Lou Reed – Perfect Day (Chords)

Usually I’ll use a capo to avoid including an E chord in a song. But this one has a capo (on the first fret) which creates the need for a E chord. But Perfect Day takes a few unusual chord turns and this turned out to be the best way to handle it (check out the alternative ways of playing E if you’re struggling). My favourite part of the progression is the dissonant C(b5) relaxing into the clean C chord. It’s the perfect musical representation of relaxing from worldly stresses by loafing around the park or sinking into a heroin stupor depending on your interpretation of the song.

Suggested Strumming

For the main strum I use:

d – d u d –

Intro: Twice per chord.

Verse: Twice per chord except once each on C(b5) – C and four times on the last E.

Chorus: Twice per chord except:

– Once on the D’ then one down-strum each on the descending run. You can also play a simple D twice if you want to skip the descending line.
– Once each on the F#m – E.

Solo: Once each for F#m and E then twice on D.

Outro: Twice per chord except the D’ run which is the same as the chorus.

Twiddly Bits

A post shared by @ukulelehunt on Jun 15, 2018 at 9:48am PDT

The piano intro (provided by David Bowie) works well on uke. I’m using thumb and two finger picking.

A post shared by @ukulelehunt on Jun 15, 2018 at 9:49am PDT

The solo is trickier. For this version I’m playing campanella style with one finger per string picking. If that’s not your jam, you can play it in a more standard fashion by replacing the g-string, 4th fret with E-string, 7th fret and g-string, 2nd fret with E-string, 5th fret.

Links

Buy it on iTunes
Satellite of Love (Chords)
I’ll Be Your Mirror (Chords)
More David Bowie

Full Playlist

Tracklist
Mel Muñiz – Fight Back Sisters
Mt. Joy – Dirty Love (The song starts about 20 seconds in)
EatMyUke – Weezer Blue Album Medley
All Our Exes Live in Texas – The Devil's Part Thanks to Peter.
Gentle Brontosaurus – Wicker Park
Reneé Dominique – I'll Be Seeing You
DYAN & the BENZ – Shifted
Daniel Estrem – Branles du Bourgongne
DermitderUkulele – Ukulele Polka

New Releases
– Excellent instrumental record from Uke Hunt favourite Choan Galvez. Your €4 gets you not only the ten tracks but also tabs of every tune.
– New record from Taimane: Elemental.
– Indie-pop ukulele from Gentle Brontosaurus.

Learning
– Latest ukulele book from Lil Rev: Intros, Endings & Turnarounds for Ukulele.
– The UOGB’s Will Grove White has started doing ukulele tutorials including on barre chords, muting strings and chord Z.

Window Shopping
– KoAloha are selling off Sceptre prototypes and Pops talks about how to survive. Plus, SUS compare KoAlohas.
– 30s Martin 5K.
– Okabe Ukulele Studio guitarlele.

Amy Winehouse – Rehab (Tab)

I considered posting this song back when Amy Winehouse died but it seemed like exceptionally bad taste at the time. But it’s far too great a song to ignore for long and I’m not going to hold her questionable uke skills against her.

To keep the tab a manageable length I’ve notated straight repeats for the second verse. But there are a couple of differences between the verses. So I’ve added those at the end of the tab.

I’m using my thumb, index finger and middle finger for all the picking. But I’m am switching which strings those cover. As a general rule, if there’s no g-string in the bar my thumb is on C, index on E and middle on A. If there is some g-string, my thumb will be on g, index on C and middle on E.

Links

Buy it on iTunes
Back to Black (Chords)

Full playlist

We’re about at the halfway point in 2018 already. Time to take a look back at some of the great ukulele music to come out this year (and a couple from last December which I didn’t find until this year).

If you’ve got suggestions for great stuff I’ve missed send me an email or tweet me and I’ll check it out. (Sorry comments are still broken. You can at least see comments that have been submitted before which is progress.)

Tracklist
I’m With Her – See You Around
Aline Kelly – Estudo V
BananaCactus – AC/DC Medley
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – Highway to Hell
Zoë Bestel – Eye For An Eye
Kuinka – Mistakenly Brave
Jim Boggia – Born in the USA
The Helmsmen – Alright
Jay Hollywood x MARLOWE – Connected
Jonathan Lewis – Lonesome Fiddle Blues
Tyrone and Lesley – Moth Song

Doc Watson – Little Sadie (Chords)

The Last of Us franchise has a habit of hitting my musical sweet-spot. I’ve already tabbed Gustavo Santaolalla’s theme for the first game and Through the Valley from the first trailer for TLOU 2. Now the latest footage from E3 included Crooked Still’s version of Little Sadie.

