The Wire Theme: Way Down in the Hole
July 6, 2008
For those of you like the me of a few months ago who haven’t seen The Wire, each series has its own version of the Tom Waits song Way Down in the Hole.
Season 1: Blind Boys of Alabama
The first series’ theme was performed by The Blind Boys of Alabama. The album that this song comes from, Spirit of the Century, is absolutely fantastic. The highlight is the blues on the oud number Soldier.
Blind Boys of Alabama - Way Down in the Hole (Chords)
I’ve written up the chords as they appear in the theme tune, but there’s nothing in the full song that isn’t in this version.
At the end of each line there’s little little lick.
With this at the end of the verse.
The original Tom Waits version is one fret higher than the BBoA at Bm.
Season 3: The Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers’ version is in the key of Am - which makes it the most suitable for the ukulele. My favourite way of playing the song is to use the key of Am and the bass lead in from this version and combine it with the lead parts from the Blind Boys’ version to get this:
Season 4: DoMaJe (Baltimore Boys Choir)
Back to the BBoA key of Bbm. I have to say, this is my least favourite version by a long way. For the fuzzy solo, bust out the Bb minor pentatonic scale.
As well as providing the theme for the final season and appearing in the show, Steve Earle’s Feel Alright was used for the end of season 2 montage (listen here if you don’t want any spoilers). It’s a great song. I was going to write it up for the uke, but it’s one of those rare songs that sounds better on the guitar.
Earle’s version of Way Down in the Hole is in Gm.
The Shortwave Set - Better Than Bad
July 3, 2008
Another song for the ‘bands you wouldn’t expect to hear playing the ukulele’ section. This tune is from The Shortwave Set’s ‘Victorian Funk’ album The Debt Collection. Of course, there weren’t any ukuleles in England during the Victorian era, but that’s just nit-picking.
The ukulele part is quite traditional (and in D tuning) but cut up and twisted around. The basis of it is this:
The chords in the chorus are Bb - D - A - D.
Match of the Day Theme (Tab)
June 29, 2008
Because of my anti-football prejudice, I’d never considered tabbing this out before. With the final of Euro 2008 today (that’s soccerball to you North Americans), I thought it would be fitting and, blow me down, it could have been written for the ukulele. It also makes for a great football tune medley when it’s followed by Stars and Stripes Forever (AKA ‘Ere We Go).
Most of it is fairly simple strumming. The trickiest bits are the places where you switch from strumming to fingerpicking and the jump up to the third fret. But it’s well worth practicing (if you’re British at least).
B52s - Love Shack
June 24, 2008
Love Shack has to be one of the funnest songs there has ever been. The guitar part is played mostly on the top three strings and above the fifth fret, so it fits perfectly on the uke.
There are two main parts in the song. The first is the verse part which alternates between C and Bb. The rhythm of it varies throughout, but the basis of it is this:
The most important thing is to keep the chord stabs short and funky. Do this by releasing the pressure on your fretting hand soon after strumming (but leave them touching the string). The only time you let the strummed chords ring is when you’re sliding them.
The chorus part is simply strummed chords. I play them all with down strums. After the chorus is my favorite part. It requires you to bend the E string up (by pushing it towards your head). I’ve tabbed it as being bent by half a step (so it sounds one fret higher than it actually is), but you don’t have to be that accurate in this case - it’s more important to get that little rasp into it.
Requested by Jeff.
Indiana Jones Theme
June 1, 2008
Before we get down to business, James Hill’s new website/ezine Ukulele, Yes! is up and running. I still haven’t managed to successfully sign up for the ezine itself, but it looks like it’s all online anyway. A bunch of good stuff in the first issue including an interview with Peter Luongo, , an arrangement of Rattle on the Stovepipe (splatters and squiggles only) and an article by John Kavanagh about me (there might be something about Ragtime in there as well).
With the new Indiana Jones film coming out and a couple of requests for it, I thought I’d take a stab at arranging it for the uke. To be honest, I didn’t think it would work on the uke. I’ve been trying to do a decent arrangement of Star Wars for the uke but haven’t come up with anything good enough. The Indiana Jones theme is similarly epic, John Williams stuff. But, with a bit of jumping around and finger twisting, it works pretty well. Make sure you let as many notes ring into each other as you can to get a extra sound out of it.
Guitar Riffs for the Ukulele: Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name Of
May 27, 2008
Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello is one of my all time favourite guitar players. He’s one of the few guitar players capable of being absolutely individual and wildly experimental but still able to come up with something instantly accessible (Nick Zinner of The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs is another that comes to mind).
This riff is a good example of that combination. Take away the whirls and squeaks, and it’s actually quite a convention riff. It contains many of the same note moves as Day Tripper. Both make use of moves from minor 7th to root, and from minor 3rd to major 3rd. Harmonically speaking, there aren’t any notes in this riff that aren’t in Day Tripper. It’s a great trick to take something so recognisable (formulaic even) and make it seem completely new.
Guitar Riffs for Ukulele: Pearl Jam - Jeremy
May 25, 2008
Given how hip I am now it might be hard for you to believe, but I wasn’t the coolest kid at school. During the grunge era, the cool kids like Nirvana. But I always preferred Pearl Jam (and Eddie Vedder’s later ukulele conversion proved me right).
The riff to Jeremy is very minimal. It’s surprisingly similar to Come Together - using the same notes. I originally tabbed it in the same way (using notes on the C-string at the fifth and seventh frets) but it’s so sparse it needs the C note running through. It’s even worth adding extra picks of the C string to fill out the gaps.
Guitar Riffs for Ukulele: The Beatles - Come Together/Day Tripper
May 22, 2008
I’m breaking my ‘no Beatles’ rule once again for this post. There’s no denying that they came up with some great riffs and these are a pair of humdingers.
Come Together
Seeso did a top version of this song. That’s a great example of how to fill out a riff to make it work as a full song on the ukulele. But for our purposes, I’ve stuck with the simpler single note version.
Day Tripper
For this tab, I’ve taken advantage of the re-entrant string and barred my first finger across the third fret after the first note. I use my thumb to pick the G and C strings, my index finger on the E string and middle finger on the A string.
Guitar Riffs for Ukulele: Motorhead - Ace of Spades
May 20, 2008
Ace of Spades has to be one of the most air-guitared riffs in history.
The riff isn’t too hard to play on the uke. The only problem is the speed. Because it’s fast, it’s much easier to play it by strumming rather than fingerpicking (even when you’re only playing one note). Make sure you have the other strings muted (the G-string with your thumb and the E and A strings with your fingers).
The strumming pattern is down, down, up, up, down for the single notes (and all downs for the double notes).
Guitar Riffs for Ukulele: Free - All Right Now
May 18, 2008
Most guitar riffs are based around single notes. There are only a few that use full chords. AC/DC have come up with plenty. But other than them, this is the only riff that comes to mind based entirely on chords.
Because it’s all chords, the riff works well on the uke. I’ve kept it in the original key of A. This means that the chord inversions are different - giving the riff a slightly different flavour on uke.
The strumming for bar three is down, up, up, down, down, up, up, down.
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