March 28, 2026: Scarborough Fair (Scottish Traditional) is posted in Book 2.
Here's a probably-Scottish piece of music that's been hanging out lonely in the back of Book 1 (Lesson 25) for most of the time I've been teaching ukulele. It's such a great piece of music, and if you're old enough to remember Simon and Garfunkle, you probably wanna give it a stab. I updated the sheet music this week and it's probably still the most challenging thing to play from Book 1, so I'm including it in Book 2 along with the other Celtic stuff.
Several fun challenges await. First, it's in a minor key so we set G major aside for his much gloomier cousin in G minor (which is D minor of course on baritone). In Measure 5, the Bb shape (F on baritone) is your favorite aggravating bar you've always loved, but the TuffUke version needs to be on the fifth fret and looks a little bit like alphabet soup. Remember to place a bar on the lowest number and then figure out your other fingers. When it shows up again in Measures 11 and 12, the real fun begins. Also, when you get to Measure 6, remember all those 10s should be played with a mini bar, i.e., your index finger covers them all.
The last fun thing to notice is Measure 13 where I've added a beat for one measure. It's an homage to Simon and Garfunkle who extend that measure out many many beats ... like 17 or so. The original would not have done that, but it sounds really groovy (as they said) and so an extra beat along the way never hurt anybody except music teachers.
Remember we're getting together on Sunday nights at 7 pm Mountain time on YouTube and you should join us. Info is here.