The song has been recorded by a pile of artists since it surfaced in the 1920s including Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia and Old Crow Medicine Show. But the 1970 version by Doc Watson is my favourite and the one I’ve written up.

Suggested Strumming

The chord changes in Doc Watson’s version are fairly unusual. The weirdness starts straightaway with the opening Dm chord immediately switching to F. And it includes one bar of 3/4 on the A7.

The main strum itself is simple:

d – d u

Here’s how it fits the chords:

Dm: Once
F: Twice
Dm: Once
C: Three times
Am: Once
C: Four times
A7: Three times
Dm: Four times

This is how it sounds slowed down then up to speed:

Strum

Twiddly Bits

A post shared by @ukulelehunt on Jun 12, 2018 at 10:05am PDT

Here’s a ukulele version of the guitar part from the intro and after every other version. Thanks to the A note at the bottom I’m playing this on low-G ukulele.

The solo uses the D dorian mode for most of its length. Don’t panic if you’re unfamiliar with it. It’s the same notes as the C major scale. Playing those notes in the key of D gives you a minor sounding scale (the only difference with the minor scale is a major 7 instead of minor 7 note).

The exception to this is over the A7 chord where Ab and Bb notes are introduced.

Links

Buy it on iTunes
More folk tabs and chords

Full Playlist

Tracklist
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – Highway to Hell
Bud Sugar – Gambia
Randy Gapasin – You’ve Got A Friend In Me
The O’Pears – One Day
Cera Impala – Magic (Thanks to @ukeist)
Tremonti – Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Joanna Wallfisch – The Ship
UkeShack – Kirby’s Victory Dance Theme

There’s long been a story floating around that Jimi Hendrix started playing music on a one-string ukulele. Now Jimi’s brother has gone into a bit more detail.

Herman Vandecauter has been collecting information on the machete and related instruments (the Madeiran forebears of the ukulele).

Two books for community focused ukulelists: one for teaching and leading ukulele sessions and one for making your way as a community musician.

Grace VanderWaal on NPR’s Tiny Desk.

New Releases

– Excellent new EP from Bud Sugar: Vampire.
– Marc Gallagher’s Level Up.

Window Shopping
– 1920s Martin Taropatch.
– 1930s Gibson UB-3 banjolele.
– Tasmanian Blackwood Maple Tui.

Charli XCX – Boys (Tab)

I don’t cover a lot of pop music on here but Charli XCX’s contribution to the long tradition of lusty songs about handsome boys was the song of last summer and one of my favourite songs of the year.

The arrangement is a bit tricky with a few leaps up and down the fretboard. Probably the trickiest parts are the Mario coin noises. These are created by playing a note on the E-string 10th fret quickly followed by natural harmonic on the A-string, 12th fret. If you’re still getting the hang of natural harmonics you can fret the string at the 12th fret as you usually would. It won’t have the same ringing sound but it will sound right.

Links

Buy it on iTunes
More pop tabs and chords

Time for the Uke Hunt Annual Chord Quiz. Test your chord knowledge, theory knowledge and musical ear. The method is as low-tech as ever.

– Grab a pen and paper.
– Answer the questions (using a ukulele to help you is entirely allowed and encouraged).
– Check the answers here (no peeking).

If you’re reading by email or feed reader you may need to click through to the post to see everything.

Chord Diagrams

Name the minor chord from the chord diagram.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Chord Flavour: Diagrams

All these are D chords but are they D, Dm, D7, Dm7, or Dmaj7?

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Chord Flavour: Listening

All these are G chords but are they G, Gm, G7, Gm7, or Gmaj7?

11.

MP3

12.

MP3

13.

MP3

14.

MP3

15.

MP3

Chord Makeup

Each of these triads of notes makes up a major chord (e.g. the notes of an F chord are F, A and C). Which one? (The notes are listed in alphabetical order starting at C to make it harder.)

16. C, E and G

17. C, F and A

18. C#, E and A

19. D, F# and A

20. C#, F and G#

Chord Progression

Match the MP3 to the chord sequence:

a) D – G – D – G – D
b) D – G – D – A7 – D
c) D – G – Em – A7 – D
d) D – F#m – G – A7 – D
e) D – A7 – G – A7 – D

21.

MP3

22.

MP3

23.

MP3

24.

MP3

25.

MP3

Go here to check your answers

Links

Big Chord Quiz 1
Big Chord Quiz 2
Big Chord Quiz 3
More ukulele quizzes