Ukulele Hunt

Blog

  • Nancy Sinatra – Bang Bang (Tab)

    Nancy Sinatra – Bang Bang (Tab)Download

    It wasn’t until embarrassingly recently that I found out Bang Bang was written by Sonny Bono and first recorded by Cher. But it’s the sparse and haunting Nancy Sinatra version that is the most famous. But I don’t think any cover has eclipsed the original since Oasis’s version of Mike Flowers Pops’ Wonderwall

    For my version, I’ve taken cues heavily from the Sinatra version. Keeping the timing and the phrasing very loose.

    In the tab there are a few repeat symbols you’re unfamiliar with. The first repeat comes at the end of bar 16 with the familiar double bar and dots. That sends you back to bar 5. From there you play through to bar 20 where it says D.S. al Fine (Da Segno al Fine). That sends you back to the squiggle at bar 5 and tells you to stop where it says Fine in bar 16.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes

    More 90s tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • alt-J – Interlude I (Ripe and Ruin) (Tab)

    alt-J – Interlude I (Ripe and Ruin) (Tab)Download

    alt-J’s new track 3WW has me very excited for the new album. In preparation I thought I’d have a go at Ripe & Ruin from their debut album.

    Ripe & Ruin is an acappella duet (the good kind of acappella where everyone sings words and no one is doing cheesy beatboxing). But I’ve taken some liberties with the arrangement having anything between one and three notes at a time.

    The only tricky part of the arrangement is the rapid jump up the neck in bar 24. Otherwise it’s pretty straightforward so you can concentrate on varying the dynamics.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes

    More alt-J tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Beach Boys – Sloop John B (Tab)

    Beach Boys – Sloop John B (Tab)Download

    Following on from Good Vibrations, another Pet Sound with bass from Lyle Ritz. Sloop John B is a traditional Bahamian song. The earliest version was recorded in Nassau in 1935 under the title Histe Up the John B Sails. There are many lyrical variations. My favourite being the the verse in Blind Blake’s version (the Bahamian one rather than the American blues guy) about having to go home because his pants burst.

    This arrangement starts off with that shimmering guitar riff from the Beach Boy’s version. And I keep interlacing this riff with the melody throughout. Be sure to play this softer than the melody so the two don’t get confused.

    The verse is all fingerpicked with the melody mostly on the E- and A-strings with some lower notes on the C-string to keep the rhythm going. To give the chorus a bump I play the melody with strums. That means you have to switch between strumming and picking. Which can be tricky. If you need a bit more time to switch you can miss out a note or two of the backing without losing anything important.

    Links

    Buy the Beach Boys version
    More Beach Boys tabs

  • Bon Iver – 00000 Million (Tab)

    Bon Iver – 00000 Million (Tab)Download

    A new Bon Iver album means a new Bon Iver post. It’s another great record. This time with very strange song titles. 00000 Million immediately struck me as being great for ukeing with its strong melody and simple chords. And it does transfer well. It even works out nicely in the original key.

    It wouldn’t be Bon Iver without a bit of weirdness. And this song’s weirdness is changes in the time signature. Bar two switches to 5/4 time (i.e. there’s an extra note in that bar). And there’s a bar of 2/4 leading into the Fionn Regan sample. But these fit so naturally into the song that if you know the melody well you won’t have any problems with timing.

    The brackets around some of the notes indicate they are played softly (they’re backing notes rather than part of the melody).

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    More folk tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Fawlty Towers and Steptoe and Son (Tab)

    Fawlty Towers (Lead Tab)Download

    A double bill of classic British comedy themes today. Starting with the Fawlty Towers them by Dennis Wison. Not the Manson loving Beach Boy. The composer of music for many British sitcoms including Till Death Us Do Part and Rising Damp.

    My arrangement has two parts: the lead part in standard tuning and a baritone part playing the backing. I’m having fun with this set up at the moment so don’t be too surprised if you see more of it.

    Baritone Backing

    Fawlty Towers (Backing Tab)Download

    The backing is mostly arpeggios with a couple of runs thrown in. Here’s a recording of just the backing if you want to play along. The metronome taps out a full bar for the intro and you start playing on the third beat of the second bar.


    Backing MP3

    Steptoe and Son

    Steptoe and Son (Tab)Download

    Dennis Wilson also wrote music for Steptoe But the theme tune, called Old Ned, was by Ron Grainer. Most famous for the Doctor Who theme. I was prompted to put together this short version by the recent death of the Simpson half of Galton and Simpson who created the show.

    Steptoe, of course, was transferred across the Atlantic and became Sanford and Son. You can find the tab for that theme here.

    Links

    Buy Fawlty Towers Theme
    Buy the Steptoe Theme
    More TV theme tabs

  • Max and Chloe Theme (Life is Strange)(Tab)

    Max & Chloe Lead (Tab)Download

    I think I’m getting soft in my old age. Over the winter break I played two games that ended with me in floods of tears: Valiant Hearts and Life is Strange. Now I can’t even get through the Valiant Hearts trailer or Spanish Sahara without misting up.

