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Learning Ukulele with Curt
Yesterday
Recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help.

Category: Beatles Instrument: Ukulele Subjects(s): Repertoire • Ballad

photo by Louis Martin

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View the Main Song Downloads section below to download the song files for the complete and most up-to-date versions.

Yesterday

Yesterday is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. The song first hit the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. The song remains popular today with more than 1,600 cover versions, one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music. The song was not released as a single in the UK at the time of its release in the United States, and thus never gained number 1 single status in that country. However, “Yesterday” was voted the best song of the 20th century in a 1999 BBC Radio 2 poll of music experts and listeners.

Yesterday is a melancholy acoustic guitar ballad about a break-up. It was the first official recording by The Beatles that relied upon a performance by a single member of the band, Paul McCartney. He was accompanied by a string quartet. The final recording was so different from other works by The Beatles that the other three band members vetoed the release of the song as a single in the United Kingdom. (However, it was issued as a single there in 1976.) Although credited to “Lennon/McCartney”, the song was written solely by McCartney. In 2002 McCartney asked Yoko Ono if she would allow reversing the credit on the song to read “McCartney/Lennon”. Ono refused.

Yesterday, Key of C — Premium Play-along Track

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.

Yesterday is in the Real Book - Volume 1 — Sixth Edition book.

Main Song Download(s)
The main downloads for this song.
WEB_CONTENT_ONLY
Yesterday - Melody and Chord Ukulele Arrangement, Key of F
WEB_CONTENT_ONLY
Yesterday - Lead Sheet, Key of F
Videos
Related Videos for Yesterday.
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Yesterday - Solo Ukulele Arrangement

Here's my take on the Beatles classic, Yesterday. Recorded using an iPad.

Related Lessons
Related Lessons for Yesterday.
UL125a
Melody and Chord Tips

Creating "Melody and Chord Arrangements", in theory are as simple as harmonizing the melody with a chord. Which is playing a chord that has the melody note as the top note of the chord voicing. In practice it is a little more involved, but not much more.

Related Books & Charts
Related Books for Yesterday.
HL00240221
The Real Book – Volume I – Sixth Edition

The Real Books are the best-selling jazz books of all time. Since the 1970s, musicians have trusted these volumes to get them through every gig, night after night. The problem is that the books were illegally produced and distributed, without any regard to copyright law, or royalties paid to the composers who created these musical masterpieces.

A Selection of Books & Reference Charts that are recommended for creating a solid foundation with your chosen instrument and music in general.
These are books & reference charts that apply to a majority of all lessons on LearningUkulele.com / Learning Ukulele with Curt.
Learning the Ukulele Fingerboard – C Tuning

Finally, learn the names of the notes of the fingerboard.

Six Secrets of the Ukulele Fingerboard – C Tuning

Learn the six fingering principles to navigating the ukulele fingerboard. Fingering is one of the most universal topics.

Harmonic Analysis for Scale Selection and Chord Substitution

Harmonic Analysis is the understanding of the functional sequence of chords. It is the process used to analyze the harmonic structure of a progression, song or composition.

Ukulele – Reading Music Series – Primer

Learn to read single note melodies in the first/open position is a lot easier than you might think.

Daily Practice Material for the Contemporary Ukulele

An organized collection of daily practice and reference material for the contemporary ukulele player for developing the vocabulary and knowledge necessary for single note playing.

Checkout the Books for additional Handy, Dandy Reference Charts.

Reference Charts
Ukulele Fingerboard Chart for C Tuning, Low or High G - G C E A

Ukulele Fingerboard Chart for C Tuning, Low or High G – G C E A

Ukulele Fingerboard Chart for G Tuning, Low or High A – D G B E

Ukulele Fingerboard Chart for G Tuning, Low or High A – D G B E

Circle of Fourths and Fifths – ANSI A & A4 sizes

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.

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On the web since 1992 and a Mac since 1987 (Mac II) • Serving up Ukulele content since 2003 ( 22 years ago ) • Lets Kanikapila!!! v12.13.0 (8.2.23) • And, since Sept 2020, happily on Pop!_OS Linux and a System76 Thelio. Half the cost of the iMac and a real treat to use. I use it for ALL development work. Only wish the Affinity Suite of apps by serif where available on Linux (and I do know you can run them in Wine with a few hacks).
This sit has ben profesionaly red. awl tpyos aree free and no aditonal chrge • I'm blaming it on “jazz” fingers. “Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.”
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