Tracklist
Andy Eastwood – Rockin’ the Uke
Bobby Alu – Lavalava Samoa
Dani Joy – There, There
Jason Mraz with the BBC Concert Orchestra – Look For The Good
viosus – The Battle of Aughrim
Eva & the Vagabond Tales- Tomorrow Comes Too Soon Thanks to @ukeist
LOCUM – I Wish
Craig Robertson – Takin' My Hat for a Walk
Hawaiian ukulele legend, Willie K dies at age 59 after 2-year battle with cancer. Willie was a consumate musician who was as at home playing the blues and shredding with Steven Tyler as he was performing classical music using his startling operatic voice.
– An auction of Formby banjoleles and memorabilia turned out nice again once the Andy Eastwood helped the BBC fix their cockup. Particularly curious was the sale of a note from Formby complaining the songs written for him were too rude.
– Ukulele raffle halted by New York State Gaming Commission.
On Video
– Zoë Bestel popped onto BBC Alba’s ALT show to perform a couple of songs and chat about ukuleles (UK only, I think). Zoë’s bit starts at 34:40 but the Futureheads are well worth a watch too.
– Clem Snide and Scott Avett do a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR.
– Kid asks the real questions.
Patreon
A big shoutout to Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers. Thanks to their support, I’ll be doing another bonus week of tabs next week. And double thanks go to April’s Tenor backers:
– Dan.
– Fiona Keane.
– Joseph Freeman.
– Katherine Penney.
– Nancy.
– Pauline Leblanc.
– Potatoemagic.
– Sandi Clement.
– Trevor Mccravy.
Patreon posts in the last month include:
– Tiny Tim – Tiptoe Through the Tulips
– CCR/Wilson Pickett – Proud Mary/Midnight Hour.
– Blind Willie Johnson – The Soul of a Man
– And May’s exclusive for Concert level and up backers: Chris Isaak – Wicked Game
John Prine – Fish and Whistle/In Spite of Ourselves (Tab)
A little tribute to John Prine who passed away last month.
Both these pieces use Cotten picking (named after Elizabeth Cotten) where the thumb alternates between the g- and C-strings and the index and middle fingers play the melody on the E- and A-strings respectively.
It’s a bit of a finger-twister and it’s pretty fast. So it’s well worth slowing right down when you’re learning it.
Links
Buy it on Amazon
More country tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
Uke Hunt turned 13 this month. According to WebMD a 13 year olds will, “speak in longer, more complex sentences [and] use sarcasm and humor.” Fascinating.
Here’s a round-up of the goings-on of the last year.
May 2019
In tabs: The Zombies – This Will Be Our Year, Ukulele Ike – Ja-Da (Tab) and K-Pop riffs.
In chords: Lesley Gore – You Don’t Own Me and Queen – Somebody to Love.
June 2019
In tabs: Sinead O’Connor/Prince – Nothing Compares 2 U and Smash Mouth – All Star.
In chords: Dr John – Such a Night and The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again.
July 2019
– 6 easy blues outros in C.
– I reviewed the chord and scale software Fretspace.
– The Big Chord Quiz.
In tabs: Billie Eilish – you should see me in a crown and BLACKPINK – Kill This Love.
In chords: Fontaines D.C. – Boys in the Better Land and Twenty One Pilots – Cut My Lip.
August 2019
– I tried to play two songs at once for reasons I can’t recall.
– Some acoustic riffs.
In tabs: Ella Fitzgerald/Bjork – I Remember You, Bon Iver – Marion and The Office Theme and Dunder Mifflin Jingle.
In chords: Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved and Jimi Hendrix – The Wind Cries Mary.
September 2019
In tabs: IDLES – Danny Nedelko, Daniel Johnston – True Love Will Find You, Hitman 2 – Santa Fortuna Town Theme, Matt Berry – Toast of London Theme and Only Connect Theme
In chords: Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello – Señorita, The Band – The Weight, They Might Be Giants – It Could Be Worse and Memphis Kansas Breeze – Human Skin Truck Baby.
October 2019
– Some Halloween riffs and a list of Halloween tabs and chords.
In tabs: Dick Gaughan – The World Turned Upside Down and The Decemberists – Shankill Butchers
In chords: Lizzo – Cuz I Love You and Nina Simone – I Put a Spell on You
November 2019
In tabs: They Might Be Giants Medley, The Princess Royal, DuckTales Theme and F.U.N. Song from SpongeBob SquarePants.
In chords: Splendora – You’re Standing On My Neck (Daria Theme) and The Clash – Spanish Bombs.
December 2019
– The 2019 Ukulele Christmas Quiz.
In tabs: Billie Eilish – idontwannabeyouanymore and Santa Baby.
In chords: Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal.
February 2020
– I launched a Patreon.
– Live ‘Ukulele’s 1234 Rule.
In tabs: BoJack Horseman Medley and Toss a Coin to Your Witcher.
In chords: Monty Python – Brave Sir Robin and The Rembrandts – I’ll Be There for You.
March 2020
– Tunes You Know But Can’t Name
In tabs: Warren Zevon – Don’t Let Us Get Sick, The Parting Glass and Chicken Reel.
In chords: The Strokes – Hard to Explain and Dexys Midnight Runners – Come on Eileen.
April 2020
In tabs: Bill Withers – Lean On Me, Green Day – Wake Me Up When September Ends, Al Green – Let’s Stay Together, Twin Peaks Theme, Lizzo – Truth Hurts, Kanye West – All of the Lights/Violent Crimes, The Beatles – Let It Be and The Lumineers – Gloria.
