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  • Arctic Monkeys – Do I Wanna Know (Tabs)

    DArctic Monkeys – Do I Wanna Know (Tab)Download

    Starting off 2024 with a track from Arctic Monkeys’ last good album: Do I Wanna Know?

    Intro: The funnest part of the song. The original is just single notes. But I’ve beefed it up for the uke with doubled notes and chords wherever I get the chance.

    Verse: The melody is very rambling and conversational even before he does his club singer act on it. I thought I knew this song well, but it took a lot of work to get the timing somewhere near right. The biggest challenge of the song.

    Pre-Chorus: The only thing to worry about here is a quick jump down the fretboard in bar 27. If you prefer, you can play the A-string, 2nd fret to the E-string, 7th fret. All you’re losing here is the open E-string ringing.

    Chorus: Other than the “Crawling back to you,” part, it’s exactly the same as the intro.

    Outro: A simple little riff to finish off.

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  • The Pogues – Sally MacLennane (Tabs)

    The Pogues – Sally MacLennane (Tab)Download

    Shane MacGowan was one of the greatest songwriters of all time. He’s most famous for Fairytale of New York but his back catalogue is full of incredible songs. Many of which I’ve covered in the past.

    To commemorate his passing, I’ve chosen the typically riotous Sally MacLennane to tab. I slowed it down a fair amount from the original but it’s still very challenging.

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  • Greg Lake/ELP – I Believe in Father Christmas (Tabs)

    Greg Lake/ELP – I Believe in Father Christmas (Tab)Download

    Just enough time before the big day to work up a version of Greg Lake’s I Believe in Father Christmas. Later recorded by the whole of Emerson, Lake and Palmer as well as U2, Mark Kozelek and many others. But it’s the original I worked from for this arrangement.

    Intro: The trickiest part of the song. There are a few switches in the picking pattern which can get you in a jumble. The best way to get these down is to practice them very slowly (slow enough you don’t make any mistakes). So when you speed up, you can just play them on auto-pilot.

    There’s also a bar of 2/4 (bar 8) followed by a big jump up the fretboard. Give yourself a little extra time by not holding the 23 notes and moving up during the open g-string.

    Verse and Chorus: Much simpler. All done with basic chord shapes and a melody that fits in the first three frets.

    Solo: The solo is adapted from Prokofiev’s Troika. It’s a nice, little Christmas ditty that fits well on the uke. Worth learning this section even if you’re not bothered about the rest of the song.

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  • U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Tabs)

    U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Tab)Download

    U2’s song against violence and occupation, Sunday Bloody Sunday, is depressingly relevant again. So time for a tab.

    Intro: The perfect example of how simple but effective The Edge’s riffs can be. It’s the easiest bit of the song and worth learning even if you’re not tackling the rest of the song.

    Verse: The song has an odd structure at the beginning. There’s just half a verse before it dives into the bridge. This short verse is just fingerpicking. Whereas later verses are fuller with more strums.

    Bridge: The first bridge starts out fingerpicked before switching to strums at the end of bar 12. Second time around, the whole bridge uses strums.

    Chorus: The first chorus features a Bb chord, which you wouldn’t expect in the key of E minor. That short section (bars 30-33) provides a brief respite before the militaristic muted strums come back in.

    Solo: A typically jingle-jangle Edge solo. The first half of the solo in this arrangement is faithful to the original. But the second half is faithful to the spirit rather than the exact notes. So long as you keep all the strings rattling, there’s plenty of scope for your own ideas here.

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  • Stephen Sondheim – Send in the Clowns (Tabs)

    Stephen Sondheim – Send in the Clowns (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on Send in the Clowns in a belated tribute to Stephen Sondheim. The most well known versions are the song are by Judy Collins, Frank Sinatra and, of course, Krusty the Clown. Although my favourite is by, occasional ukers, The Tiger Lillies.

    Intro: I couldn’t resist referencing Entry of the Gladiators for this intro. Feel free to replace it with something more sensible.

