Ukulele Hunt

Tag: Rock

  • Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a Prayer (Tabs)

    Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a Prayer (Tabs)Download

    Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer is full of hair-rock bravado, so I wasn’t sure if it’d work on uke. But it has a very strong melody, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed playing it.

    Intro: I had to change the talk-box riff a fair amount to get it onto uke. This version runs more smoothly than the original. And it doesn’t go on for 45 seconds.

    Verse: The verses don’t have anything too challenging. It’s all Am – F – G in open position.

    Pre-Chorus: Things build in intensity here but don’t get any more difficult.

    The second pre-chorus is cut short. As well as reducing the number of bars, they also cut a beat out of bar 44 (making it a bar of 3/4). This combined with the lack of any preparation in the chords, means the key change really hits you in the face.

    Chorus: The first chorus is challenging enough. But changing to C minor for the second chorus makes it even trickier. I originally arranged it to replay the chorus in the original key. And I think that’s a perfectly reasonable way to play it if you want to avoid the added difficulty. Even Jon Bon Jovi seems in two minds about it. But it’s such a moment in the song I decided it’s worth tackling.

    Solo: The solo has a few tricky moves too. But, once everything is octave shifted, it plays nicely on the uke. The one thing worth skipping would be the very fast lick in bar 40. It’s very difficult to play (I certainly didn’t get it cleanly in the video) and I think something simpler could be just as effective.

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  • The White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl (Tabs)

    The White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl (Tabs)Download

    The White Stripes’ Fell in Love with a Girl is a simple song but the tempo is high. I’ve slowed it down in my version (from 180BPM-ish in the original to 170) but it’s still a challenge to keep up. To make things easier, the arrangement moves across the strings rather than up and down the neck. Which means there’s a lot of open strings and use of the g-string in the melody.

    Even more than usual, this one rewards practicing slowly. Let your fingers learn the patterns before building up speed . Because once it’s up to tempo, there’s no time to think.

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  • Creedence Clearwater Revival/Wednesday – Bad Moon Rising (Tabs)

    Creedence Clearwater Revival/Wednesday – Bad Moon Rising (Tab)Download

    We’re kicking off Halloween season with CCR’s Bad Moon Rising. For extra spook, I’ve worked from the minor key version of the song that cropped up in Wednesday. I always like the way dark songs sound on the uke. So this minor version works well.

    I’m using Travis picking all the way through the tune. So the thumb is alternating between the g- and C-strings while the index and middle fingers cover the E- and A-strings, respectively. This technique sounds intricate and hard to play. But, once you’ve got it under your fingers, it flows very easily. So practice nice and slow before you attempt it at higher speed.

    If you’re in the mood, you can find more Halloween tabs and chords here

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  • Stone Temple Pilots – Plush (Tabs)

    Stone Temple Pilots – Plush (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on the most 90s song there is: STP’s Plush.

    Intro: Starting off with a simple chord riff with chromatically descending notes on the C and A-strings.

    Verse: Nothing too tricky in the verse. The transition between bars 7 and 8 was the bit I needed to practice most. Once you get to the, “And I feeeeeeel it,” section, you can just blast it out.

    Pre-Chorus: More of challenge. It’s all barre chords until the last few notes. And so is the chorus, so you’ll need some finger stamina to get through it. There are also some big stretches in bars 19 and 21.

    Chorus: The trickiest part. There’s some quick moving around the neck. I’ve included a fingering suggestion in bar 23 to make the transition easier.

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  • Don McLean – American Pie (Tabs)

    Don McLean – American Pie (Tab)Download

    Inevitably, I’ve trimmed this one down from its 8 1/2 minute runtime. This arrangement includes the opening slow verse, then speeds up for the first chorus, then speeds up again for the second verse and chorus.

    There’s nothing too tricky to play until the second half of the second verse. As well as the increased tempo, there’s a lot of jumping up and down the neck to handle.

    But the hardest part for me was memorising the verses. The chorus has a very catchy melody and a clear chord structure. But the verses are meandering and wordy. The chord progression never settles into a pattern. And even changes slightly between the two verses.

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  • They Might Be Giants – Doctor Worm (Tabs)

    They Might Be Giants – Doctor Worm (Tab)Download

    Doctor Worm is my favourite TMBG song. And it has been dusted off to promote their latest live album. It’s a lot of fun to play but has some challenging sections.

    Intro: I tried a few different ways to play this horn riff. And three of them crop up in this arrangement.

    The version in the intro is by far the trickiest but also the truest to the original. If you’d rather avoid playing it (and that’s the sensible choice), you can replace the first four bars with bars 69-72. Or, if you have the chops of Rabbi Vole, you can make the opposite substitution.

