LP – Into the Wild (Chords)

For the first time ever, all my nominations have made it through to the vote for Ukulele Video of the Year. Which means either everyone who reads this blog now has impeccable taste or I’ve successfully alienated everyone that disagrees with me.

I only added LP’s Into the Wild to my nominations at the last minute. I was checking through the ‘Other Videos You Might Like’ list and realised that this song is pretty magnificent. Dead simple too. Only three chords in it: G, Em and C.

Whoever you want to vote for you can cast your vote here.

Suggested Strumming

She’s doing mostly down-up:

d u d u d u d u

Do that twice for every chord in the verse and chorus. Once for every chord in the pre-chorus.

Download it for free on her website.

Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know (Chords)

I’ve had a bunch of requests for Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know since the five people on one guitar version went viral. Inspired by the success of that they attempted the same thing with a ukulele. And they do successfully play ukuleles sometimes.

Suggested Strumming

Use this once for every chord:

D – D U

The only exception is the C5 in the last verse. Play the same pattern loads of times (16 at my count).

Pay attention to the dynamics in this one. Start quietly and bash it out in the choruses.

Twiddly Bits

You can play the ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ intro like this:

And the bridge bit like this:

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Buy the Walk Off the Earth version.

Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt – What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? (Chords)

This video went up yesterday and I’ve already had a deluge of requests. Including three from one person. So I’ve set aside my holiday shenanigans (and my irrationally intense dislike of JGL) and put it up in time for New Year’s.

It is a really lovely song with some nice jazzy touches. Like the I-II7-iv-V7 turnaround and the G#7 leading into the middle.

If you don’t fancy dashing up to the 6th fret for the F#7 you can play it this way.

Suggested Strumming

For intro you can do this for the first three chords:

d – d u

And a down strum for the E7.

And you can do just down strums for the main bit of the song too.

In the verse: four down strums for the A and G7. Two each until the B chord (four for that) then back to two each.

In the middle: four down strums for the C#m and two each for the others in the first two lines. In the third line, six down strums for the C#m and two for the F#7. Then four each in the last line.

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Chuck Berry – Run Run Rudolph (Chords)

An easy 3-chord Christmas song. And the benefit of being a twofer since Little Queenie (worth clicking for the video) is exactly the same.

Suggested Strumming

You can just stick with a simple down-up pattern with a bit of emphasis. Like this:

d u D U d u D U

Or you can throw in a few sixth chords like this:

I’m doing all down strums on this:

Strum

Twiddly Bits

An essential Berry intro:

Intro

And a not so essential harmonized outro:

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She and Him – Silver Bells (Chords)

Good to see Zooey Deschanel busting out the ukulele for this cover of Livingston and Evans’s Silver Bells on She and Him’s Christmas album. Also good to see that she’s handled being constantly referred to as ‘adorkable’ without having sprayed crowded streets with machine-gun fire.

Suggested Strumming

Zooey goes with mostly just down-strums all the way through. It’s in 3/4 time so do three down strums each for the C-Cmaj7 bit and six strums for everything else.

If you want to vary it up, you can replace a set of three down-strums with:

d – d u d u

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Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks

I think it’s about time I did a song people actually want to play. I’ve had a few requests for a uke version of the riff so I thought I’d knock up the chords as well.

Uke Friendly Chords

Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks (Capo)

The original version is in the uke-unfriendly key of Fm. So it’s easier to do with a capo on the first fret as Sophie Madeleine does in her version. So you can use these chords with a capo. Or just as they are if you don’t mind being in a different key.

Suggested Strumming

For the strumming, you can follow the rhythm of the riff like this:

d – x u – u d -

Here’s how that sounds (played fast then slow):

Strum 1

Or, if you’re not into chnks, you can just replace it with a down strum:

d – d u – u d -

Strum 2

Twiddly Bits

This song is a good illustration of a quick and simple way of transferring (a few) guitar tabs to ukulele. If you look at the guitar version of the riff you’ll see the riff uses mostly the two lowest strings on the guitar: E and A.

So anything played on the E and A strings on the guitar you can play exactly the same on the E and A strings on the uke. The only problem is the D-string 1st fret which we can play on the A string at the 6th fret. That gives you this:

Relative to the capo it looks like this:

But if you prefer to play without the capo, it’s easier to play like this:

Which sounds like this:

Riff

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Keston Cobblers’ Club – Pett Level (Chords)

I’m enjoying everything the Cobblers are putting out at the moment. And, judging by the number of requests for this one, it looks like I’m not the only one. They’re being massive teases and releasing their new album three tracks at a time. Pett Level crops up on the second part For.

The song is played with a capo on the 7th fret (which, along with the double tracking, give it a mandoliny sound). If you want to play along with out a capo, you can use these chords:

Keston Cobblers’ Club – Pett Level (Without Capo)

Suggested Strumming

A simple strumming pattern you can use all the way through is:

d – d u – u d u

Intro and verse: play that twice for the C5 at the beginning of each section and C at the end. And once for everything else.
Instrumental and Outro: play it twice for the C5 then once for everything else.
Middle: Once for everything except the G7s on ‘day’ and ‘away’.

Slowed down, the strum sounds like this:

Strumming Pattern

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Amanda Palmer – Ukulele Anthem

I’ve had a bunch of requests for this song which Amanda Palmer has been playing on her mini-tour of the Occupies. Usually when I’ve finished writing up a song I’m very clear on whether I love it or hate. This time I still have no idea. But I’m certain about a few things:

1. It has some great lines in it.
2. Shepherd ‘Obama Hope’ Fairies cover art is fantastic.
3. I need to change what I use the term ‘wand of thunder’ to refer to.

Tuning

For the recorded version, the ukulele is tuned down about half a step to F# B Eb Ab. But she’s using standard tuning in this video.

Suggested Strumming

To get that authentic Amanda Palmer sound really scrape into the strings and keep your arm rod-stiff.

A simple pattern that will keep you going through the song is:

d – d u – u d u

In the verses and choruses, use that twice for the first three chords then once each for G7sus4 and G7.

Buy the MP3 on Bandcamp.

Tom Waits – Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard (Chords)

A Halloween song and also – since he has a new album out – a long overdue Tom Waits song (unless you count his take on the Wire theme). The chords are exactly the same for the – possibly slightly better – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins version.

Plenty more Halloween tunes in this post.

Twiddly Bits

The verses are just this riff in Bm:

Which sounds like this:

Riff

It’s a pretty generic blues riff so feel free to steal it. Here it is in Cm:

And here it is in Fm:

Suggested Strumming

For the chorus you can just do:

d u d u d u d u

But make sure you give it plenty of swing.

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Mr B – The Crack Song

After a couple of his cover medleys it’s about time I did one of Mr B’s own tunes. And, I have to say, it makes a pleasant change to write out the lyrics of someone with good diction.

I did the chord sheet based on the version on O.G. Original Gentleman. Which has a few differences from the video version. It’s much longer. The banjolele is in D-tuning for the video and slightly sharp of that on the record. Here’s the version of the chords if you’re playing in standard tuning with a capo at the second (and a half) fret.

Mr B – The Crack Song (Standard Tuning)

Suggested Strumming

For the opening part, it’s just down strums.

When it picks up you can use this as the main pattern:

d – d – d u d u

For the quick chord changes at the end of the line you can do:

d – d –

For each. There are some really quick chord changes in the last verse that just need one down strum.

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