Irving Berlin – Blue Skies (Tabs)

Versions of Irving Berlin’s Blue Skies range widely in their approach. There are uptempo takes, such as the Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole versions, which lean into the suspiciously joyful “we’ll never have problems again“-ness of it. And there are slow, mournful takes like Dinah Washington’s.

This arrangement lands somewhere near the Willie Nelson version with a lot of bluesy touches.

Intro: Starting of with an E minor chord set against chromatically descending notes on the C-string. This bit is mostly picking out notes from the chords with some short licks thrown in. It’s all fingerpicked until the strums leading into the verse in bars 7 and 8.

Verse: Nice and easy to play. The melody is contained and the chords are simple to play. Here I’m picking the melody and strumming everything else.

Chorus: The chorus is more of a challenge. Be sure to keep this section staccato (i.e. short notes) to set it against the more legato verses.

Solo: For the solo, I stuck closely to the chords and melody notes. Throwing in a few bluesy bends here and there. I get a bit more adventurous in the second half, throwing in some chromatic notes in bar 43 and an E minor pentatonic lick in bar 45. I’d recommend building your own solo using any ideas from this solo you like and playing in your own style.

Links

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David Gray – Babylon (Tab)

Intro: The intro in the album version is much better than the single version. And suits the uke more. So that’s the version I went with.

Verse: The trickiest part of the song comes in bar 18 with a big jump up to the top of the neck. But there’s not much happening in the bar before it, so you have plenty of time.

Then you jump down in bar 17. You could make the jump sooner and change the 6-7-6 to 2-3-2 on the E-string (as it’s played in the rest of the song).

Chorus: Increasing the amount of strumming and picking harder in this section. In the second chorus, from “Let go of your heart” the melody is harmonised.

Links

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Watch on YouTube

They’ve disabled adding to playlists, but I recommend checking out Led Kaapana playing Glass Ball Slack Key.

Tracklist
Del Rey with. Sweet Strings – Alabama Jubilee
Bridge City Sinners – Crazy
Brittni Paiva – Don’t Let Me Fade
Chipped Nail Polish – Road Rage
Honoka – Those Simple Days
KimaMusic – The Emptiness Machine
Dmitry Cherevko – WASCHA MESA (NEUSIDLER)
Lee Hieu Nguyen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Lou Reed – Perfect Day (Tab)

Here’s Lou Reed’s Perfect Day in tribute to Herbie Flowers who passed away last week.

As well as Lou Reed, Herbie played bass for David Bowie, Roger Daltrey, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and many others. He contributed iconic bass lines to Walk on the Wild Side (which you can hear him talk about here), Space Oddity and Rock On. And, to top it off, he played tuba on Perfect Day.

Links

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Oasis – Acquiesce (Tab)

This might be the first time I’ve arranged a b-side. But with Oasis reforming and the country being mad for it, I’ve tabbed my favourite Oasis song: Acquiesce.

It’s a very simple song. You’re just bashing out chords for the most part. The only wrinkle is the stretch at the start of the chorus (and in the repeats of that line). If you prefer, you can play it x565. But that requires a quick drop down for the next note.

For the outro, I took inspiration from the live version where Noel would quote The Stone Roses’ Sally Cinnamon.

Links

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Roy Sakuma has been inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame. The first person to be inducted since Sam and Fred Kamaka in 2012. In celebration, the Governor of Hawaii declared 27th July Roy Sakuma Day.

Two members of Ukrainian band Alcohol Ukulele have been killed during Russia’s invasion: Anton Derbilov and Dimon Yegorenkov. The remaining members of the band played at the newly renamed Anton Derbilov Street in Kharkiv.

On Video
– Dua Lipa did not care for a ukulele cover of her song.
– Dave Grohl inspired ukulele from Circuits and Strings.
– Inside Out 2 originally started with Riley playing the ukulele.
– Skateboarder Bryce Wettstein explains why she took a ukulele to the Olympics
– Trying to build a ukulele from scratch in 24 hours.

