Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black has to be one of the best albums of the noughties. I tabbed Rehab a while back. And it’s high time I tackled the title track.
The chord progression is Gm – Cm – Eb – D in the verse and chorus. That drop down from Eb to D is so effective in conveying a sense of defeat.
The verse melody acts in a similar way starting out on just a single note repeated (G in this arrangement) and ending by dropping down one fret on the D chord.
Back in the High Life Again was originally by Steve Winwood but my version is much closer to Warren Zevon’s cover.
To emphasise the Zevonness, my arrangement kicks off with a loose interpretation of Life’ll Kill Ya‘s intro. So long as you’re working within the F-Bb-C chords, there’s plenty of scope for your own ideas in the intro.
From there, I’ve tried to keep everything very simple and easy to play.
The only tricky bits are some fast hammer-ons and pull-offs at the end of bar 24 then into the Break section. Again, you can adjust this section to your taste. If you pick out notes from the chords and melody, you can’t go wrong.
I’ve already (inevitably) covered Call Me Al from Paul Simon’s Graceland. So it’s a good time to follow up with the title track.
Intro: The original starts with a bit of strumming before the picking riff. But on the uke there’s a drop in the energy when you go from strumming to picking. So this arrangement starts with the picking (with a touch of Stone Roses) and the opening C is much shorter.
Verse: The verse melody is loose and conversational, so there’s plenty of room to rephrase it so it flows naturally for you. Which I’ve done plenty of.
Chorus: The start of the chorus uses a bunch of techniques: slides, pull-offs, muting. Which makes it fun to play. The mutes in this section (e.g. bar 19) are done by playing a standard chnk (the one with x’s on all the strings), then leaving your strumming hand muting the strings, and plucking the g-string with your thumb (for the x on the g-string).
Wheatus’s Teenage Dirtbag has become a bit of a uke favourite with the UOGB’s version. I haven’t entirely decided if it’s an irresistible earworm or an irritating song with terrible lyrics. But I did have fun playing it.
Intro: Muted strums on the g and C-strings, then extra emphasis on the E and A-strings.
Verse: One finger per string picking with a few supporting strums where there’s no melody.
Chorus: The first chorus is full on strumming. It finishes off with a bar of 2/4 then a little riff (that’s my favourite part of the song).
The second chorus in this arrangement (the third in the original) has constant thumb picking on the C-string while the melody notes are picked on the E and A.
Bridge: A bit of stretch up to the seventh fret here. But the big challenge is the “She doesn’t know…” bit which first crops up in bar 27. It gets pretty fiddly in the cramped higher frets.
The Magnetic Fields were one of the bands that got me to take the ukulele seriously. So it’s long past time I did a version of The Book of Love. It seems that (thanks to its use in the finale of Scrubs) Peter Gabriel’s version is the best known. But, on this occasion, the original remains my favourite.
This arrangement uses a few elements of the Gabriel version (including the slower tempo and a few bits of filigree) but mostly sticks to the original.
It’s a very simple song with the same chords the whole way through: G – C – D11 – G. D11 is just a standard D chord with the g-string left open.
The intro and solo are just me noodling around with the melody and chords. With the intro in the first position and the solo higher up the neck. Lots of scope for your own take on these.
I’m using one finger per string picking for this up to the last bar of the solo. There I switch to strums for the final chorus.
A version of Proud Mary in tribute to Tina Turner. It’s one of those covers that completely eclipse the original version. It’s so perfect it’s hard to believe it wasn’t written for her.
A version of Panic tribute to Smiths bassist, Andy Rourke.
Intro: A short jingle-jangle intro. I originally played it an octave up to accommodate the original. But this version is much easier to play and keeps the vibe of the original.
Verses: The verses are all very slightly different. The trickiest part comes in bar 17-18 with some quick triplets. The first will require a bit of alternate picking. The third verse starts using the g-string to play melody notes (beginning in bar 38).
Bridge: Keeping the barre across the strings even when you don’t need to makes this section easier to play.
Chorus: Even more melody notes on the g-string in this section to keep it rocking. Plus the chords are a little more filled out with a G between the C and D.
Love Shack isn’t the most uke-friendly song but it is a ton of fun to play.
Intro: Playing the melody using strum blocking i.e. strumming but muting everything but the string that’s playing the melody. That means you can play single notes but still keep things energetic and forceful.
Verse 1: Starting with Kate Pierson’s part played high up the neck before switching to Fred Schneider’s part lower down the neck. Schneider’s part is very talky so the melody here is somewhat created.
Pre-Chorus: A nice easy little section.
Chorus: The section I had most trouble playing. It’s tricky to combine the guitar riff and the vocal line smoothly. The second chorus is a little different from the first and third.
Verse 2: Four bars of talky section, four bars of strum blocking then some simple strumming to finish with.
Bridge: The section that works least well on the uke. I thought about leaving it out but it’s too iconic. It’s starts with a reworking of the bass riff then goes into a shortened version of the “Bang, bang, on the door” bit. I’ve even included an attempt at the “Tin roof, rusted” bit. Although I wouldn’t blame you for missing any of this out.
Iggy Pop’s The Passenger is a straight-forward basher. There’s the same chord sequence the whole way through:
Am – F – C – G
Am – F – C – E7
The E7 chord is a bit of an oddity. In my arrangement I’m avoiding playing the g-string (by muting with my thumb) to keep the chord ambiguous as the whether it’s major or minor.
Later in the song (starting on bar 48) the melody hits a G note which clashes with the Ab in the E7 chord. So in those cases, I’ve substituted in a G chord to make it sound more natural on the uke. And I’ve stuck with that G chord in the final chorus as well.
The one slightly fancy touch comes in the second half of the intro (bars 5-8). This riff based on the lead guitar part which I thought it deserved showcasing.
Shamefully, I haven’t played a Zelda game since A Link to the Past. So these arrangements are heavily influenced by that era.
Zelda’s Lullaby: A chill start to the medley with gentle picking and a soft Cmaj7 chord. There is a big leap up the neck in bar 6. But this part is slow enough that it’s not a big challenge.
Main Theme: Ramping up the pomposity and changing the key to F. There’s another big jump in 16. This one is at a quicker tempo so it’s more of a challenge. From there, you get the descending note until you hit the C.
Ilia’s Theme: Back to a more relaxed feel. This time, the challenge is a big stretch between the 4th and 10th fret in bar 23. If you’re struggling there, you can change the A-string, 10th fret to A-string, 7th fret in bars 22 and 23. It changes the feel a little but it still sounds nice.
Kakariko Village: The challenge here is to emphasise the melody notes so it doesn’t just sound like a melody-less picking pattern. Otherwise, nothing too difficult.
Hyrule Castle: Switching to C minor and more pomposity. Where the Main Theme is grand, this one has some menace with the chromatic notes on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th frets. 8-Bit Music Theory did an excellent video on this tune.
Song of Storms: A final key change to E minor and the trickiest section of the piece.