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.
Morrissey – Irish Blood English Heart (Chords)
I first started working on this song three years ago. But while I was putting it together Morrissey went on one of his rants and I lost interest. But his recent fued with The Simpsons has motivated me to resurrect it.
The chords could not be simpler. Just Gm and Eb with a capo on the second fret (or Am and F without).
The riffs predate the song itself. They were first featured in Johnny Panic’s Not Bitter But Bored. The song was rewritten by Morrissey’s songwriting partner Alain Whyte who correctly thought it deserved wider attention.
The two choruses are slightly different. With the second chorus having the Gm minor lasting twice as long and capping off with an ascending riff. The chorus riff also acts as the outro but with the Gm riff repeating at the end.
Here’s the intro followed by the second chorus:
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Links
Buy Irish Blood, English Heart
More Indie tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
Bonus: Quilloughby – Everyone Is Horrid Except Me
Quilloughby – Everyone Is Horrid Except Me (Chords)
Highlight of the Simpsons’ Morrissey episode was the Smiths parody song with music by Bret McKenzie (best known as a member of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra).
The song starts with a direct copy of the the There Is A Light chord move: strumming d u d u – on F then u d – on G. From then on you can use this strum twice each for C and Fmaj7:
d – d – d u d u
And just one strum per chord on the rest.
To cap things off there’s a very simple New Order style solo.
Robert Schumann – Vanitas Vanitatum Mit Humor (Tabs)
I’ve been getting into classical music much more over the pandemic. I’ve occasionally got the over-ambitious impulse to try something on the ukulele. And the first part of Robert Schumann’s Five Pieces in a Folk Style is the only one to have made it through to this stage.
The piece is written for piano and cello. But this arrangement is almost entirely the cello part. The only time I dip into the piano part is bars 90 and 92.
There are plenty of challenging sections in the piece, but the part that took the most practice was the C section (not it’s official name). There’s also a very rapid section in bars 49-56 but that doesn’t require any scooting up and down the fretboard.
Links
Phil Collins – In the Air Tonight (Tab)
Phil Collins has one, “I will never forgive you for cheating,” song and one, “please forgive me for cheating,” song per marriage (he has a lot of these songs). This is the former.
I’ve cut the intro way down from the original version. You’re welcome to use any picking pattern and any inversion of the chords here.
The chorus is brilliant. It manages to pull of the trick of being both bleak and catchy.
The verses are angry and even more sparse than the chorus. In a case of do as I say not do as I do, let the verse breath and try not to rush the melody.
Finally, the legendary drum Phil (bar 60). I’ve gone with a descending run based on the D blues scale with the last four notes played chromatically.
Links
Tracklist
RIO – How About You
Arko Mukhaerjee – Go Where Glory
Evan J De Silva – Married Life (Up Theme Song)
dodie – Four Tequilas Down
Roberto Moniz – Clara Polka On machete
Mark ‘Stivvy’ Stephenson – Sweet Disorder
Robert Jones – What are they Doing in Heaven Today? via @ukeist
Chris Wilson – La Cumparsita
Heua’olu Sai-Dudoit – Aloha Punalu’u
After a bit of a break to concentrate on full tabs, I’m back posting riffs and whatnot on Instagram. Here’s a roundup of recent tabs.
Salt-N-Pepa – Push It
Billie Eilish – Your Power
Undertale – Megalovania
Polo G – Rapstar
Here’s a tab for how it’s originally played with the uke tuned to g-Bb-Db-F:
And here’s a version adapted for standard tuning:
Lil Nas X – Montero (Call Me By Your Name)
MF DOOM – Datura Stramonium
Cat Stevens – Morning Has Broken (Tabs)
For this arrangement I worked from the Cat Stevens version. But a few bits of the version I sang in primary school might have slipped in.
The two main sections of this song are wildly different in terms of difficulty. The verses are very straightforward. It’s a gentle melody with easy chords and a few supporting notes.
The section where he’s hammering away on the piano is much trickier. As well as the fast picking, the chord changes are more challenging. In the original, he speeds up considerably in these parts. I haven’t sped up anywhere near as much. And you could slow the tempo even further without spoiling the sound.
Links
U2 – With or Without You (Tab)
The chords here are dead simple. It’s just G-D-Em-C all the way through (i.e. the I-V-vi-IV progression or the I’m Yours progression as ukers know it). So you have plenty of space to make that beautiful melody sing.
There’s a lot of scope for playing the supporting notes to suit your taste. So long as you hold the chord down and keep them quieter than the melody notes. I’m using one finger per string picking throughout.
And one more thing. Thanks to Tim Apple, this tab is going to be forced onto every device with the next iOS update.
Links
Tracklist
Jenifer Cabrera – Negro Gato
Polo G and Einer Bankz – RAPSTAR
Ari Chi – Next Fall
Vivian Kim – Mozart Symphony No.40
Kenta Ebara – Gurenge (Kimetsu no Yaiba)
Laura Currie – Marry Me
adab25 – J S Bach Gavotte n°1 Gavotte n°2 de la suite n°6 BWV 1012 (Thanks to @ukeist)
Vinícius Vivas – Mr Sandman
