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  • George Michael – Careless Whisper (Tabs)

    George Michael – Careless Whisper (Tab)Download

    For this arrangement, I’ve stuck fairly closely to the George Michael original. But I’ve listened to the Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright version more often so some of that version has snuck into this arrangement. And, of course, the Sexy Sax Man version is definitive.

    The chords are the same the whole way through: Dm – Gm7 – Bb – Am (the same key as the original). But things don’t get boring as you’ll be playing the chords in different inversions. And you can make things even more interesting by varying the dynamics as you’re playing.

    There is a note played on the E-string, 13th fret in bar 14. If you playing a soprano and don’t have a 13th fret, you can replace that note with A-string, 8th fret.

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  • Blind Melon – No Rain (Tabs)

    Blind Melon – No Rain (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take Blind Melon’s massive 90s hit (at least partly thanks Bee Girl).

    The arrangement starts off with the iconic guitar riff. It’s a little challenging but sounds great on uke. I recommend learning this bit even if you don’t bother with the rest of the song.

    The verse is nice and easy before the chorus moves things back up a notch.

    But it’s the solo where things get lemon difficult. So I drop the chords all together for this arrangement. Which does leave things sounding a little sparse. But the solo does a great job of playing with tension so I think it just about works. The repeated pull-offs in bars 33 and 34 build up the tension which gets released with the slides down and up the neck in bar 35. That’s followed by a bluesy section with a rapid descending line finishing it off in bar 38.

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  • When Johnny Comes Marching Home (Tabs)

    When Johnny Comes Marching Home (Tab)Download

    No one requested this one. I watched Dr Strangelove last week (for obvious reasons) and was inspired to knock up a quick version of this American Civil War tune from the soundtrack.

    I’ve included a couple of fretting suggestions in the tab (the numbers underneath the tab). The trickiest bit is the fast move down the fretboard in bar 13. Originally I was playing all this bar in the fifth position (playing the E-string, 8th fret rather than A-string, 3rd fret). But I found this way made for a much more straightforward change to the F chord in bar 14.

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  • Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now (Tabs)

    Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now (Tab)Download

    This has to be one of the most beautiful melodies of all time. Which makes for a perfect transition to the uke. The arrangement is based on the sublime acoustic version rather than the not so great later version.

    Like many of Mitchell’s songs, the guitar part in Both Sides Now is a strummed open tuning with a few notes added on. That style doesn’t translate well to the uke. So I’ve taken it as licence to do whatever I like with the chords.

    There’s nothing too challenging in the arrangement, so there’s plenty of room for interpretation. Be sure to play around with dynamics and timing to keep things interesting.

    I came up with an intro/outro of my own so I encourage you to do likewise.

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  • Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees (Tabs)

    Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees (Tab)Download

    A song from the more ukeable end of Radiohead’s career (although Dani Joy does a great There, There).

    The arrangement is pretty straightforward. The trickiest part is the signature Jonny Greenwood ascending line in bars 24-25. Make sure you play the first verse nice and softly so you can create a juxtaposition with the second verse by blasting it out.

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  • The Cranberries – Linger (Tabs)

    The Cranberries – Linger (Tab)Download

    Following up the Zombie tab with another of The Cranberries’ most loved songs.

    The intro has a fingerpicking figure switching between Cmaj7 and G that reminds me of Tonight, Tonight. After that, the original has a jarring fade into the main body of the song. I’ve smoothed that out so it’s closer to the acoustic version.

    The other part to look out for comes in the bridge. Because the melody goes below the C on the uke, I’ve had to shift the melody in bars 35 and 36. The transition back down in bar 37 needs to be played confidently to get away with it.

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  • No Doubt – Don’t Speak (Tabs)

    No Doubt – Don’t Speak (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on the No Doubt mega-hit Don’t Speak. The second best song Gwen Stefani has been involved with. I wasn’t sure if this one would work on uke, but I like how mournful it sounds on the instrument.

    The chords in the verse are a little unusual. The first time around the Dm chord lasts one bar. The second time, it lasts half a bar and all the chords are moved half a bar earlier with an extra half a bar of Dm in bar 9.

    The pre-chorus introduces some strums to build up to the chorus. The chord progression in the chorus is great. Particularly moving between D and Cm.

    There’s a key change to Eb in the bridge. Which makes it tricky to play.

    Next is the solo, which also has a few tricky bits. Most notably the trip up the neck in bar 31.

    After that is a minimal version of the verse and a chorus with a slight variation at the end.

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  • The La’s – There She Goes (Tabs)

    The La’s – There She Goes (Tab)Download

    Here’s a tab for The La’s’s massive (and only) hit There She Goes. Despite their one-hit-wonder status, they were massively influential and were the template for the Britpop fad that kicked off a few years later.

    This arrangement kicks off with the riff moved up to the key of C. That makes things much easier because you can use the open g-string as the pivot note. Things get a little trickier in bar 5 when the chords come in. If you’re struggling with that, you can keep playing the single note version and no one will care.

    You can make the chorus easier with some forward-thinking fretting. If you fret the C chord at the start of bars 11 and 13 with your middle finger, you’ll be able to transition into the G chord much more smoothly. And at the start of bars 15 and 17, fret a Dm chord like you usually would and play the E-string third fret with your pinkie.

    Next it’s back to the riff with a short solo section. Then the song shifts to A minor in the bridge but keeps the same melody. From there, the arrangement switches to mostly strumming as it builds towards the end.

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  • Thank You for Being a Friend (Golden Girls Theme) (Tabs)

    Thank You for Being a Friend (Golden Girls Theme) (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on the Golden Girls theme in tribute to Betty White.

    It’s a short and sweet tune with some nice chord moves. The only tricky part comes in the final few bars. Here you’re playing octaves on the C and A-strings while muting the E-string with the underside of your index finger. If you don’t fancy that, you can just play the notes on the C-string and ignore the rest.

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  • The Fray – How to Save a Life (Tabs)

    The Fray – How to Save a Life (Tab)Download

    The chorus for this one is insanely catchy. And the benefit of playing an instrumental version is that you don’t have to wonder why he rhymes a word with itself so many times in this song.

    This one is fingerpicked all the way through. I’m using one-finger-per-string picking all the way through. But you can switch to alternate picking for some of the rapid notes.

    The chorus is nice and straight-forward and the solo is very basic. The only part I had trouble with was the verses. The melody shifts slightly all the time. Which made it hard for me to keep track of. But it is nice and compact and doesn’t require anything fancy.

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