Ukulele Hunt

Category: Tabs

  • Zelda Main Theme (Tabs)

    Koji Kondo – Zelda Main Theme (Tab)Download

    This one is short but very tricky. Even after slowing the tempo way down.

    A Section: This section has a big stretch in bar 2 and some quick alternate picking. But the biggest challenge is at the start of bar 3. You need a very quick change from your pinkie on the A-string in bar 2 to your middle finger at the start of bar 3.

    B Section: This starts with a fast run in bar 13, which is repeated in bar 14. The second time around, it’s played more quietly. I think of it as an echo. The next three bars are fiddly as they’re played high up the neck. This section ends with a chromatic descending line set against a D note.

    C Section: After the first two bars, this section is mercifully easy. There’s a lot of hopping up and down the neck. But there’s plenty of time to make those transitions.

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  • The Ronettes – Be My Baby (Tabs)

    The Ronettes – Be My Baby (Tab)Download

    This one is very simple. It’s all beginner chords and nothing higher than the first position.

    Intro: This uses palm muting on the strings. Just rest the underside of your picking hand on the bridge just enough to mute the strings. Then strum right at the bridge while the strings are muted by the fretting hand.

    If you don’t fancy this bit, you can go straight into the verse. You can also skip the same section in bars 27 and 28.

    Verse: This is almost all played with one-finger-per-string picking. There are just a few strums thrown in. Which is the case for the rest of the song.

    Pre-Chorus: This introduces some melody notes on the g-string in bars 11, 12 and 13.

    Chorus: A little trickier than the other sections, as it has overlapping vocals. Rather than do anything fancy, the arrangement just switches to the new vocal line when it comes in.

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  • The Beatles – Help! (Tabs)

    The Beatles – Help! (Tab)Download

    Intro: This is the trickiest part of the song. You’ve got the thumb providing a descending bass line on the C-string. Meanwhile, the E and A-strings play the melody (plus one note on the g-string in bar 3).

    The guitar line that finishes the intro (bars 7-8) doesn’t fit well on the ukulele. So this arrangement is more in keeping with the vibe rather than the actual notes. Even so, it’s a bit of a stretch to play.

    Verse: Things ease off in the verse. Just use some alternating picking with your index and middle fingers on the A-string to get the notes up to speed.

    Chorus: This returns to the descending bass line idea from the intro. For the second chorus, I threw in a bit of the vocal harmony at the end of bar 41.

    Outro: A big jump up the neck to mimic the high harmonies.

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  • Bob Marley and the Wailers – Is This Love (Tabs)

    Bob Marley – Is This Love (Tab)Download

    There are some tricky sections to get to grips with here. The verses in particular have a few oddities that I hadn’t even noticed before trying to play the song.

    Intro: A great little riff in the intro. Well worth learning even if you’re not attempting the whole song.

    Verse: This is where you’ll find the oddities. In most of the verse, the Am7 chord lasts two bars. But in the opening verse, the first Am7 chord lasts only one bar.

    The second verse (bar 52) is even stranger. The first Am7 is just one bar. But the following F is extended to two bars. Then the second Am7 is also shortened to one bar.

    Chorus: The chorus is much more regular. Even so, the second set of “Is this love?”s is slightly different to the first.

    Bridge: Nothing too challenging here. Just be sure to keep the strummed Dm chords tight rather than letting them ring out.

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  • Patti Smith – Because the Night (Tabs)

    Patti Smith – Because the Night (Tab)Download

    Intro: The intro is the most challenging part to get down. But it’s a nifty picking pattern that could come in useful in many places. So it’s well worth learning.

    Verse: The fingerpicked verse is simple. Just a bit of sliding around to deal with.

    Pre-Chorus: Switch to using strums to build into the chorus. The biggest problem I had here was memorising the chords. They shift around rather than repeating exactly.

    Chorus: The chorus is fun to play. You can really bash out the chords.

    This arrangement uses just the end of the guitar solo from the original (bars 31 and 32) to build into the bridge.

