Tracklist
Ryo Natoyama – Absolute Zero
Adrian Demain – Shadowplay
Tune-Yards – Cannonball
Sarah Moyer – Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life
Izumi Pahepuaokalani – Lei Kiele
Blue Dean Carcione – Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars
Gwendolyn Fitz – Caught Up in My Mind
KimaMusic – Breaking & Entering
Bailey Rushlow – Don’t Dream it’s Over
New Astraluna EP The Pass Of Storms
On Video
– 1960 interview with jazz and blues ukulelist Lemon Nash.
– Germany’s ukulele-heavy Eurovision entry.
Pictures
– @ukeist has been posting some great pictures recently including Charles “Ponzi Scheme” Ponzi and Schoonmaker’s Drugstore 1931.
– Ukulele Ike with Buster Keaton and Sally Eilers.
Window Shopping
– Johnny Winter inspired Firebird Ukulele by RIGuitars.
– 60s Kamaka Tiki uke with a tiki-guy on the headstock.
– Cheekily branded Y’Ke Ke ukulele from the 1930s.
Patreon
A massive thanks to Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running. And double thanks go to March’s Tenor backers:
– Arthur Foley
– Ben Beckwith
– Colleen Petticrew
– Dan
– David Burt
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Fiona Keane
– Jeff K.
– Katherine Penney
– Kie77
– Leia-lee Doran
– Lisa Johnson
– Margie Peres
– Mr Daniel Barclay
– Nick Parsons
– Olga deSanctis
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Sandi Clement
– Suzy Cramer
– Thorsten Neff
– Trevor Mccravy
Frightened Rabbit – I Wish I Was Sober (Tab)
I recorded this video last year for the anniversary of Scott Hutchison’s death. And I’ve been a little reluctant to get around to the tab as I’m still cut up about it.
The trickiest part of the arrangement comes in the bridge. In this section, I’m trying to combine the guitar riff and the vocals so there are two melodies to keep track of at once. The fretting in some places isn’t intuitive, so check the video if you find yourself getting tangled up.
And be sure to keep a steady tempo when the chorus hits so you don’t do what I did and speed up horrendously.
Links
TinyChanges.com
Buy the original
The Woodpile tab
Uke Hunt Patreon
O du lieber Augustin (Tab)
O du lieber Augustin is a short and sweet waltz from 17th Century Vienna. It’s a real earworm that’s been repurposed for everything from symphonies to children’s songs all over the world. My first encounter with it came in The Simpsons. But I was inspired to do a version after watching the absolutely wild movie Funeral Parade of Roses.
The tune is fun, super-simple and uses only two chords. Just make sure to give it a bounce to give it an oompah waltz feel. You can do that by playing the second and third beats staccato i.e. muting them shortly after picking them instead of letting them ring (where they’re not part of the melody).
Links
The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry (Tabs)
I went into this one expecting it to be tricky. But it all fell quite nicely once I transposed it into C. The riff works very well and is an absolute classic (even if I can’t shake the feeling it’s a bit 90s daytime TV theme).
For my version, I worked from the ’79 version which I didn’t realise until after is subtly different from the 80s video version. The biggest difference is in the bridge section. The video version has harmonised vocals and ascends on the “more”s at the end. While the single version is a single vocal line and descends at the end.
The chord move F-Em-Dm at the end of the riff is very quick. You can make it easier by keeping your middle finger free on the F chord. Leaving open to play the Em. Here’s the fingering I use for that section:
Links
Tracklist
Anthony Kauka Stanley – Rocky Theme
Rita Payés i Elisabeth Roma – Oración del remanso
Krista Muir – Concrete Lovesong
Jarmo Julkunen – Close To You / Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On Your Head
4stringboy – Street Spirit
Ari Chi – Gang Over Luv
James Hill – Eucalipstick
Eliel Carvalho – Asa Branca
garazfunk – Step Two
williwaw – standing like a tree for me
Sex Pistols – God Save the Queen (Tabs)
I’m still to entirely sure this one works but it is fun to play. There’s very little melody in the song. So this arrangement is heavily chord-based. But you can style it out, especially if the listener knows the song and is singing along in their head.
The verses and choruses are talk-sung. So there I play the chords in the rhythm of the vocals. The bridge has just two notes: F (A-string, 8th fret) and E (A-string, 7th fret). They’re both in the chords they’re sung over, so there’s little to do here either. The outro has a long descending melody. All but one are the root notes of the chords they’re sung over. So the only addition to the chords is an A note (g-string, 2nd fret) over the B minor chord.
The only tricky bit is the solo. But if you hurl yourself into it and make sure the bends are out of tune it’ll work out fine.
By the way, the timing is this one incidental. I started working on it before the recent blow-up because every day is a good day to overthrow unelected leaders.
Links
Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up (Tab)
This video has been knocking around for a while but I thought I’d put up the tab to give you enough time to get it under your belt before April Fools Day. The viral nature of this song has ensured it’s become Stock Aitkin Waterman’s most enduring hit, you can’t throw a dart at their catalogue without hitting something equally cheesy, catchy and memorable.
I’ve had a few stabs at arranging this tune over the years (the last one was on Instagram) and I’ve tackled the chorus slightly differently each time. But the run on “Never gonna” (end of bar 16) has never changed. You could, if you were being boring, play it like this:
But playing across all four strings makes it easier to play at full speed, lets the notes bleed into each other and leaves you in the right position for the following bar.
Links
Buy it on Amazon
Museum of Meme Music
More 80s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
P.T. Adamczyk – Kerry’s Song from Cyberpunk 2077 (Tab)
The hullabaloo around the game has stopped me from playing Cyberpunk 2077, but when Kerry’s Song from the game was requested by a Patron I was really taken with the chill tune.
What isn’t so chill is trying to play it on the ukulele. There are a lot of big, quick leaps up and down the fretboard to contend with. A good tune to try if you’re practicing your fretting accuracy.
Links
Cyberpunk 2077 Soundtrack
More game tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
Tracklist
SeattleUke – Jerry’s Breakdown
Honoka Katayama – Blame It On The Boogie
The Hedge Inspectors – Too Many Horses
Edem Soul – Don’t Worry
Harry Kalahiki – Granada
B.S Roberts – Your Best Heart
Easy Star Records – Redemption Song
Blue Dean Carcione – I'm On Fire
Arko Mukhaerjee – Ab Ta Jau Kanchhi Ghar
