Ukulele Hunt

Tag: Pop

  • Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For? (Tabs)

    Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For? (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on Billie Eilish’s contribution to the Barbie soundtrack: What Was I Made For?

    Intro: I went with a few spicy chords for the intro to emphasise the melancholy mood of the song. If you prefer, you can just pick through the standard C – Em – F chord pattern.

    Verse: I’ve kept the arrangement for this simple and sparse. It’s a great melody, so doing that gives it plenty of room to breathe.

    Chorus: Things get a bit more involved in the chorus with pull-offs, slides and a few trips up the neck to deal with.

    Break: This section is only loosely based on the original. So there’s plenty of room to play about here.

    Outro: The song is in C but it ends on a G chord (i.e. the V chord). That leaves the song hanging on a tense, uncertain note.

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  • Chappell Roan – Picture You (Tabs)

    Chappell Roan – Picture You (Tab)Download

    Chappell Roan seems unavoidable at the moment. And Uke Hunt is no exception with a tab of Picture You.

    Intro: I took some inspiration from the Tiny Desk version in the intro. I like the way that lazy slide down from G to F# sets up the rest of the song.

    Verse: The awkwardness of the F# chord comes into play in the verse. I’d recommend trying out my favourite way to play the D chord here. I like to fret the g and C-strings with the tip of my index finger. Then fret the E with my middle finger. Playing it that way means your middle finger is already in position for the F# and the index finger is already half way to barreing the strings.

    The other tricky part is the long slide up to the ninth fret in bar 13.

    Pre-Chorus: There’s a shift down in the octave in bar 16. It is a little clunky but it’s necessary to keep things from going way up the fretboard.

    Chorus: Nothing new in the chorus. The transition from D to F# felt more natural here.

    Bridge: There are some very long hammer-on and pull-off bits in the “you-ou-ou-ou” bits that are tricky to get down.

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  • David Gray – Babylon (Tabs)

    David Gray – Babylon (Tab)Download

    Intro: The intro in the album version is much better than the single version. And suits the uke more. So that’s the version I went with.

    Verse: The trickiest part of the song comes in bar 18 with a big jump up to the top of the neck. But there’s not much happening in the bar before it, so you have plenty of time.

    Then you jump down in bar 17. You could make the jump sooner and change the 6-7-6 to 2-3-2 on the E-string (as it’s played in the rest of the song).

    Chorus: Increasing the amount of strumming and picking harder in this section. In the second chorus, from “Let go of your heart” the melody is harmonised.

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  • Nelly Furtado – I’m Like A Bird (Tabs)

    Nelly Furtado – I’m Like A Bird (Tab)Download

    For my arrangement of Nelly Furtado’s I’m Like a Bird, I’ve slowed things down a little. Which emphasises the song’s melancholy feel. And makes it easier to play. Which is helpful, as this one is challenging.

    Intro: The start is nice and easy. Just fingerpicked chords with a slow melody on top.

    Verse: The verse sticks with fingerpicking. There are a couple of quick hammer-ons to deal with. Then some alternate picked notes leading into the pre-chorus.

    Pre-Chorus: The pre-chorus builds up with some strumming. And my favourite version of the Fmaj7 chord: 5500.

    Chorus: Another step up in difficulty here. There’s a long series of hammer-ons and pull-offs in bar 24. You can make these really sound out by pulling downwards with your finger slightly for the pull-off. Almost as if you’re plucking the string with your fretting finger.

    Bridge: I had a really hard time getting the phrasing right in bars 29-30. And I didn’t really manage it in the video. Listen to the original rather than mine to get it right. The odd phrasing continues through this section and into the modified pre-chorus that follows.

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  • Macy Gray – I Try (Tabs)

    Macy Gray – I Try (Tab)Download

    Thanks to Lin for suggesting Macy Gray’s I Try for a tabbing. She’s remembered as a one hit wonder, but Macy Gray had a few great songs.