    Verses: The verses switch between 12/8 and 9/8. But it all flows nicely, so it’s not tricky to keep track of.

    There is a brief pause in bar 5 where the tune hangs in mid-air (indicated by the frown with a dimple over the tab). That pause gives you a chance for that slide up to the seventh fret. When this bar happens a second time (bar 11) without a pause, it’s played on the A-string, 2nd fret so you don’t need to jump down to the C-string, 2nd fret.

    Chorus: My favourite part of this song is the long descending line in bars 18 and 19. With the run starting at the E-string, 3rd fret and going almost chromatically to the open C.

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  • Phil Phillips/Cat Power – Sea of Love (Tabs)

    Phil Phillips/Cat Power – Sea of Love (Tab)Download

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  • Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly (Tabs)

    Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly (Tab)Download

    As you expect from the Foos, Learn to Fly is a straightforward rocker. So a lot of strumming and nothing too intricate.

    The trickiest part comes in some of the quick switches from G to Dm. One of these shows up for the first time in bar 5. Here there’s an open-G used as part of the melody to give you a little extra time to change chords. The second comes in the chorus (at the end of bar 13). Here you strum all the strings open and hammer-on an entire Dm chord.

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  • Pixies – Here Comes Your Man (Tabs)

    Pixies – Here Comes Your Man (Tab)Download

    ntro: The classic Here Comes Your Man riff. Played with a few extra supporting notes to beef it up.

    Verse: Nothing too challenging here. Just open chords until the build up into the pre-chorus.

    Pre-Chorus: Bars 24-25 are the trickiest part of the song. There’s a big leap up to a bend at the tenth fret for the, “so long, so long,” backing vocals. That makes for an easier transition into bar 25.

    Chorus: Back to the riff mixed in with the melody. There’s plenty of jumping up and down here but I find this section fun to play.

    First Solo: A nice little melody for the transition back to the verse.

    Second Solo: Much less melodic. The original is mostly bashing out chords with a few bends. For this take, I’ve shortened it down but there’s still a lot of bashing.

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  • Bill Withers – Grandma’s Hands (Tabs)

    Bill Withers – Grandma’s Hands (Tab)Download

    Grandma’s Hands by Bill Withers. You might recognise the riff as the sample in Blackstreet’s fantastic No Diggity. Or maybe James Corden’s terrible England song.

    This arrangement is very simple and the tempo is slow, so this is a very approachable tab to take on.

    Intro: I hadn’t realised until starting on this arrangement that the No Diggity riff isn’t a straight sample of the original. In his version, Bill Withers has an Esus4 chord missing from that version. I went with the No Diggity version for this arrangement (and so did Gregory Porter’s guitarist).

    Verse: A couple fingerings to help with the chord changes here. At the end of bar 5, play the A-string, 2nd fret with your index finger barred over all the strings. That’ll set you up for the B7 chord in the next bar.

    In bars 10 and 11 (and in the repeats), play the A-string, 2nd fret with your middle finger so you have your index and ring fingers ready for the A7 chord.

    Outro: A little minor pentatonic lick to finish things off.

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  • Willie Nelson – Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (Tabs)

    Willie Nelson – Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (Tab)Download

    Intro: Matching the Willie version by following the bass notes using the thumb on the g- and C-strings. Followed by strums. 

    Verse and Bridge: Continuing the thumb-plucking and strums, and adding the melody line. Most of the melody line is picked with the fingers, but some notes are part of the strummed chords. 

    There’s a simple lick in bar 11 and a couple of lines inspired by the walking bass in bars 12 and 20.

    Solo: With Willie playing a nylon string guitar, his solo suits the ukulele fairly well. 

    The one problem is the bends. It is much easier to do bends on a uke in the middle of the fretboard. So I’m bending the E-string at the 7th fret rather than the A-string at the second fret. That does require some shifts up and down the fretboard. 

    Although the song is in swing time, the descending line at the end of the solo (bars 43-44) is played straight. 

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