    Verse: The verses are much simpler. The third verse is especially simple, as it’s just the melody without chords.

    Chorus: The chorus starts with just blasting out the strums with the melody alternating between B and C on the A-string.

    The chorus ends with the horn riff transposed to Bb.

    Middle: The trickiest section of the whole song. You have to deal with the melody whilst the chords alternate between G and C. I highly recommend slowing this section right down when you’re learning it before attempting it anywhere near full speed.

    Bridge: A nice, simple section to recover after the middle.

    Solo: A very easy solo too. It starts off mirroring the verse melody then descends from there. The bass has much more room to descend than the uke, so I had to cheat it a little.

    Outro: Another variation on the horn riff. This time heading up the neck for the crescendo.

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  • Nirvana – In Bloom (Tabs)

    Nirvana – In Bloom (Tab)Download

    Nirvana’s In Bloom is a nice, easy one. It’s almost all strumming. There’s just a bit of fingerpicking in the first half of the verses. The rest is just blasting out chords with a few extra notes here and there.

    The only challenging part is the second half of bar 2 (repeated in bar 30). There’s a quick walk-up on the g-string that’s played with all down strums. If you’re finding that too hard, you can switch to just strumming out the Bb chord.

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  • R.E.M. – Find the River (Tabs)

    R.E.M. – Find the River (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on a track from R.E.M.’s massive Automatic for the People: Find the River.

    Intro: Easing into the song with a very straightforward four bars. Then into some tricky fast picking in the next four bars. Be sure to play the G chord in bars 5 and 7 by barreing the second fret. That’ll make for a smooth transition up the neck for the Gm7.

    Verse: The verse is fairly simple. It’s all first position chords and almost all strummed.

    Chorus: The chorus is more challenging as it moves up and down the neck. Although it’s still just strumming. The trickiest part comes in the second half of bars 19 and 21. If you’re finding that tricky, Here’s an alternative version that’s easier to play. Although it does require a quicker move down to the G chord.

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  • The Beach Boys – Surfin’ USA (Tabs)

    The Beach Boys – Surfin’ USA (Tab)Download

    Keeping up the summer vibes (and the Brian Wilson tributes) with The Beach Boys’ Surfin’ USA. Musically, the song is based on Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen. But Wilson took the wise decision to change the lyrics.

    The key technique throughout is strum blocking i.e. muting the strings you don’t want to sound. For example, in the opening three notes, I’m muting the g-string with my thumb and the E- and A-strings with my index finger.

    Intro: A very Chuck Berry-style lick. Played with all down-strums. And I’m holding my thumb against my index finger for some extra force (almost holding it like a pick).

    Verse: The verse starts out alternating bars between melody notes (played on the g-string) and a standard blues shuffle. Then switches to more straightforward chords in bar 10.

    For the strum blocking in the melody bars (e.g. bar 4) I’m muting the C-string with the underside of the finger I’m fretting the g-string with. And I’m muting the A-string with my middle finger (which is fretting the E-string).

    Chorus: Starts almost identical to the verse except for having a more basic shuffle and not muting the C-string for the melody parts. Then it ventures up the neck for the falsetto “Everybody’s gone…” in bar 30.

    Solo: I’ve stuck fairly close to the original here. But so long as you stay in the Chuck Berry area, there’s plenty of room to make changes.

    Outro: Just the “Everybody’s gone…” bit repeated, then I threw in a little lick at the end.

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  • The Beach Boys – Wouldn’t It Be Nice (Tabs)

    The Beach Boys – Wouldn’t It Be Nice (Tab)Download

    How else could I pay tribute to Brian Wilson than with one of the greatest songs of all time: Wouldn’t It Be Nice. The song weaves through multiple keys and spans a wide vocal range, so I’ve done some shifting to bring it all within the range of the uke.

    Intro: Kicking off in the key of B with a nifty riff that is a bit of a finger-twister but fun to play. This section ends with a D chord setting things up for the key change to G in the verse. If you’re going to change keys in a song, playing the V chord of the key you’re changing to is the smoothest way to do it.

    Chorus: The happiest section of the song where you’re mostly rocking out open chords. As long as you keep things bright and percussive, you can’t go far wrong here.

    Verse: Moving to the key of E minor (the relative minor of G) for the more melancholy verse. This section contains my favourite chord in the song (the juicy F9 in bar 14) and favourite note (the D on “staaaaaayyyy” at the start of bar 16).

    Bridge: Shifting to the key of E major. This time, it’s more abrupt, without a chord to smooth the transition. This is the trickiest part of the arrangement. Lots of barre chords and use of the g-string in the melody.

    Outro: A nice, simple jam of an ending. No need to even change the chord. It’s just G all the way through.

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