Sep/25/07
26comments

Cream – Sunshine of Your Love

ukulele ukelele tab

Sunshine of Your Love midi

Cream only lasted two years but they kicked out their fair share of great riffs in this time. The Sunshine of Your Love was written by bassist Jack Bruce after seeing Jimi Hendrix (who would later cover the song).

The first part of the riff is single notes and the second introduces 7th chords for some of the notes. You could just continue to use single notes as before if you prefer.

A few of the notes call for vibrato. You can create these in a couple of ways. You can bend the string (pull it down or push it up) and release the string a few times. Alternatively, you can wiggle your fretting finger along the neck (but staying within the fret). This is the method I prefer for the uke – it’s more subtle and easy to control.


Cream - The Very Best of Cream - Sunshine of Your Love

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26 Comments

  1. Brian September 26th, 2007 7:09 am

    Cream only lasted 2 years!?
    You were very uncool if you didn’t carry a copy of Disraeli Gears around with you at my school( I was awkward I used to hump around a copy of Trout Mask Replica -just to be contrary)
    Fondest memory-Hendrix playing this riff on the Lulu Show-pity it wasn’t on a Uke ;7)

    cheers
    Brian

  2. Woodshed September 26th, 2007 7:31 pm

    It’s probably closer to 2 and a half years. They started in 66 and split in 68.

    I’ve still yet to decide if I like Trout Mask Replica. I went through a huge Zappa phase when I was at school and decided I should like TMR. Sometimes I listen and love it, sometimes I think it’s trash.

    New fact I’ve learnt today: Hendrix’s first instrument was the ukulele.

  3. Variant May 11th, 2008 11:27 pm

    I prefer changing the first “0” on the bottom line to “3 on the second line in the tab. But hey, that’s just me.

  4. Woodshed May 12th, 2008 2:23 pm

    That’s fair enough, they’re the same note. I went with the open G string because it gives you more time to get down from the 7th fret. But playing it on the E-string makes it easier to play the note staccato. Swings and roundabouts.

  5. rico September 10th, 2008 5:19 pm

    thanks for this woodshed

    i spent a lot of time carrying LPs around at school too, Trout Mask being the greatest to sport.
    Hot Rats carried a certain amount of kudos, like Disraeli Gears and Piper at the Gates of Dawn too…
    maybe we were all at the same school…

  6. Woodshed September 11th, 2008 7:24 pm

    I was watching a documentary about Tom Dowd today (the engineer on Disraeli Gears and many more, but you knew that). What a guy.

  7. Liquid_Wind October 25th, 2008 7:33 pm

    does anyone know where I can find full tabs, or buy if thats what i have to do

  8. Tom H July 15th, 2009 2:01 am

    Nice, I’m new to Ukulele and this was simple enough for me to understand and read, great work Woodshed.
    .
    Also, i think it sounds better when you replace the first 0 on the bottom line with a 3 on the second line, like Varient said. I find this way easier to switch between notes when you play the song in single notes.

  9. Woodshed July 17th, 2009 3:47 pm

    Tom: I stand by my earlier comment.

  10. alex August 5th, 2009 3:45 pm

    i agree with Variant

  11. Jimmy July 4th, 2010 4:34 am

    this song actually is a pretty good fingerpicking excercise, I need to strengthen my ring finger

  12. Jimmy July 10th, 2010 9:09 pm

    i find that this song sounds better on the D blues scale rather than the C blues scale

  13. Woodshed July 13th, 2010 8:24 pm

    Jimmy: Unless you’ve got perfect pitch, there isn’t a whole lot of difference.

  14. acdcfan1 September 14th, 2010 10:19 am

    nice tab

  15. Woodshed September 14th, 2010 11:01 am

    acdcfan1: Thanks.

  16. sam June 19th, 2011 6:18 pm

    I’m pretty sure Creams version is in the key of D. so it’s 5-5-3-5 instead of 3-3-1-3.

  17. Dan August 10th, 2011 8:24 am

    Sorry. Post got messed up AND was double posted.
    3313 on the A, 0 on the G, and 2 on the E is unnecessary when 3313 on the A, then 3 1 on the E is the same and much more convenient.

  18. Woodshed August 11th, 2011 11:48 am

    Dan: Yeah, you can play it that way.

  19. Tiffani February 10th, 2012 10:33 pm

    I saw Cream at the Garden. BEST concert EVER!

  20. christie March 12th, 2012 2:25 am

    Love love LOVE this! :)

  21. Woodshed March 12th, 2012 6:19 am

    Tiffani: I’m jealous!

    christie: Thanks!

  22. Ukegirl July 14th, 2012 2:28 am

    Is there an easier way to play the chord section? Because I’ve been practicing for days now and I still can’t move my fingers fast enough without it sounding horrible!

  23. Jimmy July 15th, 2012 8:05 am

    ukegirl, practice, practice, PRACTICE!!!!!!!!!

  24. Woodshed July 15th, 2012 1:21 pm

    Ukegirl: You can just carry on playing the riff as it initially is.

  25. Ukegirl July 16th, 2012 3:52 am

    Oh ok! Thanks!

  26. DirtyD June 11th, 2016 3:10 pm

    I can play this riff on the harmonica and keyboard.
    On those two instruments the riff goes
    — D, D, C, D — A, Ab, G, D, F, D

    D D C D — A Ab G D F D

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