I was inspired by Ukulele Cat to knock up my own version of the Keyboard Cat tune. It’s dead simple, just the D and Dm chord shapes on the C, E and A strings. Make sure you’ve got the chord shape in place at the start of the bar and you’re good to go.
For the picking I’m using:
Thumb – C-string.
Index – E-string.
Middle – A-string.
My version is in a different key. Here’s a version in the original key.
I’ve been using Guitar Pro to make my tabs for longer than this site has existed. But I spend so much time making tabs that I’m always on the lookout for something better. So I picked up a new tabbing app for Mac: Tabular by Chromatic Labs
It’s very new and the bugs are still being worked out. But it does have all the important features and it certainly could be a contender. It’s gaining features quickly. I’ve had to delete a few things I was bitching about in this review because they were fixed.
This review is based on version 1.1.0.
A tabbing app for Mac. It can create tabs for ukulele, guitar, pretty much any other fretted instrument and drums.
It does all the things you’d expect a tab programme to do: creates tab and standard notation and rhythm slashes (or just tab), has most of the expressions you’ll need (bends, slides, vibrato, harmonics), creates chord diagrams, allows for multiple tracks in each tab.
You can import from Guitar Pro 3/4/5 or MIDI file formats and export to PDF, MIDI or plain text.
It also has a practice mode that allows you to adjust the tempo and loop selected sections of a tab.
Copy/paste plain text tab: I love this feature so much! You can copy the tab from the app, paste it anywhere you can put text and it will give you plain text tab that looks like this:
|----3----|
Q E E E Q Q
A ||-3-------------------------------|
E ||-------3----3----3----4-----3----|
C ||---------------------------------|
G ||---------------------------------|
That’s already made Tabular the app I go for to I want to make a quick bit of tab to go in an email or comment.
Document Library
The app keeps an iTunes-like library of all your Tabular files which I found handy. You can arrange them into groups (a bit like playlists in iTunes). Which I prefer to folders as it means you can have one tab in any number of different groups.
It just needs iCloud support and I would love it to pieces.
Looks Great
My biggest problem with Guitar Pro is how butt-ugly it is. Tabular is much more pleasant to use.
Price
It’s currently £13.99 ($19.99). Making it much cheaper than Guitar Pro at €60 (£51/$79). Although if it’s cheap you want Power Tab (Windows only) is free.
Uke Suitable
There’s an option for standard ukulele tuning. None for low-G or baritone but it’s easy to create those and store them. I didn’t run into any problems trying to do uke stuff. And its automatic chord names work much better than Guitar Pro which is forever adding in slash chords on ukulele.
Also on the fretboard display the strings get thicker as the tuning lowers. So reentrant tuning actually looks like reentrant tuning. Which has no practical value but I like a lot.
Importing
It imports a good range of files: MIDI, Guitar Pro 3/4/5 (currently no .gpx – the format of the latest Guitar Pro). It did a good job of importing everything I tried.
Exporting
Currently you can export to pdf, MIDI and plain text. They work well but I missed the ability to export images.
Limited Display Options
You’re currently limited to the app defaults when it comes to fonts, sizing and titling.
In the app itself, if you’ve got multiple tracks you can’t view them together.
Chord Charts
The chord charts it produces are a bit lacking. As well as the lack of display options you can’t add fingering, indicate barres and the nut isn’t bolded (making it more difficult to check which fret you’re at). They’re also not particularly pretty.
Tabular:
Guitar Pro:
Limited Features
It’s lacking a few other features you may or may not use. There’s no ability to add lyrics, codas, segnos. There’s also no way to add fingering to tab. There are most likely other features that I didn’t look for. So best to check the features it does have if you want anything beyond standard tabbing.
Mac Only
This, I’m fairly sure, isn’t going to change soon. Which is obviously bad news for non-Mac folks. But even for Mac folks it means that Tabular isn’t going to replace Guitar Pro as the internet’s favourite format for exchanging tabs.
My official position when I started this review was, “Looks promising but you should wait and see.” But the update to version 1.1 really cut down on my reasons not to recommend it. And there is a lot it does very well.
If you planning on doing a lot of tabbing I’d still highly recommend Guitar Pro. I can’t imagine Tabular becoming my main tab maker.
But if you’re looking for something inexpensive and easy to use for occasional tabbing then Tabular is already looking like the best option.
Tabular on Chromatic Labs
Tabular on Mac App Store
Guitar Pro
Power Tab
I was humming and hawing over whether to write Get Lucky up until I heard Will Grove-White’s awesome ukulele version. Both versions are in the same key so you can use these chords to play along with either.
