Tracklist
Charming Disaster – Baba Yaga
Annier Trio – Indifference
EatMyUke – Bon Iver, Bon Iver Medley
Billy & Scott & Ernie Mack At The Broadway 1967 via @ukeist
Ana Claudia Vaz – I'll Be There For You
Lady Ri – Supermodel
Danny Yau – 40oz
The Little Things – Need You Now
Locum – Dreamer
Ukulele Death Squad – Shadows on the Street
Last of Us Part II Medley (Tab)
In this month’s Patreon request thread, I got a total of five requests for songs that are featured in The Last of Us 2. So I thought I’d put them all together in a medley. Although Wayfaring Stranger and Take On Me are by far the longest sections.
Wayfaring Stranger: I first wrote this song up in Ukulele for Dummies, so it was nice to revisit it with the freedom to add in some more twiddles. Just be sure to pick the melody with more force than twiddles so the two are clearly separated.
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here: A very brief blast of the intro. It fits perfectly with Wayfaring Stranger.
New Order – True Faith: No one requested this one but I loved the version in the trailer and it fits nicely with the other songs. Through doing this I found out that True Faith slowed down is uncannily similar to Mad World.
Pearl Jam – Future Days: Played almost exactly the same way as it’s done on guitar (making it five steps higher than the original).
A-ha – Take On Me: The request was for the slowed version A-ha did for MTV. So that’s the version I worked from (but it’s not far removed from the Last of Us version). The last few bars of this involve notes above the 12th fret. If your uke doesn’t go that high, you can move all the notes at the 12th fret and above down 12 frets. Then it will match the Unplugged and Last of Us versions which both switch an octave down from the original there.
Links
The Last of Us Part II Soundtrack
Gustavo Santaolalla – The Last of Us Theme (Tab)
More game theme tabs
Uke Hunt Patreon
It’s the halfway point of the year and time for a roundup of my favourite videos so far. And it’s been a weird year. Which is reflected in the videos which are split between live clips and socially distanced edited videos.
If there’s anything great I’ve missed, send me a link in a message or a tweet.
Tracklist
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – Limehouse Blues
Bridge City Sinners – Song of the Siren
The Oh Yeahs – And Anyway
Clem Snide & Scott Avett – Roger Ebert
Tricity Vogue & All Girl Swing Band – Rasputin
Vinícius Vivas – There Will Be Some Changes Made
Desirée Dawson – Hey Brother
Ninebarrow (with Hart Voices and The Chantry Singers) – The Hour of the Blackbird
Dani Joy & Daniel Ho – Strange World
Ukulele Death Squad – Let Me Down
Natsuko Kitajima – Out Of Nowhere
Hank Williams – I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry (Tab)
This tab was requested by Patron Fiona. She asked for a version that, “lets you play up the neck as well as in the lower end where it’s comfortable”. I don’t know if I’ve entirely fulfilled that brief. The melody is contained within an octave and I don’t like to move around unnecessarily. But for the second solo we do go adventuring up the neck. The chords for the two solos are inspired by the version Sara Evans recorded with Old Crow Medicine Show.
I’ve arranged the verse three different ways. The first time is simple G, C and D chords. The second has chromatically rising notes up from the fifth (the D on the C-string, 2nd fret). And the third has notes falling from the root note on the E-string, 3rd fret.
Links
Tracklist
Claire Hastings and Grant Dinwoodie – Wild Mountain Thyme
Sho Humphries – Tears in Heaven x Blue Roses Falling
Desirée Dawson – Hey Brother
Nicolas Fingerstyle Ukulele – Wave
The Avett Brothers – Locked Up
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – The Lovecats
Natasha Ghosh – Dust In The Wind
Herman Vandecauter – 6 valses Felix Horetski
Listening
– Matt Kresling has released the ukulele soundtrack to his outstanding Madagascar Journals travel documentary and you can download it free on Bandcamp.
– A new release from The Front Bottoms Ukulele Versions.
