As daft as Queen lyrics often are, they can always be relied on for some interesting music.
Putting it together made me realise it’s structured similar to Rhapsody in Blue (and that other rhapsody). It’s made of a few very catchy but unrelated sections that rub together and sometimes outright interrupt each other.
The song starts in that fashion with the lyrical, “I want to…” line being interrupted by them yelling bicycle. You can bring out that contrast by playing the lyrical section smoothly and the shouty section brashly and more staccato.
It then switches from major to minor for the hard-edged verse. I like to give the strings a bit of a snap for this section.
The middle section, which returns to a major key and a more gentle style cuts, the second chorus shor and shifts to12/8 time. Make sure you’re warmed up before attempting the big stretch up to the 11th and 12th frets.
The next chorus starts off two frets higher (making it a bit more difficult to play) before dropping back down to the original key in bar 31. Strumming the strings above the nut does a good job of imitating the bells at the end of this section.
The solo is the trickiest part to play. The original has two guitars playing answer and response phrases. Moving both to one ukulele means some big, quick moves up and down the neck. It’s tricky. I certainly make a hash of it.
A seasonally appropriate song from Simon and Garfunkel (the supergroup formed from Garfunkel and Oates and Trevor and Simon) and a good fingerpicking workout.
I’ve kept the Travis picking technique from the original for this. The index finger picks the E-string, the middle finger the A, and the thumb alternates between the g- and C-strings all the way through. This brings up a couple of problems.
Firstly, it’s very easy for the melody to get lost in the pattern. Which would make it sound like an accompaniment. So try to emphasise the melody as much as you can.
Secondly, the first note of the melody (bar 7) is on the C-string. There you have to break the pattern by picking the C-string with your index finger. I found it awkward and the trickiest part of the arrangement.
There are a few bars of 2/4 scattered around the tab. But everything flows very nicely, so don’t let that put you off.
I’ve been working on slowly improving my sound the last couple of years. It’s still very much an ongoing process and I’m certainly not an expert. But a few people have asked about it on YouTube, so I thought I’d rundown the gear I use when I make videos.
Ukuleles:
This part has been unchanged for a long time. Almost all my videos are done with a tenor Ohana TK-35G or a tenor KoAloha Sceptre. And I use clear Worth strings for the most part.
Mic
I’m using an Audio Technica AT2020 USB. Mostly because it’s super-easy to use.
DAW
AKA the thing you record in. Until recently, I’ve been using Garageband (the free software that comes with Macs). But I upgraded to Apple’s Logic Pro X (thanks Patreons!).
Basic Effects
These are effects I use on every video. Unless it says otherwise, they’re the stock effect in Logic.
Noise Reduction
I just use Logic’s built in noise reduction. I keep this at a fairly low level so it doesn’t cut out any ukulele sound.
EQ
EQ allows you to adjust the volume of different frequencies (i.e. the pitch of the note). The pros do all sorts of fancy things with EQ, but I just do two things with it. I scoop out anything below the range of the ukulele which cuts down on low end noise. And I boost the high end of the ukulele so it’s more balanced with the lower notes (which tend to be louder).
At their simplest, compressors reduce the volume of loud sounds and increase the volume of quiet sounds. That’s particularly useful for ukuleles as it can increase the length of the uke’s sustain. Just don’t overdo it because compression will reduce the dynamics of your performance and can increase the amount of noise.
Here’s an example of two notes without compression then with:
Reverb adds echo to your sound to create the illusion you’re in a pristine acoustic space rather than a Unabomber-style shack. Reverb sounds great. Which makes it very easy and tempting to overdo. And I have overdone it many times in past.
I’ve used the built in Garageband/Logic reverb but I’m currently using Raum.
Here’s an example with no reverb, the amount of reverb I like to use, too much reverb and way, way, way too much reverb:
These are effects that I either use occasionally or just use for fun.
Stereo Panning Tremolo
Tremolo rhythmically increases and decreases the volume of what you’re playing. Like in the intro of How Soon is Now?. But some tremolos can offset the volume changes between the left and right speaker to make it sound like the track is moving from left to right.
It’s useful to turn a mono sound into a stereo one. But you have to be subtle with it if you’re just recording one instrument. I find it works best when you have a steady picking pattern.
Brainworx Stereomaker
The Brainworx Stereomaker is another effect that turns a mono track into a stereo one. But this one does it by means that are beyond my ken.
I’ve only recently picked this one up but you can hear it on the I Know the End video. I haven’t decided whether it’s going get a permanent place in my DAW. I like the sound but I’ll have to learn how to tweak it to my taste.
Don’t pay full price for this. It goes on sale regularly. I picked it up for $10.
Delay
I don’t think I’ve ever used delay in a video but it’s a fun thing to play around with. You can use delay to create a complex sound from a very simple pattern. In the example below I’m using a dotted-eighth note delay to create an U2-ish sound.
Before I get thrown in music jail, this was not my idea.
To be fair, unlike the lyrics, the music of Sk8er Boi does have a few things to recommend it. I do enjoy the move from Em to Eb while keeping the two note riff on the A-string. And the chorus is undeniably catchy.
I went into this tab expecting it to be pretty straight-forward. But there are a few tricky twists in this arrangement. The trickiest bit comes in bars 18-19 with the pinkie playing the 10th fret. I tried a few different ways of playing this section and couldn’t come up with anything that felt natural.
This is one of my favourite songs of last year and no amount of boomer wailing is going to convince me otherwise. I’m also a big fan of her policy of wearing her jammies for every media appearance for the last year.
The song starts out very simple with an F-Bbmaj7 chord progression in the verses. The picking pattern is very ramshackle. I’m just using whatever falls nicely. With the melody mostly played with alternate picking. The rhythm of the melody does get a little complex. So I recommend listening to the original recording and following that rather than trying to read the rhythms.
Once the middle hits, things speed up but get much more simple rhythmically. I start introducing more strums here with just the melody notes picked.
A massive thanks to Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running. And double thanks go to March’s Tenor backers:
– Arthur Foley
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I recorded this video last year for the anniversary of Scott Hutchison’s death. And I’ve been a little reluctant to get around to the tab as I’m still cut up about it.
The trickiest part of the arrangement comes in the bridge. In this section, I’m trying to combine the guitar riff and the vocals so there are two melodies to keep track of at once. The fretting in some places isn’t intuitive, so check the video if you find yourself getting tangled up.
And be sure to keep a steady tempo when the chorus hits so you don’t do what I did and speed up horrendously.
O du lieber Augustin is a short and sweet waltz from 17th Century Vienna. It’s a real earworm that’s been repurposed for everything from symphonies to children’s songs all over the world. My first encounter with it came in The Simpsons. But I was inspired to do a version after watching the absolutely wild movie Funeral Parade of Roses.
The tune is fun, super-simple and uses only two chords. Just make sure to give it a bounce to give it an oompah waltz feel. You can do that by playing the second and third beats staccato i.e. muting them shortly after picking them instead of letting them ring (where they’re not part of the melody).
