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  • Nena – 99 Red Balloons (Tabs)

    Nena – 99 Red Balloons (Tab)Download

    Today’s tab is Nena’s 99 Red Balloons. Originally 99 Luftballons. I worked from the English version for this arrangement, but there’s not a lot of difference between them.

    Intro/Outro: The song closes with a slow, fingerpicked version of the melody. Nothing troubling to tackle here. It’s all basic chords in the first position. The g-string does some of the melody work, so make sure those notes are prominent.

    Bridge: The song speeds up for the riff section. I’m fingerpicking the notes here with muted strums (plus a muted note on the g-string that’s picked with the thumb). Keep this section staccato to match the original.

    Verse: The increased tempo and use of strums makes this section trickier than the first. But, as compensation, it’s more repetitive so it’s simple once you get it under your fingers.

    Solo: The keyboard solo doesn’t seem any trickier than the verse, but I found it much more of a challenge.

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  • Stone Temple Pilots – Plush (Tabs)

    Stone Temple Pilots – Plush (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on the most 90s song there is: STP’s Plush.

    Intro: Starting off with a simple chord riff with chromatically descending notes on the C and A-strings.

    Verse: Nothing too tricky in the verse. The transition between bars 7 and 8 was the bit I needed to practice most. Once you get to the, “And I feeeeeeel it,” section, you can just blast it out.

    Pre-Chorus: More of challenge. It’s all barre chords until the last few notes. And so is the chorus, so you’ll need some finger stamina to get through it. There are also some big stretches in bars 19 and 21.

    Chorus: The trickiest part. There’s some quick moving around the neck. I’ve included a fingering suggestion in bar 23 to make the transition easier.

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  • Amy Winehouse – You Know I’m No Good (Tabs)

    Amy Winehouse – You Know I’m No Good (Tab)Download

    This arrangement of Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good. The chords are simple but effective. The move from Gm to Cm6 (a Cm chord with an open A-string) to D has such a melancholic and resigned feel to it.

    Nothing goes above the fourth fret (and even that is only in the solo), so there’s not much movement to deal with.

    The only challenging technique is the use of grace notes. A grace note is a quick note you play just before the main note. For example, in bar 8 you play the open A-string then immediately hammer-on at the first fret. This gives the melody more of human touch.

    When grace notes happen inside a chord, they’re written before the chord in the tab, but you play them as part of the chord itself. For example, in bar 2 you play 021X, then immediately hammer-on the third fret of the E-string.

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  • Don McLean – American Pie (Tabs)

    Don McLean – American Pie (Tab)Download

    Inevitably, I’ve trimmed this one down from its 8 1/2 minute runtime. This arrangement includes the opening slow verse, then speeds up for the first chorus, then speeds up again for the second verse and chorus.

    There’s nothing too tricky to play until the second half of the second verse. As well as the increased tempo, there’s a lot of jumping up and down the neck to handle.

    But the hardest part for me was memorising the verses. The chorus has a very catchy melody and a clear chord structure. But the verses are meandering and wordy. The chord progression never settles into a pattern. And even changes slightly between the two verses.

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  • Eagle-Eye Cherry – Save Tonight (Tabs)

    Eagle-Eye Cherry – Save Tonight (Tab)Download

    I hadn’t thought about Eagle-Eye Cherry’s Save Tonight since the Cretaceous period until it was requested on Patreon. But the chorus is still buried in the back of my brain.

    Intro: Just strumming out the chords with a few hammer-ons. Don’t feel you have to slavishly follow the tab here. So long as you keep the feel of the original

    Verse: A few challenges here. There’s a lot of movement up to the fifth fret and back, some quick chord changes and some pull-offs to deal with.

    Chorus: The chorus is much easier to get in a groove with. Be sure to keep the strums on the second and fourth beats of each bar percussive. I’m almost moving into the range of them being chnks.

    Solo: I kept the solo short and strummy. If you want to stretch out, you can double the number of bars (to make it the same length as the original) and introduce your own ideas.

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  • They Might Be Giants – Doctor Worm (Tabs)

    They Might Be Giants – Doctor Worm (Tab)Download

    Doctor Worm is my favourite TMBG song. And it has been dusted off to promote their latest live album. It’s a lot of fun to play but has some challenging sections.