Nile Rodgers’s funky rhythm part really makes the song. There’s a lot of variation in the strumming but I like to keep a constant semiquaver strum and mute most of the strums.
Here’s the basis of the strum I use with the muted strums as Xs:
Here it is played at half speed:
And up to speed:
Once you’ve got it under your fingers try out a few variations.
The little solo at the end is very tricky to play up to speed. Here’s my best crack at it.
Buy the MP3
WillGroveWhite.com
Harder, Better, Faster, Strong chords
Le Freak riff
New Releases
– Spirit Runners (Kate McLennan and Noel Tardy) Choose Love.
– New live album from UOGB Uke-Werk Live in Germany. And here they are being interviewed by Stefan Raab (in English).
– Williwaw – another diversionette.
Videos
– Helen Arney sings a googol.
– Vaudeville Entertainer Bobbie “Uke” Henshaw Plays His Ukulele (thanks to Ron Hale). Read his bio here.
– Don’t take a ukulele to a guitar fight.
Pictures
– Lots of lust-worthy restored vintage ukes on Antebellum Instruments.
– Film-inspired ukulele designs.
– Charles Dance takes a uke break.
After an extended hiatus Makapili Ukuleles – a favourite of Wilfried Welti – are back in business.
I’ve always had a bias towards 80s game themes. Which I’ve taken to be partly because I did most of my gaming in the 80s and partly because 80s game music was much better.
But the ever-interesting – even for non-gamers – Extra Credits had an episode about video game music a while back made me look at it in a more nuanced way.
They make the convincing argument that game music hasn’t got worse, just less memorable. I’d completely forgotten that game music was there primarily to increase immersion in the game. And as far as that goes game music certainly is better now that it was in the 80s.
But the fact that 80s game composers were restricted to three notes and had to come up with memorable tunes certainly does make for good conversions to ukulele. And I think the Flash Man theme from Mega Man 2 works particularly well.
Bars 3 and 4: I use fingerpicking through most of the song. But for the rapidfire notes in bar 3 and the first half of bar 4 I’m strumming.
I switch back to picking for the last half of the bar. Fret the third and second frets here with your ring and middle finger and have your index finger on the E-string second fret ready for the pull-off.
Bar 17: For the last note barre across the second fret.
Bar 21: If you’re using a soprano ukulele you can play this bar like this:
Buy the MP3
Interview with Takashi Tateishi and other early Mega Man composers
More Game Theme Tabs
For a bit of a lark and a time-waste I’ve put together a couple of ukulele-related crosswords.
The first is ukulele-related stuff (uke parts, accessories, sizes etc.). And the second one you have to work out the surname (or last bit of their pseudonym in some cases) of various famous ukers.
You can either do them online or download and print out the PDFs. Either way, you’ll need to download the answer PDFs to get the solutions.
Leave me a comment telling me how you did and whether you’d like more of them.
Ukulele Players: Online Version
Warning: Spoilers in the comments.
I’ve been enjoying the new She & Him album a whole lot since its release. I was originally going to write up the album’s ukulele song but went with this one instead because it’s great.
Good with the old standby:
d – d u – u d –
You can jazz it up with a touch strum on the first down-strum (so you’re just lightly strumming the g and C strings) and a four-finger strum on the second. So it sounds like this:
Do that once for every chord. Except the last A chord in verses 2 and 3 and the instrumental section where you do it twice.
Here’s M Ward’s little twiddle at the end of the choruses:
Buy the MP3
SheAndHim.com
She & Him – Gonna Get Along Without You Now (Chords)
She & Him – Sentimental Heart (Chords)
Peter Luongo is retiring as head of the Langley Ukulele Orchestra after over 30 years. He’s going to be replaced by his son, and mighty fine player, Paul Luongo.
Watch
– Episode 3 of Matt Kresling and his ukulele’s Madagascar Journals. This episode: lady troubles in Mozambique. This is a fantastic series. If you’re not up to speed episode 1 is here.
– PBS’s Jake Shimabukuro documentary Life on Four Strings if you’re in the right part of the world.
– Spending Time With…Cory McAbee (Thanks to Ron Hale).
New Releases
– Book documenting The Martin Ukulele by John King and
– Peter Delaney’s Witch Bottle
– The Flamin’ Mamies debut EP
– Ukulele by Jan Laurenz
Education secretary Gove back to school for ukulele (cc: everyone who believes that playing the ukulele will make you a better person crap).
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