Hey Alan,

that’s amazing! I started working on my song, but it’s nowhere near as good as yours. I was also thinking about doing a chord change going back and forth between Eb and Gm, but I ended up doing something different. After watching your video I might have to revisit that idea. You did a lot of cool things; the artificial harmonics at the end, so good! I hope my song is half as good as yours. Now I feel even more pumped to do this challenge. I’m so glad you decided to join in.

Aloha,
-Kahai

Hey Alan,

that’s a great observation that I never thought about. I’ve always played/noodled around first, and then learned the theory behind it second. I’ve always done those kinds of chord changes because you just have to move or add an extra finger; easy peazy. I like how we can both come up with the same chord changes, but come at it from different perspectives.

I think I have some chord patterns, but my problem is figuring what genre I want the song to be in. I love punk, hip hop, and edm, but I don’t know if I want to do a more stripped down song instead. I always run into this problem where I get too greedy with all of my different options. Maybe someone can give me a suggestion and I can work from there.

I hope more people post their own submissions, and their thought process behind their own songs. I’m excited to see more people’s songs, and I’m excited to see the songs Aaron and Aldrine come up with.

Aloha,
-Kahai (UU Staff)

P.S.

Here is the video of the challenge. You can probably understand it better if you see the video than read my description.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by kahai.

Hey Marc,

I would love to see how your song is similar to Wind. If you do come up with a different progression, I would still be interested to see what you came up with originally. I’m really glad that we get to see your and Alan’s process through writing your songs. I was playing around with the chords, and I actually found that they are pretty close to a certain “theme” song, so I think I’m going to try and parody it. It sounds similar, but you can also tell that it uses some chords not in the original theme. Hopefully it comes out alright, but I think it will at least be a funny joke.

Aloha,
-Kahai

Hey Ourmaninjapan,

thanks for posting that link. I’m sure it will really help some people. I’m guessing you just meant the Ab chord, and not the key of Ab. The first Ab chord from the link might be a little tricky with that G string 1st fret, so an easy way I play it is to wrap my thumb around the neck of the uke and mutes the G string. You can also play the second inversion from the link. It is the chord shape that Alan used. You by barre the 3rd fret with your pointer finger, middle on E string 4, and ring on G string 5

Just as a heads up for anyone who is checking this out, the key is Eb, and the chords are, Ab, Bb, Cm, and Gm. Those are the minimum chords that we challenged ourselves to include, but all the chords for Eb are Eb, Fm, Gm, Ab, Bb, Cm, and D diminished, so feel free to add those chords if you want. Also, it’s a little more advanced, but if you want to change keys during your song, that would be perfectly fine, and I’m sure we would be excited to see someone do that.

Aloha,
-Kahai

Question for Live Lesson

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/dan_shay/speechless_chords_2386647

Gentleman,

I’ve been trying to learn Dan and Shay’s song SPEECHLESS for my wife as she loves that tune. I consulted ultimateguitar.com for the chords (link above) and the chords seems correct. The music is written in the key of C with a capo on the first fret so it’s really in C# but for the purpose of this question, let’s just say were in C major. The verse starts off traditionally with: I-iii-IV-ii. Then, there is a bridge that stars off vi-V-IV and then there is the first of a few F minor chords in the song and then later there is even a Bb chord. My questions are: Is this just an unorthodox song? Why does the Fm and Bb chord sound like it fits so well in the C major chord family? Is there some alternating key change going on that I am not detecting? I appreciate your help.

PS – I love the new song challenge ideas that you just started doing. It really got me thinking and trying new things…

Thanks,

Lao Gao