Billie Eilish – you should see me in a crown (Tab)

I’ve already covered a lot from this album. But Billie Eilish seems to be dominating this year and When We All Fall Asleep is one of my favourite records of the year so far (along with Julia Jacklin, Lizzo and Fontaines DC). So having a stab at this Sherlock inspired song was inevitable.

For my version, I with a capo on the 4th fret. Making it the same key as the original. But there’s nothing stopping you playing it without a capo if you’re not playing along with the recording.

There are a couple of sections in this song that are full of swoops, whoops, beeps and boops that don’t transfer particularly well to uke. Which makes for the perfect opportunity to come up with your own parts.

The first of these comes in the intro. For that I took the notes in the melody and fingerpicked them campanella style to create a shimmering effect.

The second part is the solo. There I let the g and E strings ring out to produce the Em backing while playing octaves on the C and A strings using the E minor scale.

I highly recommend you play around and try to find something you like for your own version.

Links

Buy it on Amazon
More Billie Eilish tabs and chords

Time for the Uke Hunt Annual Chord Quiz. Test your chord knowledge, theory knowledge and musical ear. The method is as low-tech as ever.

– Grab a pen and paper.
– Answer the questions (using a ukulele to help you is entirely allowed and encouraged).
– Check the answers here (no peeking).

If you’re reading by email or feed reader you may need to click through to the post to see everything.

Chord Diagrams

Name the major chord from the chord diagram.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Chord Flavour: Diagrams

All these are F chords but are they F, Fm, F7, Fm7, or Fmaj7?

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Chord Flavour: Listening

All these are A chords but are they A, Am, A7, A6, or Amaj7?

11.

MP3

12.

MP3

13.

MP3

14.

MP3

15.

MP3

Chord Makeup

Each of these triads of notes makes up a minor chord (e.g. the notes of an A minor chord are A, C and E). Which one? (The notes are listed in alphabetical order starting at C to make it harder.)

16. D, F and A

17. C, E and A

18. D, G and Bb

19. C#, F# and A

20. E, G and B.

Chord Progression

Match the MP3 to the chord sequence:

a) F – C – F – C – F
b) F – Eb – C – C7 – F
c) F – C – Bb – C – F
d) F – Eb – Dm – C – F
e) F – C7 – Eb – C7 – F

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

Go here to check your answers

Links

Big Chord Quiz 1
Big Chord Quiz 2
Big Chord Quiz 3
Big Chord Quiz 4
More ukulele quizzes

Fontaines D.C. – Boys in the Better Land (Chords)

I’m very glad Fontaines D.C. came along and showed that rock music isn’t dead quite yet. Boys in the Better Land sticks to the old rock formula of “three chords and the truth” and makes it sound exciting and vital again.

There are two versions of the song. The original version is the much slower “Darklands version”. Which really threw me off for the balls-to-the-wall version on their album Dogrel. And it’s the album version I’ve written. In terms of chords, they’re the same. But the arrangement of the Darklands version is slightly different with the solo coming after the first chorus and missing out the repeat of the second verse and the pre-chorus and chorus that follow it.

The song is in the key of E. If you don’t fancy using any of the variations of the E chord, you can always slap a capo on the second fret and play the E – D – A chords as D – C – G respectively.

Suggested Strumming

For everything but the chorus, you can use this for the E chord:

d – d – d u d u

On the D:

d – d –

And on the A:

d u d u

Together it sounds like this:

Strum

The only exception is the repeat of the second verse. There you play three lots of this on the first E:

d u d u d u d u

And in the chorus, play this on the E three times.

d u d u d u d u

Then the same as the verse strum for the D and A.

Twiddly Bits

Here’s a version of the riff the lead guitar part that first blasts in at bar 9 of the intro. It crops up throughout the song. Sometimes in a reduced form where it’s just switching from -45- to -44- every two bars.

Riff

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And, finally, a version of the solo that I play using a pick. Those two thick black lines on each stem indicate that it’s tremolo picked in constant sixteenth notes. Or, if you’re anything like me, as close to constant as you can manage. If you prefer, you can just pick each note once without losing too much.

