I would have put have put good money on Beirut cropping up on the new Tribute to Caetano Veloso album alongside Beck, Devendra Banhart and Seu Jorge.

But we still have their cavaquinho cover of Veloso’s O Leãozinho. I based the chords on the Beirut version but the original is pretty much identical.

The cavaquinho is tuned DGBD (higher than the ukulele). So to put it in the same range I’ve written the chords for use with a capo at the 7th fret.

Without a Capo

It gets fiddly playing the chords with a capo at the 7th fret. So here are the open chords if you don’t want the faff.

Suggested Strumming

For a simple strum you can use this twice for each chord:

d – d u – u

The only place that doesn’t work is with the F – Fmaj7 change. If you want to keep things simple you can just play the pattern once for each of those. Or you can do something similar to the way Beirut play it:

Which sounds like this (slow then up to speed):

Strum

Buy the Caetano Veloso version.
Buy the Beirut version.

Loads more Beirut tabs and chords.

I’m working my way through this album from the outside in. I did the opening track here and here’s the album’s closer.

This song has many of the features you’d expect of a Beirut ukulele song: it’s in waltz time, there’s a hammer-on from a second to a major third (although it’s on a D chord rather than the usual F) and there’s plenty of incomprehensible mumbling.

Suggested Strumming

For a dead simple strum you could use this:

d – d u – u

Which – slowed down – sounds like this:

Strum 1

Use that twice for Em, once for each of the Cs. Then (if you’re not doing the twiddly Dsus2 passing chord) it’s twice for D.

For the G-Gsus4 bit, do the main strum for the G. Then one down strum each for Gsus4 – G – Gsus4.

For the rest, it’s four times each.

You can fancy it up a bit by using this two bar pattern:

d – d u – u d u d u – u

Which sounds like this:

Strum2

Twiddly Bits

The little Dsus2 – D hammer-on is played like this:

Twiddle

So you play the Dsus2 chord and hammer-on the E-string at the second fret.

In the chord chart I’ve written it up in the intro only, but it’s played all the way through the song.

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More Beirut tabs and chords

The new Beirut album is finally out! I got as far into it as the first track before I decided I had to grab my uke and work it out before I moved on. He’s using his 6 string Kamaka and it sounds great.

I’ve written it up as C# tuning or capo on the first fret. But it’s somewhere between C and C# tuning. The chords themselves shouldn’t provide too many problems though.

Suggested Strumming

There are a few passing chords which you can play like this:

If you find that a bit tricky, you can just miss those chords out and play Bb – C – F – Bb with this strum once for each:

d – d u – u d u

Intro

You can transfer the accordion intro to uke like this:

Surely it’s no coincidence that the standout track on the new Beirut EP, March of the Zapotec is the most uke-heavy. The EP isn’t out yet, but The Akara has been spreading on the MP3 blogs.

The uke only part of the track goes like this:

The rest of the song uses these same chords:

More Beirut tabs and chords.

If you’re interested in which ukuleles Zach Condon plays, you can find out here: Zach Condon’s ukuleles.

The Rip Tide

A Candle’s Fire
Port of Call

Flying Club Cup

Nantes (pdf)
A Sunday Smile (pdf)
Guyamas Sonora (pdf)
La Banlieue – Em – A – F# – B
Cliquot (pdf)
The Penalty (post)
Forks And Knives (La Fête)
In The Mausoleum (pdf)
Un Dernier Verre (Pour la Route)
Cherbourg (pdf)
St Apollonia (post)
The Flying Club Cup (pdf)

Read my notes on Flying Club Cup here.

Gulag Orkestar

Gulag Orkestar (pdf)
Prenzlaurberg: Ebm – Abm – Bb
Brandenburg: Dm – Gm
Postcards from Italy (post)
Mount Wroclai (Idle Days) (pdf)
Rhineland (Heartland) (pdf)
Scenic World (pdf). And tab for the accordion part (thanks to Felix).
Bratislava: A – Bb
The Bunker: The first half of the song is G – Dm7. The second half is Gm – C – F.
The Canals of Our City: G – Dm
After the Curtain: D – Gsus2 – D – Asus4

Read my notes on Gulag Orkestar here.

