Song Help Request Dr Uke's "Sunny afternoon" intro https://www.doctoruke.com/_player/sunnyafternoon.html

[Rabs1]

Hi all I have been listening to a Dr Uke song "Sunny afternoon" by the kinks and trying to understand how he is playing the introduction. The link to the the song is https://www.doctoruke.com/_player/sunnyafternoon.html.
It appears to me that he is doing a 7 note run down but also strumming. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

 

[ksiegel]

Hi all I have been listening to a Dr Uke song "Sunny afternoon" by the kinks and trying to understand how he is playing the introduction. The link to the the song is https://www.doctoruke.com/_player/sunnyafternoon.html.
It appears to me that he is doing a 7 note run down but also strumming. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

Drop him an email at doc@doctoruke.com, and ask.

The lead sheet shows ||:Am (rest) Em7+5 (if I recall correctly) (rest) :|| then into the verse.

Much of the time, you an use this as a starting point, then create your own into, playing the notes that on a guitar would be a descending bass shuffle, however you feel like it, to get the sound you want.

I use Dr Uke as a reference to learn the melody and chords, and then modify however I feel like doing it.

-Kurt​

 

[Rabs1]

Drop him an email at doc@doctoruke.com, and ask.

The lead sheet shows ||:Am (rest) Em7+5 (if I recall correctly) (rest) :|| then into the verse.

Much of the time, you an use this as a starting point, then create your own into, pla for your inputying the notes that on a guitar would be a descending bass shuffle, however you feel like it, to get the sound you want.

I use Dr Uke as a reference to learn the melody and chords, and then modify however I feel like doing it.

-Kurt​

Thanks Kurt for your advice, I will give it a go and also see what Dr Uke has to say.
Thanks for his email

cheers

 

[Yukio]

Hello Rabs1! Sunny Afternoon is a great song and I am glad to hear you want to tackle it with the introduction and all.
First thing is that this chart from Dr. Uke puts it in a different key than the original. I don't know if that was for singing purposes or what, but if you choose to do it in this key, it won't match the original record by The Kinks. I am happy to explain what might work for you in either Dr. Uke's key (Am) or the original (Dm) or maybe even both if you are a glutton for punishment! Please let me know....

 

[Yukio]

I also should note that in Dr. Uke's recording, he is overdubbing the descending figure of the intro, not playing it at the same time while strumming. He strummed the chords on a reentrant (High G) uke and overdubbed the descending part on a different ukulele tuned with a Low G. It is possible to do both at the same time, but it won't sound quite so distinct as in his recording.

Also consider that Dr. Uke's key is only going to sound good played on a Low G instrument. This is because the last notes of the descending figure go down to a B natural and that is a half step lower than the low C on a reentrant tuned ukulele. If you jump up an octave on that last note of the figure, it will sound pretty cheesy. If you play reentrant, it would probably sound cooler in the original key where you can play the intro using a chord melody approach that will sound good on either a high or low-G instrument.

Hit me up!
-Yukio

 

[Rabs1]

Hello Rabs1! Sunny Afternoon is a great song and I am glad to hear you want to tackle it with the introduction and all.
First thing is that this chart from Dr. Uke puts it in a different key than the original. I don't know if that was for singing purposes or what, but if you choose to do it in this key, it won't match the original record by The Kinks. I am happy to explain what might work for you in either Dr. Uke's key (Am) or the original (Dm) or maybe even both if you are a glutton for punishment! Please let me know....

Ehank you for your generous offer. I find all the theory most valuable and would welcome your input. II is just that my headspace is not there to take it on at the moment. thank you again

 

[Yukio]

Here is the outline of the choice between Am and Dm.

 

[ploverwing]

Wow @Yukio that's so great, thanks a lot for taking the time to develop this out, it's so informative, and your explanation is very clear.

 

[Rabs1]

I also should note that in Dr. Uke's recording, he is overdubbing the descending figure of the intro, not playing it at the same time while strumming. He strummed the chords on a reentrant (High G) uke and overdubbed the descending part on a different ukulele tuned with a Low G. It is possible to do both at the same time, but it won't sound quite so distinct as in his recording.

Also consider that Dr. Uke's key is only going to sound good played on a Low G instrument. This is because the last notes of the descending figure go down to a B natural and that is a half step lower than the low C on a reentrant tuned ukulele. If you jump up an octave on that last note of the figure, it will sound pretty cheesy. If you play reentrant, it would probably sound cooler in the original key where you can play the intro using a chord melody approach that will sound good on either a high or low-G instrument.

Hit me up!
-Yukio

Here is the outline of the choice between Am and Dm.

 

[Rabs1]

Hi Yukio this is great work and thank you for the time and effort you have put in. I liked the cord melody best. Can you please advise the first run down started with DM what did the second run start with. I will need to study and play along with you to perfect this.
I had previously played the Am version and when introduced to the DM version I had difficulty singing the song. I felt the F chords were not right. I then found others playing and singing it in DM and it seemed ok. I am guessing it must be me? Do you have any thoughts on this please?

 

[Yukio]

Hi Yukio this is great work and thank you for the time and effort you have put in. I liked the cord melody best. Can you please advise the first run down started with DM what did the second run start with. I will need to study and play along with you to perfect this.
I had previously played the Am version and when introduced to the DM version I had difficulty singing the song. I felt the F chords were not right. I then found others playing and singing it in DM and it seemed ok. I am guessing it must be me? Do you have any thoughts on this please?

Hey, Rabs1. Yes, certainly! If you would like to try the chord melody idea in Dm, I will be happy to make a second video to explore that more fully.
Ciao,
-Yukio

 

[Rabs1]

Hey, Rabs1. Yes, certainly! If you would like to try the chord melody idea in Dm, I will be happy to make a second video to explore that more fully.
Ciao,
-Yukio

Hi Yukio
Yes please that would be of great benefit to me and all the other folk following this
Thank you
Cheers Ray

 

[Yukio]

Thanks for the inspiration, Ray. You mentioned all the other folks here, so I wanted to give lots of options and be sure to include at least some ideas useful to everybody, regardless of skill level. This made the show run a bit long, but I hope it is worth everybody's time to watch this tutorial about playing this great song.

 

[ploverwing]

Once again @Yukio thank you for this. You've really broken this down and laid out a lot of options (and reasoning behind them) for many levels. Awesome.

 

[Yukio]

Once again @Yukio thank you for this. You've really broken this down and laid out a lot of options (and reasoning behind them) for many levels. Awesome.

Thanks a lot, @ploverwing ! This morning I made a video of "the final product" where I put all the stuff together and played the song with my good buddy, Mr. Metronome.

 

[Rabs1]

Thanks a lot, @ploverwing ! This morning I made a video of "the final product" where I put all this stuff together and play the song with my good buddy, Mr. Metronome.

Well done and thank you again