Winin’ Boy (Tab)

via DaddyStovepipe.com

Daddy Stovepipe’s bluesy ukulele videos are a favourite of mine and he’s recently tabbed up one of his tunes. So I took the opportunity to throw a few questions at him.

What’s your musical history? How did you come by the uke?

I started playing blues fingerpicking guitar when I was 16 years old; I mostly learned from records and with the help of the Stefan Grossman tablature books.

The reissue label Yazoo, specialised in blues music recorded between 1926-32 (the golden age of country blues) also had an lp by Ukulele Ike. I liked the album but never went any further. It’s only after starting with my Youtube channel, a few years ago, that I came to know uke players like my fellow countrymen Winin’ Boy and Ukulelezaza. Winin’ Boy is one of my subscribers and I always visit their channel to get to know them. Surfing the internet did the rest; your website proved very helpful to get to know the ukulele world. Same goes for your 101 book.

Who are you big musical inspirations?

Mainly the “old blues guys” who recorded in the 20-30ies; men like Lonnie Johnson, Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, the inevitable Robert Johnson of course, etc.

What are your top tips for playing ukulele blues?

Listening to the music you want to play, is half the battle.

So far I only focused on keys like C and F as you can use the open top-string often and there is a lot of material in those keys. I found that the more jazzy blues by players like Blind Blake or Mississippi John Hurt works best for the ukulele.

Do you have any favourite blues licks?

Bending the 3rd and 4rd fret of the second string, when playing in F comes to mind,or playing the 3rd string fretted at the 3rd fret simultaneously with the open 2nd when playing in C.

How do you approach playing blues on a uke differently from blues on a guitar?

I approach it as a guitar with less strings. My thumb plays a monotonic bass on the 4th string or an alternating bass between strings 4 and 3. With the alternating bass I sometimes get in trouble if the 3rd string is needed for a melody note but then I simply quit the alternating bass pattern.

What I especially like about the ukulele is the re-entrant tuning. The sound of the high 4th string really does it for me.

Are you going to put together more uke tabs?

I sure will.

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Music For A Found Harmonium (Tab)

I’ve loved this tune for many years (after hearing Colin Reid’s version of it) so when I found Penguin Cafe barrister Geoffrey Richardson was a uker I decided I had to find a way to play it on the uke. How hard could it be? Five months later…

The first thing you need to do to play this arrangement is tune the g string up to a (so it’s aCEA). This lets me do one of my favourite things on the uke: play the same note on every string then do a bit of very close harmony. The picking pattern for this section is thumb, index, thumb, middle.

In the main section of the tune I’m picking what was the g string with my thumb, the E string with my index finger and the A string with my middle finger. As for the left hand, I use my ring finger on the E string, middle finger for for A string 4th fret and pinkie for the fifth fret. This makes it easier to slide down for the second phrase.

The middle section of the tune (starting at bar 16) is the one I had most problems with. For the picking I’m using the same finger set-up as the previous section but with the thumb covering the G and C strings.

The strumming section was a late addition to the arrangement – I thought it needed something more forceful to finish it off. As I result, I haven’t got this section nailed down as much, so you might have to feel your own way through this section.

Harry Potter – Hedwigs Theme (Tab)

I’ve done a whole load of tabs of John Williams tunes (Star Wars, Cantina Band, Olympic Fanfare, Indiana Jones). Yet I wouldn’t be able to pick him out of a line up and I regularly get him mixed up with the guitarist of the same name.

This arrangement does miss out a lot of the original. If you can recreate all the swirling strings, you’re a way better player than me. But I have included the two main sections of the piece. The first is a slow waltz and the second a rapid 4/4. The other arrangements I’ve seen miss out the second part – not sure why since it’s much more fun to play. And it’s fairly straight forward – mostly just moving the minor chord shape up and down. The tricky part is the speed so start slowly until you’ve got it under your fingers then build up speed. To give it a bit of variation, I play the first half of this section strumming with my thumb and the second half with my fingers (all down strums in both cases).

Laurel and Hardy Theme (Dance of the Cuckoos) (Tab)

After Steve sent me this slightly worrying video, I decided this is perfect for the ukulele. It’s simple to play, works perfectly on the uke and I’ve been strumming it the whole time.

I’m using D-tuning in the video, but C-tuning will work fine. The D-tuning does add a bit of plinky-plonky to it though.

MP3

I don’t know why this is only the third time I’ve featured the Mighty Zeppelin (Whole Lotta Love, Stairway to Heaven) they’re quite clearly the greatest band in history. Perhaps because all their songs are heroically unsuited to the ukulele. This one certainly is. It took a fair bit of fudging and key changing, but I think this version just about works.

I’m using a pick in the MP3 but that’s just because I recorded this right after Master of Puppets and forgot to put it down.

Part of the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series.

Requested by Jennifer.

I smiled quite a lot as well.

This tab is taken from GUGUG and L’Uke’s excellent version of the tune. I’ve tabbed up Gus’s part. Daniel’s playing the same thing but in the rather unusual E tuning (bEG#C#). Finn is playing the chord with an E under the riff.

And, of couse, I couldn’t resist working out the solo as well.

Those chords are also the ones in the, “Look at you with your mouth…” section. So that’s pretty much the whole song.

Part of the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series.

MP3

Old-school riffery from Richie Valens. But the song is probably best known for Los Lobos’s cover version. The highlight of that version being the outro. Here’s the start of it in the same, uke-friendly, key as I used for the riff.

La Bamba Outro

If you want to play it in the original key, move everything up 7 frets – something like this. It’s much more difficult but still playable.

Part of the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series.

MP3

Yep, more Tom Morello. After the whole rap/metal crossover started so promisingly – the Judgement Night soundtrack, Body Count, Rage – it’s a real shame it ended up with Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.

UPDATE: Bugger, that 8 on the G string in bar 4 should be a 6 on the A string. I’ll try to get it fixed later.

Part of the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series.

MP3

I surprised I haven’t been knocked up side the head for not featuring this one yet. What was I thinking doing Enter Sandman before this? It’s easily one of the best riffs of all time. I believe the correct word is ‘immense’. And the bigger a riff is the more fun it is to play it on the ukulele.

If you’ve listened to the MP3 already, you might have noticed that I’ve used a pick for this one (blasphemy). The notes come to fast to play it any other way. And you need to do a fair bit of palm muting (i.e. rest the underside of your picking hand lightly on the strings just in front of the bridge to dampen the strings).

Part of the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series.

MP3

I might have mentioned it before but it bears repeating, Tom Morello is an incredible guitar player. Or electric-guitarist at least. I can’t get into the Watchman stuff. He makes me want to buy a bunch of effects pedals and mess around with them.

Part of the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series.