A New England was originally by Billy Bragg and made more famous by by Kirsty MacColl. This arrangement starts with a riff inspired by Johnny Marr’s intro on Kirsty MacColl’s version. After that, it’s closer to the Billy Bragg version.
I’ve reduced the tempo for my recording. There are a lot of fast notes in it. With the most challenging run being bars 59-60. If you can play that at the tempo of the MacColl version, you’re a way better player than me.
Why Don’t You Do Right? has a colourful history. The tune started out as Weed Smoker’s Dream in 1936. It was adapted and released in 1941 by Lil Green (with guitar by Big Bill Broonzy). The most famous version was the Peggy Lee’s uptempo take. At least it was until Jessica Rabbit’s sultry version in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Tempo-wise, this version is most similar to the Lil Green version. But I took inspiration from all three versions.
There are a heap of places in the song for little licks, and I’ve included a solo as well. As always, I recommend using the tab as inspiration for your own ideas rather than slavishly following each lick.
When soloing, I mostly thought in terms of the D blues scale (D – F – G – Ab – A – C – D). In addition to that, I threw in a few notes that crop up in the chords: Db and Bb. And a couple of chromatic runs (in bars 31-32 and the blues turnaround in bars 35-36).
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Because the song is just a verse repeated, I’ve arranged it slightly differently each time. First time is just a straight ahead melody and chords. Second time introduces harmony to the melody line. And third time is the harmonised melody with a bit of strumming.
There are a couple of bars of 6/4 in each verse that might trip you up. I found the one in bar 9 quite natural to play. But the one in bar 13 tripped me up much more.
Nirvana’s ever-present quiet-loud-quit-loud dynamics are in full effect on Heart-Shaped Box. So using fingerpicking for the quiet bits and strumming for the loud bits is a must in this arrangement.
All the picking is one-finger-per-string style. That means you’re picking consecutive notes on g- and C-strings (e.g. in bar 5). I’d usually avoid that as it’s less natural than using thumb then index finger. But it works out much better for the rest of the verse.
There are a whole bunch of bends in the song. The trickiest of them are in the chorus where you’re playing chords on the 2nd/3rd fret then bending at the 9th fret. You’re also bending whilst fretting the C-string for an extra challenge.
On the upside, the bends sound better if they’re a little out of tune so you don’t have to worry too much about that.
Here’s a tab for Billie Eilish’s song about Dwight: ocean eyes.
Intro and Verse: Based on a descending chord progression and a simple melody line. Nothing challenging here.
Chorus: Here’s where the challenge starts. There’s an ascending riff on the C-string going along side the busier melody. I’ve used a bit of campanella style playing to deal with the quick notes.
Solo: Heavily based on the verse with a few extra twiddles. A good place to play around with your own ideas.
I’m back and I’m starting the year how I intend to carry on: with pessimistic miserablism in the form of Garbage’s Only Happy When It Rains.
Verse: Not wasting any time with an intro. Since the melody does a lot of switching between A and G, I’m taking advantage of the re-entrant string and using the open A and G notes. I love how well the bent notes at the fifth fret work here.
Chorus: Switching to a major key for a fairly jaunty chorus melody.
Solo: Nothing too flashy here. If you do want to get flashy, you could replace some of the notes at the third fret at the start of the bars in the second half with notes bent at the second fret. That’s more true to the original but tricky to pull off (particularly on the E chord).
Outro: A bit of stretch here when you’re playing Am then hitting the A-string, 5th fret.
Intro: I did an extended intro based on the verse chords. It’s a little tricky so feel free to adapt it however you like. Or just replace the whole thing with one bar of G like the original.
Verse: First time around, this section is picked (using one finger per string picking). Second time is more loose and strummed with a few notes picked out.
Chorus: The funnest part of the song with a big G chord on the “HEY!”
Solo: Lots of room for your own ideas here too. You could make it as simple as strumming the chords and throwing in a few sus2 and sus4 chords.
Intro: Starting off in usual fashion with Eb leading into G major. The Bb note (A-string, 1st fret) suggests G minor so the G major chord is a little surprising.
Verse: I’m fingerpicking this section the first two times it’s played. The third I’m using some strumming particularly on the Gsus4-G bit. You can do that every time if you prefer.
Chorus: The Eb chord crops up again creating discord under the line, “Everybody’s having fun,” and suggesting the Christmas isn’t as merry as claimed. If that was intentional, Noddy Holder is a more nuanced songwriter than I gave him credit for.
Bridge: I had forgotten this section existed. But it does give us the Gm that has been hinted at since the intro.
Del Shannon’s classic Runaway has been covered a heap of times. Most surprisingly by Kasabian. And mostly recently by me a few hours ago.
Intro and Verse: It starts off straightforwardly in G minor.
Chorus: A switch to G major and a busier melody make for an upbeat chorus. The octaves in 20 and 24 are tricky to play. If you’re struggling, you can play either the top or bottom line alone.
Solo: My version of the solo is only loosely based on the original. There’s plenty of room for making it your own. Bars 37-38 are a pain in the arse to play. But also the best bars in the whole song.
I hadn’t heard Harry Styles’s As It Was before it cropped up as a Patreon request and my hopes weren’t high. Turns out it’s a pretty great song. Very catchy with a melancholy edge.
Intro: A bit of Take On Me action with this riff. Once the chords kick in at bar 2, prioritise keeping the energy up over hitting exactly the right strings. As long as you’re holding the chord, it’ll sound great.
Verse: Mostly one finger per string picking here but I’m alternating index and middle finger to pick the C notes in bars 7 and 11.
I snuck in a little lick at the end of bar 8 to fill up the bar. You’re welcome to use your own ideas here.
Chorus: Just strumming for the chorus. The trickiest part is hitting the F chord just before the end of bars 15 and 19. Don’t worry if you hit some of the open strings when you play the A-string, 7th fret the note before.
You could always extend that note at the 7th fret and hit the F chord at the start of bar 16/20. I doubt anyone will notice.
Bridge: A whole mess of notes here. Definitely need some alternate picking to get through it.