Skrillex – Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (Tab)

Skrillex – Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (Tab)

Dubstep is the point where I finally left my youthful musical hipness behind and set up residence in old man, “this isn’t music, it’s just noise,” territory. But even I can appreciate Skrillex wubbing it up and jumping around the octaves without any regard for how people are going to cover the song on ukulele.

As a result, this arrangement is a bit all over the place. It starts out with some campanella fingerpicking with thumb on the g-string and one finger each from there. But it’s not long before I’m just using any finger I can to get the job done. In the Kramer-scaring section* I switch to strumming but I’m really using my finger more like a pick. There’s also some palm muting thrown in.

Buy the MP3.

* The Mars Volta version is way better.

View Comments

35 Comments

  1. The Captain February 9th, 2012 9:27 pm

    Trying to be hip myself I listened to the original song but then decided to (dub)step into the old man residence, too. But does it sound great on the uke (not that I can play it, but …). Three buts, oh well …

  2. Adam February 10th, 2012 4:18 am

    Perfect. Check the website daily for new things to finger. Great work!

  3. Martin February 10th, 2012 7:28 am

    Skrillex may be popular (ergo fodder for coverage), but it’s like the Nickelback of dubstep. I’ll stick with covering stuff like the following:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XKKaMzMz3w
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIRRewSGvR0
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdUINbi4wSY

    that’s just the mild stuff. the harder stuff can wait until later in this thread should it become a crazy dubstep debate like elsewhere on the tubes. :D

  4. Woodshed February 10th, 2012 9:35 am

    Captain: It’s not all bad. The chairs are more comfortable in the old man residence.

    Adam: Thanks very much!

    Martin: Got to admit, that sort of dubstep bores me rigid.

  5. pepamahina February 11th, 2012 12:18 am

    Wow, you’re really fearless with that thing aren’t you? Nothing on heaven or earth that Al can’t play on a uke. I am suitably impressed! Your sprites are quite nice as advertised, but the uke monster didn’t scare me very much. Kind of like a kitten roaring. Awww…..

  6. Liluke February 12th, 2012 9:27 pm

    You are a ukulele god.

  7. Katie February 13th, 2012 6:39 pm

    I bet that was fun!

  8. Woodshed February 13th, 2012 9:58 pm

    pepamahina: I was a bit scared of including the freak-out bit but figured I may as well go for it.

    Liluke: I am not!

    Katie: I certainly enjoyed it.

  9. Ian February 14th, 2012 2:53 am

    Wow! You are certainly fearless to do a dubstep song on a ukulele! But I still wasen’t suprised to hear you pull it off ;) You made it sound so beautiful :D

  10. Woodshed February 14th, 2012 8:46 am

    Ian: Thanks very much!

  11. Hannah Grimm February 14th, 2012 5:53 pm

    You are a boss.

  12. Woodshed February 14th, 2012 11:33 pm

    Hannah: Thanks! I know ‘boss’ is a compliment in young-person’s speak but I get over the idea that a ‘boss’ is someone to be hated.

  13. Hannah Grimm February 15th, 2012 4:51 am

    Ha! That is true… a boss (like Bowser in Mario) is someone to be hated. But you! No way! How about we try this again: You are awesome!

  14. Luke February 15th, 2012 9:25 pm

    Nice Beard

  15. Birdman February 16th, 2012 9:02 am

    Awesome, love the song, been listening to it for ages even though I am a metal head. Your cover is the beast.

    What tuning do you use, you like you are playing a power chord at the end.

  16. Woodshed February 16th, 2012 2:01 pm

    Hannah: Thanks! I will try to get used to being called a boss!

    Luke: Cheers!

    Birdman: Just standard tuning.

  17. Thomas Edwards-Fort February 22nd, 2012 4:16 am

    Im not sure what im more into, the song or your beard….

  18. chris C February 23rd, 2012 7:53 pm

    thank you so much for this. i love skrillex and ukulele.

  19. Woodshed February 24th, 2012 4:10 pm

    Thomas: The beard!

    Chris C: You’re welcome.

  20. milhouse May 21st, 2012 7:58 am

    dude that was AWESOME! haha now i cant stand skrillex….. but i fell inlove with this cover!!! im gonna practice this till my fingers fall off! haha wicked job dude!

  21. Woodshed May 21st, 2012 8:17 am

    milhouse: Thanks! Good luck with the practicing.

  22. Cindy May 22nd, 2012 10:44 pm

    That’s an awesome cover! My dubstep crazed friends are sure to force me to learn this though I’m not complaining. :D What ukulele is that? Looks cool! Thanks for posting this. :)

  23. Woodshed May 25th, 2012 6:52 pm

    Cindy: Good luck with it. I hope your friends are suitably impressed.

  24. PichuFreak July 9th, 2012 12:14 am

    I never thought the day would come when dubstep could be played on the ukulele.
    Amazing,

  25. Woodshed July 9th, 2012 10:20 pm

    PichuFreak: Thanks very much!

  26. gage January 5th, 2013 3:07 am

    This is awesome thanks you your tab I learned this song and I’ve only jade a uke for there days

  27. Woodshed January 5th, 2013 11:10 am

    Gage: Well done!

  28. Matheus February 8th, 2013 6:22 am

    Don’t make your mind about dubstep listening to Skrillex only. Research a little bit about it, see the first artists and you will see that it is actually really nice! If you like reggae and dub, you’ll sure love the early dubstep movement.

  29. erika February 10th, 2013 8:37 am

    Hey, Is there anyway you could post a tutorial on how to play this? I really want to learn it and i want to show my friends that i can actually play an instrument using a skrillex song :P Anyways u are like the master so i was just wondering…

  30. Woodshed February 10th, 2013 12:35 pm

    erika: Sorry, I don’t do tutorials.

  31. Balsawoodshed April 29th, 2016 4:32 am

    I’ve watched all your videos and this one still blows my mind – I think i like it so much because i’m constantly trying to transcribe ridiculous songs.

    Just so you know- my friends and I consider this site THE BEST ukulele website resource. You didn’t hold my hand and left room for experimenting and finding my way and trying to make songs from the chord progressions you post. I guess the format you post things in just really compliments learning (unlike step-by-step hour-long youtube videos GAG).

    Even if you stopped playing tomorrow(don’t)- you have created a straight-up masterpiece here!

  32. Woodshed April 29th, 2016 7:20 am

    Balsawoodshed: Thanks so much! I really appreciate it. That’s very kind of you!

  33. Magic35 December 18th, 2017 10:28 am

    What type of uke are you using there? its way dope!!

  34. Woodshed December 19th, 2017 10:06 am

    Magic35: KoAloha Sceptre.

  35. Jim December 27th, 2017 3:47 pm

    Awesome. Can you also do a post about the riffs in Bangarang-Skrillex. Thanks.

Sorry, Comments Are Broken Right Now

You must be logged in to post a comment.