Table of Contents
How to Play Over the Rainbow on Ukulele
Introduction
In this article, you’ll learn how to play Over the Rainbow on the ukulele. We’ll stroll through the chords and the best way to play them. Next, we’ll take a look at chord transitions and fingering.
Then, we’ll check out the strumming patterns. And eventually, we’ll look carefully at Somewhere Over the Rainbow as a whole. Israel was one of the people that intrigued us to learn this song and we love how it is still viable in 2023.
Bear in mind, that when studying to play a track on any instrument, endurance is essential. Beginning gradually and working your approach as much as a tempo (speed) you’re comfy with, will get you to your purpose faster than rushing.
If you already own a ukulele, this song is one of the easiest to learn and we want to let you know that we will have our take on explaining it. We want to simplify the tasks for you, in order to have an easy and fun time learning this tune.
The voice of Hawaii, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, blessed us along with his cover of Over the Rainbow and What A Wonderful World.
Anybody who’s played with a ukulele is aware of this track. Actually, it might be the primary track folks be taught after they get their fingers on a uke. So for those who don’t comprehend it, now could be the time to learn it.
“Check our article on Best Ukuleles for Beginners!”
Rhythm for How to Play Over the Rainbow on Ukulele
After studying the fundamental rhythm for this music, you have got the power to be a little bit more artistic along with your strumming.
There are free chord progression guides with lyrics over them for all the players to have the important info in front of them. These tabs come in handy when we want to learn a new song.
At all times study the fundamental rhythm first after which you’ll be able to “break the principles” of that rhythm to make the music yours.
Keep in mind that everyday training will take you to the next step where you can use the same chords.
If you’re a novice ukulele player, then it is best, to begin with, an easy down-up-down-up (DUDU) strumming pattern till you’ve mastered the chord development.
Let’s check out the strumming song sample:
^ = strum down
V = strum up
The strumming sample for Somewhere Over the Rainbow seems to be like this:
v & v ^& – & ^v^
Meaning our strumming pattern will probably be: down – down up – pause – up down up
You may practice playing this rhythm at a tempo of 170 BPM (beats per minute). The music construction for Somewhere Over the Rainbow is luckily fairly easy.
You’ve got an intro, two verses, and an outro. It doesn’t get easier than that.
Strumming Pattern Approach
Whichever approach you go together with the strumming pattern, it stays the same just about all through. Once you know the chord progression, the song will be easy to learn.
You just need to start with the strums, learn the chord tabs and find your best way to perform this song.
There’s a refined shift away from such an inflexible pattern in the direction of the second half of the music but it’s largely just adjustments in dynamics relatively than a change within the actual pattern.
As we all the time say, very it as a lot as you are feeling comfortable. The pattern performed the identical way all through can get a little boring (for the listeners).
That’s why it is good to insert some tasteful freestyle chord variations in the song to introduce your own feel to it.
The next thing that can help you is to follow some videos and play along with them. Maybe that is one of the best ways to learn from free resources.
There are many videos playing Somewhere Over the Rainbow on ukulele that can help you out.
So once you master the main chord progression and strumming pattern, you will be able to add a bit of your individual touch to it to make it more unique and interesting.
This is very important on how to play Somewhere Over The Rainbow on a ukulele because the feeling you give is the feeling that will drive the ambiance. That is what keeps people interested from the start.
Transitioning Between Ukulele Chords
Probably the most difficult components of playing the ukulele are the chord transitions. For instance, the act of shifting from one chord to another. Also, videos are free resources where you can learn chord transitions.
Studying how to transition between chords takes endurance and repetition. First, begin with the motion between two of the chords you’re most comfy with. This is the spot where most of the players should start with.
After you have these down, next add another chord that’s slightly tougher. Lastly, add one other chord, and then another. Proceed with this process, slowly including extra chords and getting extra comfy as you go.
This process will assist you to hone your chord transition abilities, in addition to serving to you memorize chords. Above all, by this process, the chord transitions will develop into “muscle memory”.
