Mike Love – No Regrets (Chords and Tab)

Mike Love – No Regrets (Chords)

The Beach Boys may have released a ukulele song but it’s another Mike Love that has prompted a batch of tab requests. And I didn’t have any hesitation in fulfilling them. It’s an instantly likeable song and there are plenty of interesting uke tricks going on.

It uses a number of chord inversions (different versions of the same chord – the inversions are indicated by an apostrophe after the chord name), combines picking and strumming, changes keys and has a nifty ukulele solo.

He uses a low-G tuning for the song but everything works well on a standard tuned ukulele too. There are a few bits in the solo that sound a little off with high-G but it’s easy to adjust those.

Suggested Strumming

I’m not going to go into the whole thing because there are a whole lot of chord changes here. But most start with the G-string being plucked with the thumb. Then followed either by d u or d u d u depending how long the chord lasts. For the really quick changes just do one down strum.

In the last verse he switches from strumming to picking. You can use this pattern with the thumb (p) alternating between the G and C-strings while the index finger (i) handles the E-string and the middle finger (m) the A-string.

Twiddly Bits

No Regrets Solo (Tab)

The song’s solo is really effective. It uses the chords from the chorus along with an alternating picking pattern. Like the pattern before, the thumb alternates between G and C, the index finger plays E and middle A.

You don’t have to follow this solo note for note. I’d recommend building up your own solo using the same ideas. Start off by taking the chord progression from the chorus and picking the pattern above from the last chorus.

From there you can add in additional notes from the C major scale. If you’re not familiar with the scale, steal a few of the notes he adds in (or kick the dust out of your brain and learn it, I suppose).

And if you want to get fancier you can start changing the picking with the index and middle fingers so you can add in more notes. But don’t screw with the thumb; keep that constant.

There are a few more little licks in the song. They’re all at the end of the chord sheet. This lick transitioning from the key of D back to C is really effective. But the last note doesn’t fit if you’re playing a high-G. So it’s best just to hold the C-string, 2nd fret at the end for the whole beat.

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16 Comments

  1. spiffy July 18th, 2012 2:12 am

    I saw this video on the home page and I’e been listening to it every day

    thinking to myself “gee I wish I could see the chords to this ”

    silly me they were right next to it!

    you have by far the best tabs and chords on the web as far as I can tell

    I was very upset when I couldn’t afford ukulele lessons anymore but your website has helped me so much!

  2. Mike W July 18th, 2012 3:04 am

    Thank you sir.

  3. JimUke July 18th, 2012 8:42 am

    Thanks Woodshed, looks a bit complicated for an intermediate player like me, but I’ll try the solo and see how far I can get.

  4. Woodshed July 18th, 2012 8:02 pm

    spiffy: Glad I could help!

    Mike: You’re welcome.

    JimUke: It’s definitely worth trying to come up with your own solo. That’s what I ended up doing.

  5. jeremy July 18th, 2012 10:03 pm

    Thank you

  6. Parker July 19th, 2012 12:35 am

    Hey, Woodshed, could you possibly do the chords for “Isn’t It Time” by The Beach Boys?

  7. Joseph July 19th, 2012 2:09 am

    When you put it on the home page, i listened to it everyday, just like spiffy here! I couldn’t find it tabbed out or the chords anywhere so i immediately started doing it on my own. i was listening to it and tabbing it out when you posted it! i was soo close to being done too.

  8. Woodshed July 19th, 2012 11:02 am

    jeremy: You’re welcome.

    Parker: Maybe. I was thinking about doing it but there doesn’t seem to have been much reaction to it.

    Joseph: It’s all good practice!

  9. Monica July 30th, 2012 5:16 pm

    Awesome song and awesome tab! I keep getting confused about when you play the regular chords and when you play the chord inversions and which one is which. I know the inversions have the apostrophe, but I get mixed up about which fingering is which. Help?

  10. Woodshed August 1st, 2012 10:55 pm

    Monica: Hmm, when I’m playing it I’m mostly thinking about the flow of the song. Focussing on the note that’s being played on the G-string. That gives me the required inversion. I hope that helps.

  11. laura January 11th, 2014 10:48 pm

    Thank you so much!! My favorite song and artist!

  12. Woodshed January 12th, 2014 9:13 am

    laura: You’re very welcome!

  13. Emiliano September 18th, 2014 1:34 am

    This is awesome! Thanks man!!

  14. Woodshed September 18th, 2014 8:04 am

    Emiliano: You’re welcome!

  15. tim June 19th, 2016 7:51 pm

    awesome tab. can you do Mike Love’s “Dark Days” now? you’re my hero

  16. Woodshed June 19th, 2016 10:41 pm

    tim: Sorry, no plans to.

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