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.
Here’s Lou Reed’s Perfect Day in tribute to Herbie Flowers who passed away last week.
As well as Lou Reed, Herbie played bass for David Bowie, Roger Daltrey, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and many others. He contributed iconic bass lines to Walk on the Wild Side (which you can hear him talk about here), Space Oddity and Rock On. And, to top it off, he played tuba on Perfect Day.
Here’s my take on Buckets of Rain from Bob Dylan’s incredible album Blood on the Tracks.
This one gets a little fiddly in places. But there are only really two sections. So it’s not a lot to get down.
I’m using one finger per string picking all the way through. But there are a couple of places with quick repetition of notes on the same string where you might want to do a bit of alternate picking e.g. bar 8.
There’s a slight variation in the intro/solo section. In bar 20 and 21, you have to head up the neck for a slide.
The Wind comes across as a gentle little ditty. But there are some fiendish time signature changes in the chorus to deal with. This version is slowed down to about 90% of the original which makes it easier to handle.
Intro: A very simple start using one-finger-per-string picking. Which is used here and in the verses.
That’s followed by the main guitar riff. You could play this all in the first position. But I moved it up the neck to differentiate it from the melody.
Verse: Nothing much to deal with here. Just alternating between the guitar riff and the melody.
Chorus: Here’s where the trouble starts. There are bars of 5/4 and 2/4 thrown in along with irregularly spaced chord changes. The second chorus has an additional bar of 5/4 as well.
I found it hard to keep track of. My approach was to break it down. I started by counting out the bars. When I had that down, I tried playing just the chords. Then adding the melody part in starting at a very slow tempo.
Just enough time before the big day to work up a version of Greg Lake’s I Believe in Father Christmas. Later recorded by the whole of Emerson, Lake and Palmer as well as U2, Mark Kozelek and many others. But it’s the original I worked from for this arrangement.
Intro: The trickiest part of the song. There are a few switches in the picking pattern which can get you in a jumble. The best way to get these down is to practice them very slowly (slow enough you don’t make any mistakes). So when you speed up, you can just play them on auto-pilot.
There’s also a bar of 2/4 (bar 8) followed by a big jump up the fretboard. Give yourself a little extra time by not holding the 23 notes and moving up during the open g-string.
Verse and Chorus: Much simpler. All done with basic chord shapes and a melody that fits in the first three frets.
Solo: The solo is adapted from Prokofiev’s Troika. It’s a nice, little Christmas ditty that fits well on the uke. Worth learning this section even if you’re not bothered about the rest of the song.
Grandma’s Hands by Bill Withers. You might recognise the riff as the sample in Blackstreet’s fantastic No Diggity. Or maybe James Corden’s terrible England song.
This arrangement is very simple and the tempo is slow, so this is a very approachable tab to take on.
Intro: I hadn’t realised until starting on this arrangement that the No Diggity riff isn’t a straight sample of the original. In his version, Bill Withers has an Esus4 chord missing from that version. I went with the No Diggity version for this arrangement (and so did Gregory Porter’s guitarist).
Verse: A couple fingerings to help with the chord changes here. At the end of bar 5, play the A-string, 2nd fret with your index finger barred over all the strings. That’ll set you up for the B7 chord in the next bar.
In bars 10 and 11 (and in the repeats), play the A-string, 2nd fret with your middle finger so you have your index and ring fingers ready for the A7 chord.
Outro: A little minor pentatonic lick to finish things off.
Intro: The hardest part of the whole song is the chromatic run between bars 3 and 4. I spread the notes between the strings to make it a bit easier to play but it’s still a big challenge.
Verse: Lots of jumps up and down the neck to deal with. Bars 9-12 are fun to play (once you’ve practiced it enough not to have to think about it).
Bridge: The tempo slows right down here which helps to make it easy to play.
Solo: Another section that’s difficult to play. But I mostly ditched the chords for this section so it’s just single notes.
Intro 1: The album version of the track starts with Martin Quittenton’s (completely out of place) little contrapuntal piece in 3/4 time. I almost skipped it but it’s a fun tune that’s worth learning by itself.
Intro 2: The second intro is much more in keeping with the song’s melancholy mood.
Verses: The verses are fairly straightforward. It’s mostly strummed with a few notes picked out here and there.
Solo: Loosely based on the original with lots of sliding around the fretboard. As always, throw some ideas of your own in here.
A version of Proud Mary in tribute to Tina Turner. It’s one of those covers that completely eclipse the original version. It’s so perfect it’s hard to believe it wasn’t written for her.
Iggy Pop’s The Passenger is a straight-forward basher. There’s the same chord sequence the whole way through:
Am – F – C – G
Am – F – C – E7
The E7 chord is a bit of an oddity. In my arrangement I’m avoiding playing the g-string (by muting with my thumb) to keep the chord ambiguous as the whether it’s major or minor.
Later in the song (starting on bar 48) the melody hits a G note which clashes with the Ab in the E7 chord. So in those cases, I’ve substituted in a G chord to make it sound more natural on the uke. And I’ve stuck with that G chord in the final chorus as well.
The one slightly fancy touch comes in the second half of the intro (bars 5-8). This riff based on the lead guitar part which I thought it deserved showcasing.