Beirut – The Penalty

The standout track on The Flying Club Cup as far as I’m concerned – although I am completely biased in any matter that involves ukuleles – is the uke lead tune The Penalty.

The first thing to notice in the chords for the song is that there are three different inversions of the C chord in there. The Penalty starts off with a shortened bar of the usual open C shape. Then the three strings remain open while the A string is played at the seventh fret. I’ve called it e/C as the highest note is the E. Finally, there’s another C chord – I’ve called it C(alt) which acts a passing chord between the Em and the F (it is only played for a short time and is, therefore, in square brackets). There’s is also a short Fadd9 chord which is made simply by taking your finger off the G string and letting it run open. This chord is only played for a short time also and is used to create a little harmonic interest in the long F bars.

There’s only one other set of chords in the tune: a simple F C F G. Then you are good to go.

More Beirut tab and chords for ukulele

Buy The Flying Club Cup US UK

For more tutorials, tabs and chords subscribe to Uke Hunt via RSS or receive updates by email