How to Play Somewhere Over the Rainbow on Ukulele

by Frederik Nielsen, Oct 4, 2021 . 3 min read

The voice of Hawaii, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, blessed us with his cover mashup of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and What A Wonderful World.

Anybody who’s somebody with a ukulele knows this song. In fact, it might be the first song people learn when they get their hands on a uke.

So if you don’t know it, now is the time to learn it.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow Ukulele Chords

Have you ever noticed how many colors there are in your average, run-of-the-mill rainbow? That’s how many chords you’ll need to play Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

The seven chords are Am, C, D, Dm7, Em, E7, F, and G.

That may seem like a lot of chords for such a simple song, especially considering that the typical pop song only has three or four chords.

But they’re quite easy to remember once you get the hang of it, and there aren’t any barre chords to struggle with either.

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow Ukulele Strumming Pattern

If you’re a novice ukulele player, then you should start with a simple down-up-down-up (DUDU) strumming pattern until you’ve mastered the chord progression.

However, if you want to imitate the great Iz, then you’ll need to get a bit more technical.

Start by plucking the low G string at the first bar, rather than strumming the whole chord. Then move on to a pattern of down-down-up-up-down (DDUUD).

Iz uses a lot of dynamics in his strumming, so you’ll have to listen closely to how he does it if you really want to nail his playing style.

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow Ukulele Song Structure

The song structure for Somewhere Over the Rainbow is fortunately quite straightforward. You have an intro, two verses, and an outro. It doesn’t get simpler than that.

Practice the chords now for free with Roadie Coach (IOS | Android)