    Bridge: More chord bashing in the bridge. The song’s Springsteen origin really becomes obvious here.

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  • Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama (Tabs) and Jurassic Park

    Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama (Tab)Download

    Intro: Kicking off with strums and a lot of muting (just relax your fretting hand so the notes don’t ring).

    Verse: A quick campanela lead into the verse. From there, it’s all open chords and a compact melody. Just a long string of pull-offs in bars 13 and 15 to deal with.

    Pre-Chorus: An even longer stretch of campanela notes starting out the pre-chorus. All played on open strings. Even though the song is in C major, the minor third (Eb) crops up here. Giving it a bluesy feel.

    Chorus: The falsetto means a big jump up the neck. Other than that, it’s just bashing out chords all the way.

    Solo: The solo is only loosely based on the original. So you’re free to use your own ideas. For my take, I’m mostly noodling around the chords and throwing in some bends.

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    Jurassic Park (Tabs)

    Here’s a quick tab of the main section of the Jurassic Park theme in tribute to, enthusiastic uker, Sam Neill.

  • Cab Calloway – Minnie the Moocher (Tabs)

    Cab Calloway – Minnie the Moocher (Tab)Download

    Intro: I love the way the Em6 here gives the song a heavy, brooding feel. There are a couple of challenging bits here. First, the slide up to the 7th fret in bar 6. Second, the fast picking on the triplets in bar 10.

    Verse: The verses are nice and simple. If you like, you can use the Em6 here as well in place of the Em. I chose the Em here to make the harmony clearer to the listener.

    Chorus: It’s important to create as much contrast as possible between the call and the response here. So this arrangement has the call in single notes high on the neck. And the response is low on the neck and in a chord.

    Double Time Chorus: This section is a burst of anarchy in the song. It’s also the most difficult to play. So I embraced the chaos and did whatever I felt like in this section.

    Outro: A very effective descending chord run to end on.

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  • Chuck Berry – No Particular Place to Go (Tabs)

    Chuck Berry – No Particular Place to Go (Tab)Download

    Intro: Kicking off with a dissonant augmented E chord before diving straight into the verse.

    Verses: The verses have a call-and-response structure. The vocals are the major scale call, and the guitar licks respond with some minor notes. In this arrangement, I’m playing the vocal part with picking and the guitar part with strums. This helps to make them distinct.

    Solo: The solo is a workout for the strumming arm. It’s almost all triplets. But I’m playing them all with downstrums to keep a consistent attack.

    This is mostly based on the first solo, with a few ideas from the second one thrown in. Feel free to include your own ideas too. But I’d recommend not straying too far from the Chuck Berry style.

    Outro: A fun, if slightly cheesy, descending chord move at the end.

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  • Panic at the Disco – High Hopes (Tabs)

    Panic at the Disco – High Hopes (Tab)

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    Intro: Starting out dead easy with the parping horns section.

    Chorus: This section is fiddly. But it’s all contained on the lower frets. It’s also fun to play once you get it down.

    Verse: This section moves up the neck and ramps up in difficulty. Setting up bar 17 is particularly hard. To help with that, I recommend not letting the F chord in the previous bar ring. That gives your fingers more time to set up.

    Bridge: This is the fiddliest section. You can replace the 5 – 6 on the E-string with 0 – 1 on the A-string if you find that easier. Or even just use the open A-string followed by the E-string 6th fret.

    Pre-Chorus: A welcome easy section. You’re just blasting out chords here. That leads into a chorus with just the melody, then a final chorus with chords.

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  • The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go (Tabs)

    The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go (Tab)

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    The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go like all good punk songs, it’s just four chords. And the melody and chords alternate so you’re only doing one of them at any given time. Just make sure you’re bashing it out.

    The only slightly unusual element is the song shifting to double time in the chorus. So you’re strumming twice as fast with this pattern:
    d – d – – u d u
    d – d – – u d u
    d – d – (then a picking section)

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