– The Staves performed a live show from home in aid of Tiny Changes (ukulele action starts at about the 42 minute mark).
– Legendary rock journalist and uker, Sylvie Simmons has announced a new album of Joni Mitchell covers.
Learning
– Free collection of Children's Songs in the Key of C.
– Turns out you do need a license for that.
Window Shopping
– Kanile’a Kane’ohe Bay.
– The super furry animal: Kanile’a Manako Ukulele.
– Collings UT3.
Patreon
A massive thanks to Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers. And double thanks go to June’s Tenor backers:
– Ashley Hassman.
– Craig Mills.
– Dan.
– Fiona Keane.
– Joseph Freeman.
– Katherine Penney.
– Nancy.
– Pauline Leblanc.
– Potatoemagic.
– Sandi Clement.
– Trevor Mccravy.
Patreon posts in the last month include:
– Hank William’s I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
– And June’s exclusive for Concert level and up backers: Daft Punk’s Get Lucky
Dua Lipa – Don’t Start Now (Tab)
About once a year a pop song manages to pierce my grumpiness and make me grin. This year it’s been Dua Lipa’s Don’t Start Now.
There’s a lot to recommend the song: the jazzy chords, the funky bass, the cowbell. But my favourite aspect is the one-note chorus. Adam Neely recently made an outstanding video about the worst solo of all time that’s a must-watch on this subject.
Contrary to whatmorons like Ben Shapiro will tell you, not having a melody doesn’t mean it isn’t music. The static A note (in this arrangement) adds a different flavour to each chord. So it changes the Em into Emadd11, the C into C6 and G into Gsus2.
It also means there’s more room to play about with other aspects of the song. So there’s a little chromatic run-up to the root note of the chord (inspired by the bass line). And, in the second chorus, I throw in some harmonics on the E-string 5th fret to imitate the cowbell. I don’t think I entirely pull it off but it is fun.
Links
I ventured into TikTok the other day to find out what the kids are into. Turns out they love hyper-literal dance moves, handing over their data to the CCP, syncopation and jazz chords. I’m entirely on board with those last two. So here’s a selection of songs that became popular on TikTok.
Doja Cat – Say So
The chord progression of this one is tasty. It’s Em7 – A7sus4 – Dmaj7 then adds B7sus4 – B7 the last time around. The strumming pattern is also interesting. The odd bars are strummed directly on the beat and the even bars have a syncopated strum.
Dua Lipa – Don’t Start Now
I’ve got a full version of this coming up tomorrow.
Megan thee Stallion – Savage
Similar to Say So in that it shares the minor 7 chords and has the same syncopated rhythm (albeit shifted in the bar). But uses them in a more punchy way to produce a more aggressive sound.
Doja Cat – Freak
A very old-school chord progression thanks to a sample of Paul Anka’s Put Your Head on My Shoulder.
Jason Derulo – Savage Love
Proud Mary/Midnight Hour (Tab)
One of the joys of lockdown has been watching rockers replace their bands with their kids. Best of all has been John Fogerty blasting out the hits with his family. So here’s a uke version of one of those hits paired with another sixties banger from Wilson Pickett (who covered Proud Mary).
As well as sharing the same level of verve, both these tunes use an F to D move (in this key) in their turnarounds. A move that John Fogerty was inspired to make by the opening of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.
The arrangement is mostly strumming basic chords with melody notes thrown in. So it’s a good one to bash out without worrying too much about exactly what you’re playing.
Links
Midnight Hour on Amazon
Proud Mary on Amazon
More 60s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
Tracklist
Sarah Marie Young – Have You Ever Seen the Rain
Ukulele Death Squad – Drunken Lullabies
Swingy – I Will Wait For You
Zoë Bestel – Don’t Know Why
Kenta Ebara – Heavenly Island via @ukeist
Vanessa Ding – Might as well
blackstem – Hard Times
Polo G x Einer Bankz – 33
Arko Mukhaerjee – Nepali Folk Jam
The Oh Yeahs – Rainbow Connection
