Mele Kalikimaka, Merry Christmas, Chanukah Sameach, Feliz Natal and Happy Holidays! (If that’s what you’re into.)

That’s it from me for another year. I’ll be back at the end of January 2025 for the year of the D7 chord.

If you can’t stand to be without a steady stream of uke, I’ll be posting on Instagram, BlueSky and Patreon. Speaking of which…

Patreon

I’m overwhelmingly grateful to all the people supporting the site on the Uke Hunt Patreon. Without your generosity Uke Hunt would not still be going. And without your suggestions for tabs I’d probably be covering Belgian art rock songs rather than tunes people want to learn. Your munificent patronage of the arts has not been since Renaissance Italy.

And extra thanks to December’s Tenor level backers:

– Arthur Foley
– Brian
– Colleen Petticrew
– Dennis Boutsikaris
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Ely Fletcher
– Ivo
– Jeff K
– Jon Kenniston
– Kelby Green
– Leia-lee Doran
– Margit Stadlmann
– Mary
– Moses Kamai
– Noah
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Robert
– Steven Pituch

If you join Patreon at the Concert level or higher, you’ll get access to all previous exclusive tabs including December’s: the Back to the Future theme by Alan Silvestri.

Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song (Tabs)

Just sneaking this one in before the deadline. The song was originally written by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé and first recorded by Nat King Cole. It’s one of the chillest songs in existence to listen to. But not so chill to play. There are many big moves up and down the fretboard to deal with. And plenty of unfamiliar chord shapes.

The intro and solo are of my own devising. So feel free to mess around with those as much as you like.

Links

Buy the original
More Christmas tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Tab)

Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? is one of the most lyrically disastrous songs ever written. But since this is an instrumental, we can ignore that.

The chords simple; just F, G and C with a few D minors and A minors thrown in.

The melody gets a little fiddly though. And it wanders all over the fretboard. A couple of bits to look out for are Bono’s legendary “Tonight thank God…” (in bars 38 and 39) and the pinkie stretch to the fifth fret in bar 32. You can make that part easier by using the open E-string instead of holding the third fret.

The other challenge is memorising it all. There are no repeats until the chorus right at the end of the song.

Links

Buy Do They Know It’s Christmas (2024 Mix)
More 80s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

The Simpsons – Monorail

Billy Joel – We Didn’t Start the Fire

Kendrick Lamar – Not Like Us

Elton John – Step Into Christmas

Death Grips – I’ve Seen Footage

Lil Wayne – Lollipop

Watch on YouTube

Tracklist
Mika Kane / Ukulenny / RIO – Henehene Kou ‘Aka
The Staves – After School
Jon’s Ukulele – Whiskey Before Breakfast
Vinicius & Joao – Tema pro Ben (Thanks to Aline)
Tyler Donkoh-Halm and Sho Humphries – Fly on the Wall
James Hill – Give My Regards to Broadway
Kim Deal – Summerland
Trixie and the Jumping Fleas – Ghostbusters
Markus Rantanen – Taisto

The Cure – Friday I’m in Love (Tab)

I had to break protocol for this one so I could post The Cure’s Friday I’m in Love on a friday.

Intro: There’s an odd start to the song with the first note coming in on the “and” of 1. If the listener is unfamiliar with the song, it can throw them off.

After the opening lick, it’s into some straight-forward strumming with a few picked notes thrown in.

Verse: The first two verses are simple, with all familiar chord shapes in the first position. The third and fourth verses are a bit more tricky since they incorporate a high note on the A-string, fifth fret.

Chorus: The trickiest part is going from the riff at the end of the verse to G chord with the high D note. If you’re struggling, you can just strum out the A chord in bar 17.

Solo: The solo has a lot of moves up and down the neck. But there’s nothing too fancy to trip you up.

Bridge: This is the hardest section to play. You’re up at the fifth fret and it gets a bit fiddly. That’s one reason I halved its length.

Links

Buy the original
More 90s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

The Clash – I Fought the Law (Tab)

I Fought the Law was originally recorded by The Crickets after the death of Buddy Holly. The Bobby Fuller Four had a big hit with it later in the 60s. Then The Clash recorded the definitive version. And it’s The Clash version I based this arrangement on.

Most of this arrangement is very easy. It’s just strumming out basic chords. For the single open-C strings notes the first crop up in bar 11 (where they lyrics say “and the”), I’m strumming all the strings while muting the g-string with my thumb and the E and A-strings with my fingers. If you prefer, you can just play these with fingerpicking the C-string alone. But that does lose a bit of the energy of the song.

Things only get tricky in the solo section. But even then, it’s not exactly a finger-twister.

Links

Buy The Clash version
More 70s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

A massive thanks once again to the generosity of Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running this month. And double thanks go to these legendary patrons of the arts:

And extra thanks to November’s Tenor level backers:

– Arthur Foley
– Brian
– Colleen Petticrew
– Dennis Boutsikaris
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Ely Fletcher
– Ivo
– Jeff K
– Jon Kenniston
– Kelby Green
– Leia-lee Doran
– Margit Stadlmann
– Mary
– Moses Kamai
– Noah
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Robert

If you join Patreon at the Concert level or higher, you’ll get access to all previous exclusive tabs including November’s: Bon Jovi’s Wanted Dead or Alive

Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For? (Tab)

Here’s my take on Billie Eilish’s contribution to the Barbie soundtrack: What Was I Made For?

Intro: I went with a few spicy chords for the intro to emphasise the melancholy mood of the song. If you prefer, you can just pick through the standard C – Em – F chord pattern.

Verse: I’ve kept the arrangement for this simple and sparse. It’s a great melody, so doing that gives it plenty of room to breathe.

Chorus: Things get a bit more involved in the chorus with pull-offs, slides and a few trips up the neck to deal with.

Break: This section is only loosely based on the original. So there’s plenty of room to play about here.

Outro: The song is in C but it ends on a G chord (i.e. the V chord). That leaves the song hanging on a tense, uncertain note.

Links

Buy the original
More 90s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (Tab)

House of the Rising Sun has been performed by every folkie including Bob Dylan, Leadbelly and Mumford & Sons. But the most famous is by The Animals. And it’s that version I’ve based the arrangement on.

Intro: You could pluck this section out of the song and it makes a nice little fingerpicking exercise (played with one finger per string picking). Worth learning even if you’re not tackling the whole song.

Verse: Sticking with the one finger per string picking. The priority here is making sure the melody notes stand out. It helps that the tune is so well known that people will hear it more easily.

Solo: This solo is built around the chords with notes from the D blues scale (i.e. the D minor pentatonic with an Ab). I also throw in a few chromatic notes right at the end. Plenty of scope here for including your own ideas.

Links

Buy the Animals version
More folk tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon