Guns n Roses - Sweet Child O’ Mine

October 4, 2007 · Print This Article

sweet child of mine ukulele riff
Sweet Child of Mine midi

Even on guitar, this riff is a real finger-twister. Even Slash himself had trouble with this one. It took him a number of retakes in the studio before he could get it right.

Transferring it to the uke certainly doesn’t make it any easier. Gio Gaynor struggles with it in his version and I’ve struggled to play it too. I’ve tried to minimise the amount of jumping around you have to do but it’s still very tough to play.

Best of luck to you if you decide to take it on.

Suggested by West


Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction - Sweet Child O' Mine

Comments

36 Responses to “Guns n Roses - Sweet Child O’ Mine”

  1. Tim on October 4th, 2007 8:05 pm

    Hi!
    Can’t you put up a ukulele version of Ac/Dc:s You shook me all night long? It would be real nice!

    //Tim

  2. Uke Hunt » Top Ten Guitar Riffs for Ukulele Roundup on October 4th, 2007 8:18 pm

    […] Sweet Child O’ Mine. 1.5 Back In Black. 2. Whole Lotta Love. 3. Paranoid. 4. Seven Nation Army. 5. Smoke On The Water. […]

  3. Fert on October 4th, 2007 11:14 pm

    Respect! I remember a long period of practising before i was able to play it on the guitar, too. But this ukulele version is damn good to play!

  4. West on October 4th, 2007 11:36 pm

    WOW - ’tis a tricky one, but hey, who said they were gonna be easy! Don’t want to labour the point, but as a beginner have LOVED this selection Woodshed!

  5. jules_perox on October 5th, 2007 8:12 pm

    agree with all said!
    Nicely done and a great series, I’ve enjoyed playing all of them (nearly!)

    well done bloke!

  6. Winger on October 5th, 2007 10:06 pm

    Oh that’s it, I’m going to be driving everyone insane with this all weekend now…..thanks for this! Ace! xxxx

  7. Woodshed on October 6th, 2007 11:28 am

    Thanks for all the comments, guys.

  8. Ian B on October 7th, 2007 1:50 am

    Thanks for that one… fun riff for the uke….

  9. luckylarue on October 7th, 2007 11:03 pm

    Great stuff, but, how could you leave out Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ In The Years”?

    How ’bout a few more?

    Thanks - Scott

  10. Woodshed on October 7th, 2007 11:18 pm

    There’ll definitely be more, Scott. Numbers 20-11 are penciled in for November time. Steely Dan are definite contenders.

  11. Nil Recurring on October 9th, 2007 9:46 pm

    Having only picked up the Uke a few weeks ago, this website has proved great! Loving the tabs and the regular updates. Can’t wait for 11-20, thanks.

  12. Woodshed on October 9th, 2007 10:44 pm

    Thanks, Mr Recurring. Glad you liked it.

  13. LawnGnome on November 4th, 2007 8:17 pm

    Great tab! I’m still new at the uke but I have been playing around with some of the banjo picking ideas for uke thanks to EZ Folk. To make it easier to play (for me anyway), I’ve tried to treat it like a banjo roll. I’m using a slight modification of forward roll as shown on the EZ Folk website (Pattern 7). The pattern is at: http://www.ezfolk.com/uke/Tutorials/Fingerpicking/fingerpicking.html

    I will send you my revised tab if you want to take a look at it.

  14. Woodshed on November 5th, 2007 12:41 am

    Click to see Lawn Gnome’s tab

    Thanks for the tab, LawnGnome. It’s interesting to see how people with different backgrounds tackle the uke. I think I need to go and learn some banjo rolls.

  15. Danny on December 27th, 2007 1:01 am

    Just got my ukulele today… play guitar to jsut wanted something to mess around with and i have put it down yet…good tab

  16. Danny on December 27th, 2007 1:32 am

    also more classic rock please

  17. Jimmy on December 29th, 2007 3:26 pm

    After comparing it to the original, I’ve found the actual riff is a semitone (one fret) higher. It makes it a lot more difficult, but a closer sound.

  18. Woodshed on January 3rd, 2008 8:55 pm

    Danny: I’m sure it won’t be long until the next slice of classic rock.

    Jimmy: You’re absolutely right. The original is played with D chord shapes and the guitar is tuned down a fret. C# would be more accurate but a bugger to play.

  19. Joe on January 22nd, 2008 5:12 pm

    awesome :P

  20. Andy on February 1st, 2008 2:08 pm

    my girlfriend got me a uke for christmas, and i think she’s regetting it now because all i’m doing is playing these riffs over and over again! love it!

  21. scorpion on February 8th, 2008 1:36 am

    greatness but get some more rock riffs like the clash or something

  22. Adam on March 27th, 2008 3:33 pm

    hey, just curious, did you change the key at all? cause if not that means my uke is severely out of tune, when i play along with slash something sounds off

  23. Woodshed on March 28th, 2008 3:21 pm

    Hi, Adam. This version is half a step lower than the original (which is in C#). It’d be too hard to play in the original key - unless you stuck a capo on the first fret.

  24. newbie on April 12th, 2008 6:28 pm

    After a long time I decided to try this out but I think the outro is missing, isn’t it?
    Would appreciate if you could post it, thanks.

  25. newbie on April 12th, 2008 6:47 pm

    or maybe is it just to go up and down in the A string? :)

  26. Andy on April 17th, 2008 11:21 am

    woodshed, i’m absolutley loving all these riffs you’re putting up! i think i’v got them all pretty much bang on now (although back in black doesn’t sound right). i was wondering if you were thinking of putting any mini solo’s up or anything like that? would be awesome if you could! cheers

  27. Woodshed on April 17th, 2008 5:47 pm

    Andy: A solo would be a good idea. Although it would be hard to find one that works on the ukulele. It’d have to be something very melodic. Any suggestions?

  28. Andy on April 17th, 2008 7:35 pm

    this may not be as good idea as it sounds in my head, but ac/dc solo’s are relatively simple sounding in general, such as the one in highway to hell. however they are obviously still quite fast! possibly something like the solo on chili peppers ‘californication’ that is relatively slow and melodic. i’m glad you like the idea anyway! if i have any further thoughts i’ll be sure to let you know! cheers!

  29. Variant on May 11th, 2008 11:12 pm

    I’ve finally nailed the entire song, on an ukulele no less.
    I honestly couldn’t have done it without this website.

  30. Rilrod on May 12th, 2008 7:19 am

    hey woodshed, umm, is this in the original key?
    I’d just like to try and figure out the chords

  31. Woodshed on May 12th, 2008 2:24 pm

    Variant: Glad to help.

    Rilrod: If memory serves, the original is in Db. So slap a capo on the first fret (or tune up half a step) and this will be in the right key.

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  33. Sophie!!! on June 2nd, 2008 9:05 am

    Wow! This is awsome man! Tanx soooo much!

  34. Woodshed on June 2nd, 2008 9:50 pm

    You’re welcome, Sophie!!!

  35. Xozny on June 12th, 2008 8:11 pm

    I have soon nailed it. Just a Q. When you play the 2nd part with 2-3, 0-5. I have my 2nd finger on 2 and 4th finger on 3 and then I dunno if I should slide down with my 2nd finger to 5 while playing the 0 or just reach for the 5 with my 4th finger. How do you do it?

    (To understand: Read carefully with an ukulele in your hand)

  36. Xozny on June 13th, 2008 8:48 am

    Yeah, and do you have tabs for at “Woh Wohoho, Sweet child o’ miiiine” as well. It’s pretty similar to the intro but not quite. It’s at 1:15 in the song.

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