Ukulele Hunt

Author: ukulelehunt

  • Arctic Monkeys – AM Medley (Tab)

    Arctic Monkeys – AM Medley (Tab)Download

    Way back in 2007 the second ever chord post I did was Despair in the Departure Lounge. Since then there’s been a steady stream of request for more Monkeys which I’d always replied to with, “I’ll do another Monkeys tab when they go back to making good records.” Johnny called me out on that promise correctly pointing out that the new album is awesome.

    So here’s a medley of most of the songs on the album:

    One for the Road/Do I Wanna Know?/Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?/Arabella/Knee Socks/I Want It All/R U Mine?

    Trickiest Bits

    The trickiest bits for the fretting are the two big leaps on the fretboard. There’s the big slide up in R U Mine? where it isn’t such a big deal if you don’t hit it exactly. The really hard one is the 8th fret in bar 5. Cut that 1st fret note before it really short to give yourself some time to get up.

    The trickiest bits for the strumming hand are the palm muting (i.e. lightly resting the underside of your hand on the string at the bridge to muffle the strings). In One for the Road and Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High? I’m muting all the strings. In Do I Wanna Know? I’m trying my best to mute the C-string while letting the E- and A-strings ring. As you can hear in the video I don’t always pull it off. It’s hard to get right so there’s nothing wrong with playing this section without any muting at all.

    Links

    More Arctic Monkeys tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • No Hassle Chord Changes

    With all the intricate and dexterous actions that evolution has equipped our hands for it’s left us woefully unprepared to play an Fmaj7 chord on the ukulele. It’s made plenty of chord changes a pain in the arse too.

    Laziness to the rescue! You can change the fingering of a chord or use a different inversion to make changes much more straightforward.

    Here are a few tricky chord changes that can be simplified with a bit of rejiggering.

    A to D

    Here’s an obvious refingering. If you use your second, third and fourth fingers to play it you can keep your first finger tucked behind.

    The Sucker Way

    The Smart Way

    Video Comparison

    Em to B7

    In chord charts the B7 is almost always shown played with a barre. But it doesn’t have to be. Switch the notes on the g and A strings and you get the Em chord shape with everything moved across one string.

    The Sucker Way

    The Smart Way

    Video Comparison

    G to B7

    Another B7. This one doesn’t actually have a B in it. But thanks to crazy ear-shenanigans your brain fills in the B for you (here’s Vi Hart explaining it as well as why chords and scales are as they are).

    The Sucker Way

    The Smart Way

    Video Comparison

    Anything to Fmaj7

    If anyone tells you to play Fmaj7 the 2413 way throw your ukulele at them and run away. They are not your friend. In the first take of my trying to play the chord you can actually hear my wrist cracking as I attempt it.

    The Sucker Way

    The Smart Way

    Video Comparison

    D7 to G7

    Like the B7, this version of D7 doesn’t actually have a D. But it is way easier to play. This version is often called the ‘Hawaiian D7′ for reasons that elude me.

    The Sucker Way

    The Smart Way

    Video Comparison

  • The Swamp Whistler from Rayman Legends (Tab)

    Christophe Héral – The Swamp Whistler (Tab)Download

    There are a bunch of nice ukulele tunes on the Rayman Legends Soundtrack.

    I got a request for this one and went with it because the whole thing is done with chords. That means you don’t have to be able to read tab to play this one. I’ve included all the chord charts you need above the tab.

    Feel free to vary the strumming in the piece. That happens in the original and in my version.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    More game theme tabs

  • Pharrell Williams – Happy (Instrumental Tab)

    Pharrell Williams – Happy (Tab)Download

    To counteract yesterday’s gloomfest I decided to do a version of the most cheerful song of the summer. Plus I was feeling like a room without a roof so this is the smiliest I have looked in any video ever.

    Technique Notes

    For the most part I’m playing the verses and the middle picking and the chorus with strums.

    In the chorus I’m using a triplet technique (although I’m not actually playing triplets) by strumming down with my index finger, then flicking my index finger up, then my middle finger up. But that’s very much optional. You can strum it however seems appropriate to you.

    In the middle section I’m recreating the soul-claps by playing muted notes on the g-string.

    The muted notes in the middle section are very tricky. So you can just drop those in that section and play it with just the sparse melody.

    Links

    Buy the original on iTunes
    More pop tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Lana Del Rey – Shades of Cool (Instrumental Tab)

    Lana Del Rey – Shades of Cool (Tab)Download

    I love Lana Del Rey’s first couple of singles. But after Paradise and the baby seal beatings I’d given up on her. But I absolutely love her new album, Ultraviolence,. With some help from Dan ‘Black Keys’ Auerbach she’s gone full on Bond. So I felt compelled to do a version of the Bondiest track on the album.