Gary Jules – Mad World (Tab)
This month’s most popular request on Patreon was Joern’s suggestion of Gary Jules’ cover of Mad World by Tears for Fears. Which is understandable in the current situation. But, boy, is it gloomy. I like some dour music but this one is a little too bleak for me.
On the upside, the melody is very easy to play. Other than the little trill at the end of the verse, every note is part of the chord it’s played over. So your fretting hand just has to play the chords. In the verses and the first part of the chorus I’m picking with the thumb on C, index on E and middle on A.
The tricky part is the riff in the intro and at the end of the chorus. Those parts use one finger per string picking and took me a bit of practice to get reliably down. And be sure to play the “maaaaad world” notes with a little extra force to make them stand out.
Links
Buy the Gary Jules version
More tabs and chords of songs from movies
Uke Hunt Patreon
Tracklist
Ninebarrow (with Hart Voices and The Chantry Singers) – The Hour of the Blackbird
The Oh Yeahs – And Anyway
Danny Yau – G.O.A.T. Thanks to whatsinyourrottensoul
Ukulele Death Squad – Let Me Down
Thomas Zwijsen – Run To The Hills
Yanger in Tosoa – Masida Moju Mi Ahu Sangi’sara On juks. Thanks to @hermanvdc.
Uklectic Fred – Little Wing
Wilfried Welti – BWV 156, Sinfonia
Blindingham – Britain Needs Lerts
Cecilia Krull – My Life Is Going On (Tab)
Ever since Money Heist hit Netflix, I’ve had a steady stream of YouTube commenters telling me I look like Helsinki (played by Darko Peric. There were only two responses I could make to this: get a giant, angry bear tattooed on my body or do a cover of theme tune. So until the tattoo parlours reopen here’s a tab of the theme Cecilia Krull’s My Life Is Going On.
The first half of the arrangement is played with fingerpicking (thumb on C-string, index on E-string and middle on A-string). Then switches to strumming with a few picked notes in between. The wavy lines indicate roll strums (i.e. strumming with every finger on your strumming hand in quick succession).
Links
You might have noticed that I’m a big fan of EatMyUke (aka Stan) and highly recommend watching his fantastic ukulele medley videos. So I’m delighted to have him on Uke Hunt to share tabs (in low-G tuning) for his medley of Final Fantasy VII tunes.
Arranging multiple themes from the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack is not something I thought I would be doing as I enter my thirties. Who am i kidding? I feel the path of my ukulele playing led to this very moment. As teenagers, my friends and I were hooked on this game. I’m talking, playing it before school, recreating the fight scenes during breaks, followed by refining them during dinner time then back on my Playstation 1 within 5 minutes of arriving home.
What particularly drew me to the game was the soundtrack. The composer Nobuo Uematsu is often regarded as the Beethoven of video game music. His pieces take you right into the game and add so much depth and richness to an already fantastic game. Some of these songs were the soundtrack to my childhood and have embedded into my life.
What with the remake of the original game just being released, it seemed like a perfect time to combine it with my other passion: the ukulele.
It was a total joy to arrange these special pieces on a ukulele, although challenging, they still translated very well to the ukulele. With a bit of practice, all these are playable by a seasoned beginner.
Tabs
Here are a selection of tabs from the arrangement
Tifa’s Theme
A simple picking arrangement that’s all based around an F Major chord. You really want to utilise your little finger for this, especially on the opening chord so you can slide up the 13th fret nice and easily.
Under The Rotting Pizza
Named after the pizza-shaped disc that overlooks the slums in the main city of the game. It’s got a surprising sense of fun considering how bleak the game is that point. It’s based around 2 chords (Em7 & Dm6) which sound delightful on a ukulele. The chords are separated by two riffs that can be a handful to play in terms of speed. Nothing you can’t work towards though.
Cosmo Canyon
Quite possibly my favourite composition from the whole game. The song plays anytime the wolf-like beast Red XIII is involved in the storyline. All we are doing here is picking out the melody. There’s a bit towards the end that requires you to use your thumb as well as your finger, but it’s all very straight forward stuff.
Cid’s Theme
This is one of the more heroic sounding pieces from the game. It accompanies Cid who is a proud man and the pilot of the mighty Highland (the airship that gets you around the game world). We need to use our 1st finger and our thumb for this one. As we are playing octaves of the main melody.
Aeirth’s Theme
Often regarded as one of the main themes from the game, this one just sounds beautiful on the ukulele.
Massive thanks to Stan. You can follow him on YouTube and find out more at EatMyUke.com.
Little Richard – Tutti Frutti (Tab)
On hearing of the sad news of the death of Little Richard I had to bash out this classic. Refined and precise, it is not. But hopefully it’s got some of the spirit of the original and is closer to Little Richard than it is to Pat Boone.
It’s just three chords all the way through (G, C and D) with some picking of the melody. If you want to add a Little Richard “Woooooo!” in at any point you just add a A-string, 5th fret to the top of the G chord.
Links
Tracklist
Clem Snide & Scott Avett – Roger Ebert
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – Limehouse Blues
Bad Mouse Orchestra – Let’s Misbehave
Izumi Pahepuaokalani – Aloha No Au I Ko Maka
Herman Vandecauter – Quarantine Polka On machete
Ryo Natoyama – Tears In Heaven
Dust Sweepers – Home in Pasadena
Bob Guz – Don’t Know Why
mxmtoon – no faker
The Chalkeaters – DOOM CROSSING: Eternal Horizons