Lon Gisland

Elephant Gun (post)
My Family’s Role in the World Revolution: Capo at the first fret Gm – Eb – F
Scenic World (Second Version) (pdf)
The Lon Gisland Sound: Capo at the first fret Am – D7 – G – C – Cmaj7.
Carousels (pdf)

Read my notes on Lon Gisland and other tracks.

Misc.

Closing Song (Chords)
Transatlantique (Chords)
The Akara
East Harlem: G – C – D for the first part. And G – C – D – Em for the end section.
The White Whale: Ebm – Abm – Bb. Or Dm – Gm – Bb capo first fret.
Hallelujah (Post) Leonard Cohen Cover
The Interior of a Dutch House: E – Bm – F#m – E
My Night With the Prostitute From Marseille: G – A – Bm – D. From Big Change: Songs for Finca.
Brazil (pdf)
The riff:

Siki Siki Baba: Introduction: C – D – G5. Verse: G5. Chorus: Em – Bm – C – D – G.

Alaska in Winter – Close Our Eyes, We Are Blind

Beirut – Postcards From Italy (mp3) via beirutband.com

My recent Fluke acquisition reminded me of the video for Beirut’s Elephant Gun. While I was checking it out, I came across this impromptu performance Postcards From Italy and decided I had to work out the song.

Beirut mainman Zach Condon’s choice of ukulele wasn’t entirely voluntary. In an interview with Pitchfork he explained that after falling of a bridge age 14, “my left wrist is an inch-and-a-half shorter than my [right one] and doesn’t quite have the mobility to wrap around a guitar neck without a bit of pain.” I’d say falling off a bridge was a small price to pay for avoiding the fate of becoming a guitar player.

Postcards From Italy is divided into two halves. The first half has this riff repeated:

If you’d rather strum chords through this section, moving between F and A will do it for you.

As the lyrics shift from the nostalgia in the first half of the song to the anticipation of the second half, so the music shifts with it. There is a small correction I would make to the fingering of the chords in the chart. It suggests playing the C chord with your third finger. But using you pinkie (little finger) allows for a much easier transition into the Bbadd9. You could keep your pinky there through all the chords (creating a Dm7 rather than Dm). It creates an effective drone through the chord changes.

The rhythm for this second section is not played the same every time, but I play the basic pattern like this:

The up arrows indicated down strums and the down arrows indicate up strums (don’t look at me, I didn’t invent the system).

Here’s the rhythm played slowly, then up to tempo.

More Beirut on Uke Hunt

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I like to keep a list of songs that use just the most common ukulele chords. Arranged by the order people usually learn them in. And with people panic buying ukuleles, I thought it was about time for an update.

C, F and G (or G7)

If you prefer, you can use G7 in the place of G or vice versa for any of these songs.

Happy Birthday to You
The Bobby McGee’s – A Dog At All Things
Folk Uke – Motherfucker Got Fucked Up
Mungo Jerry – In the Summertime
The Lancashire Hotpots – He’s Turned Emo
NeverShoutNever! – Your Biggest Fan/Did It Hurt?
Noah and the Whale – Five Years Time
Paolo Nutini – High Hopes
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass
SoKo – I Will Never Love You More
The Tiger Lillies – Start A Fire
Tom Waits – I Hope that I Don’t Fall in Love with You
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra/Kings of Leon – The Bucket

