Feb/21/08
47comments

Kate Nash – Foundations

Kate Nash – Foundations (Chords)

There’s no doubt about the highlight of last night’s Brit Awards; “You remember Kenzie? His little face beaming?” The Brit School love-in was getting a bit much. And it’s great to see one band willing to goad the powers that be into cutting their speech short.

Having said that, I don’t have anything against the Brit School. There are a few killer songs that have come out of it, which makes it worth putting up with The Feeling in my book. Foundations is one of the songs that makes it worth putting up with them (and maybe even The Kooks as well).

The chords are dead simple. The tricky part is working out how the hell the lyrics fit around them and adopting an unconvincing cockerney accent.

For the strumming at the start, you can just play each chord once. When it gets going, I like to use down, down, up, up, down. Which sounds like this slow:

And this up to speed:

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47 Comments

  1. newbie February 21st, 2008 7:40 pm

    arfffff that accent!

  2. zym February 21st, 2008 8:13 pm

    its like listening to female Mike Skinner!

    The Artic Monkeys thing however was VERY funny

  3. Woodshed February 22nd, 2008 2:45 pm

    I don’t care what anyone says, I love this song.

  4. Heather February 22nd, 2008 4:15 pm

    What’s Brit School?

  5. zym February 22nd, 2008 4:57 pm

    @ heather

    The ‘Brit School’ is the “London School for Performing Arts & Technology” – basically its an independent, state funded arts and technology school that loads of people like Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis, Kate Nash, Dane Bowers, The Kooks, The Feeling etc all went to at some point in the past.

    I dare say that if Grange Hill was still going it would be full of kids from there too ;)

  6. Woodshed February 22nd, 2008 5:53 pm

    Dane Bowers =)) God Lord, I did not know that. I may have to revise my opinion.

  7. Raisins February 28th, 2008 1:01 am

    I am pretty new at uke. I can play the chords just fine, but i have no idea how the strum pattern would go to this song. Any help?

  8. Woodshed March 2nd, 2008 3:17 pm

    Hi Raisins.

    For the strumming at the start, you can just play each chord once. When it gets going, I like to use down, down, up, up, down. Which sounds like this slow:

    http://ukulelehunt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/foundationsslow.mp3

    And this up to speed:

    http://ukulelehunt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/foundationsfast.mp3

    Hope that helps.

  9. Raisins March 13th, 2008 1:55 am

    Awesome, thanks for the help

  10. helen July 6th, 2008 11:23 pm

    i am a beginner in ukulele and i haven’t tried to play this song yet
    but lol wish me luck!

  11. Woodshed July 7th, 2008 11:03 pm

    Good luck, Helen.

  12. Ami November 15th, 2008 12:52 pm

    Is this in standard C tuning? ‘Cause basically all the songs I try to play sound a bit… Off, you know?

  13. Woodshed November 16th, 2008 7:30 pm

    Ami: Yes, C tuning. Are you sure your uke is in tune? If you don’t have a uke tuner, try AP Tuner.

  14. Blehthan January 13th, 2009 4:05 pm

    Thanks for these :)
    Its a good song… I never really loved it until Newton Faulkner did a cover of it on the new live lounge album.
    Now I can’t get enough.

  15. Woodshed January 14th, 2009 9:10 pm

    Blethan: I’ve just checked out his version. Quite like it.

  16. Mittens February 9th, 2009 7:56 pm

    Hello :) Thanks for putting this up. I fell in love with the song after hearing Newton Faulkner’s version. I’m a complete beginner and this is the first song I’ve managed to get down so I’m feeling pretty chuffed :D

    Thanks again xx

  17. Woodshed February 9th, 2009 10:09 pm

    Mittens: Congratulations! The first of many I hope.

  18. Sparky July 13th, 2009 10:52 am

    Yuck! What a horrible accent the girl has. Give me Kate Bush anytime. And The Feeling, definitely. The Feeling is feel-good music, this is just feel-nauseous music. Arctic Monkeys, Razorlight, Coldplay, Stereophonics, The Beatles, The Who, all Britmusic ;)

    Sparky

  19. Woodshed July 13th, 2009 7:13 pm

    Sparky: Yes, it is a little grating. I have to disagree with you about The Feeling, though. I can’t stand them.

  20. LauraJane September 30th, 2009 9:25 pm

    okay…
    i got a ukulele today…
    im confused as i play guitar….
    LOL
    and , what are the actualy chords…
    cause i cant see them :/
    thanks

  21. Woodshed September 30th, 2009 9:29 pm

    LauraJane: Click where it says ‘Kate Nash – Foundations (Chords)’ in big red letters.

  22. Tanya February 15th, 2010 8:51 pm

    Strum pattern for this? Just wondering if when you put up the chord sheets if you could include suggested strumming right on the song sheet so we can have it all in one place??

