Ukulele Hunt

Tag: indie

  • The Smiths – Panic (Tabs)

    The Smiths – Panic (Tab)Download

    A version of Panic tribute to Smiths bassist, Andy Rourke.

    Intro: A short jingle-jangle intro. I originally played it an octave up to accommodate the original. But this version is much easier to play and keeps the vibe of the original.

    Verses: The verses are all very slightly different. The trickiest part comes in bar 17-18 with some quick triplets. The first will require a bit of alternate picking. The third verse starts using the g-string to play melody notes (beginning in bar 38).

    Bridge: Keeping the barre across the strings even when you don’t need to makes this section easier to play.

    Chorus: Even more melody notes on the g-string in this section to keep it rocking. Plus the chords are a little more filled out with a G between the C and D.

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  • The Jesus and Mary Chain – Sometimes Always (Tabs)

    The Jesus and Mary Chain – Sometimes Always (Tab)Download

    Tabbing a Mazzy Star song inspired to me to bash together this Hope Sandoval featuring Jesus and Mary Chain song. And “bash” is an accurate description. It’s a route 1 arrangement with just strumming and melody.

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  • Mazzy Star – Fade Into You (Tabs)

    Mazzy Star – Fade Into You (Tab)Download

    By far the most challenging aspect of Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You is the timing of the melody. Thanks to Gen X disaffection, the melody keeps coming in later than you’d expect.

    In the verses, you’d expect the melody in bars 7, 11 and 19 to hit right at the start of the bar (as it does in bar 15). Instead, it comes in a quaver late (or eighth note if you prefer).

    In the chorus, it’s similar in bars 23, 27 and 31. But I found these even trickier to get the hang of.

    No such problems in the solo, though. Here you can mess around however you please using the chords as a basis for your twiddling.

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  • Radiohead – Karma Police (Tabs)

    Radiohead – Karma Police (Tab)Download

    I’ve written up quite a few Radiohead songs in the past. Now it’s time for the OK Computer track Karma Police.

    Intro: Mostly picking out the chords with the thumb on the C-string and the middle and index on the E and A, respectively.

    On the Eb chord there’s a nice addition of an F note making it an Ebsus2. To prepare for the change to that, fret the E-string, third fret in the first half of the bar with your little finger.

    Verse: Sticking with the same picking for the verse. The only slightly tricky part here is the run down from the fifth fret in bar 12.

    Bridge: I’m mostly using one-finger-per-string picking in this section until the last two bars. There’s a lot more moving around the neck in this section, with the transition between bars 17 and 18 being tricky (I flubbed that bit in the video). Which is the most Radioheady part of the song.

    Chorus: Even more moving around here, but it’s less intense.

    Solo: The solo takes its inspiration from the bass line. There’s lots of scope for your own ideas here.

    After that, it’s another run through the chorus and a fade out with a little of Freakshow Industries’ Backmask added.

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  • Marcy Playground – Sex and Candy (Tabs)

    Marcy Playground – Sex and Candy (Tab)Download

    Following on from No Rain with another 90s one-hit wonder: Marcy Playgraound’s Sex and Candy.

    The song only has verses and choruses but they still manage to sneak in three key changes. The verses are in G and the choruses in Bb.

    The key change from the verse to the chorus is very smooth. Although the Bb note (A-string, 1st fret) isn’t in the key of G, we’ve heard it a lot in the Eb chord and the melody. So the transition that occurs during the “I smell sex and…” part is seamless.

    The key change back at the end of the chorus calls attention to itself though. In bar 20 the chords shift down half a step to D to set up the key of G. A bit of theory: the most common way to change key is to play the V chord of the key you’re changing to. This sets up the new key rather than diving straight into it. In this case, D is the V chord of G.

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  • The La’s – There She Goes (Tabs)

    The La’s – There She Goes (Tab)Download

    Here’s a tab for The La’s’s massive (and only) hit There She Goes. Despite their one-hit-wonder status, they were massively influential and were the template for the Britpop fad that kicked off a few years later.

    This arrangement kicks off with the riff moved up to the key of C. That makes things much easier because you can use the open g-string as the pivot note. Things get a little trickier in bar 5 when the chords come in. If you’re struggling with that, you can keep playing the single note version and no one will care.

    You can make the chorus easier with some forward-thinking fretting. If you fret the C chord at the start of bars 11 and 13 with your middle finger, you’ll be able to transition into the G chord much more smoothly. And at the start of bars 15 and 17, fret a Dm chord like you usually would and play the E-string third fret with your pinkie.

    Next it’s back to the riff with a short solo section. Then the song shifts to A minor in the bridge but keeps the same melody. From there, the arrangement switches to mostly strumming as it builds towards the end.

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  • Portishead – Glory Box (Tabs)

    Portishead – Glory Box (Tab)Download

    The song is built around a sample of Ike’s Rap by Isaac Hayes (the same sample used in Tricky’s Hell is Round the Corner). So the whole song is on an Em chord (Ebm in the original) with descending bass notes on the C-string of E, D, C#, C.

    By far the hardest part of the arrangement is the artificial harmonics in bars 21-22 (“A thousand flowers could bloom”) played at the same time as the bass notes. If, like me, you struggle with that bit, you can ignore the harmonics all together and just play it as written.

    The solo starts off like the original but I go off on my own from there. I suggest you do the same. I’m using notes from the melody plus a Bb (A-string, 1st fret) that lends some gritty dissonance to the solo.

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  • Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day (Tabs)

    Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on, part-time uker and full time Belieber, Sufjan Stevens’s heartbreaking Casimir Pulaski Day. I also love Mikaela Davis’s harp cover, so a bit of that has snuck into the arrangement too.

    The song gets much of its power from being blunt and straightforward. So I’ve kept the arrangement stark and tried to play it directly without too much emotion.

    The picking is mostly thumb on the g- and C-strings and the index and middle on E and A respectively. The big exception is the rapid notes on the C-string at the end of each stanza e.g. bars 9 and 17. For those, I recommend using alternate picking as it’s too quick to comfortably play with your thumb.

    The other big exception is the trumpet solo, where I switch to strumming to give things a lift.

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    Tab for Sufjan’s Death with Dignity

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  • R.E.M. – Losing My Religion (Tabs)

    R.E.M. – Losing My Religion (Tab)Download

    The opening riff for REM’s Losing My Religion is a blast to play and fits nicely on the uke. I particularly like the riff on the G chord leading into the verse which I play campanella style.

    At first, I was playing the chords with strums. But I switched to fingerpicking for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it makes the chords sharper and more mandolin-like. Secondly, it means you can keep the chords very short (by immediately stopping the strings ringing with your picking fingers) making the sound punchier. Even so, strumming is a perfectly legitimate way to go and lends the tune a different feel.

    Things get a lot more miserable once Stipe turns up. I mostly play the verses and choruses with one finger per string picking. You can be fairly loose with these sections and don’t need to play everything note for note.

    My second favourite part is the riff right at the end. It’s ultra simple but very effective. Well worth learning even if you don’t bother with the rest of the song as it’ll fit in many situations.

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  • The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry (Tabs)

    The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry (Tab)Download

    I went into this one expecting it to be tricky. But it all fell quite nicely once I transposed it into C. The riff works very well and is an absolute classic (even if I can’t shake the feeling it’s a bit 90s daytime TV theme).

    For my version, I worked from the ’79 version which I didn’t realise until after is subtly different from the 80s video version. The biggest difference is in the bridge section. The video version has harmonised vocals and ascends on the “more”s at the end. While the single version is a single vocal line and descends at the end.

    The chord move F-Em-Dm at the end of the riff is very quick. You can make it easier by keeping your middle finger free on the F chord. Leaving open to play the Em. n:

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