Joan Jett – Bad Reputation (Tab)
I first heard Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ Bad Reputation as the Freaks and Geeks theme.It’s a very straightforward punk song that’s ideal for just bashing out.
I’m using strumming the whole way through this. Including using strum blocking to strum the individual notes. You can pick these notes if you prefer, but you lose some of the energy and aggression of the strums.
Links
Jim Croce – Time in a Bottle (Tab)
Jim Croce is an artist that past me by. He never get much attention in the UK. But after Time in a Bottle was a popular request on Patreon and it’s given me an appreciation of the song.
Intro: With this song, the more impressive sounding parts are easier to play and the less impressive sounding parts are more a challenge.
Despite how it sounds, the intro is fairly easy. Just make sure you’re fretting the A-string, 4th fret in bar 5 with your middle finger. Everything else falls into place.
Verse: This is the part I found to be more of a challenge. Bars 9-12 feel cramped with the descending chromatic line on the C-string and the melody on the A-string.
Things go back to being simple and effective in bars 14-16 with a walking bass line set against the melody.
Chorus: A change from F minor to F major for the jaunty chorus. Some fun sliding around in this section.
Outro: Closing out with some artificial harmonics to emulate the original. Made even more tricky than usual as you’ll probably have to estimate where the 20th fret would be. If you’re struggling, you can just play these without the harmonics and it’ll sound great.
And don’t be a moron like me, fret the C- and E-strings with your middle and index fingers respectively for an easier stretch.
Links
Beau Hannam adds an understated whammy bar to a uke.
Debut album from the ukulele duo Moon Berries aka Charlotte Pelgen and Sage Harrington.
Returning a ukulele to the shop 100 years after it was bought there. (Plus a tour of Leeds and a quick history of Kumalae.)
Window Shopping
– Pelem tamarind wood guitarlele
– Double Neck Ortega Hydra. And in case two necks isn’t enough for you.
– The nutso-shaped Enya E5.
Patreon
A massive thanks to all Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running this month. And double thanks go to these legendary patrons of the arts:
– Arthur Foley
– Colleen Petticrew
– Dan
– Dennis Boutsikaris
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Jameson Gagnepain
– Jeff K
– Jon Kenniston
– Kelby Green
– Kie77
– Lisa Johnson
– Monika Kolodziejczyk
– Moses Kamai
– Nick Parsons
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Robert
– T S
– Thorsten Neff
If you join Patreon at the Concert level or higher, you’ll get access to all previous exclusive tabs including July’s: Paul Simon’s Call Me Al.
The Weeknd – Blinding Lights (Tab)
Here’s a tab for one of the catchiest songs of the last few years: The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights
It’s not a song you’d immediately associate with the ukulele, but it works out pretty well. The big challenge is the speed. For my version, I slowed it down slightly from the original. But it’s still difficult at this speed. I think you could go slower and get away with it.
There are plenty of percussive elements in the arrangements. Lots of chnks, lots of muted notes and I’m plucking harder than usual and giving the strings a bit of snap.
Links
Buy the original
More 2010s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
Radiohead – Creep (Tab)
Even though Radiohead have disavowed Creep, it’s still a classic song with ubiquitous 90s quiet-loud-quiet-loud dynamics.
Intro: Starting off with a fingerpicking played with one-finger-per-string picking.
Verse: Mixing together the melody with the fingerpicked chords before switching to strums for the ck-ck bits leading into the chorus.
Bridge: Easily the funnest bit of the song to play. It gets a bit cramped at the top of the uke, though, so it requires a bit of careful fretting.
Outro: Just a stripped down version of the verse.
Links
Tracklist
Paul Hemmings Trio – Caravan
Taimane – Pipeline's Daughter
Kala’i Kealoha – Maunaloa
Amelia Coburn – When The Tide Rolls In
Steven Warren – Prelude from Cello Suite No.1 (J.S. Bach)
Corina Lawrence ft. Miss Bolivia – LA DESCARRIÁ
Will Wood – Tomcat Disposables
Adrian Demain – Place To Be
Edem Soul – Vibe With Me!
The Chordettes – Mr Sandman (Tab)
The release of the new Sandman TV show seems like a good excuse to finally get around to tabbing this classic. My arrangement is heavily based on the Chordettes version. Although not the original version, it’s by far the best known.
Intro 1: I couldn’t resist rearranging Metallica’s Enter Sandman as an intro. Feel free to come up with an intro of your own or skip it all together.
Intro 2: You can’t skip this one! It sounds fantastic and fits on the ukulele very nicely.
Verse 1: Lots of tasty chords going on. And I’ve tried to incorporate some of the bass runs.
Verse 2: I’ve added some extra elements here. There are some changes to the melody and plenty of twiddles. I made al the twiddles have are descending to give it a feel of gently falling asleep. Plenty of room for your own ideas here. The verse starts with a few “dings and pings”. These are natural harmonics.
Links
Another rag-tag selection of musical snippets that have caught my ear recently.
Update: It looks like Instagram has been messing around again and some of the video are embedding in a janky fashion. You can find all the videos on Instagram. They’re currently the most recent six.
Four Tops – Reach Out I’ll Be There
Wet Leg – Chaise Longue
Linkin Park – One Step Closer
Kasabian – L.S.F.
Bojack Horseman: Sextina Aquafina – Get Dat Fetus Kill Dat Fetus
Atarashii Gakko! – Woo! Go!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme (Tab)
Here’s an absolute banger from my childhood: the TMNT theme.
The chorus is straightforward strumming. And it’s one of the rare occasions when the melody is all on the g-string.
The verse is much more challenging. The melody is very fast so I’ve skipped a few notes to make it more playable. Even so, it’s a bit of a finger-twister.
