 Bar 7 Bar 8 INTRO: A RIFF A7 RIFF D RIFF Dm RIFF

VERSE 1:3/4 A Dm7

A7 A

D A7

Dm D

A Dm

A7 A

D A7

Dm Dm

INTERLUDE: ? Dm Dm7 Dm7

BRIDGE: 3/4 Bb C

Bb C

C G

C G

Dm D 2,3,4

Dm Bb Bb

CHORUS: 4/4 G C D G C D G C D D

VERSE 2: 3/4 A Dm7

A7 A

D A7

Dm D

A Dm

A7 A

D A7

Dm Dm

INTERLUDE: ? Dm Dm7 Dm7

BRIDGE: 3/4 Bb C

Bb C

C G

C G

Dm D 2,3,4

Dm Bb Bb

CHORUS: 4/4 G C D G C D G C D D

VERSE 2: 3/4 A Dm7

A7 A

D A7

Dm D

A Dm

A7 A

D A7

Dm Dm

INTERLUDE: ? Dm 1,2,3,4

OUTRO: 4/4 G C D G C D G C D D A Repeat 2 Fade . .

NB: As you can see this song is not as straightfoward in terms of bar measurement, or as neatly structured as the other songs, but a great exploration of one of the Beatles finer songs. There is still huge debates about the song being linked to LSD usage (L = Lucy S =Sky D = Diamonds) but John was adamant that the song was about a picture his son drew of his school friend called Lucy. I would say that perhaps the latter is true of the chorus – as for the rest of the song, who knows! Members of Ukulele Club Liverpool performed this song for Play Music On The Porch Day 2018, filmed at Toxteth TV, Windsor St, Liverpool on 25th Septmber 2018. You can watch this footage via the UCL TV Channel on the website.

SONG BREAKDOWN: LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS

INTRO: 3/4 RIFF:

VERSE: 3/4 / / / / / /

VERSE ENDINGS 1. 2. / /

BRIDGE: 3/4 / / / / / / /

/ / / / / 2, 3, 4

CHORUS: 4/4 / / / / / /

OUTRO: 4/4 / / [repeat to fade]

VT: 5.4

VT: 5.5

VT: 5.6

VT: 5.7

VT: 5.8

P

SONG 10: WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS SONG ELEMENTS: This song is assembled with the following attributes: KEY: E [E Major] TIME SIGNATURE: 4/4 TEMPO: 109 BPM STRUMMING PATTERNS: STRUM A STRUM B

[VIDEO TUTORIAL 5.9] COUNT IN: 1, 2, 3, 4 This song pretty much has the same rythmic strumming all the way through and begins straight in with the vocals. The strumming patterns alternates between strum 1 and 2 throughout all sections of the song whereas. There is a short riff at the end of the 1st chorus before a drum break comes in:

SONG STRUCTURE: SECTION Bar 1 Bar 2 Bar 3 Bar 4 Bar 5 Bar 6 Bar 7 Bar 8 VERSE 1: E - B F#m F#m- B E E - B F#m F#m- B E CHORUS: D – A E D – A E D – A E B Drum Fill VERSE 2: E - B F#m F#m- B E E - B F#m F#m- B E CHORUS: D – A E D – A E D – A E B BRIDGE: C#m F# E – D A C#m F# E – D A VERSE 3: E - B F#m F#m- B E E - B F#m F#m- B E CHORUS: D – A E D – A E D – A E MIDDLE 8: C#m F# E – D A C#m F# E – D A CHORUS: D – A E D – A E D – A E OUTRO: D A C D E

SONG BREAKDOWN: WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

VERSE: / / / x2

CHORUS: / x3 RIFF [followed by 2 bar drum break]

BRIDGE: / / /

/ / /

OUTRO: / / / /

VT: 5.10

VT: 5.11

VT: 5.12

VT: 5.13

WEEK 5 | SONG NOTES: