I was inspired to take on this one after watching Andrea Bocelli at Easter near the start of the lockdown.
There are two run-throughs of the melody here. The first uses basic chords (although sometimes in inversions you might not be familiar with). The second uses jazzier chords that are sometimes a bit weird and tricky to play. Feel free to mix and match as you like and, as always, put in your own ideas and make it your own.
I posted this video last December and in all the excitement of 2020 completely forgot to post it until a YouTube commenter reminded me.
It’s a very simple song. Just beginner-level chords and a contained melody. There’s only one jog up the fretboard in bar 31.
The restraint of the music certainly doesn’t stop it being emotionally impactful. The simplicity and openness of the song makes it the perfect choice for the Hibernian Football Club song. So good it was voted best football anthem. Although I’d put it second behind You’ll Never Walk Alone.
A short and sweet one: the theme to the TV show Community a.k.a. At Least It Was Here by The 88. It’s a jaunty little tune that transfers very nicely to uke. The highlight here is the rising chord move of C5-C6-C7 that builds the tension perfectly into the second half of the tune.
Being a huge fan of Bon Iver and not such a fan of Taylor Swift, I was curious to find out how this collab between the two would work out. And, while it lacks the musical and lyrical layers of a Bon Iver song, it’s very catchy. Certainly good enough for a tabbing.
I’m not too strict with the fingerpicking in this one. The intro is one finger per string picking. The verse and chorus have some rapid melody notes. So I switch to alternating between index and middle finger picking for those. Then I start using more strums when things get more strident in the bridge.
There’s nothing too challenging as far as the fretting hand goes. The chords will mostly be familiar to you, and it’s almost all played in the first position. The only exception is the little hop up to the fifth fret for the Dm in the bridge. There’s also a bit of a stretch for the Csus4 with the A-string, 5th fret on top.
This month’s most popular request on Patreon was Joern’s suggestion of Gary Jules’ cover of Mad World by Tears for Fears. Which is understandable in the current situation. But, boy, is it gloomy. I like some dour music but this one is a little too bleak for me.
On the upside, the melody is very easy to play. Other than the little trill at the end of the verse, every note is part of the chord it’s played over. So your fretting hand just has to play the chords. In the verses and the first part of the chorus I’m picking with the thumb on C, index on E and middle on A.
The tricky part is the riff in the intro and at the end of the chorus. Those parts use one finger per string picking and took me a bit of practice to get reliably down. And be sure to play the “maaaaad world” notes with a little extra force to make them stand out.
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Ever since Money Heist hit Netflix, I’ve had a steady stream of YouTube commenters telling me I look like Helsinki (played by Darko Peric. There were only two responses I could make to this: get a giant, angry bear tattooed on my body or do a cover of theme tune. So until the tattoo parlours reopen here’s a tab of the theme Cecilia Krull’s My Life Is Going On.
The first half of the arrangement is played with fingerpicking (thumb on C-string, index on E-string and middle on A-string). Then switches to strumming with a few picked notes in between. The wavy lines indicate roll strums (i.e. strumming with every finger on your strumming hand in quick succession).
Samer uke started a challenge to play this song and spread some aloha and a bunch of people have jumped on. So here’s a very simple arrangement if you want to do likewise.
The song is all played with the thumb on the picking hand and the chords are just C, Am, F and G. And I have added fingering suggestions in a couple of places that make for smoother transitions. There’s plenty of room in the arrangement for you to add your own flair to it.
Thanks to Patreon Jenn for requesting this typically catchy stomper from The Lumineers.
Most of the arrangement is strummed with the melody notes added to the chords. Arranging like that does risk the melody getting lost in the chords. It helps that this song has a strong melody. And it really helps if the listener already knows the song.
The little arrowheads above the notes indicate emphasised strums. So give those an extra bit of oomph or the strum is going to sound very boring.
Finishing off this bonus Patreon week with a request from Taras. A fitting request since this week sees the 30th anniversary of Twin Peaks.
Other than some thumb action in bars 27 and 28, I’m using one finger per string picking all the way through. And thanks to the slow pace, it’s mostly easy going.
It was so sad to hear of the death of Bill Withers last weekend. He always filled with such warmth it’s hard not to love him.
For my little tribute I went with Lean On Me. It has such a strong melody that I kept the arrangement very simple. For the first verse and the choruses I’m picking out the melody with one finger per string picking including some fake strums where the chords and melody intersect. There are also a bunch of supporting chords to keep the tune going that are just strummed in the normal fashion.
The middle section is picked mainly with my index finger. But it’s just one note at a time so you can play it however you like. And then the second verse breaks it down to just the melody (on the E-string) harmonised with thirds (on the g-string).