  23. Sean February 21st, 2010 3:58 pm

    This is the first ‘proper’ song I’ve learned/still learning since getting my first uke at christmas and I was really pleased to see this great track listed as good for beginers.
    Great site btw do you have any sort of forum?

  24. Woodshed February 22nd, 2010 3:55 pm

    Sean: No, no forum I’m afraid.

  25. Rachiee March 9th, 2010 3:14 am

    What strumming pattern are people using for the chorus? Down down up up down doesn’t sound quite right when I do it.

  26. Ian April 1st, 2010 7:52 pm

    Can someone tell me how many times the chords are played in the chorus. Is it 1 bar of F and 1 bar of Am etc?

  27. Songs with Chords You Know | Ukulele Hunt August 15th, 2010 6:46 pm

    […] Kamakawiwoíole/Jason Castro – Somewhere Over the Rainbow Julien Dore – Cet Air-La Kate Nash – Foundations Kate Micucci/The Gooch – Mr Moon Last Shadow Puppets – Standing Next to Me […]

  28. Arianna December 18th, 2010 4:41 am

    boooo. Using profanity in music is never classy.

  29. Woodshed December 18th, 2010 10:17 pm

    Arianna: Since when has the goal of music to be classy?

  30. ella February 10th, 2011 6:39 pm

    hi, just started playing the uke and i find it really hard to pick up strumming patterns… any advice?

  31. Woodshed February 11th, 2011 11:43 am

    ella: Have you read this post?

  32. ella February 19th, 2011 12:54 pm

    Thank you!!

  33. harriet May 7th, 2011 2:53 pm

    At what pint do you stop doing the single stroke strumming? I know you said you do it when the pace quickens but I am having trouble recognizing that point

  34. Woodshed May 8th, 2011 9:09 am

    harriet: You can do it whenever you like, but when the vocals start would be a good point.

  35. Henry Cobb May 24th, 2011 9:36 pm

    Gr8 tab, but you should probs play the Am like this;
    0
    0
    4
    5
    Just a thought :) TY

  36. Woodshed May 25th, 2011 10:49 am

    Henry: Yes, that would certainly work.

  37. Amanda September 8th, 2011 3:43 pm

    Don’t understand people not liking her accent. Personally it does interesting things to my lower spine. But it’s probably like when I hear a really thick Dublin or Cork accent. Instant turn off.

    Anyway wonderful song, which I finally got right today. Delighted does not begin to describe how happy I am.

  38. Woodshed September 9th, 2011 12:12 pm

    Amanda: Really? I’d take Cork or Dublin over mockney any day.

  39. Amanda September 10th, 2011 3:20 pm

    Yeah but Wood you’re not from Cork and living in Dublin. There are days when I just want to shriek at Dubliners and Corkonians to speak properly.

    On the other hand, to me at least. Kate Nash’s accent is yumness, wrapped in deliciousness. And it doesn’t hurt that she looks rather like my partner.

    *shrug* Horses for courses I guess.

  40. Woodshed September 10th, 2011 9:09 pm

    Amanda: No, I’m not. But I do find my home accents (Yorkshire and Derbyshire) becoming.

  41. Amanda September 11th, 2011 12:23 am

    Yeah I can see that, the yorkshire accent is rather yummy. Especially in a singing voice. :-) I think for me I came from a region and moved to another region where the spoken accent is so horribly pronounced that I just loathe them. End result something different is very attractive.

    But then I’ve always believed that that’s half of why accents came into existence. A way for humans to help themselves survive, by not inter-breeding to a degree that resulted in offspring who were more than 90% chin.

  42. Agnes January 31st, 2012 2:02 pm

    Thanks so much for this! This is pretty much the first song I’ve learned to play properly (yeah, I’m kind of just starting out). Love this, and Kate Nash!

  43. Woodshed January 31st, 2012 10:46 pm

    Agnes: Glad it got you started.

  44. Dan Smith June 24th, 2012 9:24 am

    I think Kate Nash is the best thing since sliced bread. It’s a wonderful tune – great calypso voice and witty lyrics.

  45. Yumebi May 1st, 2014 1:37 pm

    If you loathe these accents – don`t get me started on german once like Hessian or Saxonian XD

    I can do the Kate Nash anytime <3

  46. Naz January 4th, 2015 4:30 am

    This is awesome. 5 weeks of learning so far and I picked this right up. Suggestions would be to get familiar with her music and if you ever get a chance to see her live, DO IT! She usually does something quite spectacular during her shows. Love her!!

  47. Naz January 4th, 2015 4:35 am

    I am ittle stumped on the strumming pattern during the chorus. Any suggestions?

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