Greetings Uke Strummers and Pickers and all Social Music Enthusiasts!

Here we are again at The Junction, with another song that will lift the people around you to new musical heights. This week we’re going to take the classic “This Little Light Of Mine” and get a version together that’s loosely based on the way The Staple Singers recorded it in the early 60’s. The way it’s most often played these days is a gentle 5 chord arrangement which we’ll look at quickly before breaking it down (and turning it up) to a 3 chord I-IV-V song in D. We’ll focus on some ways to rock back and forth from the major to the 7th chords in order to add energy and we’ll put a descending blues-based run in there which can also be used as an intro. And, of course, we’ll look at possibilities for an instrumental section. This is social music at it’s best and, not surprisingly, it comes from the African-American church. It was a powerful way to galvanize people during the Civil Rights Movement and still has a tremendous amount of lyrical and musical force, especially when played in a driving style.

Let me know how this is working for you….and thank you for the comments, you know I appreciate them!! It’s a pleasure to see you again here at The Junction.

Dan Zanes

 

 

 

Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:
Ukulele