Plus Am, Dm and Em

Addams Family Theme Tune
Alton Ellis – Rock Steady
Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend to Dance With You
Blondie/Imelda May – Dreaming
Billy Bragg – Between the Wars
Darlene Love – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Darren Hanlon – All These Things
Electrelane – Cut and Run
Florence and the Machine – Dog Days Are Over
Foals – Spanish Sahara
Luis Fonsi – Despacito
Garfunkel and Oates – Me, You and Steve
GUGUG – California Sun
INXS – Never Tear Us Apart
Israel Kamakawiwoíole/Jason Castro – Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Julien Dore – Cet Air-La
Kate Nash – Foundations
Kate Micucci/The Gooch – Mr Moon
Kelli Rae Powell
Last Shadow Puppets – Standing Next to Me
Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
LP – Into the Wild
The Lumineers – Ho Hey
Phosphorescent – Wolves
She & Him – Sentimental Heart

Plus D

Allo Darlin’ – Tallulah
Allo Darlin’ – Space Christmas
Amanda Palmer – In My Mind
Antsy Pants/Bear Creek – Vampire
Belle and Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap
Elvis Costello – Good Year for the Roses
Daniel Johnston – Living Life
Damon Albarn – Mr Tembo
The Dubliners and The Pogues – The Irish Rover
Garfunkel and Oates – The Fade Away (you can use D instead of D7)
Gothic Archies – Shipwrecked
GUGUG/The Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
Woody Guthrie – All You Fascists Bound to Lose
Keston Cobblers’ Club – You-Go
The Libertines – Don’t Look Back into the Sun
The Little Ones – Tangerine Visions
The Monkees – I’m a Believer (Use D where it says D7).
Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel
Phredd – Elmer’s Electric Tricycle
The Pogues – Fiesta
The Pogues – Waxies Dargle
The Pretenders – 2000 Miles
Skinny Lister – Colours
Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma
Velvet Underground and Nico – I’ll be Your Mirror
Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London

Plus A and E7

Camera Obscura – Cock Up Your Beaver
Eagles of Death Metal – I Want You So Hard
The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go
Florence & the Machine – Kiss With A Fist (don’t panic, you can use E7 instead of E in this song)
The Pogues – Sally McLennane
Joan Jett – Bad Reputation
Junior Brown – Better Call Saul
Kate Micucci & Ted (Scrubs) – Screw You
Paolo Nutini – Pencil Full of Lead
The Pogues – Streams of Whiskey
Twenty One Pilots – Cut My Lip
The Weavers – Pay Me My Money Down
The White Stripes – Little Ghost

Plus Bb

James Bay – Hold Back the River
Beirut – A Candle’s Fire
Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know (You can use C instead of C5)
Ingrid Michaelson – Be OK
Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love
Lorde/Walk off the Earth – Royals
Lorde/WIOU – Team
Mumford and Sons – The Cave
Nevershoutnever – First Dance
Neutral Milk Hotel – King of Carrot Flowers
Noah and the Whale – Jealous Kind of Love
Sufjan Stevens – Lumberjack Christmas
The Tokens – The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Plus Bm

Everly Brothers – Bowling Green
Etta James – I’d Rather Go Blind
The Pogues – When the Ship Comes In

More…

Mastered all those? Tackle more:

Easy ukulele songs
Beginner ukulele lessons

I like to keep a list of songs that use just the most common ukulele chords. Arranged by the order people usually learn them in. That way you can find some songs to play no matter how few chords you know.

C, F and G (or G7)

If you prefer, you can use G7 in the place of G or vice versa for any of these songs.

Happy Birthday to You
The Bobby McGee’s – A Dog At All Things
Folk Uke – Motherfucker Got Fucked Up
Mungo Jerry – In the Summertime
The Lancashire Hotpots – He’s Turned Emo
NeverShoutNever! – Your Biggest Fan/Did It Hurt?
Noah and the Whale – Five Years Time
Paolo Nutini – High Hopes
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass
SoKo – I Will Never Love You More
The Tiger Lillies – Start A Fire
Tom Waits – I Hope that I Don’t Fall in Love with You
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra/Kings of Leon – The Bucket