    Verse: The first verse is nice and simple, with everything in the first position. Just a few sus chords among us. And the open g-string gets a lot of use in the melody.

    The second verse is more tricky, with a couple of trips up the neck.

    Pre-Chorus: Just a big jump up to the seventh fret to deal with the first time around. Again, the second time around, things get tricky and you’re playing way up the neck.

    Chorus: I love the campanella run in bar 16. It’s a little fiddly to play, but I think it’s worth the effort.

    Outro: This section might not be worth the effort! The key change in this song is so iconic I couldn’t leave it out. But it makes the song much more difficult to play. I wouldn’t blame if you just played the chorus in the original key here instead.

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  • Taylor Swift – august (Tabs)

    Taylor Swift – august (Tab)Download

    Verse: These are nice and simple. Standard chords in the first position.

    Chorus: There aren’t many songs that get more gentle in the chorus. But it’s very effective here. This section is slightly more difficult. It moves up the neck for a bit of campanella action and there’s some swift picking required.

    The second chorus starts with an A minor chord rather than a C. If you prefer, you can just stick with C since that’s what she did on the Long Pond version.

    Bridge: The song changes character here and it gets much trickier to play. The melody is less structured than in the verse and chorus, with a bunch of words crammed in.

    Outro: I tried to mimic the way the song drops out for the first bar of this section the second time it crops up. Then blasting in with full on strumming.

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  • Christine and the Queens – Tilted (Tabs)

    Christine and the Queens – Tilted (Tab)Download

    This is a rare occasion where I didn’t get tilted trying to record the video. It’s a straightforward and fun song to play on uke. There are many moves up and down the neck but you have plenty of time for them.

    The only challenge I had was playing the open C note on the offbeats in the verse (e.g. bar 13). I’m so used to plodding out the thumb-picked notes on the beats it took a bit of practice to rewire my brain.

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  • Phil Phillips/Cat Power – Sea of Love (Tabs)

    Phil Phillips/Cat Power – Sea of Love (Tab)Download

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  • Stephen Sanchez – Until I Found You (Tabs)

    Stephen Sanchez – Until I Found You (Tab)Download

    In a rare case of being almost up to date, here’s a tab of Stephen Sanchez’s retro ballad and TikTok smash Until I Found You.

    Intro: The retro touches start in the intro with a classic IV to minor iv chord change (C to Cm) in this case. Which shows up in a million Beatles songs as well as Creep and Wake Me Up When September Ends.

    Verse: The verse starts with the unmistakeable interval from the Crazy melody. The verse melody has a very lazy, slurred timing to it. I’ve kept some of that but I have straightened it up a little.

    Chorus: The chorus is more straight forward in terms of timing. The slide up to the seventh fret is the only bump.

    Solo: A very simple solo. Just bashing out the chords and doing a little slide. But doing that accurately and quickly is challenging.

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  • The B-52’s – Love Shack (Tabs)

    The B-52’s – Love Shack (Tab)Download

    Love Shack isn’t the most uke-friendly song but it is a ton of fun to play.

    Intro: Playing the melody using strum blocking i.e. strumming but muting everything but the string that’s playing the melody. That means you can play single notes but still keep things energetic and forceful.

    Verse 1: Starting with Kate Pierson’s part played high up the neck before switching to Fred Schneider’s part lower down the neck. Schneider’s part is very talky so the melody here is somewhat created.

    Pre-Chorus: A nice easy little section.

    Chorus: The section I had most trouble playing. It’s tricky to combine the guitar riff and the vocal line smoothly. The second chorus is a little different from the first and third.

    Verse 2: Four bars of talky section, four bars of strum blocking then some simple strumming to finish with.

    Bridge: The section that works least well on the uke. I thought about leaving it out but it’s too iconic. It’s starts with a reworking of the bass riff then goes into a shortened version of the “Bang, bang, on the door” bit. I’ve even included an attempt at the “Tin roof, rusted” bit. Although I wouldn’t blame you for missing any of this out.

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