A blog to help with learning and teaching Guitar, Ukulele, Bass Guitar and Piano. Written by Theo Lawrence / TL Music Books.
After years of avoiding it, I have started making youtube videos for my lessons. I have focused on providing useful sheets, as I felt there was a gap in the market. Now the lesson sheets side of things is established, I have decided to add the extra layer of tuition with videos. You can either purchase the book or use the video lessons to play along for free.
50 Ukulele Chord Exercises Playlist:
50 Guitar Chord Exercises Playlist:
Here is a quick 1-2 mins warm up for you to try at the start of your ukulele practice.
You will play a D major scale, then 2 D major arpeggios, then 2 different D chords. Then you will repeat this until you have played it 4 times around.
Download the MP3 file – Sun Shines Through The Window (Full Speed)
Download the Guitar Pro 7 file – Sun Shines Through The Window
LEAD GTR – Sun Shines Through The Window – PDF Sheet Music
RHYTHM GUITAR – Sun Shines Through The Window – PDF Sheet Music
UKULELE – Sun Shines Through The Window – PDF Sheet Music
BASS GUITAR – Sun Shines Through The Window – PDF Sheet Music
LYRICS – The sun shines through the window – TXT File
This song has been written as an educational piece for Drums, Guitar, Bass and Ukulele. I made it for my students to learn and I am sharing it online for everyone else too. I created the piece in Guitar Pro 7, which is a great way to learn and practice this because you can mute insruments and change the speed and even change parts if you like.
This blues song is played straight, without swing. There are drum beats and fills in the piece in keeping with the blue style. You could solo the drums and bass on it’s own to practice locking in with the bass – making sure the bass drum syncs up with the bass guitar when ever they are played together.
The pattern of the 12 bar blues usually follows a pattern of chord changes. The pattern of bars where the main chord changes are is this: 4,2,2,1,1,1,1.
The pattern below is clearer. It uses roman numerals to show which chord in the diatonic chord sequence that is being used.:
I / / /
IV / I /
V IV I V
I wrote this song originally for just the instruments, but I thought it would be good to write some lyrics in case there are any singers out there that would like to sing along too. I have a rough idea of how it would go in my head, but I’m no singer, so you’re on your own!
VERSE 1
The sun shines through the window
And I’m stuck inside the house
It’s half past 1 in the afternoon,
And the day is going fast
I’m tryin to make things work
I’m tryin to make things rhyme,
But there’s harder times ahead,
And I’m running out of time.
I can’t see when this will end
All my plans are on their head
But the sun keeps shining through
Takin’ away those blues
VERSE 2
The sun shines through the window
And I’m stuck inside the house
It’s half past 2 in the afternoon,
And the day is going fast
I’m tryin to make things work
I’m tryin to make things rhyme,
But there’s harder times ahead,
And I’m running out of time.
I can’t see when this will end
All my plans are on their head
But the sun keeps shining through
Takin’ away those blues
VERSE 3
The sun shines through the window
And I’m stuck inside the house
It’s half past 3 in the afternoon,
And the day is going fast
I’m going to make things work
I’m going to make things rhyme,
But there’s harder times ahead,
And I’m running out of time.
I can’t see when this will end
All my plans are on their head
But the sun keeps shining through
Takin’ away those blues
This song and it’s lyrics were written during the Covid-19 corona virus and it’s about having your job taken away and having to rebuild and adapt before you get into financial trouble. Many people will be in this situation with governments being very slow to offer financial support. I hope learning and playing this song can give some enjoyment to people in this strange time of crisis.
I will add your videos to this page if you record yourself playing it. Please get in contact.
Head over to learndrumsrforfree.com to get the files for the drums.
This song is featured in the Play Along Backing Tracks series with Blues and Rock pieces. You can purchase the sheet music and backing tracks here:
These ebooks have been created after 6 years of teaching guitar and 1 year of ukulele. They follow on nicely from the premium ebook ’50 Ukulele Exercises’.
I have used my knowledge of how students learn chords, where they struggle the most, and what is needed to develop with rhythm playing and chord playing. The combination of these sort of chord progressions along with different strumming patterns is one that I have tried and tested, and have now compiled into a range of printable ebooks that can be used side by side to help many beginner guitarists and ukulele players improve their chord changing and rhythm playing.
Page 2 – Contents
Page 35 – Introduction
Page 6 – 10 Chord Progressions in A major
Page 7 – 10 Chord Progressions in A using A7, D7 and E7 chords
Page 8 – 10 Chord Progressions in A minor
Page 9 – 10 Chord Progressions in C major
Page 10- 10 Chord Progressions in D major
Page 11 – 10 Chord Progressions in D minor – [View Sheet]
Page 12 – 10 Chord Progressions in E major
Page 13 – 10 Chord Progressions in E minor
Page 14 – 10 Chord Progressions in F major
Page 15 – 10 Chord Progressions in G major
Additional Sheet Beginners
Ukulele Chord Chart (21 chords)
