There’s loads of room to add your own spin onto this song. You can play around with dynamics and pacing, change the phrasing, throw in chord extensions or add in a few jazzy runs. Check out Louis Armstrong’s version for inspiration.
It seems like every cover version ditches the intro section of the original. And I’ve done likewise. I’ve replaced it with a chord section that establishes the harmony of the tune by borrowing chords from elsewhere in the song. This is a good place to start adding your own ideas.
In One U2 make use of a simple melody trick that crops up in many popular songs. They take the highest note used in the verse (the E on the A-string, 7th fret) and use that as the first note of the chorus. It makes the song peak at the right moment and in this case adds emotion as Bono pushes for the note. They take that even further in the middle section with the starting note moving up to G (A-string, 10th fret). You can tell Bono’s reaching for the note and it really makes the song peak.
The rhythms in this one are a little unusual and wander around the beat. So I’d recommend going with the flow of the song rather than trying to recreate every rhythm.
To keep my arrangement short, I’ve chopped out the second verse and chorus and shortened the guitar solo in the outro.
Time for a song of great social and political import. And, more importantly, an easy to play song. I’ve kept the simplicity of the accapella original. Just adding a few chords in for support.
I’m using fingerpicking in my version. But it’s arranged so you can play the whole thing with your thumb if you prefer.
A quick bonus tab. In tribute to Roger Bannister I knocked together a simple version of the Chariots of Fire theme tune. There were a bunch of requests for a tab so here it is.
I’m about five years late to this one. And three years late to anyone caring about it. But I still love this tune. And it works very well on ukulele. All beginner chords and you don’t even have to move past the third fret.
The melody uses exclusively notes from the F major pentatonic scale: F – G – A – C – D.
With the song being four part harmony it makes sense to use all the strings for this one. So I’m mostly strumming the tune here. Just a few notes here and there picked out.
I also throw in a few triplet strums inspired by the banjoleling. For the triplets I’m doing: down with index, down with thumb, up with middle.
Two songs bashed together here. The opening, Dr Zaius, song is mostly strumming and the second, Chimpan-A to Chimpanzee, is all fingerpicking apart from the triplet strums at the end. I’m using a different triplet strum here. I’m doing: down with middle, up with index, up with middle.
Rounding off Valentine’s week with one of the few lovey-dovey songs I actually like. Make You Feel My Love first cropped up on Bob Dylan’s Out of Time (a record that was seen as Dylan’s “I’m nearly dead” album when it came out twenty years ago). But it became much more widely known when Adele covered it on 19. My arrangement leans towards the Adele version. But there’s not a lot to choose between the two anyway.
I’ve kept the arrangement very simple. I’m mostly using thumb and two finger picking. The only exception is when I strum all the strings with my thumb in bars 7, 24 and 26. But it is arranged in such a way that you could play the whole thing with your thumb.
The one part that might be a challenge is the jump down the neck between bars 10 and 11.
One of 2017 most unexpected hits. Portugal. The Man have been knocking around for years without bothering the charts. But last year’s instantly catchy Feel It Still changed that. And made me tackle arranging it despite it being not immediately uke-suitable. So this one is a bit tricky to play and uses a range of techniques.
The arrangement starts with the bass riff which sets up the C – Eb – F chord progression that is used through most of the song. (The original is in the key of C# so you play in the original key by putting a capo on the first fret.) In this section I’m muting the strings slightly by lightly resting the palm of my picking hands on the strings. The muffled sound makes the melody stand out more once it comes in.
In the spirit of, “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus,” the verses are ultra short. It’s all played with fingerpicking with thumb, index and middle fingers.
You can blast out the choruses by bringing in the strums. The tricky part is fitting the strums around the rapid fingerpicking required. I’m using a lot of alternate picking to fit them in. I’m also flicking my index finger up when picking some notes to create a fuller sound.
Since it’s Christmas, I’m breaking my no Beatles rule to do this one I’ve had a fair few requests for over the years.
I’ve kept the arrangement as simple as possible. After the fingerpicking in the first bar it’s all strumming and lots of familiar chord shapes. And the melody is recognisable you don’t have to worry about emphasising it all that much. I’m using a capo at the first fret which puts it in the same key as the original. But you can just play it open if you prefer.
The only thing that might trip you up are the extra beats that he throws in. There’s one extra beat in the middle of the verse and two extra at the end.
In case you’re not familiar with the Italian repeats in the tab. You play through as normal up to the “D.S. al coda” in bar 29. Then you go back to the squiggle in bar 13. Play through to the “Da Coda” in bar 23. Then skip ahead to the target symbol in bar 30.
There’s nothing massively challenging in this arrangement but there are a few leaps up and down the fretboard. You can make things a easier with a bit of planning though. In bars 10 and 12 moving your hand up so you play the 3rd fret with your index finger makes it a much easier transition into the next bar.
