I’ve been playing ukulele for coming up to nine years now (I know… it’s mad!). It is a crazy, little, happy instrument that I have loved since the moment I picked it up and of course, like most obsessed musicians, I recommend it to everyone I meet. In this unnerving time, I thought it would be nice to share my favourite songs to play on the ukulele and hope that maybe it will entertain you, if not inspire you to pick up an instrument and have some fun. Sidenote: you can order a basic ukulele for about twenty-pounds online, why not get in quick! It is so easy to learn and I promise you won’t regret it! I really should be a ukulele saleswoman!
Always by Panic! At The Disco – A gentle song with beautiful chord progressions and once you’ve got the similar chords down, it isn’t too hard either (I’m ignoring the A6 in that statement!)
Letter from America by The Proclaimers – I first started playing this song after I watched the film ‘Sunshine on Leith’ and fell in love with the Proclaimer’s music. A really simple one to learn, a good beginners song too as it isn’t too fast! Next up I want to learn ‘Life with You‘, which is one of my favourites of theirs – someone hold me to that!
Friday I’m in Love by The Cure – I love it when we play this at my ukulele club and I often request it. The original is just so good, but most of the time I like to sing it in the style that Janet Devlin performs it, she adds some fun twists!
Fisherman’s Blues by The Waterboys – Another ukulele club special, this sounds so good on the ukulele – especially with a big group of people! One of the things I love about going to a ukulele club is that we play things I would never otherwise have even heard of – there are all the possibilities when people’s music tastes mash together.
Arms by Christina Perri – One of my favourite things about the website UkuTabs, where most of this music is from, is that it has a built in transposer that makes songs that I wouldn’t have been able to play easily super simple by putting them in the right key. I will learn this in the original key one day but until then transpose 4 half steps down and whack on a capo.
Worried About Ray by The Hoosiers – A bit of nostalgia from when my brother & I used to be obsessed with the Hoosiers, a really fun song to play and a surprisingly hard song to sing!
She Moves in Her Own Way by The Kooks – A classic indie song, why wouldn’t you want to play it? I’m sure all The Kooks songs were actually made to be played on ukulele – if someone could let me know if this is the case that would be great?
Whistle for the Choir by the Fratellis – I have always been a huge fan of the Fratellis so was super excited when one of my fellow uke players bought this for everyone to play a few months ago. A few slightly tricky bits, but have a listen to the song and you’ll soon pick them up!
So there you have it a random selection of songs that I love to play, it’s a funny old mixture isn’t it! Do you play any instruments? What are your favourite songs to play?
