Dec/2/08
7comments

Eddie Vedder/Pearl Jam – Can’t Keep


Eddie Vedder – Can’t Keep (Tab)(PDF)

Can’t Keep is my favourite of Eddie Vedder’s ukulele songs. It’s quite unusual for a ukulele song and sounds far better and more aggressive than the full band, album version.

For this song he’s at least in tune with himself, if not the rest of the world (perhaps some clever metaphor). But if you want to play along with the video, you’ll have to tune down very slightly.

The riff of the song works very well on the uke. It starts out like this:

And shifts a little for the verse to this:

The strumming for these sections is just up, down (a lot). He switches it up a bit for the ‘I won’t live forever…’ bit. Down, down, up, up, down should get you through that.

7 Comments

  1. LonnaB December 2nd, 2008 7:04 pm

    I’m gonna have to say that Eddie Vedder is easily the second most sexy ukulele playing man on this planet.

  2. Nelson December 2nd, 2008 11:50 pm

    Who’s the first?
    Oh right…me.

  3. Woodshed December 3rd, 2008 8:46 pm

    Yes, Nelson, definitely you.

    Last time there was a discussion on the subject, James Hill came out on top.

  4. MightyOak December 4th, 2008 4:29 am

    What kinda uke is that!? It sounds really great.

  5. Woodshed December 4th, 2008 5:40 pm

    MightyOak: I pretty sure it’s a Tululele.

  6. LonnaB December 5th, 2008 1:44 am

    *notice they both have long hair and a beard.

  7. MightyOak December 5th, 2008 3:45 am

    Many thanks woodshed. Though I have to say, the “Hootchulele” looks a might better considering the odds of it leading me to practice more… a LOT more.

    http://www.earnestinstruments.com/ceegar.html

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