Ukulele Hunt

Tag: 50s

  • Dean Martin – Sway (Tabs)

    Dean Martin – Sway (Tab)Download

    Sway aka Quién será? is best known to me for Dean Martin’s version. Although it seems like Michael Bublé’s is the most popular these days. Since Cris mentioned Dean Martin, it’s that version I worked from. Also, it’s the superior version.

    Intro: This is by far the hardest part of the song. There are a few runs, the most rapid of which comes in bar 7.

    Since it’s an intro, you have a lot of leeway to change things. The easiest option is to follow Buble’s version and create a variation of bars 13 – 16.

    Verse: Things get a lot simpler in the verse. It’s just switching between A7 and Dm with the melody sticking to the first three frets.

    Chorus: There’s a bit more going on in the chorus. More chords and a small journey up the neck. But nothing too challenging.

    Solo: The solo is based on the guitar solo in the Martin version. It’s very simple. Just the verse melody harmonised.

    Links

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  • Charles Mingus – Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (Tabs)

    Charles Mingus – Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (Tab)Download

    I hope you’re not coming here for a detailed harmonic breakdown of Charles Mingus’s Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, because I have no idea what he’s doing most of the time. Which made it a tough song for me to memorise. With all the unfamiliar chords and movements, I found myself constantly having to think ahead, since there weren’t many familiar shapes to fall back on.

    Verse: I found the easiest way to play the opening bars is to barre across the first fret from the last note of bar 1 to the Gm in bar 4. Not all the chords need the barre, but it’s a lot easier to keep it there than to take it on and off.

    As well as the harmony, there’s plenty of rhythmic jiggery-pokery going on. Most notably, the entire tune is in swing time except for bar 10. Which is played straight.

    Solo: In the original, the solo uses a new (slightly simpler) chord progression. For my version, I’ve gone with a simplified take on the original chords. And I’ve leaned into the songs bluesiness with a bunch of bends and slides.

    There’s loads of room here to bring in your own ideas. My take draws heavily on the melody. But you can go way off piste if you’re feeling brave.

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  • Howlin Wolf – Smokestack Lightning (Tabs)

    Howlin Wolf – Smokestack Lightning (Tab)Download

    Howlin’ Wolf’s Smokestack Lightning is inspired by a train. So, the number one priority is keeping a propulsive rhythm up.

    Intro: Starting off with the riff, which is fun to play. Well worth learning, even if you’re not bothered about the rest.

    The intro is a bit off-kilter. You’d expect the riff to repeat twice or four times. Instead, it repeats three times.

    Verse: The verses combine the melody with little bits of the riff. I’ve tried to distinguish them by having the riff played in the open position (e.g. bar 9) and the melody played up the neck.

    Solo: I’ve kept this simple to match the vibe of the original harmonica solo. But you can always fancy it up if you feel like it.

    Links

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  • Stephen Sondheim – Send in the Clowns (Tabs)

    Stephen Sondheim – Send in the Clowns (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on Send in the Clowns in a belated tribute to Stephen Sondheim. The most well known versions are the song are by Judy Collins, Frank Sinatra and, of course, Krusty the Clown. Although my favourite is by, occasional ukers, The Tiger Lillies.

    Intro: I couldn’t resist referencing Entry of the Gladiators for this intro. Feel free to replace it with something more sensible.

    Verses: The verses switch between 12/8 and 9/8. But it all flows nicely, so it’s not tricky to keep track of.

    There is a brief pause in bar 5 where the tune hangs in mid-air (indicated by the frown with a dimple over the tab). That pause gives you a chance for that slide up to the seventh fret. When this bar happens a second time (bar 11) without a pause, it’s played on the A-string, 2nd fret so you don’t need to jump down to the C-string, 2nd fret.

    Chorus: My favourite part of this song is the long descending line in bars 18 and 19. With the run starting at the E-string, 3rd fret and going almost chromatically to the open C.

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  • Phil Phillips/Cat Power – Sea of Love (Tabs)

    Phil Phillips/Cat Power – Sea of Love (Tab)Download

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  • Bob Dylan – You Belong to Me (Tabs)

    Bob Dylan – You Belong to Me (Tab)Download

    You Belong to Me was originally written by Price, King & Stewart in 1952. But I first heard the Bob Dylan cover on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack. And it’s the Dylan version this arrangement is based on.

    Intro: A very brief intro just to establish the key and feel. There’s plenty of room to expand this to the whole chord progression if you fancy stretching out.

    Verse: There are a couple of jumps up and down the fretboard to deal with here. But the tempo is slow and it’s straightforward to play. I am very loose with the timing and phrasing in the video.

    The second time around, there are a few extra twiddles to keep things interesting.

    Solo: The solo is heavily based on the melody. It’s a very sentimental song, so I went a bit cheesy with it. You’re free to dirty it up in your own version.

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  • Bobby Darin – Beyond the Sea (Tabs)

    Bobby Darin – Beyond the Sea (Tab)Download

    Beyond the Sea is an anglicized version of Charles Trenet’s La Mer and regularly crops up in film and TV (most notably the prison kitchen scene in Goodfellas).

    Intro: Starting off with some big strums to emulate the brass in the original.

    Verse: Nothing too difficult to play in the verse, but there are a ton of chord changes to keep track of.

    Bridge: This section has three key changes (to A, to C and returning to the original key of F). Each time it uses the trick of leading into the change with the V7 chord of the new key. So you have E7 at the end of bar 18, setting up the key of A. And G7 at the end of bar 24, leading in the key of C. Finally, you have C7 in bar 30 to lead back to the original key of F.

    Solo: The solo is based on different inversions of the chords in the verse with a few melodic elements added. Plenty of room here for your own ideas.

    From there, it’s back to the verse and finishing with a simple chromatic lick.

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  • The Chordettes – Mr Sandman (Tabs)

    The Chordettes – Mr Sandman (Tab)Download

    The release of the new Sandman TV show seems like a good excuse to finally get around to tabbing this classic. My arrangement is heavily based on the Chordettes version. Although not the original version, it’s by far the best known.

    Intro 1: I couldn’t resist rearranging Metallica’s Enter Sandman as an intro. Feel free to come up with an intro of your own or skip it all together.

    Intro 2: You can’t skip this one! It sounds fantastic and fits on the ukulele very nicely.

    Verse 1: Lots of tasty chords going on. And I’ve tried to incorporate some of the bass runs.

    Verse 2: I’ve added some extra elements here. There are some changes to the melody and plenty of twiddles. I made al the twiddles have are descending to give it a feel of gently falling asleep. Plenty of room for your own ideas here. The verse starts with a few “dings and pings”. These are natural harmonics.

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  • Bernstein and Sondheim – Somewhere (Tabs)

    Somewhere from West Side Story (Tab)Download

    A little tribute Stephen Sondheim who passed away last week.

    Like the original, the arrangement is sparse. Which lets the melody shine all the more. It also makes it fairly simple to play. There’s a stretch with the pinkie finger in bars 13 and 29. But otherwise not much to trip you up.

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  • Little Richard – Tutti Frutti (Tab)

    Little Richard – Tutti Frutti (Tab)Download

    On hearing of the sad news of the death of Little Richard I had to bash out this classic. Refined and precise, it is not. But hopefully it’s got some of the spirit of the original and is closer to Little Richard than it is to Pat Boone.

    It’s just three chords all the way through (G, C and D) with some picking of the melody. If you want to add a Little Richard “Woooooo!” in at any point you just add a A-string, 5th fret to the top of the G chord.

    Links

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