    Intro: I tried a few different ways to play this horn riff. And three of them crop up in this arrangement.

    The version in the intro is by far the trickiest but also the truest to the original. If you’d rather avoid playing it (and that’s the sensible choice), you can replace the first four bars with bars 69-72. Or, if you have the chops of Rabbi Vole, you can make the opposite substitution.

    Verse: The verses are much simpler. The third verse is especially simple, as it’s just the melody without chords.

    Chorus: The chorus starts with just blasting out the strums with the melody alternating between B and C on the A-string.

    The chorus ends with the horn riff transposed to Bb.

    Middle: The trickiest section of the whole song. You have to deal with the melody whilst the chords alternate between G and C. I highly recommend slowing this section right down when you’re learning it before attempting it anywhere near full speed.

    Bridge: A nice, simple section to recover after the middle.

    Solo: A very easy solo too. It starts off mirroring the verse melody then descends from there. The bass has much more room to descend than the uke, so I had to cheat it a little.

    Outro: Another variation on the horn riff. This time heading up the neck for the crescendo.

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  • Nirvana – In Bloom (Tabs)

    Nirvana – In Bloom (Tab)Download

    Nirvana’s In Bloom is a nice, easy one. It’s almost all strumming. There’s just a bit of fingerpicking in the first half of the verses. The rest is just blasting out chords with a few extra notes here and there.

    The only challenging part is the second half of bar 2 (repeated in bar 30). There’s a quick walk-up on the g-string that’s played with all down strums. If you’re finding that too hard, you can switch to just strumming out the Bb chord.

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  • R.E.M. – Find the River (Tabs)

    R.E.M. – Find the River (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on a track from R.E.M.’s massive Automatic for the People: Find the River.

    Intro: Easing into the song with a very straightforward four bars. Then into some tricky fast picking in the next four bars. Be sure to play the G chord in bars 5 and 7 by barreing the second fret. That’ll make for a smooth transition up the neck for the Gm7.

    Verse: The verse is fairly simple. It’s all first position chords and almost all strummed.

    Chorus: The chorus is more challenging as it moves up and down the neck. Although it’s still just strumming. The trickiest part comes in the second half of bars 19 and 21. If you’re finding that tricky, Here’s an alternative version that’s easier to play. Although it does require a quicker move down to the G chord.

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  • The Beach Boys – Surfin’ USA (Tabs)

    The Beach Boys – Surfin’ USA (Tab)Download

    Keeping up the summer vibes (and the Brian Wilson tributes) with The Beach Boys’ Surfin’ USA. Musically, the song is based on Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen. But Wilson took the wise decision to change the lyrics.

    The key technique throughout is strum blocking i.e. muting the strings you don’t want to sound. For example, in the opening three notes, I’m muting the g-string with my thumb and the E- and A-strings with my index finger.

    Intro: A very Chuck Berry-style lick. Played with all down-strums. And I’m holding my thumb against my index finger for some extra force (almost holding it like a pick).

    Verse: The verse starts out alternating bars between melody notes (played on the g-string) and a standard blues shuffle. Then switches to more straightforward chords in bar 10.

    For the strum blocking in the melody bars (e.g. bar 4) I’m muting the C-string with the underside of the finger I’m fretting the g-string with. And I’m muting the A-string with my middle finger (which is fretting the E-string).

    Chorus: Starts almost identical to the verse except for having a more basic shuffle and not muting the C-string for the melody parts. Then it ventures up the neck for the falsetto “Everybody’s gone…” in bar 30.

    Solo: I’ve stuck fairly close to the original here. But so long as you stay in the Chuck Berry area, there’s plenty of room to make changes.

    Outro: Just the “Everybody’s gone…” bit repeated, then I threw in a little lick at the end.

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  • Bananarama – Cruel Summer (Tabs)

    Bananarama – Cruel Summer (Tab)Download

    Here’s one to learn while sweating your bollocks (or lady bollocks) off: Bananarama’s Cruel Summer.

    The intro is by far the hardest part of this one. It gets fiddly at the top of the fretboard. Apart from that, it’s pretty straightforward. There’s only three chords in the whole song (Em, D and C). And those are all in the open position until the break section where I use different inversions and things get sweaty on the strumming front.

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