Daydream Believer by The Monkees is fairly straightforward to play. The biggest challenges are a few quick hops up the neck. The trickiest one coming in the shift between bars 8 and 9. Other than that, it’s all familiar chord shapes and a simple but insanely catchy melody.
The original is in the key of G and that fits very nicely on the uke so I’ve kept it for this arrangement. The little piano riff in the intro works particularly well.
Spandau Ballet’s True is a real new romantic cheese-fest. Despite (or maybe because of) that, I had a lot of fun playing this. There are some tasty chords and runs in there.
Cheesiest and funnest of all is the sax solo. I’ve kept this as close to the original as I could manage. The chord progression switches to a simple Eb – Ab vamp. So there’s plenty of scope to throw your own ideas in there. The trickiest part of the whole song comes in bar 60 with a quick descending run at the climax.
For this arrangement, I’ve stuck fairly closely to the George Michael original. But I’ve listened to the Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright version more often so some of that version has snuck into this arrangement. And, of course, the Sexy Sax Man version is definitive.
The chords are the same the whole way through: Dm – Gm7 – Bb – Am (the same key as the original). But things don’t get boring as you’ll be playing the chords in different inversions. And you can make things even more interesting by varying the dynamics as you’re playing.
There is a note played on the E-string, 13th fret in bar 14. If you playing a soprano and don’t have a 13th fret, you can replace that note with A-string, 8th fret.
Following up the Zombie tab with another of The Cranberries’ most loved songs.
The intro has a fingerpicking figure switching between Cmaj7 and G that reminds me of Tonight, Tonight. After that, the original has a jarring fade into the main body of the song. I’ve smoothed that out so it’s closer to the acoustic version.
The other part to look out for comes in the bridge. Because the melody goes below the C on the uke, I’ve had to shift the melody in bars 35 and 36. The transition back down in bar 37 needs to be played confidently to get away with it.
Here’s my take on the No Doubt mega-hit Don’t Speak. The second best song Gwen Stefani has been involved with. I wasn’t sure if this one would work on uke, but I like how mournful it sounds on the instrument.
The chords in the verse are a little unusual. The first time around the Dm chord lasts one bar. The second time, it lasts half a bar and all the chords are moved half a bar earlier with an extra half a bar of Dm in bar 9.
The pre-chorus introduces some strums to build up to the chorus. The chord progression in the chorus is great. Particularly moving between D and Cm.
There’s a key change to Eb in the bridge. Which makes it tricky to play.
Next is the solo, which also has a few tricky bits. Most notably the trip up the neck in bar 31.
After that is a minimal version of the verse and a chorus with a slight variation at the end.
The chorus for this one is insanely catchy. And the benefit of playing an instrumental version is that you don’t have to wonder why he rhymes a word with itself so many times in this song.
This one is fingerpicked all the way through. I’m using one-finger-per-string picking all the way through. But you can switch to alternate picking for some of the rapid notes.
The chorus is nice and straight-forward and the solo is very basic. The only part I had trouble with was the verses. The melody shifts slightly all the time. Which made it hard for me to keep track of. But it is nice and compact and doesn’t require anything fancy.
The little instrumental break in the original song sounds great on the uke. So I decided to use that as the intro. It is also the most difficult part of the arrangement to play, though. After that, the verse and pre-chorus are straightforward. The chorus does have a couple of trips up the neck to contend with.
Till There Was You was originally recorded by Meredith Wilson. But, of course, is much better known by The Beatles’ cover.
This arrangement is heavily based on The Beatles’ version but is closer to the tempo of the original. I’ve taken a few liberties including adding my own intro and solo. Feel free to do the same for your version.
I recommend one finger per string picking for everything but the solo. I just used whatever falls under my fingers in that section.
There are a few fancy chords in the arrangement. Including my favourite chord: C7(#5). C7 is already an unsettled chord and adding that #5 creates even more tension that is released when you move back to the F chord.
My favourite part of Halo to play is the intro. It fits so nicely on the uke I decided to use it as the outro too. Things stay fairly straightforward to play in the verse. All that is played with one finger per string picking.
But in the bridge and chorus Beyonce stretches her vocal range which means a trip up the neck. The arrangement goes as high as the 14th fret where it’s tough to play cleanly. You’ll also need to pick more forcefully so to keep the volume of the note at the same level as notes lower on the neck.
The picking in the rest of the song is more haphazard. For the quick notes, I’m using alternate picking to keep up.
I’ve cut the intro way down from the original version. You’re welcome to use any picking pattern and any inversion of the chords here.
The chorus is brilliant. It manages to pull of the trick of being both bleak and catchy.
The verses are angry and even more sparse than the chorus. In a case of do as I say not do as I do, let the verse breath and try not to rush the melody.
Finally, the legendary drum Phil (bar 60). I’ve gone with a descending run based on the D blues scale with the last four notes played chromatically.