Siddhartha Khosla – Only Murders in the Building Theme (Tab)

I’ve just around to watching the first season of Only Murders in the Building so it’s time for a tab of the theme tune by Siddhartha Khosla.

The big challenge with this piece is getting it up to speed. The first challenge I had was switching the fingers from the D in bar 6 back to the D minor in bar 1. I ended up changing positions at the start of the bar. But I played around with playing the D chord with middle, ring and pinkie fingers. And with not switching until halfway through bar 1. So I recommend testing each and finding which you like the most.

The other big challenge is keeping the arpeggiated chords (bar 5 onwards) even. Particularly in the long final section. I don’t do a good job of it myself.

Links

Buy the original
More TV Theme tabs
Uke Hunt Patreon

Dusty Springfield – Spooky (Tab)

Apologies to anyone who tried to use the site in the last couple of weeks and couldn’t. I’ve been having some tech problems. It should be fixed now. Just in time for a Halloween themed tab. Spooky was originally by The Classics IV but best known forDusty Springfield’s version. And it’s the Dusty version I based this arrangement on.

Intro: Just a two chord vamp with a bit of a 60s bossa feel to it.

Verses: The biggest challenge in the verses is quickly getting down from the A-string 5th fret to the C-string second fret. Other than that, it’s fairly smooth sailing. I love the discordance of the A7#9 at the end of each verse. The chord has both the major third (C#) and the minor third (C) of the chord. Which is the spookiest part of the song.

Solo: The first bar is the only one that is based on the solo in the Dusty version. Everything else is just me noodling on the D blues scale. So I recommend building your own solo here.

Links

Buy the Dusty Springfield version
More 60s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

Bon Iver – Speyside (Tab)

Bon Iver’s long-awaited return Speyside is a return to the stripped down sound of For Emma, Forever Ago. Which makes it very uke-suitable.

I’m playing it with a capo on the second fret. But that’s just to make it in the same key as the original. You can play it without the capo if you prefer.

There’s nothing physically difficult about the arrangement. The real challenge is keeping track of the time signature changes. If there’s any rhyme or reason to the time signature, I couldn’t find it. So I’ve just tabbed it how I felt it. Which means a new time signature each bar until it settles into 4/4 for the last few bars of each section.

Links

Buy the original
More folk tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

A massive thanks again to the massive generosity of Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running this month. And double thanks go to these legendary patrons of the arts:

And extra thanks to September’s Tenor level backers:

– Arthur Foley
– Colleen Petticrew
– Dennis Boutsikaris
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Ely Fletcher
– Ivo
– Jeff K
– Jon Kenniston
– Kelby Green
– Leia-lee Doran
– Mary
– Moses Kamai
– Noah
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Robert
– WIlliam Soriano, D.C.

If you join Patreon at the Concert level or higher, you’ll get access to all previous exclusive tabs including September’s: Californication by The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Irving Berlin – Blue Skies (Tabs)

Versions of Irving Berlin’s Blue Skies range widely in their approach. There are uptempo takes, such as the Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole versions, which lean into the suspiciously joyful “we’ll never have problems again“-ness of it. And there are slow, mournful takes like Dinah Washington’s.

This arrangement lands somewhere near the Willie Nelson version with a lot of bluesy touches.

Intro: Starting of with an E minor chord set against chromatically descending notes on the C-string. This bit is mostly picking out notes from the chords with some short licks thrown in. It’s all fingerpicked until the strums leading into the verse in bars 7 and 8.

Verse: Nice and easy to play. The melody is contained and the chords are simple to play. Here I’m picking the melody and strumming everything else.

Chorus: The chorus is more of a challenge. Be sure to keep this section staccato (i.e. short notes) to set it against the more legato verses.

Solo: For the solo, I stuck closely to the chords and melody notes. Throwing in a few bluesy bends here and there. I get a bit more adventurous in the second half, throwing in some chromatic notes in bar 43 and an E minor pentatonic lick in bar 45. I’d recommend building your own solo using any ideas from this solo you like and playing in your own style.

