Guns n Roses - Sweet Child O’ Mine
October 4, 2007 · Print This Article
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





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
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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!
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!
agree with all said!
Nicely done and a great series, I’ve enjoyed playing all of them (nearly!)
well done bloke!
Oh that’s it, I’m going to be driving everyone insane with this all weekend now…..thanks for this! Ace! xxxx
Thanks for all the comments, guys.
Thanks for that one… fun riff for the uke….
Great stuff, but, how could you leave out Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ In The Years”?
How ’bout a few more?
Thanks - Scott
There’ll definitely be more, Scott. Numbers 20-11 are penciled in for November time. Steely Dan are definite contenders.
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.
Thanks, Mr Recurring. Glad you liked it.
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.
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.
Just got my ukulele today… play guitar to jsut wanted something to mess around with and i have put it down yet…good tab
also more classic rock please
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.
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.
awesome
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!
greatness but get some more rock riffs like the clash or something
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
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.
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.
or maybe is it just to go up and down in the A string?
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
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?
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!
I’ve finally nailed the entire song, on an ukulele no less.
I honestly couldn’t have done it without this website.
hey woodshed, umm, is this in the original key?
I’d just like to try and figure out the chords
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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Wow! This is awsome man! Tanx soooo much!
You’re welcome, Sophie!!!
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)
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.