My favorite way to play the ukulele is without having to reference any sheet music— it feels very freeing to need nothing more than my uke and tuner. But this wasn’t always possible for me. For the first several years of my strumming life, I was honestly scared to try to play without having a songbook to look at! How will I know what chord comes next? What if I make a mistake? I quickly learned that playing without looking at the music isn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and the stakes were lower than I thought. Nothing terrible happens if I play the wrong chord or forget a line of lyrics. A willingness to try and the acceptance that it will take some trial and error is all it takes (well, that and an ukulele!).
Today I encourage you to memorize the song from my latest tutorial, Bury Me Beneath the Willow. It’s an old American folk song that uses only three chords and has three verses and one chorus. It uses a pretty straightforward chord pattern and has some very dramatic lyrics that make it fun to sing.
STEPS TO MEMORIZING THE CHORDS AND LYRICS FOR A SONG
Get Familiar with the Melody
Before you can really play a song, you need to know what it’s supposed to sound like. You can always make adjustments later to suit your tastes, but first it helps to have a jumping off point.
2. Learn the Chord Progression
Bury Me Beneath the Willow uses just the 1, 4, and 5 chords. In this video tutorial, I play it in the key of A using A as the 1 chord, D as the 4 chord, and E7 as the 5 chord. If you don’t know those chords yet, practice them on their own, then work your way up to being able to make the chord changes smoothly. Once you’re able to do that, try to learn the pattern illustrated at left, which shows the progression that is repeated for the entire song:
FIRST LINE: 1 chord for four strums, 4 chord for four strums
SECOND LINE: 1 chord for four strums, 5 chord for four strums
THIRD LINE: 1 chord for four strums, 4 chord for four strums
FOURTH LINE: 1 chord for two strums, 5 chord for 2 strums, 1 chord for four strums
What patterns do you notice? Practice this set until you’ve got a good feel for it before you move on to the next step.
3. Learn the Lyrics for the Chorus
The chorus is usually the easiest set of lyrics to remember, so start here. Focus on just this section until you have it committed to memory.
1 Bury me be - 4 neath the willow
1 Under the weeping willow 5 tree
So 1 he will know where 4 I am sleeping
1 And per - 5 haps he’ll weep for 1 me
Play along with the video until you think you have the feel for it, then try strumming and singing the chorus on your own.
4. Learn the Lyrics for the Verses, One at a Time
You’ll probably find that the first verse comes easiest, and the second and third verses might take a little more time. Practice each verse on its own. Sometimes just being able to remember the first line of the verse can be enough of a trigger for your brain to recall the rest of it!
5. Put It All Together
Be willing to make some stumbles, knowing that your efforts will pay off. Being able to play without looking at the chords and lyrics can feel very exciting, and who knows— maybe it’ll help you with any performing-related goals you may have? The act of memorizing a song is also great ear training. You’ll probably be able to hear if you play a chord at the wrong time, and since this song uses only three chords, it won’t be too hard to figure out which chord you should have played instead. And honestly, the more mistakes you make while trying to learn, the quicker you’ll probably memorize it. So don’t be afraid to look away from the song sheet. You’ll be a better musician for it!
This song has been played by so many well-known performers, but I wanted to share two beautiful renditions of it. The first is by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris (video cuts off mid-song) and the other by Alison Krauss, accompanied by Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and Vince Gill. This song is fun to sing by yourself, but get yourself some buddies to harmonize with you, if you can!