Links

Buy the Willie Nelson version
More jazz tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

David Gray – Babylon (Tab)

Intro: The intro in the album version is much better than the single version. And suits the uke more. So that’s the version I went with.

Verse: The trickiest part of the song comes in bar 18 with a big jump up to the top of the neck. But there’s not much happening in the bar before it, so you have plenty of time.

Then you jump down in bar 17. You could make the jump sooner and change the 6-7-6 to 2-3-2 on the E-string (as it’s played in the rest of the song).

Chorus: Increasing the amount of strumming and picking harder in this section. In the second chorus, from “Let go of your heart” the melody is harmonised.

Links

Buy the original
More 90s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

Watch on YouTube

They’ve disabled adding to playlists, but I recommend checking out Led Kaapana playing Glass Ball Slack Key.

Tracklist
Del Rey with. Sweet Strings – Alabama Jubilee
Bridge City Sinners – Crazy
Brittni Paiva – Don’t Let Me Fade
Chipped Nail Polish – Road Rage
Honoka – Those Simple Days
KimaMusic – The Emptiness Machine
Dmitry Cherevko – WASCHA MESA (NEUSIDLER)
Lee Hieu Nguyen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Lou Reed – Perfect Day (Tab)

Here’s Lou Reed’s Perfect Day in tribute to Herbie Flowers who passed away last week.

As well as Lou Reed, Herbie played bass for David Bowie, Roger Daltrey, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and many others. He contributed iconic bass lines to Walk on the Wild Side (which you can hear him talk about here), Space Oddity and Rock On. And, to top it off, he played tuba on Perfect Day.

Links

Buy the original
More 70s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

Oasis – Acquiesce (Tab)

This might be the first time I’ve arranged a b-side. But with Oasis reforming and the country being mad for it, I’ve tabbed my favourite Oasis song: Acquiesce.

It’s a very simple song. You’re just bashing out chords for the most part. The only wrinkle is the stretch at the start of the chorus (and in the repeats of that line). If you prefer, you can play it x565. But that requires a quick drop down for the next note.

For the outro, I took inspiration from the live version where Noel would quote The Stone Roses’ Sally Cinnamon.

Links

Buy the original
More 90s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

Roy Sakuma has been inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame. The first person to be inducted since Sam and Fred Kamaka in 2012. In celebration, the Governor of Hawaii declared 27th July Roy Sakuma Day.

Two members of Ukrainian band Alcohol Ukulele have been killed during Russia’s invasion: Anton Derbilov and Dimon Yegorenkov. The remaining members of the band played at the newly renamed Anton Derbilov Street in Kharkiv.

On Video
– Dua Lipa did not care for a ukulele cover of her song.
– Dave Grohl inspired ukulele from Circuits and Strings.
– Inside Out 2 originally started with Riley playing the ukulele.
– Skateboarder Bryce Wettstein explains why she took a ukulele to the Olympics
– Trying to build a ukulele from scratch in 24 hours.

New Releases
– Jake Shimabukuro has been busy. He has an album of collaborations with Mick Fleetwood on the way: Blues Experience. And he appeared on the Mana Music String Quartet’s album Journey Through Hawai’i. You can watch him perform with them here.
– Uke Hunt pal, Phredd has a new kids album out Phredd – Live at the Library. Which you can hear on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or anywhere you usually get your music.
– Parlour Music have released an EP from the vaults: Lost & Found: the UofM studio session.

Thanks to Patreons

A massive thanks again to the massive generosity of Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running this month. And double thanks go to these legendary patrons of the arts:

And extra thanks to August’s Tenor level backers:

– Arthur Foley
– BigHempin
– Colleen Petticrew
– Dennis Boutsikaris
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Ely Fletcher
– Ivo
– Jeff K
– Jon Kenniston
– Kelby Green
– Leia-lee Doran
– Mary
– Moses Kamai
– Noah
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Robert
– WIlliam Soriano, D.C.

If you join Patreon at the Concert level or higher, you’ll get access to all previous exclusive tabs including August’s: The Beatles’ Maxwell’s Silver Hammer