I’ve been meaning to do an instrumental version of this Muppet song (written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher) for ages. It’s a lovely little tune and I’ve kept things as simple as I could.
After the intro, there’s no fancy picking at all. It’s all done with the thumb.
Intro
If you want a simple, thumb-playable version of the intro you can use this:
Bars 7 and 8
Changing the fretting on the C-string from the middle finger to the index finger should make it easier to reach up to the fifth fret with your pinky.
Bars 11 and 12
Keep the notes in brackets soft. You can throw in a bit of fancy filigree here if you like but make sure it’s quiet enough so it doesn’t overpower the melody.
Same deal in bars 19 and 20; and 27 and 28.
Bars 21 to 24
Keep the fifth fret barred with your index finger.
Bars 31 and 32
I found this to be the trickiest move in the whole tune. Try keeping the fifth fret playing for the last note but start moving your other fingers ready for the A chord.
Melody Version
Rainbow Connection (Melody version)
Here’s a melody only version for you to do with as you wish.
After you’re done check the answers here. Then come back here and show off your score in the comments. And let me know if you’d be interested in a similar post with TV themes.
The Beach Boys may have released a ukulele song but it’s another Mike Love that has prompted a batch of tab requests. And I didn’t have any hesitation in fulfilling them. It’s an instantly likeable song and there are plenty of interesting uke tricks going on.
It uses a number of chord inversions (different versions of the same chord – the inversions are indicated by an apostrophe after the chord name), combines picking and strumming, changes keys and has a nifty ukulele solo.
He uses a low-G tuning for the song but everything works well on a standard tuned ukulele too. There are a few bits in the solo that sound a little off with high-G but it’s easy to adjust those.
Suggested Strumming
I’m not going to go into the whole thing because there are a whole lot of chord changes here. But most start with the G-string being plucked with the thumb. Then followed either by d u or d u d u depending how long the chord lasts. For the really quick changes just do one down strum.
In the last verse he switches from strumming to picking. You can use this pattern with the thumb (p) alternating between the G and C-strings while the index finger (i) handles the E-string and the middle finger (m) the A-string.
Twiddly Bits
No Regrets Solo (Tab)
The song’s solo is really effective. It uses the chords from the chorus along with an alternating picking pattern. Like the pattern before, the thumb alternates between G and C, the index finger plays E and middle A.
You don’t have to follow this solo note for note. I’d recommend building up your own solo using the same ideas. Start off by taking the chord progression from the chorus and picking the pattern above from the last chorus.
From there you can add in additional notes from the C major scale. If you’re not familiar with the scale, steal a few of the notes he adds in (or kick the dust out of your brain and learn it, I suppose).
And if you want to get fancier you can start changing the picking with the index and middle fingers so you can add in more notes. But don’t screw with the thumb; keep that constant.
There are a few more little licks in the song. They’re all at the end of the chord sheet. This lick transitioning from the key of D back to C is really effective. But the last note doesn’t fit if you’re playing a high-G. So it’s best just to hold the C-string, 2nd fret at the end for the whole beat.
As well as the usual bedroom strumming, this week’s post includes LP at the Grammy museum, Mike Love in Ko’olau’s shop and Ryegrass stood in their bathtub.
It’s quite common to see ukes like this vintage Hawaiian ukulele being referred to as, “TABU ukuleles.” Which is understandable given that it’s often the only mark on the ukulele. But it’s actually a trade-mark for ukuleles made for ukuleles in Hawaii. It was instituted (according to The ‘Ukulele: A History) in 1916 after the Hawaiian makers got pissed that mainlanders were making shoddy ukes, giving them a Hawaiian name and passing them off as the real deal. Thank God that doesn’t go on anymore.
I’ve kept it reasonably simple for this one. All the melody notes are playing with the thumb and all the supporting strums (shown in brackets) are strummed.
Melody Version
You Only Live Twice (Melody Tab)
If you want to do an easy version or work up your own, here are the melody notes along with the chords.
I’m always keen to check out what musicians are doing on their instruments to see what I can incorporate into my uke playing.
It’s easiest to integrate techniques used on instruments similar to the ukulele such as the ukulele’s Madeiran forebears and, the subject of this post, the Venezuelan cuatro.
The Venezuelan cuatro – not to be confused with the Puerto Rican cuatro – has four string, is usually tuned ADF#B (like a D-tuned ukulele) and appears to have been strung by an idiot. It is re-entrant like the uke but re-entrant the other way round. The outside strings (A and B) are both an octave lower than they are on the uke. So the outside strings are lower than the inside strings.
That means both instruments use the same chord shapes. It also makes for an interesting duet with the ukulele. In the Penguin Cafe Orchestra clip the ukulele and the cuatro are both playing exactly the same thing. But the difference in tuning makes it much more interesting.
The current kings of the cuatro are the C4 Trio who are as spectacularly explosive as their name would suggest. They demonstrate the riotous strumming that is a feature of cuatro playing (if you thought Jake had a great right hand check out Danny Orduño Barines). The clip I’ve included is long but there’s always something interesting and entertaining happening.
Before the C4 trio, the master of the cuatro was Fredy Reyna. He took up the cuatro in the 40s when his guitar was stolen and went on to play, teach and popularise the instrument and give it a new respectability.
The popularity of the cuatro spread to nearby Trinidad and Tobago (turns out it is way closer to Venezuela than I realised). Which saw a blend of the Venezuelan style (more heavy in the Robert Munro clip) with Carribbean influence (Busta Theodore) creating a genre known as parang. Parang is particularly associated with Christmas – hence the last clip.
I hope watching these gives you a few ideas and plenty of inspiration.
Thanks to Gerardo Gouveia for suggesting many of these videos and inspiring me to write this post.
Pops Bayless and Mysterious John – I’m A Bear In a Lady’s Boudoir (Chords)
I finally recovered enough from the Asylum Street Spankers split to post this. It was made famous by Ukulele Ike and covered by the Spankers on their Dirty Ditties EP. But the version I’ve written up is the uke-only performance by former Spankers Pops Bayless and Mysterious John.
The other two versions are broadly similar but the Ukulele Ike version is one fret higher and the Spankers’ version is two frets higher.
Suggested Strumming
This one is a bit too complicated to go in depth but you can use this as the main pattern:
d – d u d u d –
Twiddly Bits
The intro and the move from the C to the A7 use this little run:
There’s an ascending bit on the G7 in the ‘thick of the fight’ bits:
And on the G7 after that (“mostly at night”) he cycles through some G7 inversions:
Some superstar guest appearances this week: Jontom is joined by Hawaiian guitar slinger Jeff Peterson, Ashton Kutcher provides bass for Snorri Helgason and Amanda Shires is backed by House.
