Ukulele Hunt

Tag: 60s

  • Chuck Berry – No Particular Place to Go (Tabs)

    Chuck Berry – No Particular Place to Go (Tab)Download

    Intro: Kicking off with a dissonant augmented E chord before diving straight into the verse.

    Verses: The verses have a call-and-response structure. The vocals are the major scale call, and the guitar licks respond with some minor notes. In this arrangement, I’m playing the vocal part with picking and the guitar part with strums. This helps to make them distinct.

    Solo: The solo is a workout for the strumming arm. It’s almost all triplets. But I’m playing them all with downstrums to keep a consistent attack.

    This is mostly based on the first solo, with a few ideas from the second one thrown in. Feel free to include your own ideas too. But I’d recommend not straying too far from the Chuck Berry style.

    Outro: A fun, if slightly cheesy, descending chord move at the end.

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  • The Beatles – Something (Tabs)

    The Beatles – Something (Tabs)Download

    Something has become particularly associated with the ukulele since Paul has been regularly playing it on uke in tribute to George Harrison. And it transfers over to one very nicely.

    Intro: A brief, one-bar intro. Make sure you bend the note at the 7th fret before you pick it.

    Verse: The verses are built on two chromatically descending lines. Firstly, descending notes on the A-string set against a C chord. Secondly, descending notes on the g-string set against an Am chord.

    With the steady pace of the song, there’s nothing too challenging here.

    Bridge: Things get a bit more challenging in the bridge. The action shifts up the fretboard and there are a couple of stretches to deal with.

    Solo: The trickiest section. And it’s such a great solo, I’d advise against changing it too much.

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  • Al Green – Let’s Stay Together (Tabs)

    Al Green – Let’s Stay Together (Tab)Download

    Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together is a buttery-smooth track, a laid-back feel, and has an earworm melody and tasty chords. All of which mean it suits the ukulele well.

    Intro: The intro nicely sets up the harmony for the piece. And prepares you for plenty of movement up and down the neck. Keep the notes (except the C-string bass notes) staccato to mimic the horns.

    Verse: The first verse has a more minimal arrangement. The second and third verses are heavier and have a bit of filigree. You can mix and match these elements as you like. Or include some of your own ideas.

    Pre-Chorus: A tasty Am9 in this section. Which is fretted like an Em chord but with the g-string played at the second fret.

    Chorus: A lot of moving up and down here. But if you plan ahead, you can use the passing notes to get into position for the next chord. For example, if you play the A-string, 3rd fret in bar 40 with your pinkie, you’ll be set up for the Dm7 chord in bar 41.

    Solo: The string solo is the hardest part of the song. I’ve kept this arrangement as close to the original as possible. But I think there’s room for a more uke-friendly version if you want to try. Or, I don’t think anyone would notice if you just skipped this section.

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  • Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds (Tabs)

    Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds (Tabs)Download

    Here’s my take on Elvis’s Suspicious Minds.

    Intro: A nifty little riff to start with.

    Verse: The verses are nice and simple. A straightforward G-C-D chord progression with a simple but effective melody.

    The verse at the end (bar 40 onwards) is a beefed-up version of the first half of the earlier verse pattern.

    Chorus: Here’s where things get challenging. There’s a lot of bouncing up and down the neck. And things get fiddly at the top end. I found the high Bm section (bar 24) the most challenging bit of the song.

    Bridge: This section has a big drop in tempo and a time signature change to 6/8. Like the chorus, there are some challenging moves here. But the slower tempo makes it more manageable.

    Outro: Closing off with a descending G minor pentatonic inspired by the live ending of the song.

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  • Bobby “Boris” Pickett – Monster Mash (Tabs)

    Bobby “Boris” Pickett – Monster Mash (Tab)Download

    I’ve covered a lot of Halloween songs over the years and I’ve always avoided Monster Mash. It’s delivered in a talk-singing voice, so there’s no real melody to transport to uke. So the melody in this arrangement is largely fictional. I’ve tried to follow the contours of the vocals and match the vibe of the original. But feel free to change anything you don’t like. Either way, I’m sure Pam would hate it.

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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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  • The Beach Boys – Wouldn’t It Be Nice (Tabs)

    The Beach Boys – Wouldn’t It Be Nice (Tab)Download

    How else could I pay tribute to Brian Wilson than with one of the greatest songs of all time: Wouldn’t It Be Nice. The song weaves through multiple keys and spans a wide vocal range, so I’ve done some shifting to bring it all within the range of the uke.

    Intro: Kicking off in the key of B with a nifty riff that is a bit of a finger-twister but fun to play. This section ends with a D chord setting things up for the key change to G in the verse. If you’re going to change keys in a song, playing the V chord of the key you’re changing to is the smoothest way to do it.

    Chorus: The happiest section of the song where you’re mostly rocking out open chords. As long as you keep things bright and percussive, you can’t go far wrong here.

    Verse: Moving to the key of E minor (the relative minor of G) for the more melancholy verse. This section contains my favourite chord in the song (the juicy F9 in bar 14) and favourite note (the D on “staaaaaayyyy” at the start of bar 16).

    Bridge: Shifting to the key of E major. This time, it’s more abrupt, without a chord to smooth the transition. This is the trickiest part of the arrangement. Lots of barre chords and use of the g-string in the melody.

    Outro: A nice, simple jam of an ending. No need to even change the chord. It’s just G all the way through.

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  • The Doors – Riders on the Storm (Tabs)

    The Doors – Riders on the Storm (Tab)Download

    Here’s one for everyone who is into The Doors: Riders on the Storm.

    Intro: The intro has hardest part of the whole song: the long legato line in bar 7. I’ve cut it much shorter than the original, but it’s still a challenge. Particularly since it needs to be played smoothly as it’s intended to evoke rain.

    Verse: Nothing much to worry about here. I’ve included the little twangy guitar riff in the first and third verses (e.g. bar 13). You can mix and match that with the straight chords in the second verse however you like.

    Solo: This is loosely based on the original guitar solo. Feel free to come up with your own version. But I recommend using lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs with a few bluesy bends to keep the feel of the original.

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  • Ray Charles – Hit the Road Jack (Tabs)

    Ray Charles – Hit the Road Jack (Tab)Download

    Ray Charles’s Hit the Road Jack is tricky to play. Mostly because it’s so quick. I’ve slowed it slightly from the original. But it’s still a challenge.

    Intro: This sets up two aspects that run through the whole song. First, the descending pattern of Dm-C-Bb-A7. And second, the liberal use of chnks.

    Chorus: This continues the pattern from intro and adds the melody on top. There’s a trip up the neck for the “no more…” part that requires some quick and accurate jumps.

    Verse: The melody here is quick and relentless. I’ve included a few bits of campanella playing to fit them all in. This is the section I had the most trouble with.

    Solo: I went with a very ukulele-style solo. So it’s almost all chord strumming with a lot of movement all over the neck. Then finishing off with a quick run.

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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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