Radiohead – Street Spirit (Fade Out)

If you want to play Street Spirit on the ukulele, just forget it. Impossible. Can’t be done. Having said that…

…if you make enough changes, you can move it from ‘impossible’ to the merely ‘too difficult to bother attempting’. With that in mind, I’ve tabbed out a difficult version based on the guitar part and come up with an easier version which fits more comfortably on the uke.

Difficult Version

For the ukulele version, I’ve transposed everything up 3 frets (so it’s in C minor rather than A minor). Here’s the first, and most played, riff in the song:

Part 1 midi

For the right hand picking, I use my index finger on the E-string, middle finger on the A-string and thumb to cover the other two. I’ve also put some fretting hand suggestions in the tab. Strictly speaking, the second note of this tab should be the G-string open, but this makes the right hand picking much more tricky.

The second little riff (“All these things…”) is a little trickier.

Part 2 midi

The G at the beginning of the bar is an octave above where it should be. Try to bar your little finger across the E and A strings for those notes at the tenth fret. Otherwise, it’s a big jump down to the sixth fret.

And the tab for the chorus:

Part 3 midi

If I was attempting this song (which I’m not, because it’s impossible), I’d just play the chords for this section (Eb, Gm, Cm) even in the hard version.

Easy Version

This first part of the song is derived from the vocal melody and the picking pattern.

Midi

If you wanted to make it even easier, you could strum out these shapes. So it would be 0033 for the first half of the first bar, then 0233 for half a bar, 0333 for half a bar and so on.

For the next section, I hold down a Gm chord shape and pick with one finger for each string (thumb on the G-string, first finger on the C-string etc.

Midi

For the chorus, take a breather and just strum out the chords Bb, Gm, Cm.

Here’s a pdf of all the tabs:

Street Spirit (Tab)