    Links

    Buy the original on iTunes
    Lana Del Rey – Video Games (Instrumental Tab)

  • Led Zeppelin – The Rain Song (Tab)

    Led Zeppelin – The Rain Song (Tab)Download

    I just love Zeppelin so this song has been on my to-do pile for a long time. It had stayed there because I was a bit intimidated by how much there is going on. But once I got stuck into it the tune transferred to the ukulele surprisingly smoothly. I didn’t even have to change the key and I think I crammed the most important parts in.

    My version is shortened but most of the important sections are in there once.

    My favourite technique in the tune is the long, drawn out up strums. I’m doing a slow up strum with my index finger there. Definitely worth incorporating into your playing arsenal.

    Trickiest Bit

    I found sliding down the 3323 chord really tricky. You can simplify out without losing anything much by muting the g-string and just sliding down the G7 chord shape i.e. from x323 to x212.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    More rock tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Jackson C Frank – Blues Run the Game (Tab)

    BluesRunTheGameDownload

    Blues Run the Game is the up there with World Turned Upside Down as the best modern folk song. Both those songs are widely covered and not best known for the original versions (a defining characteristic of a great folk song).

    Blues Run the Game was written by Jackson C Frank but has been more heard in its many cover versions by the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, Nick Drake, John Renbourn, Sandy Denny, Eddi Reader John Mayer and Laura Marling.

    But my favourite is Bert Jansch’s version. And that was the strongest influence on my ukulele version of the picking.

    The first thing to say about my take is that it uses the capo on the fifth fret. Usually I wouldn’t capo that high up but it was the only way I could get it onto the ukulele and keep it in the same key as Jansch’s version.

    The second thing is the alternate picking. The thumb alternates between the g and C strings thumb and two finger style.

    Links

    Buy the Jackson C Frank version
    Buy the Bert Jansch version
    More folk tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Mr Moustafa from Grand Budapest Hotel (Tab)

    Alexandre Desplat – Mr Moustafa (Tab)Download

    I got a request from Justin saying that Alexandre Desplat’s music from the new Wes Anderson movie Grand Budapest Hotel would be perfect for ukeing. And he was absolutely right. As soon as I heard this tune I knew it would suit a campanella-style ukulele arrangement.

    And it turned out to be even easier than I expected. Without even changing the key the whole first section of the verses mostly could be played on the open strings.

    Trickiest Bit

    As with most campanella arrangements the trickiest bit is memorising the string plucking order. If there’s a quicker way to learn it than playing through slowly over and over again I don’t know what it is.

    Flicking the Bean

    In the bridge section I’m trying to recreate the mandolin tremolo strumming. Tremolo strumming is a bit more tricky on the uke though. So I used a technique I refer to as “flicking the bean”.

    It involves turning your strumming hand palm upwards and wiggling your middle fingers across the strings like this:

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    GrandBudapestHotel.com
    More movie theme tabs

  • Spinal Tab – Stonehenge (Instrumental Tab)

    Spinal Tap – Stonehenge (Mandolin Solo)(Tab)Download

    For this arrangement I’ve taken the intro and outro of the song and made a mandolin solo sandwich. Mandolins are built for speed so I had to slow it down a fair amount to play it. And even still I didn’t play it as smoothly as I’d like.

    The intro and outro is mostly octaves picked with thumb and middle finger. If your uke only has 12 frets you can just play the lower half of the octaves and it should work out okay.

    The picking for mandolin section is a complete mess! Where I can I’m using running man picking (alternately picking the same string with index and middle fingers). But mostly I’m using whatever finger gets there first. Which would explain why I’m not playing it smoothly.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    More movie tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Gustavo Santaolalla – The Last of Us Theme (Tab)

    Gustavo Santaolalla – The Last of Us Theme (Tab)Download

    Gustavo Santaolalla is my absolute favourite film composer. He first came to prominance with Argentine films Amores Perros and The Motorcycle Diaries. Then went on to win Academy Awards for Brokeback Mountain and Babel.

    No doubt part of the reason I love his music is his extensive use of a ronroco (a large version of, the ukulele’s cousin, the charango). It’s that instrument he used for the theme tune to his first game soundtrack The Last of Us. And it’s an incredibly beautiful tune. Here’s a fascinating video of him discussing his work on it with a short clip of him playing it live.

    Because the ronroco uses reentrant tuning, the tune transfers nicely to the ukulele.

    Performance Notes

    All the way through I’m using thumb and two finger picking. The thumb plays the g- and C-strings, the index finger plays the E and the middle finger plays the A.

    When you’re playing this try to always emphasises the melody. In the first section (bars 1 to 11) that’s every note on the g-string. So pluck more forcefully with your thumb.

    Then it switches to the A-string in bars 12 to 24. So in that section pick more strongly with your middle finger.

    The section in bars 27 to 34 is a little different. There isn’t a strong melody here. But do give a little more emphasis to the notes on the A-string on the third and fourth beats of each bar.

    Also, try to vary the dynamics as you play. Having louder and softer sections through the piece.

    Links

    Buy the original on iTunes
    TheLastOfUs.playstation.com
    More game theme tabs