With Nirvanna the Band the Show back in action, I was inspired to put together a version of the Wii Shop theme It works well on uke. But there are a lot of unusual chord shapes that might take a while to get under your fingers.
Tag: 2000s
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Mumford and Sons – The Cave (Tabs)
The stomp-clap era has been receiving a sometimes unhinged level of vitriol recently. But I still enjoy it so here’s Mumford and Sons’s The Cave.
Intro: The intro works very nicely on uke. Well worth learning even if you’re not bothered about the rest of the song.
I’m using thumb-and-two-finger picking in this section. And switching to one finger per string in the other sections.
Verse: The verse melody is very similar to the riff. So, to distinguish them, I’m using fretted notes rather than open strings. There are slight variations in the verses. But I don’t think anyone would notice if you played them all the same.
Chorus: This section uses a mixture of strums and picking. With the strums getting more intense each time. The final chorus really ramps up the intensity and is the hardest part to play.
Instrumental: Here, you’re bashing out the verse chords and the riff. There are also some hammer-ons that give it a very Beirut feel.
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Coldplay – Trouble (Tabs)
Coldplay’s Trouble is a nice, simple one. Even the solo is just a fancy version of the chords.
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The White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl (Tabs)
The White Stripes’ Fell in Love with a Girl is a simple song but the tempo is high. I’ve slowed it down in my version (from 180BPM-ish in the original to 170) but it’s still a challenge to keep up. To make things easier, the arrangement moves across the strings rather than up and down the neck. Which means there’s a lot of open strings and use of the g-string in the melody.
Even more than usual, this one rewards practicing slowly. Let your fingers learn the patterns before building up speed . Because once it’s up to tempo, there’s no time to think.
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Amy Winehouse – You Know I’m No Good (Tabs)
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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Outkast – Hey Ya (Tabs)
Here’s my take on Outkast’s Hey Ya! which was ably covered by the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra back in the day.
Verse: The big challenge with this arrangement is the speed. The second verse in particular needs some quick alternate picking.
The other thing to watch out for is the bars of 2/4 that crop up on the G chord in the verse and chorus.
Chorus: I’ve arranged the chorus a couple of ways. The first half (bars 8 to 13) is just strumming it through (with the exception of a little bit of picking in bar 12).
Then in the second half (bars 14-19) I add in the synth riff. It’s more tricky to play but the chorus feels incomplete without it. It’s your choice which way to play it.
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Stereophonics – Handbags and Gladrags (The Office Theme)(Tabs)
Handbags and Gladrags was written by, lead singer of Manfred Mann, Mike d’Abo in the sixties. But it wasn’t until the song was used as the theme to The Office (UK) and Stereophonics released a version that it became a hit. And it’s that version I based this arrangement on.
Intro: The first four bars are the sweet oboe melody. Then the bluesier piano riff comes in bar 5 (which is my favourite part).
Verse: The verse melody itself is very simple. The tricky part is quickly moving all the way up the neck for the piano riff. If you don’t fancy that, you can always sub in the oboe line for the piano line.
Chorus: Also needs a few jumps around the neck but they’re not so big and quick. There’s a big stretch at the start of bar 16 to watch out for.
Solo: The big brass solo is just three notes played over and over again.
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Green Day – American Idiot (Tabs)
Green Day’s American Idiot doesn’t require a whole lot finesse. Just blasting out the strums all the way through. The hardest bit is making sure the strum blocking is effective in the parts where there’s just a vocal melody.
The solo is just messing around with the chorus melody and chords. Lots of scope for you to come up with your own set of chord inversions here.
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Pinky and the Brain Theme (Tabs)
The Pinky and the Brain theme is a lot of fun to play. I always love a bit of strum blocking on the riff, i.e. strumming all the strings and muting all but one. It gives the tune a forceful, percussive sound that you can’t get from just picking.
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Sleater Kinney – Modern Girl (Tabs)
Sleater Kinney’s Modern Girl has a straightforwardness and sarcastic cheeriness that makes this one their most uke-able songs.
Intro: The intro is a very simple bit of fingerpicking. It’s a good piece to try if you’re new to fingericking. The thumb picks everything on the C- and E-strings. And the middle finger picks the A-string. Then the index finger picks the E-string in bar 5 and from bar 10 onwards.
Verse: The picking gets trickier in this section. I’m mostly using one finger per string picking. But I play the rapid notes in bar 22 with alternate picking.
Chorus: A lot more strums in this section. But some more quick alternate picking in bar 26.
Solo: The harmonic solo is my favourite part of the song. And it’s pretty simple to play. The tricky part is the quick transition into the next verse.
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