Mike Moxcey ©2005

Practice the Song by Playing the Song

Try to keep in time. The best way is to sing the song. Go sit in the shower or some other small room that echoes so you can really hear yourself. Play loud. Sing loud. You'll only get better (you can hardly get worse) and you'll get better faster if you can hear.

Here's the song Polly Wolly Doodle. It's a simpler chord progression (order of chords). You only have to change once halfway through, and then change back again at the end. Because the progression (order of chords) is simpler, then each beat (chord or slash) actually stands for two strum patterns. This makes it easier to write and clearer to understand on the page. But you have to be familiar with the song.

Try playing it from just looking at the generic chord progression. Where the ellipses (the three dots) are on the extra verses, sing “sing polly wolly doodle all the day.”

You start counting on the “went” and change chords on the word “day” in each line.

Polly Wolly Doodle

I / | / V | / / | / I |
1. Oh I went down south for to see my Sal, sing polly wolly doodle all the day.
My Sal she am a spunky gal sing polly wolly doodle all the day.

ch: Fare thee well, fare thee well, fare thee well, my fairy fay,
for I'm going to Louisiana for to see my Susianna singing polly wolly doodle all the day.

2. Oh my Sal she am a maiden fair ...
with curly eyes and laughing hair ...

3. Oh a grasshopper sitting on a railroad track ...
a-picking his teeth with a carpet tack ...

4. Oh I went to bed and it weren't no use ...
my feet stuck out for a chicken roost ...

5. Behind the barn down on my knees ...
I thought I heard a chicken sneeze ...

6. He sneezed so hard with the whooping cough ...
he sneezed his head and feathers right off ...

Give the song a fair shot reading it from a numbered chord chart.

And here it is in various keys (what they call the one (I) chord)

and twice as many strum marks:

Polly Wolly Doodle: Key of C (paired with G)

      C          /           /      /         /            /            G  /
Oh I went down south for to see my Sal, sing polly wolly doodle all the day.

    /      /      /     /        /           /              C  /
My Sal she am a spunky gal sing polly wolly doodle all the day.

           C  /            /  /            /        /     G  /
Fare thee well, fare thee well, fare thee well, my fairy fay,

         /              /          /         /             /           /              C  /
for I'm going to Louisiana for to see my Susianna singing polly wolly doodle all the day.

Polly Wolly Doodle: Key of D (paired with A)

      D          /           /      /         /            /            A  /
Oh I went down south for to see my Sal, sing polly wolly doodle all the day.

    /      /      /     /        /           /              D  /
My Sal she am a spunky gal sing polly wolly doodle all the day.

           D  /            /  /            /        /     A  /
Fare thee well, fare thee well, fare thee well, my fairy fay,

         /              /          /         /             /           /              D  /
for I'm going to Louisiana for to see my Susianna singing polly wolly doodle all the day.

Polly Wolly Doodle: Key of G (paired with D)

      G          /           /      /         /            /            D  /
Oh I went down south for to see my Sal, sing polly wolly doodle all the day.

    /      /      /     /        /           /              G  /
My Sal she am a spunky gal sing polly wolly doodle all the day.

           G  /            /  /            /        /     D  /
Fare thee well, fare thee well, fare thee well, my fairy fay,

         /              /          /         /             /           /              G  /
for I'm going to Louisiana for to see my Susianna singing polly wolly doodle all the day.

Polly Wolly Doodle: Key of A (paired with E)

      A          /           /      /         /            /            E  /
Oh I went down south for to see my Sal, sing polly wolly doodle all the day.

    /      /      /     /        /           /              A  /
My Sal she am a spunky gal sing polly wolly doodle all the day.

           A  /            /  /            /        /     E  /
Fare thee well, fare thee well, fare thee well, my fairy fay,

         /              /          /         /             /           /              A  /
for I'm going to Louisiana for to see my Susianna singing polly wolly doodle all the day.
Now you've got three songs you can play AND SING. That's real important for keeping time. If you're singing along, you can tell when you're messing up the rhythm.
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