Give me five minutes and I'll give you Duke Ellington's theme song!

Billy Strayhorn gave us a gem a of a tune in 'Take the A Train' which quickly became Ellington's theme song.

For us ukulele players it's a great way to dip our toes into the world of swing and jazz. In this tutorial I'll walk you through the chords to both sections of the tune and then we'll try a play-along with the full band. Embrace that b5 chord!

Join us on the Magic Ukulele Club where we're taking a deep dive into Take the A Train in this month's lessons. (Hate subscriptions? Me too, that's why we also have Lifetime Membership)

Week 1 - Basic lesson, history, understanding harmony

-Live stream- Understanding altered dominants

Week 2 - Melody and chord melody

-Live stream- building a solo with chord tones

Week 3 - Play Ohta San’s chord melody

Week 4 - Ellington Big Band background figures

Week 5 - Learn the Ray Nance trumpet solo from the Ellington recording

3 hours + of video lessons
Backing track to practice with
15 page PDF
Bass tabs for U Bass players
Archive of 500+ Jazz ukulele lessons

Join us today to start your journey and join the community

Cheers!

Christopher.