
Learn to Play Django Reinhardt’s ‘Dark Eyes’ on Ukulele
“Dark Eyes” is a melody closely associated with the legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt—and by extension the Gypsy jazz repertoire in general. Here's how to play it on ukulele.

“Dark Eyes” is a melody closely associated with the legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt—and by extension the Gypsy jazz repertoire in general. Here's how to play it on ukulele.

This enjoyable lesson uses an old-style blues bass riff to practice the technique

The baritone is tuned DGBE, exactly like the top four strings of a guitar and a fourth down from the more common GCEA ukulele tuning

It turns out that between the soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone versions of the ukulele, there are plenty of alternate tuning iterations to tinker with.
Advertisement

What if I told you that after hearing the first two chords of a song, you could reasonably guesstimate the remainder of the chord progression?

Deviating from your normal tuning can give inspiration to practice or compose, and may bring an instrument to life. Here are some alternate tunings for ukulele.

These alternate tunings will reward you with fresh sounds

Ukulelezaza (Remco Houtman-Janssen) wrote “Downhill” in 2007 while improvising on a Martin Style 2 taropatch he had just acquired. The taropatch is long gone, but “Downhill” is in every set Ukulelezaza plays. Enjoy the TAB and notation below.
Advertisement

The tuning is spelled F C F G; the high fourth string functions similarly to the banjo’s fifth string and acts as a drone throughout the piece

Music travels in one of two directions—it either goes up or goes down. The same is true for song introductions.