Here’s a tab for The La’s’s massive (and only) hit There She Goes. Despite their one-hit-wonder status, they were massively influential and were the template for the Britpop fad that kicked off a few years later.
This arrangement kicks off with the riff moved up to the key of C. That makes things much easier because you can use the open g-string as the pivot note. Things get a little trickier in bar 5 when the chords come in. If you’re struggling with that, you can keep playing the single note version and no one will care.
You can make the chorus easier with some forward-thinking fretting. If you fret the C chord at the start of bars 11 and 13 with your middle finger, you’ll be able to transition into the G chord much more smoothly. And at the start of bars 15 and 17, fret a Dm chord like you usually would and play the E-string third fret with your pinkie.
Next it’s back to the riff with a short solo section. Then the song shifts to A minor in the bridge but keeps the same melody. From there, the arrangement switches to mostly strumming as it builds towards the end.
It’s a short and sweet tune with some nice chord moves. The only tricky part comes in the final few bars. Here you’re playing octaves on the C and A-strings while muting the E-string with the underside of your index finger. If you don’t fancy that, you can just play the notes on the C-string and ignore the rest.
I’m back slightly later than planned thanks to slipping on some ice like a moron and fucking my back up good and proper. But I’m recovered and back in action with this tab of The Fray’s massive 2005 hit.
The chorus for this one is insanely catchy. And the benefit of playing an instrumental version is that you don’t have to wonder why he rhymes a word with itself so many times in this song.
This one is fingerpicked all the way through. I’m using one-finger-per-string picking all the way through. But you can switch to alternate picking for some of the rapid notes.
The chorus is nice and straight-forward and the solo is very basic. The only part I had trouble with was the verses. The melody shifts slightly all the time. Which made it hard for me to keep track of. But it is nice and compact and doesn’t require anything fancy.
If you can’t stand to be without a steady stream of uke, I’ll be posting on Instagram, on Twitter and Patreon. Speaking of which…
Patreon
I’ve been blown away by the amount of support I’ve received since starting the Uke Hunt Patreon. The amount of support has far exceeded my expectations and I’m overwhelmingly grateful to everyone who has supported the site. Your support has meant that, by my count, there have been 57 full tabs added to the site this year. Plus 12 more Patreon-only tabs.
And extra thanks to December’s Tenor backers:
– Arthur Foley
– Colleen Petticrew
– Dan
– Elizabeth Beardsley
– Fi Keane
– Jeff K
– Kelby Green
– Kie77
– Leia-lee Doran
– Lisa Johnson
– Nick Parsons
– Olga deSanctis
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Robert
– Thorsten Neff
The little instrumental break in the original song sounds great on the uke. So I decided to use that as the intro. It is also the most difficult part of the arrangement to play, though. After that, the verse and pre-chorus are straightforward. The chorus does have a couple of trips up the neck to contend with.
I don’t think there’s a better instrument pairing than ukulele and double bass. They’re made for each other. And that pairing is shown off on Tyrone and Lesley’s beautiful record Have No Words. The album almost entirely forgoes vocals in favour of their perfectly crafted music (which has always been my favourite aspect of their releases). I highly recommend giving it a listen.
For the past few years Einer Bankz has been playing ukulele with a vast number of young rappers. As in all genres, a ukulele accompaniment really separates those with skills from those without.
In 2021 he teamed up with Polo G to create the instantly catchy RAPSTAR. The song went straight to the top of the charts and became the first ukulele record to hit number 1 since Hey Soul Sister.
Written by Mickey Ioane and made famous by IZ, Hawai’i ’78 is such a musically and emotionally powerful song. IZ’s version is so great most covers leave me cold (even those by people whose music I’m a fan of). But I found Kawehi’s version deeply touching.
These days, almost all tabs I do are requests from Patreon members. Which means I’m tackling a lot of songs I really should have done years ago. And Space Oddity is certainly one of those. I had a lot of fun putting in harmonics to suit the spacey setting and messing with the solo. A lot of fun to play.
Best Non-Ukulele Record of 2021: Kanye West – Donda
I was expecting this album to be a disaster. If it even came out at all. Kanye has been increasingly unhinged, the first listening party for the album was unimpressive and he decided to make the album in a football stadium he refused to leave. But it turned out to be one of the best albums of his career.
The record makes an honest account of his mistakes, moral failings, the breakdown of his marriage and the loss of his mother. Along with his attempts to create a more fulfilling and spiritual life. Culminating with the most cathartic moment on any album I’ve heard: Come to Life. The build up of shimmering pianos and distorted guitar at the end breaks me down every time I hear it.
Springsteen’s steamy I’m On Fire has to be the only seduction song that goes into detail about how wet the protagonist’s bed is.
The intro is my favourite part to play. It’s just and F chord and Dm7 both with the g-string open. But it’s very effective. I add a bit of palm muting here (i.e. resting the side of my picking hand very gently on the strings near the bridge).
The intro is picked thumb and two finger style. After that I go rogue. Throwing in alternate picking and a few strums where it suits.
I was interview by Lil’ Rev. There were in-depth questions and he did a great write-up. Including some very kind quotes from people who I thought had no idea I existed.
The ukuleles-in-schools debate seems to have resurfaced. As well as taking over the recorder (not a bad idea to move away from an instrument that involves inhaling the spittle of the previous player), the ukulele is now killing off the classical guitar. Even the UOGB’s George Hinchliffe has weighed in.
New Releases
– Jake Shimabukuro’s star-studded Jake and Friends.
– Craig Robertson’s Ukulele ’21 includes rerecordings of 9 previously released songs and a couple of new ones chord charts for all the tunes.
– Markus Rantanen’s instrumental Ukulele 2.
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
– Jeff K
– Katherine Penney
– Kelby Green
– Kie77
– Leia-lee Doran
– Lisa Johnson
– Mr Daniel Barclay
– Nick Parsons
– Olga deSanctis
– Pat Weikle
– Pauline LeBlanc
– Robert
– TAUDY Stark
– Thorsten Neff
