“One Day Soon” (Ernie Cruz, Jr.) Ukulele Chords & Strumming

Learn to play "One Day Soon" (Ernie Cruz, Jr.) on Ukulele

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Print the Lyrics and Chords for "One Day Soon" (link)

Hey UUers!

On this month's episode of Uke Lessons, we're bringing you a staple of Hawaii gigging musicians: "One Day Soon" by Ernie Cruz, Jr. Many of you might know Ernie as half of the legendary group, The Ka'au Crater Boys (alongside ukulele virtuoso, Troy Fernandez). After the Ka'au Crater Boys, Ernie continued playing music and released this song on his solo album Portraits (2001). Check out our cover of "One Day Soon" performed by Kaniho and Aldrine and play along with the chords in the Play-Along! And if you need help learning this one, start with any of the steps below:

STEP 1 - Verse

Start by learning these 7 ukulele chords for the Verse:

These are fairly simple chords but be sure to practice holding them and getting a clean sound, especially the bar chords. Practice along with Aldrine in the video above using simple quarter note, eighth note, and/or sixteenth note strumming. When you've got the verse chords down, head up to the top of the page and try playing along with the "One Day Soon" Ukulele Play-Along to practice. When you're ready to learn the Chorus/Bridge, head over to Step 2:

STEP 2 - Chorus/Bridge

For the next section of the song, Aldrine calls it the "Chorus" in the lesson above but in the Play-Along video, Kaniho calls out "to the Bridge!" Either way, in addition to the Verse chords, all you need are these 4 additional chords:

Use the lesson video above to practice the progression that includes these new chords. Once you get the hang of the Chorus, try it out in real time by playing along with the "One Day Soon" Ukulele Play-Along at the top of the page. Great job, now there's just a few chords you need to know for the very end. Continue on to Step 3 to learn them:

STEP 3 - Ending

Finally, you just need 3 more chords for the very end of the song:

Once you get these chords down, practice them using the "One Day Soon" Ukulele Play-Along at the top of the page and play along with the entire song. You can also use the "One Day Soon" Lyrics & Ukulele Chords Sheet as a reference. Awesome - you have everything you need in order to play "One Day Soon" on ukulele! If you want to play the Advanced version that Aldrine is playing, all you need is a few chord substitutions and some additional rhythm. Check them out in Steps 4 & 5 below:

STEP 4 - Advanced Verse

For the Advanced version of the Verse, you'll need to substitute 4 of the chords:

Check out the video above to learn how to use these chords in the progression and add some advanced rhythm techniques. For the B7, Aldrine also adds a couple extra notes (fret 4 on the E & A strings) to create a run. Practice these and try playing along with the "One Day Soon" Ukulele Play-Along at the top of the page.

STEP 5 - Advanced Chorus & Improvising

For the Advanced version of the Chorus, you'll need to learn 4 additional substitutions:

During the Play-Along, Aldrine improvises the intro and solo picking parts. Here are all of the notes that he uses (see fretboard diagram, left). Most of the notes are from the E scale. Notice that the notes that are not completely bold / slightly faded are either C or D notes. Aldrine only plays C notes when the Am chord is being played during the chord progression (the Am chord contains a C note). He also only plays D notes when the D7 chord is being played (D7 contains a D note). Practice improvising by playing around with these safe notes to create your own solos!

If you like this cover, be sure to check out our tutorial library of more tunes by Ernie Cruz, Jr. as part of the The Ka'au Crater Boys. As always, if you have any questions or need help learning to play the ukulele, send a message! Have fun UUers, keep strummin'

Aloha,
-UU Staff