One Love first came out in a ska version in 1965. But my arrangement is based on the later, more laid-back and more famous reggae version. You might have noticed that good-time island vibes and togetherness are not my métier. So I’m sure you can improve on my version.
I love the mix of textures on this track. Particularly the sharp guitar stabs, the rinky-dink piano and Marley’s smooth vocals. I’ve tried to include those in this arrangement as much as I can.
But the song was written by Jackson Browne and first released by Nico. This arrangement is based on Nico’s version rather the more laid-back Jackson Browne version version. I couldn’t resist playing the Cotton picking guitar of the Nico version (played by Browne himself) on the ukulele. Which is a pain in the arse.
Intro: Setting up the cotton picking pattern along with the thumb alternating between the g- and C-strings, the index finger picking the E-string and the middle A.
Except in bars 1 and 3 you start on the g-string and in the others you’re starting on the C-string. I’ve done to complete the descending line on the g-string. That run goes C-B-A-G in the first bar and needs the F on the C-string to finish it off.
Verse: Some more switching of the pattern in this section. This time it’s because some of the melody notes go low enough to fall on the C-string e.g. the final C note in bar 6 and the C-string, second fret in bar 8.
There’s a break from the alternating picking when you switch to one-finger-per-string picking in bar 12. That continues until you ease back into the alternating style in bar 16.
Solo: My take on the solo is a bit more in the Jackson Browne style. Particularly with the country bend in bar 26. I’ve also taken a hint from the descending bass-line and used a descending line harmonised with thirds in bars 24 and 34. The rest is plucking the chords with a few references to the melody thrown in.
Of course, you’re allowed and encourage to do whatever you fancy in this section and make it your own.
Uke Hunt turned 15 years old a few months ago. Meaning it’s lasted 14 years longer than I expected. According to WebMD a 15 year olds may, “Get taller and more muscular.” Which is something to look forward to.
A massive shoutout to everyone who has generously supported the site via Patreon over the last year. Not only are they the reason the site is still up and running, they’ve also suggested almost all the tabs I’ve done (and 100% of the popular ones).
Here’s a round-up of my favourite tabs and the goings-on of the last year.
Intro: Plenty of room to play around with ideas in the intro. I’m just picking out notes from a few chord inversions.
Verse: Just two chords (C and D), a stately pace and a contained melody.
Pre-Chorus: A classic pre-chorus, building up the energy into the chorus. So it starts at the same level as the verse, builds complexity and moves up the neck in bars 26 and 27. Then switches from picking to strumming in bar 28.
Chorus: The trickiest part of the song with chord changes coming thick and fast.
Solo: Another place you can introduce your own ideas. Mine is a similar idea to the intro with notes coming mostly from the chords. I’m also doing plenty of sliding around to emulate the slide guitar in the original.
This arrangement goes straight from the solo in the chorus. So I’ve taken a hint from the pre-chorus and ending the solo with a move up the neck and then some strumming.
Joe Hisaishi is a prolific film composer (I only realised while researching this post that he scored a movie I watched while working on this piece). But he’s best known for his scores for the Studio Ghibli films and for Takeshi Kitano. Summer comes from one of Kitano’s gentler movies: Kikujiro.
This arrangement starts with some palm muted arpeggios before moving into the main melody. In this section, I’ve used the open g-string as a melody note in a number of places. You can replace any of these with E-string, 3rd fret if you prefer.
The arrangement goes full campanella mode in bar 18. Playing one note on each string means you don’t have to move your left hand at all for this quick section. Once you’ve got the picking pattern under your fingers it’s very easy.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the rising bass line here to fit with the higher pattern. So I’ve divided them up. So you play the pattern in G, then the lower bass part in bars 20-21, the high pattern in C in bars 22-23 and the bass pattern in C in bars 24-25.
After a reprise of the A section, the outro closes out with some notes up the neck. Which I manage to flub in bar 39. So play what’s written rather than my screw-up. I manage it second time around in bar 41 if you want to hear how it’s supposed to sound.
Today we have a guest post from Choan Gálvez with a piece from his latest book. Here are his notes:
‘Brevities‘ is a collection of short solo pieces for baritone ukulele aimed at the intermediate fingerpicker. In this set Choan Gálvez profits from the extended range, the sustain, and the resonance that this instrument and its tuning provide.
Styles go from renaissance inspiration to Brazilian choro, melancholic waltzes to exciting ragtime.
All the pieces are written for G6 linear tuning and presented in notation and tablature format. Don’t you own a baritone uke? Not an issue: everything is also playable on your low G instrument. Follow the tab!
‘Brevities‘ is available in print and digital editions from The Ukulele Bookshop.
Intro: All down-strums here to give an authentic dad-rock feel.
Verse and Pre-Chorus: Switching to fingerpicking using a one-finger-per-string set up.
Chorus: Adding some strums here on the Em chord and picking more heavily than before. You can beef it up even further by strumming all the way through the final chorus but you’ll lose definition in the melody.
Solo: A quick and easy solo. It’s one I made up myself so you’re welcome to change it however you like.
A massive thanks to all Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running. And double thanks go to these legendary patrons of the arts:
– Arthur Foley
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If you join Patreon at the Concert level or higher, you’ll get access to all previous exclusive tabs including April’s: Toto’s Africa.
For the last 12 years I’ve been keeping list and a map of all the ukulele clubs I’ve been told about. In that time, the list of UK groups has got unusably large. And, in a possibly related matter, I’ve been having technical problems with the page and have taken it down. So here’s a fresh post and from now on I’ll be updating just the map.
For anyone who has a use for it, here’s the list of clubs in the UK and Ireland as it stood:
If you’d like your club added to the map please send the name of the group, the location and the url of website/Facebook/wherever on the net to ukulelehunt@gmail.com
