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Ingrid Michaelson Background

In 2006, a producer from the ABC drama, Grey’s Anatomy, listened to a little known singer songwriter on MySpace who played the diminutive ukulele instrument, writing catchy, sensitive, intelligent songs that fit the quirky, nerdy vibe of the successful show. After Ingrid Michaelson’s music was featured on the show, she began receiving offers from record companies and it appeared that her music career was off and running.

Her early success was mostly in television, as music on shows like Grey’s Anatomy and in commercials for Old Navy and other brands. She has straddled the line between behind the scenes songstress and up front pop star, but always retained that intimate, bedroom vibe of a friend singing a song to a friend.

You and I

On her third album, “Be OK” (2008), Ingrid returned with more of those moments, including a gem of a song that begins so close and intimate you can feel her breath on your shoulder. But it grows into a chorus (literally) where everyone can join in and the feeling of solidarity oozes from the speakers. That song is You and I.

The entire song is backed only by the ukulele and the search for ‘You and I Ukulele Chords’ has become a popular one. While the song is fairly simple to play, it uses 8 different chords in the key of C. Many of them are the common C, F, A-, and G chords but there is more advanced harmony interspersed including E7 and Csus4.

At Center Stage Ukulele Academy, I have created a detailed lesson that teaches you how to play this song from the beginning, including a chart with all the chords and rhythms. You can check out the lesson page here.

Intimate Performance

I had the pleasure of hosting Ingrid and her two friends, Allie Moss and Bess Rogers, at my recording studio, Audiogrotto, for an intimate acoustic performance while she was on tour. While she did not perform You and I, it still was a wonderful experience and made me a fan.  Check it out here.

-Ashley Shepherd

Center Stage Ukulele Academy

If you google the top 10 ukulele songs on the internet, you come up with a list of some really great music, much of which is easy to play. When you’re just starting to play an instrument, it is always more fun to be able to play a favorite song quickly, giving you the confidence to practice more and get better.

I’ve compiled that top 10 list here, plus an 11th, with links to lessons pages where you can learn how to play the ukulele on these songs quickly from the Center Stage Ukulele Academy, known for their easy to learn beginner lessons. Click each song name to go straight to the lessons page.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

As performed by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole

This song from the movie The Wizard of Oz, has been reimagined by the Hawaiian singer and ukulele legend Israel Kamakawiwo’ole in a medley with another classic, What A Wonderful World. Check out our blog post all about the history of that version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Brown Eyed Girl

By Van Morrison

Released in 1967, Van Morrison never received any record royalties for this seminal song of his owing to a badly negotiated record contract with Bang Records. It has proved to be the breakout song of his career and to this day, is one of the most played and downloaded songs of the 60’s.

Riptide

By Vance Joy

This is a hugely popular song to play on the uke. We even did a whole blog post just on this one song. It is very simple to play, only three primary chords. If you are just starting out, this is a great song to begin with.

I’m Yours

By Jason Mraz

Jason Mraz has a laid back, California style that comes across in his music. I’m Yours was nominated for Song of the Year at the Grammy’s and stayed on the charts for 76 weeks, a record at that time.  

Hey, Soul Sister

By Train

Released in 2009, this hit song became certified Platinum and was the top selling song on iTunes in 2010. Quite a big hit! The guitarist had to get a beginner ukulele lesson during the recording of the song in order to get the right vibe on the instrument, laying down his guitar pick in favor of the fingers for strumming the uke. He could have used one of our strumming technique lessons to get him started!

Here Comes The Sun

By The Beatles

Released on the Abbey Road album and written by Beatles guitarist George Harrison, this song uses some of the rhythm stylings of Indian music that was influential to George at the time. Some parts of this song require advanced playing techniques. Here is part one of the complete lesson on Center Stage.

You and I

By Ingrid Michaelson

Written on the uke and with the uke as the only instrument in the recording, it doesn’t get much better than this. You and I was released on the “Be OK” album in 2008.

Imagine

By John Lennon

This song seems to pop up on just about any top 10 list. Written in the key of C, it is quite adaptable to the ukulele. As one of the most performed songs of the 20th century, you can add your performance to the list in the 21st!

I Will Follow You Into The Dark

By Death Cab for Cutie

This song was recorded as a single performance into one microphone, an intimate love song of the soul wrenching sort, perfect for a rendition on the ukulele.

Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

While this song was originally written by Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen, it really came to popularity some 15 years later after the death of Jeff Buckley, who performed perhaps the most famous version of the song on his one and only album, Grace in 1994.

Thinking Out Loud

by Ed Sheeran

Another Grammy nominated song that works well on the ukulele, this Ed Sheeran hit rose to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 after its release in 2014. Touted as “blue-eyed soul” by some, the laid back groove and stellar vocal performance all stem from a quick writing session with singer-songwriter Amy Wadge while preparing for a recording session the next day.

The song “Riptide”, by Vance Joy, is played primarily on the ukulele using only four easy to play chords. Partially written and shelved in 2008 in Vance’s Melbourne Australia home, a snippet of “Riptide” was posted on Vance’s Facebook page resulting in lots of encouragement from friends and family to pursue his musical career.

It would not become a complete song until 2012 while he was writing material for his debut EP, God Loves You When You’re Dancing. Vance took the unfinished song off the shelf, finished writing it and then recorded it with drummer Edwin White in an afternoon.

The Riptide ukulele chords are A-, G, C, and Csus4. Pretty easy chords. Maybe that’s why “Riptide Ukulele Chords” is such a popular Internet search. At Center Stage Ukulele Academy, we’ve prepared a complete video lesson for this song, including the sheet music with all the chords laid out to make it easy to learn to play. Visit the song lesson page for a preview.

“Riptide” ascended the charts in Australia, the United Kingdom, and in America, where it reached number one on the Alternative song list. It remained on Billboard’s Hot 100 for an amazing 43 weeks, the second longest charting single. Vance Joy took the encouragement of his close friends and went on to become a successful artist from the meager start of an unfinished song that eventually would take him to the top of the charts. The YouTube video now has almost reached 140,000,000 plays!

“Riptide” is a great song that’s fun and easy to play. Simple songs with easy chords are one of the many reasons that ukuleles are so appealing, allowing you to carry around an entertaining musical instrument that does not require years of study in order to start making music today. At CS Ukulele Academy, our goal is to help bring the joy of performing music to everyone who wishes to play. Strum on!

Click here more free ukulele lessons

-Ashley Shepherd
Ukulele Instructor

Buy The Riptide Ukulele lesson for just $0.99!

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In this lesson we will learn the You and I ukulele chords. The song, written by Ingrid Michaelson, makes use of chords such as a dom7 chord shape, sus4, and diminished chords.

In this lesson we will learn some basics of ukulele fingerstyle. Fingerstyle is the technique of plucking or picking the strings with the individual fingers of your strum hand. This allows for more intricate piece of music combining harmony (chords) with a melody line. Ukulele fingerstyle often involve playing the notes of a chord individually instead of strumming.

In order to play many songs it is important to learn some ukulele barre chords. In this lesson we will be learning a movable Major barre chord based off of the A Major open chord shape. We also learn a movable Minor barre chord based off of the Am open chord shape. Knowing these chords will allow to play any Major or Minor chord by simply shifting the position and moving up and down the frets.

Chords are made up of 3 or more notes played at the same time. In this lesson we will be learning our first 3 easy ukulele chords. C major, F Major and G Major. These are the easiest chords to learn as a beginner and with these three chords you can play many songs.

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