Mouse Rat – 5,000 Candles in the Wind (Bye, Bye Lil Sebastian)(Tabs)
I hope you brought a change of clothes because your eyes are about to piss tears thanks to Andy Dwyer’s heartbreaking tribute to Li’l Sebastian.
The trickiest part of playing this is fighting through the tears. There are also some quick bits of picking and a rogue bar of 2/4 on “horsiest friend” near the end.
If you want to play along with the original, put a capo on the second fret.
Links
Joan Osborne – One of Us (Tab)
Back when I spent entire days watching MTV, this song and More Than Words made up a good 30% of the airtime. I got heartily sick of it at the time. But I’ve mellowed on it.
The tune is very simple. Four chords and the melody doesn’t go higher than the third fret. The only slightly unusual part is on the “Yeah, yeah”s in bars 13, 15 and 17. If you want to make that super-simple, you can replace 5500 with 2000 and 543x with 003x and it won’t sound much different.
The original starts with an instrumental version of the chorus. But, since we’re playing that later, I came up with an intro based on the chords. Feel free to ditch it and come up with your own.
Links
The Kinks – Sunny Afternoon (Tab)
I had always assumed the first verse was mocking George Harrison’s Taxman. But it appears Sunny Afternoon was released a couple of months before Taxman. So phenomenally rich people moaning about taxes must have been the rage at the time. Thank god that’s over.
The tune starts off with a bit of a stretch but an otherwise simple descending riff. Be sure to release the pressure with your fretting hand shortly after playing to keep the notes short. The melody is reasonably straightforward as well.
The problems only start when you have to combine the descending run with the melody notes in bars 35 to 40. Here’s an easier version without the descending line if you prefer:
Links
Masato Nakamura – Green Hill Zone (Tab)
This Sega classic by Masato Nakamura starts off with the hardest bar in the entire arrangement. And it’s such an iconic run there’s not much scope to change it. Here’s an alternative arrangement. The upside is that it ends with your fingers in the right position for the following Em chord. The downside is that you have further to travel down the fretboard.
The good news is that this is followed by a very easy section of just Em, Dm and F chords. And the rest of the tune isn’t too tricky. The most difficult bit are the little runs in the Em parts (e.g. bars 11 and 13).
Links
Buy the original
More Game theme tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
The Horne Section – Taskmaster Theme (Tab)
A short and sweet one I worked out while watching the New Zealand version of Taskmaster. I recommend it if you enjoy the UK version (while I’m recommending things: New Zealand Today).
The theme is mostly just chords with a few notes picked out. The tricky bit comes right at the end (bars 8-9) that goes way up the fretboard. You can safely chop it short and end the run at the first 12th fret.
After that, I’ve added in the little theme that plays at the start of the tasks.
Links
Iris Dement – Our Town (Tabs)
Amazingly, Our Town was the first song that Iris Dement wrote and she came up with the lyrics from beginning to end with no editing. Another fact I learned researching this song: The Goo Goo Doll’s Iris was named after her.
This arrangement is based on the original. But the first time I ever heard this song was Kate Rusby’s cover. So some of that version will have slipped in.
The backbone of the song is baby’s first chord progression: C – F – C – G7. That runs all the way through the song. The melody is also straightforward. It’s all contained in the first few frets. Plus, I’m playing it loosely and throwing in strums wherever it feels right. So there’s nothing too challenging here.
But if you want to stretch out, there’s plenty of room to do solo in the solos. The solos in my arrangement are of my own invention. So you’re welcome to ditch them and come up with your own. If you keep track of the chord changes and use the C major scale, you can’t go wrong.
I would recommend approaching each solo with an idea or a plan to explore. So I based the intro solo on the melody and kept it within the first four frets. For the second solo (bars 21-24) I start off with a country bend, then focus on holding the chord shapes and adding notes onto those. And the final solo (bars 49-52) I wanted to use campanella style playing (so the notes are spread across the strings).
Links
Buy the original
More country tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
Demand for ukuleles on Amazon rose more than any other instrument at the start of the pandemic according to Pattern.
A new album from Uke Hunt favourite Phredd, Quarantine Tunes, is a collection of performances he’s done for kids’ clubs, libraries and uke festivals over the last year.
Another long-time favourite, Howlin’ Hobbit has started selling video and document lessons starting with Mack the Knife.
Window Shopping
– Fretless Pelem ukulele.
– Luna Henna Dragon.
– Kanile’a 2021 Platinum.
– The Cavern Club’s range of ukuleles.
Patreon
A massive thanks to all Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running. And double thanks go to these unmatched patrons of the arts:
– Arthur Foley
– Colleen Petticrew
– Dan
– David Burt
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Fiona Keane
– Jeff K.
– Katherine Penney
– Kie77
– Leia-lee Doran
– Lisa Johnson
– Mr Daniel Barclay
– Nick Parsons
– Olga deSanctis
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Sandi Clement
– shitzbleak
– Thorsten Neff
– Trevor Mccravy
If you sign up at the Concert level or higher you’ll get access to all the past Patreon-only tabs including last month’s: The Strangler’s Golden Brown.