Whereas putting your fingers to make a chord, attempt to transfer and place all of your fingers at the same time. This may help you make a clear chord.
Placement of Fingers on the Ukulele Strings
Let’s begin with the placement of your fingers on the strings of the ukulele. You at all times wish to use fingertips on the strings, having your knuckles popped up.
We describe this as “eagle claws”. In addition, keep in mind that your fingers also need to be positioned on the “back end” of the frets. This may guarantee to avoid weak or lifeless notes.
In relation to playing and following rhythms; your finest bet is to search for the music on YouTube or Vimeo. That means you’ll be able to play along.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow Ukulele Chords
Have you ever seen how many colors there are in your common, run-of-the-mill rainbow? That’s the number of chords that you need to learn to know how to play Somewhere Over the Rainbow on the ukulele with ease.
If you want to be prolific in playing this song, it is better to learn the chord progression by heart and practice every day until you master it.
The seven chords are G, C, Em, Dm7, D, E7, F, and Am.
Which will look like numerous chords for such a piece of easy music, particularly considering that the standard pop songs only have three or four chords.
However they’re fairly simple to remember when you get the grasp of it, and there aren’t any barre chords to wrestle with either.
Seven chords will see you thru the music and while that may be a few to recollect they’re actually not that tough and some of you will be more than happy to listen to that there aren’t any barre chords within the mix.
Most likely essentially the toughest to take care of is the E minor and the E7. If E minor is causing you issues then you may merely play a G chord and drop your pinkie finger onto the 4th fret of the C string.
How to play Somewhere Over the Rainbow on ukulele – chords progression and lyrics
Intro:
|C G |Am F |C G |
|Am |F |
C Em F C
ooo-ooo ooo-ooo ooo-ooo ooo-ooo
F E7 Am F
ooo-ooo ooo-ooo ooo-ooo ooo-ooo
C Em F C
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
F C G Am F
And the dreams that you dream of once in a lullaby...
C Em F C
Oh somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
F C G Am F
And the dreams that you dream of, dreams really do come true...
C
Someday i'll wish upon a star
G Am F
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
C
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
G Am F
High above the chimney tops that's where you'll find me
C Em F C
Oh somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly
F C G Am F
And the dreams that you dare to, oh why, oh why can't I?...
C Em F C
Well I see trees of green and Red roses too
F C E7 Am
I'll watch then bloom for me and you
F G Am F
And I think to myself: what a wonderful world
C Em F C
Well I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white
F C E7 Am
And the brightness of day, I like the dark
F G C F C
And I think to myself: what a wonderful world
G C
The colours of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
G C
Are also on the faces of people passing bye
F C F C
See friends shaking hands, saying 'how do you do?'
F C Dm7 D
They're really saying, I...I love you
C Em F C
I hear babies cry and I watch them grow
F C E7 Am
They'll learn much more than we'll know
F G Am F
And I think to myself: what a wonderful world
C
Someday i'll wish upon a star
G Am F
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
C
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
G Am F
High above the chimney tops that's where you'll find me
C Em F C
Oh somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
F C G Am F
And the dreams that you dare to, why, oh why can't I?..
C Em F C
ooo-ooo ooo-ooo ooo-ooo ooo-ooo
F E7 Am F
ooo-ooo ooo-ooo ooo-a-eh-a-a-a-a-a-a
Our Hero – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Conclusion
The very best part is, as soon as you know the way to play Somewhere Over the Rainbow, you’ll have already got the information to play a number of different songs.
As a result, any songs that embody the chords used right here are available to you. One of those songs is Wonderful World which has the same chord progression.
Once you hear a track you want to play, bear in mind that you could look up the chords for that track. And you’ll study to play these chords using the table above in this article.
The progression is easy on how to play over the rainbow on a ukulele
There are additionally some websites that have the songs to play together with, and that provides the capability to slow the track down. This helps you study to transition between chords in a more comfy method.
Lastly, do not forget that by working towards the ukulele typically, playing songs you already love, and being patient with yourself, you’ll be on your way to turning into a fantastic ukulele player.
