Now the Tories won the election it’s only a matter of time before they ban ukuleles in retaliation for this. So before that hits I’ve posted a bunch of short/obscure theme tune tabs that have been piling up:
Doug Wood Band – Drag Racer (BBC Snooker Theme) (Tab)
With the pub rock of Drag Racer and Winifred Atwell’s version of Black and White Rag snooker has a claim to the sport with the best theme music. Or it did until the BBC started remixing all its theme tunes to replace anything recognisable with bleeps, bloops and swooshes. So now the snooker theme sounds like this.
Doug Wood must be spinning in his grave. If he’s dead. Or he’s alive but enjoys hanging out in his grave. There’s very little information about him on the net. I assume he’s the same person as Douglas Wood who made “spacey folk electro-horror” soundtracks like this and this at the same time.
The tune doesn’t fit all that neatly onto the uke. I did have to do a fair bit of octave shifting. The most obvious one being mid-lick at the start of bar 7.
Links
Quizeum Theme (Tab)
The Quizeum is BBC4’s traveling museum panel show and my new favourite quiz. How could you not love a high-brow quiz show not afraid to use the phrase, “You’ve got a face full of dicks”?
It also has a pleasant, bouncy theme tune that works well on uke.
Links
Klovn Theme (Tab)
Klovn is Denmark’s version of Curb Your Enthusiasm. As far as I can tell. I stumbled across it during an international tour of Netflixes. There were no English subtitles so I couldn’t make out much of the show (judging by the comments I got on the video, all Danish Uke Hunt readers hate it). But I really loved the theme tune.
In a rarity for me, the arrangement uses low-G tuning. The picking hand is a bit tricky in this one. I’m playing alternating bass notes with the thumb (on the G-, C- and E-strings) and melody notes with the index and middle fingers.
Links
Red Flag (Tab)
A simple arrangement of the UK Labour party theme tune The Red Flag. If you’re not a Brit and a pinko, it’s the same tune as O Christmas Tree.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Brain Scoop Theme (Tab)
The Brain Scoop is one of my favourite YouTube channels. It’s the channel of Emily Graslie who was working in a tiny museum in Missoula when Vlogbrother Hank Green featured her in a video and talked her into starting a YouTube channel. Now she works in the massive Field Museum making videos on everything they do from slicing open animals, to expiditions, to searching through their collections (including their ukulele). I highly recommend checking it out.
It also has a catchy theme tune (by general Nerdfighteria producer Michael Aranda) that I had to do a uke version of. I’m very excited that it got the Brain Scoop and Hank Green seal of approval.
Links
The Brain Scoop on YouTube
Michael Aranda on Bandcamp
John Green Swindon Town medley (Tab)
Continuing Theme Tune Week with a selection of my favourite themes to listen to and play.
Disagree? Think there’s a theme I’ve egregiously not tabbed yet? Let me know in the comments.
Top 5 Game Themes
1. The Last of Us Theme
2. Super Mario Bros
3. Tetris
4. Want You Gone (Portal)
5. Wet Hands (Minecraft)
Runner-up: Mega Man 2 Flash Man
Top 5 Movie Themes
1. Cantina Band (Star Wars)
2. Mr Moustafa (Grand Budapest Hotel)
3. James Bond Theme
4. Hedwig’s Theme (Harry Potter)
5. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Runner-up: Claudia’s Theme (The Unforgiven)
Top 5 Songs from Movies
1. Nobody Does It Better (The Spy Who Loved Me)
2. Moon River (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
3. Rise (Into the Wild)
4. Scream and Run Away (Lemony Snicket)
5. Falling Slowly (Once)
Runner-up: Hanging Tree (Hunger Games)
Top 5 Sitcom Themes
1. Frasier
2. The Office: An American Workplace Theme
3. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
4. Father Ted Theme
5. Arrested Development Theme Tune
Runner-up: Dad’s Army Theme
Top 5 TV Drama Themes
1. Teardrop (House)
2. I Am The Doctor (Doctor Who)
3. Sherlock’s Theme
4. Way Down in the Hole (The Wire)
5. Better Call Saul Theme
Runner-up: Coronation Street
Top 5 Songs from TV Shows
1. Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros (Flight of the Conchords)
2. El Paso (Breaking Bad)
3. La Vie en Rose (How I Met Your Mother)
4. South Park – Tardicaca Hula Gal (Chords)
5. Screw You (Scrubs)
Top 5 TV Animation Themes
1. The Simpsons
2. Bagpuss
3. We Are the Crystal Gems (Steven Universe)<
4. Popeye the Sailor Man
5. Bob’s Burgers
Runner-up: King of the Hill
Top 5 New Media Themes/Songs
1. Serial Podcast
2. John Green’s Swindon Town Medley
3. Keyboard Cat
4. Jordon, Jesse, Go! (Scroll down a little)
5. Exterminate, Regenerate (Charlie McDonnell)
It’s Theme Tune Week on Uke Hunt this week. And I’m starting out with Steven Universe. The show is packed with great ukeable tunes thanks to show creator and ukulelist Rebecca Sugar. If you’re an SU fan and a uker I highly recommend following her Tumblr where she often posts ukulele demos of the songs and occasionally chords.