Links

Buy it on Amazon
More rock tabs and chords

Watch on YouTube

Tracklist
Jegs Benedict – The Point of No Return
BennyBunnyBand – Pam ToGetHer
Eduardo Enaje – Balatkayo
dodie – Guiltless
Iris Wagner – Lean In
Professor Ogma – Thunderer
Yohanna Liang – layang layang

Prince – Nothing Compares 2 U (Tab)

The last few tabs have been at the trickier end of the scale. So for this one I’ve gone super-simple. The melody for this song is so great it benefits from having very minimal backing.

The whole arrangement is played with just the thumb on the picking hand. And most of the chord shapes used will be very familiar to you. The only time it ventures up the neck is the high variation on, “nothing compares,” right at the end. It’s a bit of stretch. So if you’re struggling you can stick with the way it’s played in previous bars. Or you can replace the 55 at the start of bar 32 with an open C-string.

Links

Buy the Sinead O’Connor version
Buy the Prince version
More Prince tabs and chords

Watch on YouTube

We’re about at the halfway point of the year and it’s time to round up some of the great ukulele videos so you don’t miss anything. If there’s something great I’ve missed, I’d love to hear it. You can send me a message or tweet me @UkeHunt.

Tracklist
Arko Mukhaerjee and Hari Maharjan Ensemble – Resham Firiri
Bridge City Sinners – Run From the Sun
Paul Hemmings – It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
The O’Pears – Bleak Midwinter / River
Cavetown – Hug All Ur Friends
TENSPD – CALLING YOU BACK
Feng E – Chandelier
Zoe Bestel and Tobias Elof – The Blackest Crow
Robin Evans – Come On In My Kitchen
La Familia de Ukeleles – The Ghost of C.C.
Professor Ogma – Gullywasher

Dr John – Such a Night (Chords)

Even by the standards of 1968, Dr John’s debut album Gris Gris is a trip into the strange and unnerving. With I Walk on Guilded Splinters being a masterpiece. But I’ve gone with something more uke-suitable to celebrate his life: Such a Night (not to be confused – as Wikipedia does – with the Drifters/Elvis song of the same name.

Suggested Strumming

You can keep the strumming very simple. Either follow the guitar part and do down-strums on the off-beats. Or the organ and do down-strums on every beat. But I like to add a little variety and use this two bar pattern in the verse and chorus:

d – d – d – d –
d – d – d u d u

And then use two down-strums per chord in the middle until the little walk-up at the end where it’s one strum per chord.

Twiddly Bits

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This tab combines the chords with the short organ riff at the end of the lines.

Links

Buy it on Amazon
More 70s tabs and chords

Bonus: Dr John – Right Place, Wrong Time

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Watch on YouTube

Tracklist
La Familia de Ukeleles – The Ghost of C.C.
Eliel Carvalho – Trocando em Miu?dos Chico Buarque
Natasha Ghosh – Boy With Luv
Luna Silva & The Wonders – Rain Via @ukeist
Machine Gun Kelly x Einer Bankz – El Diablo
Maiah Wynne and Dreadlight – My Strange Addiction
Laura Currie – Bad Guy
Randy Gapasin – A Whole New World

New instructional DVD from Jim D’Ville The Emotional Value of Chords

The Hippie Ukulelist has developed an Essential Tremor in both hands and is looking for advice from anyone who has experience similar problems playing with shaky hands.

A collection of Craig Robertson’s Not Quite Love Songs.

Window Shopping
– KLOS Guitars test if their carbon fibre ukulele can withstand a car driving over it.
– RIGuitars’ ZZ Top inspired uke.
– Patrick Snels foldable ukulele.
– G-String custom tenor with incredible flame koa.
– Pinol tenor.

Smash Mouth – All Star (Tab)

When I did the meme music post I asked on Instragram if people wanted a full version. Turns out they did and here it is.

The arrangement is shortened by a verse and a chorus (you can just repeat the previous verse and chorus if you want those). I originally included the weird solo but realised it was the worst part of an already pretty bad song and took it out. If you’d like to play here’s how I arranged it:

Links

Buy it on Amazon
More 90s tabs and chords