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Moondance
Moondance is a popular song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter an Morrison and is the title song on his 1970 album Moondance. Morrison did not release the song as a single until November 1977, seven and a half years after the album was released. It reached the Billboard Hot 100, charting at #92. The single's B-side, "Cold Wind in August" had been released in the same year, on his latest album at the time, A Period of Transition.
Morrison did not release the song as a single until November 1977, seven and a half years after the album was released. It reached the Billboard Hot 100, charting at #92. The single's B-side, "Cold Wind in August" had been released in the same year, on his latest album at the time, A Period of Transition.
Moondance is in the The Daily Ukulele — Leap Year Edition
— 366 Songs for Better Living book.
"Moondance" is the most frequently played song by Morrison in concert, as it is the only song known to have been played over a thousand times.
Common Keys: A Dorian
First Melodic Interval: P5 ↑ M2. Starts on the perfect fifth and them up a major second. Gotta start the melody in the same key as the song. ;-)
Performance Notes for Moondance
Here is how I remember the melody of Moondance:
- A Dorian - First section
- A Aeolian - Second section
One hard part of the song is keeping track of the 16 measures of the Am7 to Bm7. If your are not singing Moondance yourself, simply counting the bars (4 at a time) really helps.
Web Resources
Moondance — Premium Play-along Track
This is the original key of A Dorian. On ukulele I have a solo arrangement in Cm that I use when performing.
Premium Play-along Tracks are only available to Premium
members and Active/Private Students.
Here is a Demo of Desafinado to get an idea of the quality of these custom play-along tracks.
Play-along Demo: Desafinado
Desafinado — Premium Play-along Track with Guitar Melody Played
I, (Curt) originally created these tracks to perform over for gigs and this was a demo for booking gigs.
These Premium Play-along Tracks are available to LearningUkulele.com Site Members and are my personal one-of-kind tracks I (Curt) and Chuck Anderson recorded and arranged.
Main Song Download(s)
Related Lessons
Moondance.
Core Chords - The Big Six - Building a Solid Chord Foundation
The Big Six Core Chords is a series of lessons for building your core, essential 4-part chords. These chords commonly called jazz chords, are really just 4-part chords used in a wide range of musical styles. These chords include: Seventh , Major Seventh, Minor Seventh, Half Diminished Seventh or Minor Seven Flat Five, Diminished Seventh, and Augmented Seventh. These six chords form a core set of chords.
What is the Difference Between a Scale and a Mode?
The terms "scale" and "mode" are often used interchangeably, but strictly speaking, there is a significant difference between them in music theory. Although they may share the same set of notes, a scale and a mode or modal scale are not the same thing. It's important to note that a scale and a mode can contain the same notes.
Related Songs
Moondance.
Light My Fire
Light My Fire is a song by The Doors which was recorded in August 1966 and released the first week of January 1967 on the Doors' debut album. Released as a single in April, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after its recording. A year later, it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 following the success of Jose Feliciano's version of the song, peaking at number 87.
On Broadway
"On Broadway" is a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in collaboration with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Weil and Mann were based at Aldon Music, located at 1650 Broadway, New York City, and the song as written by Mann/Weil was originally recorded by the Cookies (although the Crystals' version beat them to release) and featured an upbeat lyric in which the protagonist is still on her way to Broadway and sings "I got to get there soon, or I'll just die." Additionally the melody was in compound time and the backing riff modulated between the root and the minor 2nd.
Related Books & Charts
Moondance.
Exploring Jazz Chords on Ukulele
Exploring jazz chords using a variety of common chord progressions based on songs from the standard jazz repertoire. Core Chords are the basic set of chords needed to play a wide range of music, in a variety of styles. This set of chords includes basic open position chords, basic movable form chords and the core 4-part "jazz" chords.
A Guide to Advanced Ukulele Chords - Volume I
Beyond learning basic Ukulele chords, most players struggle with advanced chords. Commonly called "jazz" chords, these more sophisticated voicings find a wide use in all forms of music. A Guide to Advanced Chords for Ukulele - presents a highly organized and efficient approach to the mysterious subject of advanced chords. Chord dictionaries are not the answer.
Checkout the Books for additional Handy, Dandy Reference Charts.
Reference Charts
A handy reference chart of all 15 major and relative minor key signatures. US Letter 8.5 x 11 sized (ANSI-A), A4
Checkout the Books for additional Handy, Dandy Reference Charts.
Related Song Files, Resources and Assets
Moondance.