Tobias Elof breaks down James Hill’s strumming technique in Song for Cheri.
NBC takes to the streets with The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain.
Two new rajão tracks from Herman Vandecauter: La Do Monte Ricardo Porfyrio da Fonseca and La Julia.
John Williams – The Imperial March (Tab)
This year’s Star Wars Day inspired me to work up a version of John Williams’s ultimate bad-guy theme tune The Imperial March. If you’re interested in the theory behind how this tune conjures up the dark, powerful, militaristic images I highly recommend watching 12tone’s video on the tune.
The Vader Strum
The trickiest part of the arrangement is the legendary rhythm at the beginning. It involves three quick triplets. It’s one to practice very slowly and gradually speed it up.
I’m using a slight variation on the traditional Hawaiian triplet strum:
– Down with index finger.
– Down with thumb (indicated by dt in the tab).
– Up with index.
More on that in the Ukulele Strums ebook.
The variation is that I’m strumming down with my index and middle fingers together to give it more power and make sure the force is strong in this one. Here’s how the strum looks slowed down:
I also had problems with this because of the rhythmic mismatch between the triplets in the rhythm part and the dotted eighth notes in the melody (mentioned in the 12tone video). I had a hard time switching between the melody in bar 14 to the strumming in bar 15.
Links
Buy it on iTunes
Cantina Band (Tab)
More movie tabs and chords
It’s Uke Hunt’s eleventh birthday this week. According to WebMD 11 year olds, “will likely be eating and sleeping more. He may complain of muscle cramps and growing pains. Some boys also start to get oily skin, peach fuzz on their upper lip”. Devastatingly accurate once again.
Here’s a round-up of the goings-on of the last year.
May 2017
– I paid tribute to Chris Cornell with Black Hole Sun and a collection of his riffs.
In tabs: Nancy Sinatra’s Bang Bang.
In chords: REM’s Nightswimming.
June 2017
– Celebrating the rerelease of OK Computer with chords for Lift, tabs for No Surprises and a UkeTube recreation of the album.
– Josh Walderman told us what it takes to be a good ukulele group leader.
In tabs: Alt-J’s Fitzpleasure.
In chords: The OCMS/Bob Dylan ukulele favourite Wagon Wheel.
July 2017
– In a huge loss to the ukulele world, founding Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain member Kitty Lux died. You can read my tribute to her here.
– Jonathan Lewis released a new ebook Classic Folk Songs for Fingerstyle Ukulele and was kind enough to let me post a tab from it on the blog.
– A tutorial on muted strums.
In tabs: My third version of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
In chords: Haim’s Want You Back and a Wainwright double bill with Loudon’s Swimming Song and Martha’s BMFA.
August 2017
– Uke Hunt readers’ favourite ukuleles.
In tabs: The Beatles’ Blackbird.
In chords: Woody Guthrie’s All You Fascists Bound to Lose.
September 2017
– The Survivor Girl Ukulele Band successfully Kickstarted their record.
– Burning Man’s emergency ukulele had a familiar looking logo.
– Tallest Man on Earth demoed a ukulele song.
In tabs: Dam Buster March group tab, Charles Bradley’s Dusty Blue and La Pas Ma La/Watermark.
In chords:Lou Reed’s Satellite of Love.
October 2017
In tabs: They Might Be Giants’ Birdhouse in Your Soul, five Halloween snippets and Sibelius’s Karelia Suite
In chords: Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’ and My Chemical Romance’s Welcome to the Black Parade
November 2017
– What’s the deal with Sus4 and Sus2 chords?
– Ukulele Go spends a month playing blues ukulele and nothing else.
In tabs: Fats Domino’s Blueberry Hill, a selection of game tabs including Cuphead, Life is Strange and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and Elton John’s Song for Guy.
In chords: Arctic Monkey’s Mardy Bum and Lyle Lovett’s God Will.
December 2017
– Aloha Akademie guest posted a tribute to Malcolm Young’s unmistakeable groove.
In tabs: Camila Cabello’s smash hit Havana and The Beatles’ Across the Universe.
In chords: The SNL song reworked by Julian Casablancas I Wish It Was Christmas Today and Loudon Wainwright’s Suddenly It’s Christmas.
January 2018
– I collected my ukulele favourites of 2017.
In chords: Linger by The Cranberries.
February 2018
– “Ukulele Mike” Lynch passed away.
In tabs: Six songs from The Simpsons, Portugal. The Man’s Feel It Still and Bob Dylan/Adele’s To Make You Feel My Love
In chords: The Cure’s Lovecats.
March 2018
– Jonathan Lewis released another ebook minstrel banjo tunes arranged for ukulele and graced us with a tab of Lonesome Fiddle Blues.
– I cleared up some tab reading FAQs and reviewed the G7th Ultralight capo.
– Manitoba Hal had some practicing tips and Clifton Hicks shared some stretching exercises.
In tabs: The Lumineers’ Ho Hey, Vangelis’s Chariots of Fire and Janis Joplin’s Mercedes Benz.
