US TV Themes (Tab eBook)
Performance Notes
1. A-Team
2. House (Massive Attack – Teardrop)
3. Magnum P.I.
4. M.A.S.H. (Suicide is Painless)
5. Twin Peaks
Taylor Swift and Bon Iver – exile (Tab)
Being a huge fan of Bon Iver and not such a fan of Taylor Swift, I was curious to find out how this collab between the two would work out. And, while it lacks the musical and lyrical layers of a Bon Iver song, it’s very catchy. Certainly good enough for a tabbing.
I’m not too strict with the fingerpicking in this one. The intro is one finger per string picking. The verse and chorus have some rapid melody notes. So I switch to alternating between index and middle finger picking for those. Then I start using more strums when things get more strident in the bridge.
There’s nothing too challenging as far as the fretting hand goes. The chords will mostly be familiar to you, and it’s almost all played in the first position. The only exception is the little hop up to the fifth fret for the Dm in the bridge. There’s also a bit of a stretch for the Csus4 with the A-string, 5th fret on top.
Links
Gustavo Santaolalla – Beyond Desolation (Tab)
The third and final of my tabs from the game The Last of Us Part II.
The piece is unadorned and mournful. It’s an excellent piece for anyone practicing their fingerpicking. It’s nice and slow but there are plenty of switches in the picking pattern to get used to. But all the patterns use one finger per string picking.
The finale of the piece is very intriguing. The original and the tab are both in Gm. But the song ends on Cm7 making the song feel incomplete. I haven’t played the game yet but, since this is the last piece on the soundtrack, I’m guessing that means there’s unfinished business at the end of the game and there will be a Part III.
Links
Gustavo Santaolalla – The Last of Us Part II Theme (Tab)
Another Last of Us video. This time the theme tune by the master of the Bolivian super-ukulele Gustavo Santaolalla.
Mercifully, it’s much easier to play than the theme to the first game. That means you can focus on putting emotion into your playing using dynamics and pacing. The pacing in the original is so varied I was at a loss of how to write up some of the rhythm. So take what’s written in the tab as only the loosest guide.
You can also play with the timbre. For example, in bars 6-13 I pick closer to the bridge and use my fingernails more to make it sound closer to the banjitar used in the original.
Links
Bill Withers – Ain’t No Sunshine (Tab)
Following on from Lean on Me with another much-requested Bill Withers song.
The song itself is neatly split between the melody and the strumming. Which makes for an easy transition to uke. So you have only melody notes in bars 1 and 3 (played with the index and middle fingers). Then the open g-string which functions as both the melody note (on “Gone”) and the root note of the Gm chord.
For the chord bars (e.g. two and four) I’m plucking the individual notes with my thumb, then strumming the chord.
Bars 5, 6 and 7 start out with chords then switch to melody notes. In bars 6 and 7, I’m bending the Bb note (A-string, 1st fret) slightly sharp to give it a bit of feeling.
That’s it for the verses. The only other part of the song is the “I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know…” section which I’ve cut down to just two bars. That’s topped off with a bluesy pentatonic run up the neck before returning to the verse.
Links
Tracklist
Charming Disaster – Baba Yaga
Annier Trio – Indifference
EatMyUke – Bon Iver, Bon Iver Medley
Billy & Scott & Ernie Mack At The Broadway 1967 via @ukeist
Ana Claudia Vaz – I'll Be There For You
Lady Ri – Supermodel
Danny Yau – 40oz
The Little Things – Need You Now
Locum – Dreamer
Ukulele Death Squad – Shadows on the Street
Last of Us Part II Medley (Tab)
In this month’s Patreon request thread, I got a total of five requests for songs that are featured in The Last of Us 2. So I thought I’d put them all together in a medley. Although Wayfaring Stranger and Take On Me are by far the longest sections.
Wayfaring Stranger: I first wrote this song up in Ukulele for Dummies, so it was nice to revisit it with the freedom to add in some more twiddles. Just be sure to pick the melody with more force than twiddles so the two are clearly separated.
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here: A very brief blast of the intro. It fits perfectly with Wayfaring Stranger.
New Order – True Faith: No one requested this one but I loved the version in the trailer and it fits nicely with the other songs. Through doing this I found out that True Faith slowed down is uncannily similar to Mad World.
Pearl Jam – Future Days: Played almost exactly the same way as it’s done on guitar (making it five steps higher than the original).
A-ha – Take On Me: The request was for the slowed version A-ha did for MTV. So that’s the version I worked from (but it’s not far removed from the Last of Us version). The last few bars of this involve notes above the 12th fret. If your uke doesn’t go that high, you can move all the notes at the 12th fret and above down 12 frets. Then it will match the Unplugged and Last of Us versions which both switch an octave down from the original there.
Links
The Last of Us Part II Soundtrack
Gustavo Santaolalla – The Last of Us Theme (Tab)
More game theme tabs
Uke Hunt Patreon
It’s the halfway point of the year and time for a roundup of my favourite videos so far. And it’s been a weird year. Which is reflected in the videos which are split between live clips and socially distanced edited videos.
If there’s anything great I’ve missed, send me a link in a message or a tweet.
Tracklist
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – Limehouse Blues
Bridge City Sinners – Song of the Siren
The Oh Yeahs – And Anyway
Clem Snide & Scott Avett – Roger Ebert
Tricity Vogue & All Girl Swing Band – Rasputin
Vinícius Vivas – There Will Be Some Changes Made
Desirée Dawson – Hey Brother
Ninebarrow (with Hart Voices and The Chantry Singers) – The Hour of the Blackbird
Dani Joy & Daniel Ho – Strange World
Ukulele Death Squad – Let Me Down
Natsuko Kitajima – Out Of Nowhere
