You might have noticed that I’m a big fan of EatMyUke (aka Stan) and highly recommend watching his fantastic ukulele medley videos. So I’m delighted to have him on Uke Hunt to share tabs (in low-G tuning) for his medley of Final Fantasy VII tunes.
Arranging multiple themes from the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack is not something I thought I would be doing as I enter my thirties. Who am i kidding? I feel the path of my ukulele playing led to this very moment. As teenagers, my friends and I were hooked on this game. I’m talking, playing it before school, recreating the fight scenes during breaks, followed by refining them during dinner time then back on my Playstation 1 within 5 minutes of arriving home.
What particularly drew me to the game was the soundtrack. The composer Nobuo Uematsu is often regarded as the Beethoven of video game music. His pieces take you right into the game and add so much depth and richness to an already fantastic game. Some of these songs were the soundtrack to my childhood and have embedded into my life.
What with the remake of the original game just being released, it seemed like a perfect time to combine it with my other passion: the ukulele.
It was a total joy to arrange these special pieces on a ukulele, although challenging, they still translated very well to the ukulele. With a bit of practice, all these are playable by a seasoned beginner.
Tabs
Here are a selection of tabs from the arrangement
Tifa’s Theme
A simple picking arrangement that’s all based around an F Major chord. You really want to utilise your little finger for this, especially on the opening chord so you can slide up the 13th fret nice and easily.
Under The Rotting Pizza
Named after the pizza-shaped disc that overlooks the slums in the main city of the game. It’s got a surprising sense of fun considering how bleak the game is that point. It’s based around 2 chords (Em7 & Dm6) which sound delightful on a ukulele. The chords are separated by two riffs that can be a handful to play in terms of speed. Nothing you can’t work towards though.
Cosmo Canyon
Quite possibly my favourite composition from the whole game. The song plays anytime the wolf-like beast Red XIII is involved in the storyline. All we are doing here is picking out the melody. There’s a bit towards the end that requires you to use your thumb as well as your finger, but it’s all very straight forward stuff.
Cid’s Theme
This is one of the more heroic sounding pieces from the game. It accompanies Cid who is a proud man and the pilot of the mighty Highland (the airship that gets you around the game world). We need to use our 1st finger and our thumb for this one. As we are playing octaves of the main melody.
Aeirth’s Theme
Often regarded as one of the main themes from the game, this one just sounds beautiful on the ukulele.
Massive thanks to Stan. You can follow him on YouTube and find out more at EatMyUke.com.