Plus Am, Dm and Em

Addams Family Theme Tune
Alton Ellis – Rock Steady
Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend to Dance With You
Blondie/Imelda May – Dreaming
Billy Bragg – Between the Wars
Darlene Love – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Darren Hanlon – All These Things
Electrelane – Cut and Run
Florence and the Machine – Dog Days Are Over
Foals – Spanish Sahara
Luis Fonsi – Despacito
Garfunkel and Oates – Me, You and Steve
GUGUG – California Sun
INXS – Never Tear Us Apart
Israel Kamakawiwoíole/Jason Castro – Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Julien Dore – Cet Air-La
Kate Nash – Foundations
Kate Micucci/The Gooch – Mr Moon
Kelli Rae Powell
Last Shadow Puppets – Standing Next to Me
LP – Into the Wild
The Lumineers – Ho Hey
Phosphorescent – Wolves
She & Him – Sentimental Heart

Plus D

Allo Darlin’ – Tallulah
Allo Darlin’ – Space Christmas
Amanda Palmer – In My Mind
Antsy Pants/Bear Creek – Vampire
Belle and Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap
Elvis Costello – Good Year for the Roses
Daniel Johnston – Living Life
Damon Albarn – Mr Tembo
The Dubliners and The Pogues – The Irish Rover
Garfunkel and Oates – The Fade Away (you can use D instead of D7)
Gothic Archies – Shipwrecked
GUGUG/The Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
Woody Guthrie – All You Fascists Bound to Lose
Keston Cobblers’ Club – You-Go
The Libertines – Don’t Look Back into the Sun
The Little Ones – Tangerine Visions
The Monkees – I’m a Believer (Use D where it says D7).
Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel
Phredd – Elmer’s Electric Tricycle
The Pogues – Fiesta
The Pogues – Waxies Dargle
The Pretenders – 2000 Miles
Skinny Lister – Colours
Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma
Velvet Underground and Nico – I’ll be Your Mirror
Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London

Plus A and E7

Camera Obscura – Cock Up Your Beaver
Eagles of Death Metal – I Want You So Hard
The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go
Florence & the Machine – Kiss With A Fist (don’t panic, you can use E7 instead of E in this song)
The Pogues – Sally McLennane
Joan Jett – Bad Reputation
Junior Brown – Better Call Saul
Kate Micucci & Ted (Scrubs) – Screw You
Paolo Nutini – Pencil Full of Lead
The Pogues – Streams of Whiskey
The Weavers – Pay Me My Money Down
The White Stripes – Little Ghost

Plus Bb

James Bay – Hold Back the River
Beirut – A Candle’s Fire
Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know (You can use C instead of C5)
Ingrid Michaelson – Be OK
Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love
Lorde/Walk off the Earth – Royals
Lorde/WIOU – Team
Mumford and Sons – The Cave
Nevershoutnever – First Dance
Neutral Milk Hotel – King of Carrot Flowers
Noah and the Whale – Jealous Kind of Love
Sufjan Stevens – Lumberjack Christmas
The Tokens – The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Plus Bm

Everly Brothers – Bowling Green
Etta James – I’d Rather Go Blind
The Pogues – When the Ship Comes In

More…

Mastered all those? Tackle more:

Easy ukulele songs
Beginner ukulele lessons

I like to keep a list of songs that use just the most common ukulele chords. Arranged by the order people usually learn them in. That way you can find some songs to play no matter how few chords you know.

C, F and G (or G7)

If you prefer, you can use G7 in the place of G or vice versa for any of these songs.

