(Crikey! That list of riffs needs updating. So expect that soon. In the meantime check out this tag and this tag)

Jay-Z and Kanye West – Ni**as in Paris

Riff

This has to be my favourite riff of last year. Which is really saying something in a year when The Black Keys released an album.

Dr Dre – Still DRE

Riff

This one works so well on the ukulele I’m a bit surprised he chose not to use one for the original.

Check out the song that inspired this riff Grant Green’s Maybe Tomorrow. Be sure to keep the chord stabs really staccato (stop them as soon as they sound).

Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On

Riff

This has to be the most most mashed-up song in history. I’m picking this with my index and middle fingers in a running-man motion. But this is one occasion when using a pick might give you a sound closer to the original.

Usher – Yeah

Riff

Perfect example of how effective a really simple riff can be.

Panjabi MC feat. Jay-Z – Beware

Riff

This one has been popular again recently thanks to its use in Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film The Dictator.

I’ve made this one way harder than it really needs to be by splitting it between the g and A strings. I just love the song of the same note played on different strings. In fact, in this tune I wrote I play the same note on each of the four strings in quick succession.

If, like me, you’re an idiot and want to play it the hard way barre across at the sixth fret for most of the riff and move that shape up when you go to the 7th and 9th frets.

If you’re a sensible person grab a pick and play it like this:

More Hip Hop

Mr B – Chap Hop History
Jay Z – Death of Autotune
Biz Markie – Just a Friend
Outkast – Hey Ya

My Most Viewed Video

Theme from Angry Boys

I posted this late on a Friday night after watching the show. It was a quick one I worked out by ear. When I awoke on the Saturday morning it had notched up well over a thousand views. This was around 950 views more than I was used to at the time!

My Most Requested Tab

Theme from Morrowind

This is a lovely melody, I’m not surprised that I get almost daily emails asking me for a copy of the TAB. I’ve just started to play Skyrim, so updates to my site will probably begin to peter out until I get sick of it.

My Video With The Most ‘Dislikes’

Theme from Parks and Recreation

Although I don’t dwell on it, the dislike button on Youtube is a strange invention. This has had 5 dislikes so far, compared to 8 likes. Perhaps the public didn’t like the mask I made for the video? I think it’s a vast improvement to the one I normally wear.

The One That Took The Most Time

Theme from Star Trek

No matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t get a perfect take on this one. After around a month of nightly attempts, I settled with this performance. People have often remarked that I look bored in my videos. I’m not bored, just angry and frustrated that I take so long when recording.

Theme from Star Trek (Lead Sheet)

Visit Uke of Carl.

Jun Maeda – Dango Daikazoku (Tab)

I had never heard this tune from the visual novel Clannad until I got a request for it. Even though I found it pretty damn irritating I couldn’t get it out of my head and had to work up a version.

It’s been a while since I made it hard on myself and did a full-on campanella version but it suits this tune really well.

I’m not sticking to any strict pattern for the picking hand. It’s mostly either thumb on g and one finger per string. Or thumb covering g and C with index and E and middle on A.

Make sure you let the notes ring into each other as much as possible.

Single Note Version

Dango Daikazoku (Melody Tab)

The campanella version is way more difficult than it needs to be. So here’s a simple version of the melody.

Buy the Clannad DVD

Ever since I put up this video of Wagner’s Bridal Chorus I’ve had a steady trickle of requests to play it at people’s weddings (not going to happen!) or for a recording they could use.

I made a recording of it that I’ve been handing out and here it is:

The Bridal Chorus – MP3 Version (quick download)
The Bridal Chorus – WAV Version (higher quality)
The Bridal Chorus – AIF Version (higher quality)

I’ve given it a Creative Commons license (more on that later today) so you’ve got full permission use it for free (even for commercial purposes). But if you want to make a donation to Ukuleles for Peace that would be nice. And if you do use it, I’d love to know.

It is a bit short. It was made for the specifications of the first person who asked it who – like I’m guessing most people wanting a ukulele rendition of Here Comes the Bride – was having a beach wedding.

I’m also giving the tab for it a CC license in case you ever get roped into playing for someone’s wedding:

Bridal Chorus (Tab)

It’s part of the How to Play Classical Ukulele ebook.

This work by Ukulele Hunt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

White Stripes – Hardest Button to Button

Riff

I’ve arranged this one in the key of C as it doesn’t fit too well on a standard ukulele in the original key. You can, however, play it on a low-G like this:

The Raconteurs – Salute Your Solution

Riff

Two great riffs in this tune. The main chord riff above and the single note riff below (which you need to play a lot higher than the original to stay in the same key). When you play the A chord in the riff make sure you do it with your middle and ring fingers so you can bring your index finger under it to slide into the B chord.

