Five Manchester Riffs (Tab)

Continuing the celebration of Manchester in honour of the Bossarocker’s Ukulele Show with five – mostly jangly – Manc riffs.

The Stone Roses – Waterfall

I moved this one up a fret because I like this sound of the g-string ringing. But, if you want to play along to the record, it’s easy to move everything down a fret (and the G down to the C-string 6th fret).

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The Happy Mondays – Loose Fit

This one is slightly adapted to keep it in the same key.

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Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart

I wanted to have this one strummed. That way you can get away with implying the low B and A notes in the last two bars rather than playing them.

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The Chemical Brothers – Galvanize

I don’t know if this one even counts as being from Manchester. The Chemical Brothers were both born in London and this riff was sampled from Moroccan Najat Aatabou.

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The Fall – Wrong Place, Right Time

I couldn’t let this post go without one from The Mighty Fall. The first half of the riff sounds great with full chords. But it does make the second half – played as single notes – sound a bit wimpy.

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More Manchester

The Smiths – This Charming Man
The Fall – Theme From Sparta FC
The Fall – Blindness
The Fall – How I Wrote Elastic Man
The Happy Mondays – Step On

View Comments

14 Comments

  1. mictoboy May 26th, 2011 9:09 pm

    Lovely stuff Al, particular thanks for Joy Division, The Fall and The Stome Roses. Plenty for me to practise there!

  2. RyRawwr. May 27th, 2011 12:29 am

    Been one of the many unspoken fans for a while now, but had to speak up and thank you for this post. Settling in to university in manchester in september will be a lot more fun now! Thanks!

  3. punksocks May 27th, 2011 5:02 am

    you’re a DREAM!

  4. Woodshed May 27th, 2011 6:44 am

    mictoboy: Cheers!

    RyRawwr: Have a great time at Uni.

    punksocks: Thanks, I am very handsome!

  5. Rob NY May 28th, 2011 1:33 am

    Joy Division. NICE!

  6. Woodshed May 28th, 2011 8:12 am

    Rob: I think I have your era pinned down!

  7. catherine May 30th, 2011 8:50 pm

    thank you so much. as a beginner ukulele player you have made songs so accessible and within a year with the help of your site im trying your tricky section. thanks for the smiths even though it was a nightmare its a dream come true that you have done that. any chance of guns of peter delaney covers ? he’s fantastic on the uke!

  8. Woodshed June 2nd, 2011 11:19 am

    catherine: Thanks so much! Very glad you found it useful.

  9. Kermit May 23rd, 2012 11:49 am

    You’re twisting my melon Al!

  10. Woodshed May 25th, 2012 7:21 pm

    Kermit: Call the cops.

  11. Dom June 7th, 2012 10:34 am

    Brilliant. As always. Many thanks…

  12. Woodshed June 9th, 2012 3:15 pm

    Dom: Thanks very much!

  13. Kevco November 28th, 2013 6:41 pm

    Hello, how to know the strumming pattern of Joy Division ?
    Thank you!

  14. Woodshed November 29th, 2013 2:42 pm

    Kevco: d – d u – u d – for the first half and d – d u – u d u for the second.

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