Skip to my Lou

Okay, remember, the chords we're using are F and C7:

[F] Skip, skip, skip to my lou,
[C7] Skip, skip, skip to my lou,
[F] Skip, skip, skip to my lou,
[C7] Skip to my lou, my [F] darling.

[F] Flies in the buttermilk, shoo fly shoo,
[C7] Flies in the buttermilk, shoo fly shoo,
[F] Flies in the buttermilk, shoo fly shoo,
[C7] Skip to my lou, my [F] darling. 

Skip To My Lou is something that was at one time called a "ring dance" song -- a game played by kids where everybody would couple up except one lone loser in the middle who would pick a verse to sing and then "steal" partner from somebody else. The one who lost their partner would have to go in the middle. Thus the verse:

Lost my partner, what'll I do?

followed by:

I'll find another one prettier than you!

Getting started

So, I have a few friends who have picked up a ukulele because they think it will be a great way to have fun with their kids, but then they have stalled out a little. It’s too hard to learn to play, to spend time practicing and to memorize songs when you have a little one running around.

My ukulele experience, though, has been that you barely have to learn to play at all to keep kids entertained. I think we can get those ukes dusted off and making music without hours of practice and memorization.

Harlan Howard, who wrote some of the greatest music that has ever been written, told folks that all you needed for a country song was “three chords and the truth.” What I’m arguing here is that all you need to have a great time playing music with your kids is two chords and enthusiasm.

No, I’m not exaggerating. There are a lot of songs you can play using just two chords -- the same two chords, too. If you can manage to comfortably play these two chords on your uke, you can play a bunch of songs that will get your kids singing and laughing and having a good time.

I’m assuming here that you already have a ukulele, and that you’ve gotten into it enough to know basically how to tune it, hold it and strum it a little, even if you can barely play any chords. If you’re not there yet, if you can’t hang on to your uke and keep dropping it on the floor, try going here: http://www.ukeschool.com/ukulele/lessons/beginner.html If you don’t have a ukulele yet, I’ll be posting some tips on buying a ukulele with toddlers in mind soon.

So, let’s pick a couple of chords to use! I’m going to suggest you use the F and C7.

I’ve picked these two chords because I think they are the absolutely easiest chords to play on your uke. You only have to use two fingers for F and one for C7! It doesn’t get much easier than that. (We’ll talk about why these chords work, and transposing if you’re having trouble singing songs in the key of F, in some later posts.)

Now, grab your uke and start strumming. Play the F chord for a while, then switch to the C7, then back to the F, until you feel pretty comfortable making the switch.

It doesn’t matter which strum you use. Up down up down up down is totally okay. Whatever’s easy for you. Just make it make some sound.