Welcome to OzBcoz.com – Home of Jim’s Ukulele Songbook

Welcome to OzBcoz.com. This is where I  post new editions of Jim’s Songs and Songbooks (gCEA Ukulele, Baritone Ukulele, Bb Ukulele, D Ukulele, Tenor Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo, Banjo C Tuning, Celtic Guitar, Guitalele and Guitar).  The current editions are dated Jan, 2024 on the cover page.    You can see all of the songbooks on the Songbook page.

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77 thoughts on “Welcome to OzBcoz.com – Home of Jim’s Ukulele Songbook

  1. The Christmas book was just updated slightly – different chord diagrams for lots of the songs and added Ding Dong Merrily on High

    1. When I transpose to mandolin chords and down load to my song book it showed up in Uk chords .what am I doing wrong ? I do want to say how much I appreciate this site, really makes things easy. Can find any song, I like the old standards.

  2. Jim

    Thanks for doing this, I stumbled over it a few years ago and have been telling all my ukulele playing pupils and friends about it ever since. I am in awe of your hard work.

    1. Thanks – I just pulled together – it’s the original authors that I am in awe of

  3. Re: ukulele songbook – cheers, that’s great, just might want to take a look at page 285 😉

    1. will do …………………..
      Bum,
      thought I had weeded these all out 🙂 – ah well – fixed in next release 🙂

      1. Bum,
        thought I had weeded these all out 🙂 – ah well – fixed in next release 🙂

  4. Hello Jim the chords above the song when selected and you create a pdf now keep that format thanks Chris

  5. I’m a fairly new ukulele player and left handed too so your songbook is a thing of wonder. I’ll be back loads. Thanks lots, Jim!

  6. JIm,
    The songbook is awesome!
    I was ‘volunteered’ to busk at my son’s school fair – I’m doing a uke set with many songs from your book.
    Thanks for your hard work – I’ll make a donation – hope it helps.
    Cheers
    John

    1. Thanks for that John – glad you found it useful and thanks for the donation – very, very helpful!!
      Jim

    1. It’s my pleasure. I have made rather a lot of mods to the UkeGeeks code and will be making a lot more I reckon but a strong part of the core will always be Buz’s code!!

  7. I’m aware of uke geeks chord progression. I see that you have the choice there of having the chord diagrams showing above the words. can you do that in your songbook?

    1. I only produce the songbook using inline chords.
      You can, however produce individual pdfs with the chord diagrams above. If you show that on a song page and then click on PDFs – the click on Create PDF it will create a pdf of the page. based on whatever font size etc you have defines

  8. This site is incredible! WE are all in awe of how much hard work this must have been.
    I would like to add more songs to the songbook. Is there a way I can do that?

    Also have a friend who wants to use this on her nook. Can that be done?

  9. Thanks Sharon – you can send me songs to [email protected] in text, pdf or word format – would love to get any from you.

    On the NOOK – I have a Nook and will test it out – I believe it will support pdf’s – just not sure about the links etc –

    1. I successfully loaded a songbook onto the Nook and it is “sort of” readable. The clicking of Table of Contents entries doesn’t work to go to a song and the clicking of the Return to Contents at the bottom of song pages doesn’t work either.

      It isn’t my recommended version.

      I don’t believe that using the Nook for looking at songs on the website would work either

  10. Hi Jim,
    We use your Ukulele Songbooks, as the Mantra for our local Ukulele Group. CUPS!
    Your chord diagrams/layouts etc are awesome.
    Keep up the EXCELLENT work.
    Steve (Hampshire UK).

  11. The site is so awesome, what a labor of LOVE!
    I’m interested to know if anyone is looking at publishing/ sharing tabulature for songs? I play the bari uke and can use some guitar tabs…. anyone got anything to share?

    1. What device are you downloading it onto , tablet, ipad, PC, phone etc
      What browser are you using.
      Do you have a PDF reader – e.g. Adobe Acrobat Reader (free), XODO (free), Foxit reader (free)

  12. I have 27 song that would be good additions to your songbooks in pdf format (or what ever you need).
    How can I send them to you ?
    Thanks,
    Gary

    1. Excellent –
      You can send them to jim at ozbcoz.com 🙂

      Format (in preference order) could be chordpro (ie text file with chords inline) , pdf with chords inline (but not pdf of an image please ) , word, text with chords above. Etc. – pretty much all except for an image

      Thanks – Jim

  13. Hi, any chance of including Billy Joel’s, My Life in your excellent songbook??

  14. Just did I minor alteration to ‘Blowin in the Wind’
    One of our group suggested a strum pattern.
    Hope this is in order 😉

    1. The alteration will only be in your version/browser or in your favourites if you make it one. Alterations don’t affect the base songs
      Jim