The plan was the right up the theme tune but I like the songs so much I ended up doing a bunch.
The Steven Strum
This chnky strum – henceforth known as the Steven strum – is clearly Steven’s favourite strum. It crops up all the time:
d – x u – u d –
Here it is played slow then fast:
You can use chnks or muted strums for the x. Or use one of the chnk alternatives. You can also emphasise the second down-strum:
d – D u – u d u
We are the Crystal Gems
We Are the Crystal Gems (Chords)
I was going to refer to this as the longer version of the theme tune but since this version showed up at Comic Con it’s now the medium sized version.
This version is a different – more uke friendly key – than the theme version. To play along with the version used as the theme tune put a capo on the second fret.
Suggested Strumming
Start with one strum per chord. Then use the Steven strum once per chord in the verse and twice per chord in the chorus.
Giant Woman
Giant Woman (Chords)
Suggested Strumming
Again start of with one down-strum per chord before moving on to the Steven strum once per chord in the verses. In the middle section play the strum twice on the B7 then one down strum on the Em and G then once on the Cmaj7 (a chord that crops up a fair bit in Steven Universe and Adventure Time songs).
Do It For Her (Demo)
Do It For Her (Demo)(Tab)
Rebecca Sugar posted a lovely fingerpicked ukulele version of this tune on her Tumblr. And it’s that version I’ve written up.
The thumb picks the C-string (and at one point the g-string) with index finger on the E-string and middle on the A.
The rhythm is much more tricksy than it sounds. I’d recommend just picking it up from listening to the track.
Here’s how the picking of the intro and verse looks:
What Can I Do For You?
What Can I Do
A steamy soul-rock song is a nice change of pace from most SU songs. It put me in mind of The Detroit Cobras.
Picking
What Can I Do (Picking Tab)
You can recreate(ish) the guitar picking like this. Pick with your thumb, then middle finger. Then flick up across the strings with the middle finger.
This is how the picking looks slow then up to speed:
Strumming
If you don’t want to pick, this is a good opportunity to break out your favourite triplet strum since it’s slow.
TTT d – TTT d –
Or you could just use down-strums:
ddd d – ddd d –
Let Me Drive My Van into Your Heart
Let Me Drive My Van into Your Heart (Chords)
Nice and easy up until the Ab in the middle section. If you want to avoid that you can play the middle section the way she does in the demo version: Bb F C Bb Cmaj7.
On the Run
On the Run (Chords)
Strumming
You can use a modified Steven strum replacing the chnk with a down-strum:
d – d u – u d –
Once per chord in the verses and twice per chord in the middle. In the outro twice on Am and once on everything else.
Steven and the Crystal Gems
Steven and the Crystal Gems (Chords)
The two chords at the end are played way up the neck (as indicated by the fret numbers at the top right). If your uke doesn’t have a 13th fret you can just play the chords in their more familiar positions Bbmaj7 – 3210 and Bb = 3211.
Suggested Strumming
Verse: Steven strum once per chord. All except the last chord then do the Steven strum twice.
Bridge: Steven strum twice per chord.
Chorus: Steven strum once per chord. Except the Eb – F change on “alternate” do d – d u once each there. And just one down-strum on the last two chords.
Serious Song
Serious Song (Chords)
I was very worried about the wellbeing of his ukulele in this episode.
I’m using a fairly strange way of playing the F and G chords. Barreing the g, C and E strings with my middle finger and muting the A-string. If you prefer you can play the usual open versions of all the chords. If you doing that you might want to switch the B for a G7 and change chords normally rather than sliding.
Suggested Strumming
Intro: d u d u d u d u
Verse: The Steven strum once per chord.
Last line: d u d u once for Cm and G7. Then d u on the C, down on the B then slide the shape up one fret to make it the C chord.
Cookie Cat Rap
Lots of fun to play.
Here’s how my ukulele version goes:
Links
Buy it on iTunes
Steven Universe on Cartoon Network
RebeccaSugar.tumblr.com