Riff 2

White Stripes – Icky Thump

Riff

This is a version of the riff that crops up at the 47 second mark in the video. It’s not in the original key.

Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother

Riff

Isn’t Alison Mosshart just fantastic? Anyway, I played this one bass guitar picking style. But it’s a good excuse for using a pick too.

Tom Jones – Evil

Riff

Third Man Records – Jack White’s record label – have put out so much great stuff. Often with Jack providing some wild guitar accompaniment to the artist’s usual sound. My favourite of these is the one he did with the Secret Sisters but this new one with Tom Jones comes very close.

This riff kicks in at 40 seconds.

Somebody That I Used to Know (Instrumental Tab)

I’ve already put up the chords for this song. But when Voxdog sent me his arrangement for an instrumental version I had to put it up here and do my own version.

My version is very similar to Voxdog’s. But I’ve shaved out quite a few of the sections and I take fewer trips up the fretboard (it makes it a lot easier to play while staring into space).

I encourage you to do your own take on the arrangement as well. This one is a good place to start for doing that too. The melody is really strong so as long as you have that going on you can fill in the backing in any way you like the sound of.

There are more of Voxdog’s arrangements here: Mele Kalikimaka, Sweet Child O’ Mine and Here Comes the Sun.

Buy the MP3

Coldplay – Yellow

Coldplay – Yellow (Instrumental Tab)

I did a similar thing with voxdog’s tab for Yellow. His tab is above. I read through his and busked together my own version based on that.

Buy the MP3

Here Comes the Sun (Harp Ukulele Version)

Since I put up two videos played on my aNueNue harp ukulele I’ve had a steady stream of tab requests. Strange since most people requesting them don’t even own one. My arrangement of Albatross wouldn’t work on a standard ukulele. But my version of Here Comes the Sun certainly could.

It works so well on ukulele I was convinced it was written on one. It uses a capo on the 7th fret of the guitar which makes it the same tuning as a D-tuned ukulele (George’s favourite) and fits just fine on four strings. But according to Eric Clapton in the George Harrison documentary it was written on guitar.

For the harp version I’m tuned as aNueNue suggest with the bass strings as C, D, E, F and the uke strings in low-G tuning.

Standard Tuning Version

Here Comes the Sun Riff (Standard Tuning)

Here’s a slightly adapted version for a standard tuned ukulele. Use D-tuning or slap on a capo at the second fret if you want to be in the same key as the original.

Buy the MP3

Skrillex – Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (Tab)

Dubstep is the point where I finally left my youthful musical hipness behind and set up residence in old man, “this isn’t music, it’s just noise,” territory. But even I can appreciate Skrillex wubbing it up and jumping around the octaves without any regard for how people are going to cover the song on ukulele.

As a result, this arrangement is a bit all over the place. It starts out with some campanella fingerpicking with thumb on the g-string and one finger each from there. But it’s not long before I’m just using any finger I can to get the job done. In the Kramer-scaring section* I switch to strumming but I’m really using my finger more like a pick. There’s also some palm muting thrown in.

Buy the MP3.

* The Mars Volta version is way better.

David Arnold – Sherlock’s Theme (Tab)

There’s a lot to love about the BBC’s updating of Sherlock Holmes (and a few things – like all the tilt shifting – to hate) and one of the parts I love most is the music (by David ‘James Bond’ Arnold and Michael Price).

It’s interesting to hear how similar the score for Sherlock is to the music for the film version of Sherlock Holmes by Hans Zimmer despite the music for the TV version being written before the film came out.

My version of Sherlock’s Theme is all done with fingerpicking. After the intro, it’s all:

C-string = thumb.
E-string = index finger.
A-string = middle finger.

Make sure the melody stands out from the backing (the notes in brackets)

Melody Version

Sherlock’s Theme (Melody Tab)

My arrangement of the tune is quite tricky. So here’s the plain melody for the tune (without the intro). You can play it as it is or jazz it up in any way you see fit.

Buy the DVD

Vince Guaraldi Trio – Christmas Time Is Here (Tab)

Tis the season to be jazzy. And I’ve thrown some decidedly jazzy bits into this tune from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

I’ve added an intro with a few licks (using the E minor pentatonic scale) and some discordant chords. It’s played very loosely so feel free to change whatever you like or – even better – come up with your own.

Other than some unfamiliar chords, the tune isn’t too challenging. The right hand is all done with the thumb (except for the last chord).

Buy the MP3