Danse Macabre (Tab)

Saint-Saens – Danse Macabre (Tab Redux)

I first tackled this tab way back at the beginning of the blog and have long wanted to give it another stab. Now nine years later here’s my attempt. I’ve left the original version below so you can judge for yourself if I’ve improved at all in the last decade.

And if this is your bag check out my classical ukulele ebook.

Creative Commons License
This work by Ukulele Hunt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

2007 Version

Danse Macabre (Tab)


Midi

The main theme starts in bar 9. I’ve arranged this so that all the notes ring into each other and create a spooky Gm9 chord. It gets tricky, suitably enough, in bar 13 when the tune switches up a notch. I play the note at the fourth fret with my third finger giving me just enough time to barre my first finger across the third fret. Moving down is easier; you can use the open string to give you time to get the chord shape ready.

Check out Mary Martin’s version on MUD.

UPDATE:

Conor Brown made this version of the tab:

View Comments

12 Comments

  1. amber October 15th, 2007 7:41 am

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the greatest!

  2. Woodshed October 15th, 2007 11:02 pm

    *blush*

  3. JE NA SAIS PAS August 4th, 2010 11:23 pm

    I CANT MAKE HEADS NOR TAIL OF THIS!!! but i love the song:(

  4. Brendan October 19th, 2010 10:36 am

    If you are in Brisbane on 31.10.2010 you can hear Danse Macabre played live at the City Tabernacle. I will be playing violin, but I will have a look at the uke tab and maybe play it Saturday morning at the Kelvin Grove markets (Uke Stall).

  5. Tiffany February 22nd, 2011 6:35 am

    Could someone who has played this song on ukulele before please post a video of it being played? I love this song so much and would love to see an example of it!

  6. Johnny July 9th, 2012 7:01 am

    Even though its several years later thank you for posting this! I really like the camanella style used at measures 25 with the ringing part.

  7. Woodshed July 9th, 2012 10:18 pm

    Johnny: Thanks! Glad you liked.

  8. Conor Brown October 5th, 2013 12:26 am

    Tiffany, if you are still looking for a recording, or anyone else, I recorded it here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EexwtlVCBxU

  9. Woodshed October 7th, 2013 4:42 pm

    Conor: Thanks! I’ve added it to the post.

  10. tooney October 30th, 2015 8:18 pm

    Beautiful playing, Conor. Thanks very much for sharing.

  11. liefr March 8th, 2016 12:26 am

    Been having fun with this tab the last few days. I’m not sure where on the site it’s explained, but I’m not completely sure how to incorporate the circled numbers on measures 9, 13, and 17? Do we pluck those strings after the note?

  12. Woodshed March 9th, 2016 6:38 am

    liefr: Those are fingering suggestions.

Sorry, Comments Are Broken Right Now

You must be logged in to post a comment.