  15. Hi Jim
    I was looking at Sway (https://ozbcoz.com/Songs/song.php?ID=2718,Soprano), and noticed some errors in the tab. There’s 6 notes in the opening bars of each line in the verse, not 4, and in the bridge while the notes are correct, the bar markers are in the wrong place. I tried to make use of the edit facility but it didn’t save (a wise precaution on your part no doubt.
    Fortunately, I use a program, Songsheet Generator, that relies on the same formatting source code that you use, so I’ve included below my markup text correcting the errors I mention. Hopefully it’ll just slot straight in to yours. I’ve added a line of dashes too, with the chord symbols embedded so that they display above the appropriate bar in the tab. The ‘x’s to mark rests at the beginnings of bars.
    Finally, I’ve also included the little riff that marks the end of the bridge section, bringing the verse back in (it’s sung in the Spanish original).
    Hope this helps and keep up the good work!
    All best wishes,
    Paul

    {c: Intro: }
    -|[Dm]–x——————–|[Edim]——–[A7]—|[Edim]——–[A7]—|[Dm]———–|
    {sot}
    A|–x–0–0–0–0–0–0–|–1–0—–|–1–0—–|–0——–|
    E|–x——————–|——–3–|——–3–|—–3–1–|
    {eot}
    -|[Dm]–x——————–|[Edim]——–[A7]—|[Edim]——–[A7]—|[Dm]———–|
    {sot}
    A|–x——————–|———–|———–|———–|
    E|–x–1–1–1–1–1–1–|–3–1–0–|–3–1–0–|–1–0—–|
    C|–x——————–|———–|———–|——–2–|
    {eot}

    When we sway I go |[Bb7]weak! [A7]
    {sot}
    A|-5————|-
    E|-6-5-5-8-8–6-|5-
    {eot}

    {c: Instrumental:}
    -|[Dm]–x——————–|[Edim]——–[A7]—|[Edim]——–[A7]—|[Dm]———–|
    {sot}
    A|–x–0–0–0–0–0–0–|–1–0—–|–1–0—–|–0——–|
    E|–x——————–|——–3–|——–3–|—–3–1–|
    {eot}
    -|[Dm]–x——————–|[Edim]——–[A7]—|[Edim]——–[A7]—|[Dm]———–|
    {sot}
    A|–x——————–|———–|———–|———–|
    E|–x–1–1–1–1–1–1–|–3–1–0–|–3–1–0–|–1–0—–|
    C|–x——————–|———–|———–|——–2–|
    {eot}
    -|[Dm7]————-|[C7]————–|-x————|[F]————-|
    {sot}
    A|————-|————–|-x——–0-2-|-3–3-0-3—-|-3-
    E|—-0-1–0—|-0–0-1-3—–|-x–0-1-3—–|————-|–
    C|–2——–2-|————–|-x————|————-|–
    {eot}

    1. Thanks for that Paul – just working on the new songbooks but as soon as possible I will go through your very helpful updates

      cheers

    2. Thanks for that Paul – will take a look – may put up the Uke version first and then slowly go through the tabs for the other instruments (mandolin, banjo etc etc)

      Happy New Year

      Jim

    3. Paul, in your corrections to Sway, I notice yo mention’ Songsheet Generator” . I’ve been told by those much more conversant in matters of the computer there are several ‘versons’ (?). Would you mind sharing which one you use?
      Thank you .

    4. PS I mean more conversant in computers than am I (not you!). Apologies for that omission and lack of clarity.

  16. Hi there I have down loaded your song book but i can open the songs I have a andriod tablet I have used your song book before I don’t know why it is not working I did uninstall then reinstalled but still nothing opening can you help thank you

    1. Can you tell me what stage you get to – does the songbook download into the downloads folder. If it did then wat PDF Reader are you using to open the file?
      Jim

    2. Memory management in Android isnt great – probably the pdf is too big for the memory of your tablet. Try single songs instead of a whole book perhaps.

  17. Jim, this is the most brilliant uke song bank imaginable. Thank you so much. I have downloaded the book just in case you ever disappear (heaven forbid) but i agree that the online version gives the best user experience. Graham in Oz.

  18. When will your Tenor guitar book be published? That is with the music. The same as your Ukulele books.

  19. Just stumbled onto your site, got to say in my case its Brilliant. Not only the swap between instruments but the fact that one click of a button takes me to left handed chords.

  20. Jim – we in NZ love your work. I have a solo mission – more of a quest really – that I go on on every year. Fairytale of New York – first line, second first – it came in at TEN to one, not eighteen. Sadly, Shane’s accent is widely misheard. When you think about it – eighteen makes no sense at does it.

    1. Everywhere I look the lyrics show that the odds it paid were eighteen to one – I will spend some time on the Youtube

      Jim

      1. If you look at Kirsty Mccalls site (and she ssang it with the Pogues you can see the 18-1

        https://www.kirstymaccoll.com/songs/other-peoples-songs/fairytale-of-new-york/

        Note: * in a recording for the TV programme ‘Top of the Pops’ in the UK (with Shane McGowan), Kirsty changed the lyrics slightly to ‘You scumbag, you maggot, you’re cheap and you’re haggard’ – wording which was later used by Maire Brennan in Ronan Keating’s cover version.The Guardian published a fine piece about the song in 2012.