New Releases
– Jake Shimabukuro has been busy. He has an album of collaborations with Mick Fleetwood on the way: Blues Experience. And he appeared on the Mana Music String Quartet’s album Journey Through Hawai’i. You can watch him perform with them here.
– Uke Hunt pal, Phredd has a new kids album out Phredd – Live at the Library. Which you can hear on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or anywhere you usually get your music.
– Parlour Music have released an EP from the vaults: Lost & Found: the UofM studio session.

Thanks to Patreons

A massive thanks again to the massive 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 August’s Tenor level backers:

– Arthur Foley
– BigHempin
– Colleen Petticrew
– Dennis Boutsikaris
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Ely Fletcher
– Ivo
– Jeff K
– Jon Kenniston
– Kelby Green
– Leia-lee Doran
– Mary
– Moses Kamai
– Noah
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Robert
– WIlliam Soriano, D.C.

If you join Patreon at the Concert level or higher, you’ll get access to all previous exclusive tabs including August’s: The Beatles’ Maxwell’s Silver Hammer

Nelly Furtado – I’m Like A Bird (Tab)

For my arrangement of Nelly Furtado’s I’m Like a Bird, I’ve slowed things down a little. Which emphasises the song’s melancholy feel. And makes it easier to play. Which is helpful, as this one is challenging.

Intro: The start is nice and easy. Just fingerpicked chords with a slow melody on top.

Verse: The verse sticks with fingerpicking. There are a couple of quick hammer-ons to deal with. Then some alternate picked notes leading into the pre-chorus.

Pre-Chorus: The pre-chorus builds up with some strumming. And my favourite version of the Fmaj7 chord: 5500.

Chorus: Another step up in difficulty here. There’s a long series of hammer-ons and pull-offs in bar 24. You can make these really sound out by pulling downwards with your finger slightly for the pull-off. Almost as if you’re plucking the string with your fretting finger.

Bridge: I had a really hard time getting the phrasing right in bars 29-30. And I didn’t really manage it in the video. Listen to the original rather than mine to get it right. The odd phrasing continues through this section and into the modified pre-chorus that follows.

Links

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Sleater Kinney – Modern Girl (Tabs)

Sleater Kinney’s Modern Girl has a straightforwardness and sarcastic cheeriness that makes this one their most uke-able song.

Intro: The intro is a very simple bit of fingerpicking. It’s a good piece to try if you’re new to fingericking. The thumb picks everything on the C- and E-strings. And the middle finger picks the A-string. Then the index finger picks the E-string in bar 5 and from bar 10 onwards.

Verse: The picking gets trickier in this section. I’m mostly using one finger per string picking. But I play the rapid notes in bar 22 with alternate picking.

Chorus: A lot more strums in this section. But some more quick alternate picking in bar 26.

Solo: The harmonic solo is my favourite part of the song. And it’s pretty simple to play. The tricky part is the quick transition into the next verse.

Links

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Watch on YouTube

Note: The Jake video is unavailable in some countries (including the UK).

Tracklist
Taimane – Cello Suite No. 1
Tyler Donkoh-Halm and Sho Humphries – IRL
Jake Shimabukuro and Mick Fleetwood – Rollin’ N Tumblin’
Ukulele Solos – Both Sides Now
Andrew Hoyt – Moody
EmiSunshine – Ninety Miles
The Bygones – Everything’s Made for Love
Skylar Blatt x Einer Bankz – Wake Up
RIO – Bluesette

Bob Dylan – Buckets of Rain (Tab)

Here’s my take on Buckets of Rain from Bob Dylan’s incredible album Blood on the Tracks.

This one gets a little fiddly in places. But there are only really two sections. So it’s not a lot to get down.

I’m using one finger per string picking all the way through. But there are a couple of places with quick repetition of notes on the same string where you might want to do a bit of alternate picking e.g. bar 8.

There’s a slight variation in the intro/solo section. In bar 20 and 21, you have to head up the neck for a slide.

Links

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