    I’m a sucker for great music in games (obviously) and Life is Strange has both an excellent original score and tracks from some of my favourites like Jose Gonzalez, Alt-J, Mogawai plus some uke in the form of Amanda Palmer’s In My Mind.

    The melody line of the Max and Chloe theme is slow, simple and absolutely beautiful. There’s lots of room for you to add emotion to it so be sure to use plenty of vibrato.

    Backing

    Picking TabDownload

    This part – played on a standard tuned ukulele – is much trickier than the lead part. The thumb and two finger picking pattern is constant and rapid. So be sure to warm up well before tackling it.

    Baritone PartDownload

    The baritone part is much more simple. It starts out just some softly played low notes to fill out the sound. It breaks from that at the start of verse two to double the melody an octave down.

    Guitar PartDownload

    Judas! Yes, guitar on Uke Hunt. I think I lost about 170 brain cells just recording this guitar part.

    The part follows the ukulele chords closely. The only slight change is Cmaj7 in place of C. Just to give it an extra bit of melancholy.

    There is also a part playing the bass note of each chord on guitar pitch-shifted down an octave (because I still don’t own a bass of any kind).

    Here’s a backing track for you to play the lead part along with:


    Links

    LifeIsStrange.com
    More game tabs

  • Radiohead – Paranoid Android (Chords)

    Radiohead – Paranoid Android (Chords)Download

    EatMyUke’s cover of all the songs on OK Computer inspired me to write up the chords for Paranoid Android. The versions of the chords around the net I’ve seen are very simplified. So I’ve gone in the other direction and made them as true to the original as I could manage. Which means there are lots of unfamiliar chord shapes all over the neck.

    The song is split into three main sections so I’ve also split up the chords into three sections.

    Opening Section

    This section has the biggest leaps up and down the neck. So pay close attention to the fret numbers at the right of the chord diagrams.

    If you have trouble playing Gm6 (like I did) you can play it as 0767 and that’ll work just fine. And you can also play E7 as 4445. The only downside of those changes is you don’t get the constant drone on the g- and A-strings.

    Riff Section

    The least uke friendly section. For the riff I’m using mostly power chords. That means each chord only has two notes so I’m blocking the E- and A-strings from ringing with the underside of my index finger.

    It gets much easier when it switches to straight chords for C – G# – Bb. Except the time signature becomes and off-kilter 7/8. The strumming I use goes:

    C: d – d – d u d
    G#: u – u d u
    Bb: d

    Rain Down Section

    The third section is mercifully straightforward on uke. It’s all standard chord shapes and you can use this strum all the way through:

    d – d – d u d u

    Then it’s a return to the riff section for the extended outro.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    More Radiohead tabs

  • Through the Valley from The Last of Us: Part II (Tab)

    LastOfUs2Download

    The trailer for The Last of Us: Part II has me very excited. Not least at the prospect of another outstanding score by the genius Gustavo Santaolalla. He plays the ronrocco which, like the ukulele, is petite and has a reentrant tuning making them very suitable for ukeing. I tabbed up the Last of Us theme here.

    The trailer itself provides another musically treat in the form of Ellie covering Through the Valley by Shawn James. The song is so perfect I assumed it had been written for the trailer.

    I cobbled my version together quickly. I started as soon as I saw the trailer and recorded the video the next day. So it is a bit all over the place. The plan was to put the melody firmly up front and put the picking in softly between melody notes. And it mostly works that way. The notes on the g- and C-strings are played with the thumb, the index finger handles the E-string and the middle finger the A. The only exception is when all the strings are plucked at once.

    Links

    Buy the Shawn James version
    More game tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon
    The Last of Us Theme (Tab)

  • Norah Jones – Don’t Know Why (Tab)

    Norah Jones – Don’t Know Why (Tab)Download

    What a great melody this is. And it’s matched with some juicy jazz chords. Making it perfect for a ukeing.

    In case you’re not familiar with the repeat markings I use, you play up to “D.S. al Coda” go back to the squiggle in bar five, play up to “Da Coda” then skip to the target in bar 23.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    More jazz tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Nick Drake – Horn (Tab)

    Nick Drake – Horn (Tab)Download

    It’s not often I break with my schedule but Nick Drake’s Horn popped into my ears this morning and I felt compelled to get my own up.

    It also fits well with the real post today about pieces suitable for solo ukulele beginners. It’s the sparsest track on Drake’s sparsest album. For my version there’s just a droning open C-string (plucked with the thumb) and the slow melody mainly on the A-string (middle finger) and occasionally on the E-string (index finger).

    The only downside is that it requires a ukulele with at least fifteen frets. If you don’t have one you can play this version in G:

    Horn (Tab in G)Download

    This moves the drone to the g-string. Making it an octave higher (unless you’re using low-G tuning). So it doesn’t fit perfectly but it does still work.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    More folk tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon