This arrangement of Hurt is very much based on the Cash version. But I was a massive Nine Inch Nails fan as an angsty teen, so some of that version might have slipped through.
The plodding pace of this song makes it pretty easy to play. Just make sure you give the strings some welly in the chorus to recreate the thundering, steady pianos.
Shamefully, I’ve never seen an episode of Buffy. I couldn’t even have hummed the theme tune before it was requested on the Patreon. Even so, it’s such a 90s-fest it gave me nostalgia.
And it’s dead simple. It’s mostly bashing out chords with a few single notes here and there.
If you’re ever in the mood for a strange but hilarious movie, I highly recommend Eraserhead. One of the film’s many joys is the Lady in the Radiator song. The song has had a life outside the movie as In Heaven becoming a Pixies live favourite and a jazz odyssey by Julian Lage.
I’ve arranged the tune in D minor for ease of playing. And with it being so slow and sparse, it’s a pretty simple one to play. The only oddity is Ab chord in bar 8. Ab isn’t a chord you expect to find in a song in D minor. So it adds a dissonant and unsettling edge to the song (to match the rest of the movie). I bend the notes on the E-string, 4th fret in that bar to accentuate the dissonant sound.
O du lieber Augustin is a short and sweet waltz from 17th Century Vienna. It’s a real earworm that’s been repurposed for everything from symphonies to children’s songs all over the world.
My first encounter with it came in The Simpsons. But I was inspired to do a version after watching the absolutely wild movie Funeral Parade of Roses.
The tune is fun, super-simple and uses only two chords. Just make sure to give it a bounce to give it an oompah waltz feel. You can do that by playing the second and third beats staccato i.e. muting them shortly after picking them instead of letting them ring (where they’re not part of the melody).
Probably my favourite Christmas song without swears in. And a fitting song for a Christmas where so many people are separated from their loved ones.
The first time I heard this song was a ukulele cover by Ballard C Boyd (who is now a director and producer for Colbert).
The arrangement is dead simple so you can focus on playing it with feeling.
Don’t pay any attention to my fingering. I jacked up the tip of my index finger doing the lazy man’s load. So I’m fingering some things in a weird way.
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While writing up Sweet Victory earlier this year, I decided I had to do a tab of this classic SpongeBob ukulele song.
I’ve kept the arrangement very simple. There are just three underlying chords: F, Bb and C. And I’m only using my thumb for picking. Although you could very easily use fingerpicking or a pick. Using those might help with the quick thumb work in bars 5 and 6.
’ve decided to loosen up on my schedule of what gets posted on what days. Partly because I’m sure no one cares. And partly because I’ve been promising this tab and getting requests for it for a long time and it keeps getting bumped for something more timely.
On a Good Day is a very atypical Joanna Newsom song. It’s far more emotionally, lyrically and musically direct than anything else she’s done. To match that, I’ve kept the arrangement super-simple and beginner-friendly. Although I’m using fingerpicking, you can play the whole thing with just your thumb.
Time for a song of great social and political import. And, more importantly, an easy to play song. I’ve kept the simplicity of the accapella original. Just adding a few chords in for support.
I’m using fingerpicking in my version. But it’s arranged so you can play the whole thing with your thumb if you prefer.
It wasn’t until embarrassingly recently that I found out Bang Bang was written by Sonny Bono and first recorded by Cher. But it’s the sparse and haunting Nancy Sinatra version that is the most famous. But I don’t think any cover has eclipsed the original since Oasis’s version of Mike Flowers Pops’ Wonderwall
For my version, I’ve taken cues heavily from the Sinatra version. Keeping the timing and the phrasing very loose.
In the tab there are a few repeat symbols you’re unfamiliar with. The first repeat comes at the end of bar 16 with the familiar double bar and dots. That sends you back to bar 5. From there you play through to bar 20 where it says D.S. al Fine (Da Segno al Fine). That sends you back to the squiggle at bar 5 and tells you to stop where it says Fine in bar 16.
Following on from Good Vibrations, another Pet Sound with bass from Lyle Ritz. Sloop John B is a traditional Bahamian song. The earliest version was recorded in Nassau in 1935 under the title Histe Up the John B Sails. There are many lyrical variations. My favourite being the the verse in Blind Blake’s version (the Bahamian one rather than the American blues guy) about having to go home because his pants burst.
This arrangement starts off with that shimmering guitar riff from the Beach Boy’s version. And I keep interlacing this riff with the melody throughout. Be sure to play this softer than the melody so the two don’t get confused.
The verse is all fingerpicked with the melody mostly on the E- and A-strings with some lower notes on the C-string to keep the rhythm going. To give the chorus a bump I play the melody with strums. That means you have to switch between strumming and picking. Which can be tricky. If you need a bit more time to switch you can miss out a note or two of the backing without losing anything important.