Playlist
Rachael Dadd – Tap the Sap
Ska Tune Network – Giant Woman
Takemoto Neko – On a Little Bamboo Bridge
RIO – Overjoyed
Jan Laurenz – 3 Short Irish Pieces
Jonsukulele -Sally MacLennane
Korea Ukulele Education Association – Bachianas Brasileiras No 5 (Villa-Lobos)
4stringboy – paws
Nova Black – When I Die
Herman Vandecauter – Ouverture Filippo Sauli
Sixpence None the Richer – Kiss Me (Tabs)
Here’s the ultimate 90s one hit wonder: Sixpence None the Richer’s Kiss Me.
Intro: A simple start. Just strumming out a G chord with the note on the E-string moving down and back up chromatically.
Verse: That chord progression continues into the verse. The melody here is very contained. It’s almost all going between the open g-string and open A-string until bar 12 , which builds into the chorus.
Chorus: The chords get busy in the chorus. I found it a bit of a challenge to memorise all the changes. But once it’s under your fingers, it’s not hard to play.
Solo: The first half of the solo is very relaxed. But there’s a lot more to do in the second half. This arrangement is only loosely based on the original. So feel free to change it however you like.
Links
Al Green – Let’s Stay Together (Tab)
Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together is a buttery-smooth track, a laid-back feel, and has an earworm melody and tasty chords. All of which mean it suits the ukulele well.
Intro: The intro nicely sets up the harmony for the piece. And prepares you for plenty of movement up and down the neck. Keep the notes (except the C-string bass notes) staccato to mimic the horns.
Verse: The first verse has a more minimal arrangement. The second and third verses are heavier and have a bit of filigree. You can mix and match these elements as you like. Or include some of your own ideas.
Pre-Chorus: A tasty Am9 in this section. Which is fretted like an Em chord but with the g-string played at the second fret.
Chorus: A lot of moving up and down here. But if you plan ahead, you can use the passing notes to get into position for the next chord. For example, if you play the A-string, 3rd fret in bar 40 with your pinkie, you’ll be set up for the Dm7 chord in bar 41.
Solo: The string solo is the hardest part of the song. I’ve kept this arrangement as close to the original as possible. But I think there’s room for a more uke-friendly version if you want to try. Or, I don’t think anyone would notice if you just skipped this section.
Links
KPop Demon Hunters – Golden (Tab)
For a parody song from a movie, they really went all out with Golden from KPop Demon Hunters.
Intro: The technical wizardry starts right away. The song starts in 3/4 time and shifts both time signature and tempo seamlessly into 12/8. This is done by having one eighth note in 3/4 be the same duration as two eighth notes in 12/8. This is a technique known as metric modulation. I recommend watching David Bruce’s video on the topic if you want to understand it. And I recommend listening to this section of Stray Kids’ Side Effects to hear some time signature fuckery you don’t get much in pop.
Verse: From here on, the song is in 12/8. This time signature crops up fairly often in K-Pop such as GFRIEND’s Apple and Fifty Fifty’s Lovin’ Me. In 12/8 the beats are arranged into four groups of three (so you can count each bar 1-2-3-4 with each beat being divided into triplets). But they sometimes go against this grouping. So, for example, in bar 15 (“Now that’s how I’m getting paid”) it’s divided into six evenly spaced notes.
Pre-Chorus: This is where the vocals start to make big leaps and we head up the neck. But this section is slow and minimal. So it’s straightforward to play.
Chorus: This is where things get very tricky. In the first half of the chorus, there are lots of rapid repeated notes. And in the second half, we’re leaping up and down the neck. With the melody stretching from the open E-string up to the 12th fret on the A-string.
Outro: Similar to the chorus, we have a first half with rapid notes and a second half with big shifts. For the rapid notes, I’m doing a modified triplet strum. So I’m strumming down with my index and middle fingers together. Then plucking the A-string with my index finger, followed by a pluck with my middle finger.
Links
Buy the original
BLACKPINK – Kill This Love (Tab)
Uke Hunt Patreon
Phil Collins – Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)(Tab)
Here’s my take on Phil Collins’ Against All Odds.
Intro: A quick intro with the thumb picking the C-string with index and middle on the higher strings.
Verse: Switching to one finger per string picking from here up to the outro. That allows the g-string to get in on the melody in bars 3 and 4. You can take advantage of the open strings in bar 2 to give yourself time to move up to the fifth fret.
Chorus: This is the trickiest section, with lots of movement up and down the neck, some campanella playing, and a stretch for the Gm chord in bar 11.. To prepare for that stretch, make sure you’re playing the E-string, 6th fret with your index finger. That’ll put your hand in the right place for the chord.
The chorus includes a couple of bars of 2/4. The original only has the second one. But it felt much more natural to me to play it both times. If you don’t want to do that, you can skip the first half of bars 13 and 19.
Outro: A repeat of the intro with another, “Take a look at me now.” Then a series of chords that leave the song on a cliffhanger.
Links
A massive thanks once again to the generosity of Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running this month.
And extra thanks to November Tenor level backers:
– Arthur Foley
– Brian
– Dennis Boutsikaris
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Ely Fletcher
– Ivo
– Jeff K
– Jon Kenniston
– Kelby Green
– Leia-lee Doran
– Mary
– Nevylle Carroll
– Noah
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Rick Wurster
– Robert
– Steven Pituch
If you join Patreon at the Concert level or higher, you’ll get access to all 70 previous exclusive tabs including November’s: The Cure’s The Love Cats
Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds (Tabs)
Here’s my take on Elvis’s Suspicious Minds.
Intro: A nifty little riff to start with.
Verse: The verses are nice and simple. A straightforward G-C-D chord progression with a simple but effective melody.
The verse at the end (bar 40 onwards) is a beefed-up version of the first half of the earlier verse pattern.
Chorus: Here’s where things get challenging. There’s a lot of bouncing up and down the neck. And things get fiddly at the top end. I found the high Bm section (bar 24) the most challenging bit of the song.
Bridge: This section has a big drop in tempo and a time signature change to 6/8. Like the chorus, there are some challenging moves here. But the slower tempo makes it more manageable.
Outro: Closing off with a descending G minor pentatonic inspired by the live ending of the song.
Links
Waxahatchee – Right Back to It (Tab)
This arrangement of Waxahatchee’s Right Back to It is a rare outing in the key of Bb, which keeps all the melodies comfortably within the first few frets.
But there’s still plenty of movement up and down the neck in the song’s instrumental sections. And there are many of those with an intro and two solos. I’ve kept the intro close to the original. And I recommend you do the same. But the solos have plenty of room for your own ideas. For mine, I’m following the chord shapes and adding in notes from the Bb major scale (plus a C# in bars 42 and 54 for a bluesy edge). And I use lots of slides and bends to imitate a lap steel guitar. The lick in bar 53 in particular is a classic lap steel move.
Links
Buy the original
More 2020s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
David Bowie – Fame
Radiohead – My Iron Lung
Rush – Limelight
The Cramps – I Was a Teenage Werewolf
South Arcade – Stone Cold Summer
A massive thanks once again to the generosity of Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running this month.
And extra thanks to October Tenor level backers:
– Arthur Foley
– Brian
– Dennis Boutsikaris
– Ely Fletcher
– Ivo
– Jeff K
– Jon Kenniston
– Kelby Green
– Leia-lee Doran
– Mary
– Nevylle Carroll
– Noah
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Rick Wurster
– Robert
– Steven Pituch
If you join Patreon at the Concert level or higher, you’ll get access to all 69 (nice) previous exclusive tabs including October’s: Weezer’s Buddy Holly:
