Here’s a selection of quick pieces from movies nominated for this year’s Best Picture Oscar. I haven’t seen King Richard or Belfast. So it’s possible these tunes have an exceptionally minor part in those movies. But they’re great riffs. And Cissy Strut can sneak in via its use in last year’s Best International Picture winner: Another Round.

Johann Strauss – Radetzky March (From The Power of the Dog)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

Tabs: Radetzky March (PDF)

The Meters – Cissy Strut (From King Richard)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

Van Morrison – Jackie Wilson Said (From Belfast)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

The Doors – Peace Frog (From Licorice Pizza)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Tyrell – You’re All I Need to Get By (From CODA)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

David Bowie – The Man Who Sold the World (Tabs)

After The Man Who Sold the World’s starts off with that iconic riff playing over changing chords. It works nicely on uke and is well worth learning on its own.

At the end of the intro, there’s an awkward bar of 2/4. I considered extending it to a bar of 4/4 (as Nirvana did in their Unplugged version). It certainly feels more natural that way. Even Bowie messed up and came in late sometimes. I’d recommend going with a bar of 4/4 if that feels more comfortable to you. There’s another bar of 2/4 in bar 20, but that one feels much more natural.

The verse is a simple chord and melody affair. But things get a little tricky in the chorus where you’re playing the riff and the melody. Make sure you keep them as distinct as you can by giving extra emphasis to the melody notes and sustaining them as much as you can over the riff.

Links

Buy the original
More David Bowie tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

Spandau Ballet – True (Tab)

Spandau Ballet’s True is a real new romantic cheese-fest. Despite (or maybe because of) that, I had a lot of fun playing this. There are some tasty chords and runs in there.

Cheesiest and funnest of all is the sax solo. I’ve kept this as close to the original as I could manage. The chord progression switches to a simple Eb – Ab vamp. So there’s plenty of scope to throw your own ideas in there. The trickiest part of the whole song comes in bar 60 with a quick descending run at the climax.

Links

Buy the original
More 80s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

Ukulele sculpture by “Philadelphia Dumpster Diver” Linda Lou Horn.

Seattle Police are searching for an armed robber who stole $100 and a Billie Eilish ukulele.

Window Shopping
– A Hess Juka ukulele from 1938 with a device that seems to be the forerunner of the Chordmaster. (Thanks to @hermanvdc.)
– Ohana Vintage Line 390 and a custom painted Ohana.
– Flight Aqua A10QM.
– Kala Blue Bottle.

New Releases
– Craig Robertson has a new album: scratched out. And he’s giving away his first 27 albums for free including he one I make an appearance on. If you’re not sure where to start, get his Greatest Hats Vol. 1 or, my favourite, DeChirico Street.
– Tyrone and Leslie are crowdfunding their latest album on Pozible.
– Phredd has a new album out Ukulele Bundle of Joy. You can find links to it on your service of choice here.

Patreon

A massive thanks to all Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running. And double thanks go to these legendary patrons of the arts:

– Arthur Foley
– Colleen Petticrew
– Dan
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Fi Keane
– Izzy Gensel
– Jeff K
– Kelby Green
– Kie77
– Leia-lee Doran
– Lisa Johnson
– Nevylle Carroll
– Nick Parsons
– Olga deSanctis
– 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 March’s: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins/Nina Simone’s I Put a Spell on You.

Radiohead – Just (Intro and Verse)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

Blur – Song 2

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

Manic Street Preachers – Motorcycle Emptiness

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

Pulp – Disco 2000

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

The Stone Roses – Waterfall

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

Suede – Beautiful Ones

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @ukulelehunt

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (Tab)

I’m still tied to the 90s but for once it’s not a one hit wonder but Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Teen Spirit has Nirvana’s traditional quiet-loud-quiet-loud dynamics. In this arrangement, the loud bits are done with strumming and the quiet bits are fingerpicked.

I’ve shortened a couple of sections to stop things getting too repetitive. The strumming part of the intro is halved. As is the pre-chorus. If you want to make it even tighter, you could also drop four bars of the chorus.

In case you’re not familiar, the arrows above the notes in bars 5 and 7 are telling you to emphasise those notes. Those are intended to be the “bow-now” notes on the guitar in the quiet bit.

Links

Buy the original
More 90s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

Marcy Playground – Sex and Candy (Tab)

Following on from No Rain with another 90s one-hit wonder: Marcy Playgraound’s Sex and Candy.

The song only has verses and choruses but they still manage to sneak in three key changes. The verses are in G and the choruses in Bb.

The key change from the verse to the chorus is very smooth. Although the Bb note (A-string, 1st fret) isn’t in the key of G, we’ve heard it a lot in the Eb chord and the melody. So the transition that occurs during the “I smell sex and…” part is seamless.

The key change back at the end of the chorus calls attention to itself though. In bar 20 the chords shift down half a step to D to set up the key of G. A bit of theory: the most common way to change key is to play the V chord of the key you’re changing to. This sets up the new key rather than diving straight into it. In this case, D is the V chord of G.

Links

Buy the original
More 90s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

Watch on YouTube

Tracklist
Katy Carr – HEJ SOKO?Y
Vinícius Vivas – Apanhei-te
Alika Lyman, Elijah Oguma, Kalei Gamiao, Corey Fujimoto – Dean Town
Gerald Ross – Stop In The Name Of Love
SeattleUke – Groovin High
Ukulele Solos – Chasing Cars
Evan J De Silva – That’s What I Like
FlakeyMojo – The Immigrant Song

George Michael – Careless Whisper (Tab)

For this arrangement, I’ve stuck fairly closely to the George Michael original. But I’ve listened to the Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright version more often so some of that version has snuck into this arrangement. And, of course, the Sexy Sax Man version is definitive.

The chords are the same the whole way through: Dm – Gm7 – Bb – Am (the same key as the original). But things don’t get boring as you’ll be playing the chords in different inversions. And you can make things even more interesting by varying the dynamics as you’re playing.

There is a note played on the E-string, 13th fret in bar 14. If you playing a soprano and don’t have a 13th fret, you can replace that note with A-string, 8th fret.

Links

Buy the original
More 80s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon

Blind Melon – No Rain (Tab)

Here’s my take on Blind Melon’s massive 90s hit (at least partly thanks to Bee Girl).

The arrangement starts off with the iconic guitar riff. It’s a little challenging but sounds great on uke. I recommend learning this bit even if you don’t bother with the rest of the song.

The verse is nice and easy before the chorus moves things back up a notch.

But it’s the solo where things get lemon difficult. So I drop the chords all together for this arrangement. Which does leave things sounding a little sparse. But the solo does a great job of playing with tension so I think it just about works. The repeated pull-offs in bars 33 and 34 build up the tension which gets released with the slides down and up the neck in bar 35. That’s followed by a bluesy section with a rapid descending line finishing it off in bar 38.

Links

Buy the original
More 90s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon