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  • The Cure – Friday I’m in Love (Tabs)

    The Cure – Friday I’m in Love (Tab)Download

    I had to break protocol for this one so I could post The Cure’s Friday I’m in Love on a friday.

    Intro: There’s an odd start to the song with the first note coming in on the “and” of 1. If the listener is unfamiliar with the song, it can throw them off.

    After the opening lick, it’s into some straight-forward strumming with a few picked notes thrown in.

    Verse: The first two verses are simple, with all familiar chord shapes in the first position. The third and fourth verses are a bit more tricky since they incorporate a high note on the A-string, fifth fret.

    Chorus: The trickiest part is going from the riff at the end of the verse to G chord with the high D note. If you’re struggling, you can just strum out the A chord in bar 17.

    Solo: The solo has a lot of moves up and down the neck. But there’s nothing too fancy to trip you up.

    Bridge: This is the hardest section to play. You’re up at the fifth fret and it gets a bit fiddly. That’s one reason I halved its length.

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  • The Clash – I Fought the Law (Tabs)

    The Clash – I Fought the Law (Tab)Download

    I Fought the Law was originally recorded by The Crickets after the death of Buddy Holly. The Bobby Fuller Four had a big hit with it later in the 60s. Then The Clash recorded the definitive version. And it’s The Clash version I based this arrangement on.

    Most of this arrangement is very easy. It’s just strumming out basic chords. For the single open-C strings notes the first crop up in bar 11 (where they lyrics say “and the”), I’m strumming all the strings while muting the g-string with my thumb and the E and A-strings with my fingers. If you prefer, you can just play these with fingerpicking the C-string alone. But that does lose a bit of the energy of the song.

    Things only get tricky in the solo section. But even then, it’s not exactly a finger-twister.

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  • Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For? (Tabs)

    Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For? (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on Billie Eilish’s contribution to the Barbie soundtrack: What Was I Made For?

    Intro: I went with a few spicy chords for the intro to emphasise the melancholy mood of the song. If you prefer, you can just pick through the standard C – Em – F chord pattern.

    Verse: I’ve kept the arrangement for this simple and sparse. It’s a great melody, so doing that gives it plenty of room to breathe.

    Chorus: Things get a bit more involved in the chorus with pull-offs, slides and a few trips up the neck to deal with.

    Break: This section is only loosely based on the original. So there’s plenty of room to play about here.

    Outro: The song is in C but it ends on a G chord (i.e. the V chord). That leaves the song hanging on a tense, uncertain note.

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  • The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (Tabs)

    The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (Tab)Download

    House of the Rising Sun has been performed by every folkie including Bob Dylan, Leadbelly and Mumford & Sons. But the most famous is by The Animals. And it’s that version I’ve based the arrangement on.

    Intro: You could pluck this section out of the song and it makes a nice little fingerpicking exercise (played with one finger per string picking). Worth learning even if you’re not tackling the whole song.

    Verse: Sticking with the one finger per string picking. The priority here is making sure the melody notes stand out. It helps that the tune is so well known that people will hear it more easily.

    Solo: This solo is built around the chords with notes from the D blues scale (i.e. the D minor pentatonic with an Ab). I also throw in a few chromatic notes right at the end. Plenty of scope here for including your own ideas.

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  • Chappell Roan – Picture You (Tabs)

    Chappell Roan – Picture You (Tab)Download

    Chappell Roan seems unavoidable at the moment. And Uke Hunt is no exception with a tab of Picture You.

    Intro: I took some inspiration from the Tiny Desk version in the intro. I like the way that lazy slide down from G to F# sets up the rest of the song.

    Verse: The awkwardness of the F# chord comes into play in the verse. I’d recommend trying out my favourite way to play the D chord here. I like to fret the g and C-strings with the tip of my index finger. Then fret the E with my middle finger. Playing it that way means your middle finger is already in position for the F# and the index finger is already half way to barreing the strings.

    The other tricky part is the long slide up to the ninth fret in bar 13.

    Pre-Chorus: There’s a shift down in the octave in bar 16. It is a little clunky but it’s necessary to keep things from going way up the fretboard.

    Chorus: Nothing new in the chorus. The transition from D to F# felt more natural here.

    Bridge: There are some very long hammer-on and pull-off bits in the “you-ou-ou-ou” bits that are tricky to get down.

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  • The Faces – Ooh La La (Tabs)

    The Faces – Ooh La La (Tab)Download

    I had assumed Rod Stewart was singing Ooh La La, but it’s a rare vocal outing for Ronnie Wood. Although Rod would go on to do his own version in the 90s.

    The chords couldn’t be simpler. It’s just G – Am7 all the way through. And there’s nothing too complicated in the verses and chorus but the rhythm can be a little tricky to keep straight.

    The hardest section is the solo. It’s completely of my own making. So feel free to mess around and come up with your own ideas.

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  • Only Murders in the Building Theme (Tabs)

    Only Murders in the Building Theme (Tab)Download

    I’ve just around to watching the first season of Only Murders in the Building so it’s time for a tab of the theme tune by Siddhartha Khosla.

    The big challenge with this piece is getting it up to speed. The first challenge I had was switching the fingers from the D in bar 6 back to the D minor in bar 1. I ended up changing positions at the start of the bar. But I played around with playing the D chord with middle, ring and pinkie fingers. And with not switching until halfway through bar 1. So I recommend testing each and finding which you like the most.

    The other big challenge is keeping the arpeggiated chords (bar 5 onwards) even. Particularly in the long final section. I don’t do a good job of it myself.

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  • Dusty Springfield – Spooky (Tabs)

    Dusty Springfield – Spooky (Tab)Download

    Apologies to anyone who tried to use the site in the last couple of weeks and couldn’t. I’ve been having some tech problems. It should be fixed now. Just in time for a Halloween themed tab. Spooky was originally by The Classics IV, but best known for Dusty Springfield’s version. And it’s the Dusty version I based this arrangement on.

    Intro: Just a two chord vamp with a bit of a 60s bossa feel to it.

    Verses: The biggest challenge in the verses is quickly getting down from the A-string 5th fret to the C-string second fret. Other than that, it’s fairly smooth sailing. I love the discordance of the A7#9 at the end of each verse. The chord has both the major third (C#) and the minor third (C) of the chord. Which is the spookiest part of the song.

    Solo: The first bar is the only one that is based on the solo in the Dusty version. Everything else is just me noodling on the D blues scale. So I recommend building your own solo here.

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  • Bon Iver – Speyside (Tabs)

    Bon Iver – Speyside (Tab)Download

    Bon Iver’s long-awaited return Speyside is a return to the stripped down sound of For Emma, Forever Ago. Which makes it very uke-suitable.

    I’m playing it with a capo on the second fret. But that’s just to make it in the same key as the original. You can play it without the capo if you prefer.

    There’s nothing physically difficult about the arrangement. The real challenge is keeping track of the time signature changes. If there’s any rhyme or reason to the time signature, I couldn’t find it. So I’ve just tabbed it how I felt it. Which means a new time signature each bar until it settles into 4/4 for the last few bars of each section.

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  • Irving Berlin – Blue Skies (Tabs)

    Irving Berlin – Blue Skies (Tab)Download

    Versions of Irving Berlin’s Blue Skies range widely in their approach. There are uptempo takes, such as the Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole versions, which lean into the suspiciously joyful “we’ll never have problems again“-ness of it. And there are slow, mournful takes like Dinah Washington’s.

    This arrangement lands somewhere near the Willie Nelson version with a lot of bluesy touches.

    Intro: Starting of with an E minor chord set against chromatically descending notes on the C-string. This bit is mostly picking out notes from the chords with some short licks thrown in. It’s all fingerpicked until the strums leading into the verse in bars 7 and 8.

    Verse: Nice and easy to play. The melody is contained and the chords are simple to play. Here I’m picking the melody and strumming everything else.

    Chorus: The chorus is more of a challenge. Be sure to keep this section staccato (i.e. short notes) to set it against the more legato verses.

    Solo: For the solo, I stuck closely to the chords and melody notes. Throwing in a few bluesy bends here and there. I get a bit more adventurous in the second half, throwing in some chromatic notes in bar 43 and an E minor pentatonic lick in bar 45. I’d recommend building your own solo using any ideas from this solo you like and playing in your own style.

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