Jazzy Intros and Outros

Here is an easy way to create ‘ukulele intros and outros for Hawaiian style songs like “Sophisticated Hula” and “Little Rock Getaway”.

I learned this trick from Kimo Hussey who said that the most important thing is that it sounds good – it doesn’t matter what chord progression you use. That said, the idea is based around a 4 chord progression: I, VIm, IV, V7. This is the progression that is used in “Surf” and many other songs. By themselves those chords sound pretty “Surf-ish”, so they need to be jazzed out. To jazz things up we will use substitution chords.

Substitution chords are chords that fit right over the top of the normal chord and add a different sound without disturbing the tonality of the main chord. Here is a chart of C substitution chords.For example, C6 can fit over C, Adim can fit over Am, Dm7 fits over F, and G7 stays the same. Any combination of chords that sound good will work, so experiment to find your favorite sounds. Here is a chart of substitution chords for this progression. Pick any chord from the left column, and work your way through the other columns picking one chord from each and by the time you get to the right side you will have a snazzy intro or outro.

C     | Am   | F     | G7   |
C6    | Adim | F6    | G9   |
Cmaj7 | Am7  | Fmaj7 | G11  |
Cmaj9 | A7b9 | Fmaj9 | G13  |
C6/9  | Am6  | F6/9  | G7b9 |
Cadd9 |      | Fadd9 |      |

You can transpose this into any key.