Happy Birthday to You
The Bobby McGee’s – A Dog At All Things
Folk Uke – Motherfucker Got Fucked Up
Mungo Jerry – In the Summertime
The Lancashire Hotpots – He’s Turned Emo
NeverShoutNever! – Your Biggest Fan/Did It Hurt?
Noah and the Whale – Five Years Time
Paolo Nutini – High Hopes
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass
SoKo – I Will Never Love You More
The Tiger Lillies – Start A Fire
Tom Waits – I Hope that I Don’t Fall in Love with You
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra/Kings of Leon – The Bucket

Plus Am, Dm and Em

Addams Family Theme Tune
Alton Ellis – Rock Steady
Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend to Dance With You
Blondie/Imelda May – Dreaming
Darlene Love – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Darren Hanlon – All These Things
Electrelane – Cut and Run
Garfunkel and Oates – Me, You and Steve
Florence and the Machine – Dog Days Are Over
GUGUG – California Sun
Israel Kamakawiwoíole/Jason Castro – Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Julien Dore – Cet Air-La
Kate Nash – Foundations
Kate Micucci/The Gooch – Mr Moon
Kelli Rae Powell
Last Shadow Puppets – Standing Next to Me
LP – Into the Wild
The Lumineers – Ho Hey
Phosphorescent – Wolves
She & Him – Sentimental Heart

Plus D

Allo Darlin’ – Tallulah
Allo Darlin’ – Space Christmas
Amanda Palmer – In My Mind
Antsy Pants/Bear Creek – Vampire
Belle and Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap
Elvis Costello – Good Year for the Roses
Daniel Johnston – Living Life
Damon Albarn – Mr Tembo
Garfunkel and Oates – The Fade Away (you can use D instead of D7)
Gothic Archies – Shipwrecked
GUGUG/The Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
Keston Cobblers’ Club – You-Go
The Libertines – Don’t Look Back into the Sun
The Little Ones – Tangerine Visions
Phredd – Elmer’s Electric Tricycle
Skinny Lister – Colours
The Dubliners and The Pogues – The Irish Rover
The Pogues – Fiesta
The Pretenders – 2000 Miles
Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma
Velvet Underground and Nico – I’ll be Your Mirror
Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London

Plus A and E7

Camera Obscura – Cock Up Your Beaver
Eagles of Death Metal – I Want You So Hard
The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go
Florence & the Machine – Kiss With A Fist (don’t panic, you can use E7 instead of E in this song)
The Pogues – Sally McLennane
Joan Jett – Bad Reputation
Junior Brown – Better Call Saul
Kate Micucci & Ted (Scrubs) – Screw You
Paolo Nutini – Pencil Full of Lead
The Pogues – Streams of Whiskey
The Weavers – Pay Me My Money Down
The White Stripes – Little Ghost

Plus Bb

James Bay – Hold Back the River
Beirut – A Candle’s Fire
Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know (You can use C instead of C5)
Ingrid Michaelson – Be OK
Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love
Lorde/Walk off the Earth – Royals
Lorde/WIOU – Team
Mumford and Sons – The Cave
Nevershoutnever – First Dance
Neutral Milk Hotel – King of Carrot Flowers
Noah and the Whale – Jealous Kind of Love
Sufjan Stevens – Lumberjack Christmas
The Tokens – The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Plus Bm

Everly Brothers – Bowling Green
Etta James – I’d Rather Go Blind

More…

Mastered all those? Tackle more:

Easy ukulele songs
Beginner ukulele lessons

2016 sure has been a ride. (The first draft had hopes of no more musicians dying here but between writing the post and it going up Leon Russell died.)

Being in the key of E, the chords for Suzanne are a bit tricky. You can make it easier by doing it in F like the version Sylvie Simmons (ukulelist and Leonard Cohen biographer) using these chords:

Suggested Strumming

You can just use this dead simple pattern all the way through:

d – d u

Picking Pattern

I’ve also moved the picking into the key of F as it makes it much easier. You can play along with the original by tuning down to Gb B Eb Ab. Or here’s a tab of the picking in E I did before giving up on it.

The tab goes from the intro through the first verse and you can use the same patterns throughout the song.

You pick the E-string with your index finger, A-string with the middle finger and your thumb for both other strings.

Links

Buy it on iTunes
Hallelujah chords