My version is heavily based on Aline’s version. It’s in the same key and I use the same chords (although often in a different inversion). The melody is largely the same but I do shift the notes around. For example, rather than picking the E-string, 3rd fret in bar 3 I play the open g-string.
From bar 21, I start throwing in a few little runs. I’m just using notes from the F major scale for that. So I highly recommend trying a few things out for yourself and seeing what you can come up with.
As much as I’m a fan of dreary and depressing music, I like pop music to be at least a little joyful. And K-pop has been injecting some much needed fun into pop music recently. And I’m a fan of the way they tend to cram as many styles of music into a single song as possible. So you get little sections like the rock riff in Seventeen’s Clap, Blackpink’s blarring trumpets in Kill This Love, and the jazzy 20’s lick in Momoland’s I’m So Hot that are prime for a ukeing.
If you like these short tabs, you can find lots more on my Instagram.
It’s been very gratifying to see the revival of interest in Queen the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic has produced. Their songs so often have interesting twists and turns, memorable guitar solos and amazing harmonies. Plus Brian May started out on ukulele and picked it up again for Good Company.
Suggested Strumming
Main strum: d – d u d –
Intro: Just one strum per chord to start with. Then you can down-strum on each beat for the build on Bb – C.
Verse and solo: When there are three chords to a line, main strum once each for the first two chords then two on the last chord. Two each on the G7-C. And one each on the last line. Which sounds like this:
The verses do switch up a little. Verse two starts two main strums on the F and one on each of the last line.
Chorus and Outro: One down-strum per beat on the F in the first line. Then switching back to the main strum once per chord until two big down-strums on the F6. Then back to the main strum twice per chord.
Bridge: Here you down-strum on the first four beats of each bar. And switch to down-strumming every beat as the tension builds. For the last line I strum down on the Csus4s and up on the Cs.
Twiddly Bits
Here’s a take on the piano part in the intro also played with a capo at the third fret. It’s a fingerpicked version of the chords with a few bits of filigree.
I love Brian May’s solos. They’re always melodic and interesting. This one uses the Ab major pentatonic most of the way through. It switches to the Ab major scale in bar 8. Then switching the D flat of the major scale for a D natural to move to the Ab lydian mode.
The end of the original solo turns into a bit of a widdle-fest that doesn’t translate well to uke. So for my version I’ve borrowed from the, “someday I’m going be free, lord,” vocal part.
I’m playing this without a capo. But there’s nothing below the third fret so it won’t cause any problems if you’re playing the chords as well.
Dream a Little Dream of Me was written in the 30s by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and covered by all the greats including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole. But it hit biggest in the 60s when the Mamas and the Papas released their cover. And it’s that version that I’ve mostly based my arrangement on. But I took a few cues from Doris Day version in the intro.
My favourite thing about this song is how it creates that feeling of slowly drifting off to sleep. It does this with a series of gentle, chromatic downward shifts in the chords. So C shifts to B7, Ab shifts to G and F shifts to Fm.
Herman Vandecauter has been uploading a long stream of excellent arrangements of classical music from ukulele and, the ukulele’s papai, the machete to his Bandcamp. And he was kind enough to allow me to post the tab for this piece by,German Baroque composer, Georg Philipp Telemann.
My excitement for the new Mountain Goats album this Friday has spilled over into me writing up one of my favourite songs of theirs. No Children perfectly pulls of the Mountain Goats’ favourite mixture of humour, drama and pathos.
Pre-Chorus Strum: If you want to ignore the passing chords (in brackets) you can just do the main strum four times each on C and Am. Then six on the F and two on the G. Then four times on the F that straddles the pre-chorus and chorus.
New Releases
– Craig Robertson’s Stage and Circus Songs. A fantastic collection of songs from the last 16 years about various forms of entertainers including the absolutely essential The Hypnotist and Houdini Never Hung Around in Bars.
– Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer’s Dandinista continues the chap-hop in a political climate that has made the joke wear very thin.
Housekeeping
– I’m going to be away from home and ukeless for a month. Posts should be going up as usual but if they aren’t then that’s why.
– You may or may not have noticed there was no Friday Links post last time around. From now on I’m just going to be posting them when there’s enough interesting stuff to post about.
