New Song: Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

Let’s learn this comedy classic made famous by the legendary Monty Python! As well as having a catchy chorus and good advice about stoicism, this song is a great example of the rich history of humor in music. Laughter and joy help us connect to music, so composers often write everything from musical jokes to novelty songs to dark satire. You may even notice some songs by The Yousicians with particularly silly lyrics if you listen carefully…

“Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life”, made famous by Monty Python, is now available in Yousician for Guitar, Piano, Ukulele, Bass, and Singing.

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life for Guitar
by: James Neilson, Music Education Designer for Guitar

In the melody exercise (level 4) you’ll play along with the vocal melody (including the whistling!), with the “talking-singing” parts simplified for playability on the guitar. Look out for the tricky timing in some sections, and start slow if needed to get the rhythms under your fingers.

In the fancy chords exercise (level 6) you’ll play the main chords of the song, using lots of fancy 7th shapes, as well as some unusual ones like Am7b5. For any chords you don’t know, take your time to review the diagrams and memorise the shapes.

In the full rhythm exercise (level 9) you’ll play the recorded rhythm guitar part, using a range of jazzy chords. Look out for the tricky chord shapes and fast transitions, especially in the intro section.

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life for Piano
by: Sunny Choi, Music Education Designer for Piano

Accompaniment exercise (level 5)

This song has quite a lot of chords, so I made a simplified arrangement where you play only the key notes of each chord. This way it’s easier to read, but still sounds rich. All the chords of the song are already in the intro, so I recommend you to practice that first. After that you can practice the bass line of the first verse, as it repeats throughout the song!

Melody exercise (level 8)

This song has a nice swing rhythm. You can just listen to the melody a couple of times first to get a feel of the rhythm. The melody is written using a lot of triads, so it might look a bit confusing when you use standard notation. You can try to use enhanced notation instead, it’s a lot easier to read!

Accompaniment exercise (level 8)

This song has a repeating structure, so I recommend you to start by learning the first verse. The rest of the verses use the same chords with minor rhythmic variation. Also check the outro part separately as it is in a different key. Try to keep a light feeling in your hands as you play. This song is not meant to be played seriously!

Solo piano exercise (level 9)

I recommend you start practicing this song by learning the beginning of the first verse. It’s the hook that everyone recognises! The melodies repeat a lot in this song, so after you’ve learned the first couple of faster movements, you can already play most of the song. Note that the outro modulates to a new key! You might want to practice it separately a couple of times before you try to get all gold stars.

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life for Ukulele
by: Vellu Halkosalmi, Music Education Designer for Bass and Ukulele

In the melody exercise (level 5) you’ll play along with the vocal melody (including the whistling!), with the “talking-singing” parts simplified for playability on the guitar. Look out for the tricky timing in some sections, and start slow if needed to get the rhythms under your fingers.

In the chords exercise (level 6) you’ll strum all the chords in the song, using a range of major, minor, and 7th chords. The bulk of the song uses the popular I – VIm – IIm7 – V7 progression – firstly in G major, then in A major during the outro.

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life for Bass
by: Vellu Halkosalmi, Music Education Designer for Bass and Ukulele

The basic bassline exercise (level 2) is a perfect opportunity to look on the basic side of bass. It’s all in the timing, so master thumpin’ away on the “one and three”.

The full bassline exercise (level 6) is a nice example of a traditional swing groove, where you first play “in two”, which means playing two notes per bar on the 1st and 3rd beat, and then towards the end you start to play walking bass, or “walk” playing a note on each beat. In these jazzy-kind of grooves lock on to the ride cymbal. Essentially the bass and the cymbal work together to lay down the driving rhythm.

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life for Singing
by: Sonja Patrikainen, Music Education Designer for Singing

This song is great for practicing interpretation! I recommend you try to memorize the melody and the lyrics, so you can focus on the message of the song. Articulate clearly, play around with your voice and do wacky sounds and most importantly smile!