  21. Would you consider creating a chord sheet for Island Lullaby by Willie K?

  22. Jim – do you have a link to the folk songs in your data base? I’ve started trying to do my own, but if you already have a link, it would be lovely to access it.
    I love this resourse – but could love it even more..!

  23. Norton Life Lock is blocking your site and listing it as malicious. 1/8/2022.

  24. Clearly the best ukulele resource site around and it’s FREE!! (I will happily be making an annual donation though!!!) The fact that you can change the key of any song with the click of a button is mind blowing. Furthermore, I can add songs on here which is also brilliant.

  25. Hi Jim. I have edited a couple of songs on here and saved them to my favourites for my own use but f a user wants to submit a song for addition to the site for the benefit of others, how would you go about this?

  26. >Started playing 5 string banjo in the late 60’s with Pete Seeger’s book & LP record using standard C tuning (gCGBD) as that was what Pete seemed to emphasize, and it fit well for the folk tunes of that era, using the “basic strum” and/or frailing style. The movie Bonnie and Clyde with Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Theme From Bonnie & Clyde) played by Flatt & Scruggs sadly over popularized G tuning as recent as 1967.
    >Standard Banjo Tuning – Between 1850 and 1967, most five string banjos were tuned most of the time to what we now call “C tuning.” (In fact, the earliest four-string “plectrum” banjos and guitars – used in early Jazz – used the same tuning as well, minus the high G note.) I’ve also used C tuning for Folk/Rock & Rock in the “peoples Key” of C.
    >The five string banjo standard C tuned (aka Drop C) is (g4 C3 G3 B3 D4) just the same as the open G tuning (gDGBD), except that the fourth string is a step lower. That makes the lowest note you can play on the 5-string is a C instead of a D.
    >As late as 1967, when you heard banjo on mainstream radio, it was nearly always in C tuning – even if the song was in the key of G! For one thing, if your banjo’s in C tuning, it’s still very easy to play a song in the key of G. But if your banjo’s in G tuning, it’s a little more difficult to credibly play songs in the key of C!
    >So C was the more useful tuning for 5-string banjo players who were part of ensemble that featured but didn’t revolve around banjo, including the Weavers, the Limeliters, and the Kingston Trio, to name a few.
    >The Great Banjo Tuning Shift – What changed? Starting about 1945, Earl Scruggs and a few other performers began impressing Grand Ol’ Opry fans with a kind of rapid-fire solo picking that is easier to play in G tuning. But it wasn’t until the Bonnie and Clyde soundtrack (1967) put “Scruggs Picking” on the mainstream radio that the “great tuning shift” from C to G gained momentum outside of “Opry” fans.
    >Nowadays, many banjo books from the 1960s get one-star reviews on Amazon because they include songs in C tuning. “I thought this was supposed to be a banjo book!” is a common complaint. In an era when many folk, rock, alternative, and pop guitar players experiment with alternate tunings constantly, it is a little demoralizing to realize how many pickers think that dropping that fourth string one note to play classic banjo tunes is too much to ask.
    >Accompaniment in the key of C – For modern 5-string pickers acclimated to G tuning, one major benefit of being able to play in C is to accompany singers (possibly even yourself) who find that their favorite songs are out of their vocal range if they stay in G.
    >C is a “Stepping Stone” for Other Keys – In addition to letting you play more credibly in the key of C, learning C tuning helps you play in weird keys easily like Eb by using a capo. True, the majority of five-string players today avoid any venue or musical style that would force them to play in such keys, but that’s not because the banjo lacks imagination or confidence.
    >The only difference between G and C tuning is what happens on the fourth string, my request is to offer 5 string banjo tuning in both keys with the simple tuning change of D to C on the 4th string.
    >Thanks Dan along the “other C pickers!”
    Yes, I’ve donated to your website on a couple of occasions and encouraged others.

    1. been a tad unwell so I haven’t gotten to this. I will look at it bit adding any tuning is a big deal in the program (weeks of work) – may take a while

  27. Question, I want to add another member of my family with their own name and password but when I go into manage my account, the system rejects with a message, “email address is already registered.”. Is this just not possible?

    1. You need to have a different email for every user. Create a Gmail address for you family member and use that to create the new id

  28. Hi, I use your site frequently and find it invaluable thank you. I use IPad and the site always has a secure ‘lock’ beside it. My friend uses a PC and Norton Security and when he accesses the site he gets a warning that it is dangerous webpage. Could you tell me why this is and whether I a, still ok to use the site.
    Thanks

    1. Norton, on a regular basis does this. I contact them an they remove their error and mark it safe then a few weeks later it comes back. The appear to be unfit for purpose! I will question them again

      1. Just contacted them again and now getting safe when I test – just ridiculous
        Safe Web Report for:
        https://www.ozbcoz.com/Songs/

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  29. Hi, some time ago, I tried to set up an account on your brilliant site but made a hash of it and abandoned my attempt for awhile. I have now tried again but my email is already registered on your site and I cannot remember what my Username of my Password is so I cannot make any progress on setting up an account. What can I do?

  30. I am having great difficulty in creating a new account, and my old account seems to have disappeared.
    Is there any help available for this?

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