Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still (Tab)
One of 2017 most unexpected hits. Portugal. The Man have been knocking around for years without bothering the charts. But last year’s instantly catchy Feel It Still changed that. And made me tackle arranging it despite it being not immediately uke-suitable. So this one is a bit tricky to play and uses a range of techniques.
The arrangement starts with the bass riff which sets up the C – Eb – F chord progression that is used through most of the song. (The original is in the key of C# so you play in the original key by putting a capo on the first fret.) In this section I’m muting the strings slightly by lightly resting the palm of my picking hands on the strings. The muffled sound makes the melody stand out more once it comes in.
In the spirit of, “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus,” the verses are ultra short. It’s all played with fingerpicking with thumb, index and middle fingers.
You can blast out the choruses by bringing in the strums. The tricky part is fitting the strums around the rapid fingerpicking required. I’m using a lot of alternate picking to fit them in. I’m also flicking my index finger up when picking some notes to create a fuller sound.
great song! thanks so much!!!