Song Endings

We had a good laugh at the Hawaiian Style Grill ‘ukulele jam about ending a song. One of the Bruddahs there was joking “Everybody makes as if it’s a big deal ending a song. It’s not – just stop.” But that got me to thinking (that can be scary!) about the many different ways to end a song, starting with “stop”.

Stop:

By far the easiest way to end a song is to just stop. Don’t just stop like you made a mistake, stop on the first beat of the root chord. For instance: D7// G7// C/ = stop. You have got to have your stuff together if you want to pull this off in a kani ka pila setting. The reason being that not everybody is quite sure when to stop. This kind of ending works best if you use it out of the blue. Then the audience is like “wow, where did the song go?”

Walk Up:

The second way to end a song on the ’ukulele adds to the first. Play the last strum but follow it with a walk-up to the root chord. Ex: D7// G7// C/ Bb/ B/ C/. You can ether stop on that last C or add a slick chord up top like:

A |-10-|-------------2-3-1-2-3-10-|
E |-10-|-2-3-2-3-1-3-----1-2-3-10-|
C |-9--|-----------------2-3-4-9--|
G |-9--|-----------------3-4-5-9--It’s a C6/9. This is one of the best ending ‘ukulele chords.

Root, 5, Root:

If you are looking for another Hawaiian style way to end a song try playing the root, then the V7, and the root again. Ex: D7// G7// C/ G7/ C/.

Tremolo:

Tremolo or fan strumming is another good way to end a song. Just strum as quickly as you can on the last and/or second to last chord. Then fade or stop strumming and you’re done.

Fade:

Fading out is something that is best done on a recording, but it can be done live. This is where knowing your volume levels comes in handy. Play the outro over and over (maybe soloing over the top) and get quieter and quieter until you can’t hear the song anymore.

I’m going to hand this over to you guys now. How do you like to end a song?