In chords: The Pogues take on Waxie’s Dargle and INXS’s Never Tear Us Apart.
April 2018
– Ukulele Ray sadly died.
– Why bother using a capo?
– 2018 officially became the year of ukulele-rapper with Einer Bankz hooking up with Chance the Rapper and Jay Hollywood and MARLOWE connecting.
In tabs: Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose and One by U2.
In chords: Luis Fonsi’s Despacito and Billy Bragg’s Between the Wars.
David Beckingham – We’ll Meet Again (Tab)
A new tab from David Beckingham. This time Vera Lynn’s WWII tune We’ll Meet Again written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles and notably covered by Johnny Cash.
David’s arrangement is nice and simple. And I particularly enjoy the descending turnaround in bars 31 and 32 which I plan on stealing in the future.
Links
Buy it on iTunes
David Beckingham on YouTube
More David Beckingham tabs
Very sad news this week that Ukulele Ray has died. He was a long-time champion of the ukulele, a fixture in the community and the pioneer of lunchbox ukuleles.
Two exceptionally good records out this week: Zoë Bestel’s Transience and Ukulele Sketch Book from Craig Robertson. Highly recommend giving them both a listen.
The eighth and final episode of my favourite travel documentary The Madagascar Journals is up at last with Matt Kresling and his ukulele completing their journey.
Ukulele Exercises for Dummies (which I worked on with Brett from Ukulele Tricks) is part of the Learn Music Books Humble Bundle.
Window Shopping
– Aaron Keim maple and pistachio tenor banjo ukulele.
– Lyon Healy 1920’s Shrine.
– Antar Brand Kamaka 1940’s Cigar Box Replica.
La Vie en Rose (Tab)
What a great song this is. I’ve already covered the chords and a tab of the tune is way overdue.
There’s loads of room to add your own spin onto this song. You can play around with dynamics and pacing, change the phrasing, throw in chord extensions or add in a few jazzy runs. Check out Louis Armstrong’s version for inspiration.
It seems like every cover version ditches the intro section of the original. And I’ve done likewise. I’ve replaced it with a chord section that establishes the harmony of the tune by borrowing chords from elsewhere in the song. This is a good place to start adding your own ideas.
Links
I regularly post “7 second ukulele lessons” on Instagram. Here’s a roundup of some of the recent (and not so recent) indie songs I’ve covered.
Housekeeping: The website is having some trouble handling comments at the moment. So if you submit a comment it might not work. Don’t know what I’m going to do about that! You can always Tweet me if you have something to say.
Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
I’m using alternate picking for the fast notes on this. But this is one occasion I’d recommend considering a pick.
Vampire Weekend – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
Bloc Party – Helicopter
Duel ukuleles in this one. The top line of tab is the uke in the small window and the bottom line is the main window.
Parquet Courts – Wide Awake
Hippo Campus – Dollar Bill
Hinds – New for You
Viola Beach – Boys That Sing
Billy Bragg – Between the Wars (Chords)
It was St George’s Day on Monday so I thought I’d do a song by the most English singer I can think of. And now Morriessey is persona non grata that’s Billy Bragg. His songs are a bit hit and miss for me. But when he hits the button he hits it hard. Between the Wars is a beautiful song and has had me in tears before.
I’m using a capo at the second fret (the equivalent of D-tuning). Bragg used a capo at the 7th fret so that makes the chord shapes the same for uke and guitar. It’s still easy to play without a capo where the chords C – Dm – F – G – Am will be D – Em – G – A – Bm respectively.
Suggested Strumming
You can use this short strum as the main pattern:
d – d u
The song has two slightly different verses divided between odd numbered verses and even numbered verses.
In the intro and the odd numbered verses: Main strum once for everything except:
– On the F chords in lines one and three do the main strum twice or the descending line shown in the twiddly bits.
– On the F and G in the last line do one down-strum each.
In the even numbered verses: Main strum once except:
– One long down-strum on the G in line 2.
– On the F chords in line three do the main strum twice or the descending line shown in the twiddly bits.
– On the F and G in the last line do one down-strum each.
– On the F in the last line do the main strum three times.
Here’s a go around of both those verse types:
Twiddly Bits
Here’s a picking pattern similar to that in the intro. You can also use elements of this in the main song. Particularly the run down from the F chord in the second half of bar 2.
Here’s an alternative way of playing the F – C move at the end of the even numbered verses. Which sounds like this:
Links
Buy it on iTunes
All You Fascists Bound to Lose (Chords)
More UK tabs and chords
Full Playlist
Tracklist
I’m With Her – See You Around
Jay Hollywood x MARLOWE – Connected
Einer Bankz & Salsalino – Long Run
Aline Kelly – Estudo V
Manitoba Hal – Hope Of A Brighter Day
Victor and Penny – Wake Up Early
Matthew Brian Kirkland – Loch Shiel
Jonathan Lewis – Heart Shaped Box
Charlotte and Lorenzo – The Spin
Randy Gapasin – Kingdom Hearts: Simple and Clean
