Ukulele Hunt

Tag: Rock

  • The Velvet Underground – Sunday Morning (Tabs)

    The Velvet Underground – Sunday Morning (Tab)Download

    Sunday Morning is the poppiest song The Velvet Underground’s debut album. It has a laid back, easy going vibe. And you have two days to learn it so get to work. Watish!

    Intro: Played high up the neck to give a music box feel. But if it’s too cramped up there or your uke doesn’t have enough frets, you can play the same picking pattern with any inversion of F and Bb and it’ll work.

    Verse: Switching from thumb and two finger picking in the intro to one finger per string for the start of the verse. It’s tricky to bring out the melody in bars 13-16 with the melody switching from the A-string down to the C. So emphasise those as much as you can while keeping the chill vibe.

    Back to thumb and two finger picking from the Fmaj7 in bar 17 to bring out the descending low notes.

    Chorus: Bringing in a few strums in the chorus for contrast.

    Solo: The original solo has a bunch of hammer-ons, pull-offs and double stops. So I’ve used that concept for this solo rather than recreating it note for note.

    Outro: Similar to the first bars of the verse. But here there’s a slide up to the fifth fret instead of the open A-string. I toyed with playing it this way in the verse and decided to hold it back for the outro. But give it a go in the verse and see how you feel about it.

    Links

    More 60s tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Green Day – Good Riddance (Tabs)

    Green Day – Good Riddance (Tab)Download

    This arrangement of Green Day’s Good Riddance is played with fingerpicking the whole way through (one finger per string picking style). I love the way the intro sounds played that way and fingerpicking brings out the melody.

    But I originally arranged it strumming so it’s closer to the original and it works well. Plus it’s easier to play that way. So you have my full permission to play it that way (not that you need it).

    Links

    More 90s tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Warren Zevon/Steve Winwood – Back in the High Life Again (Tabs)

    Warren Zevon/Steve Winwood – Back in the High Life Again (Tab)Download

    Back in the High Life Again was originally by Steve Winwood but my version is much closer to Warren Zevon’s cover.

    To emphasise the Zevonness, my arrangement kicks off with a loose interpretation of Life’ll Kill Ya‘s intro. So long as you’re working within the F-Bb-C chords, there’s plenty of scope for your own ideas in the intro.

    From there, I’ve tried to keep everything very simple and easy to play.

    The only tricky bits are some fast hammer-ons and pull-offs at the end of bar 24 then into the Break section. Again, you can adjust this section to your taste. If you pick out notes from the chords and melody, you can’t go wrong.

    Links

    More rock tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag (Tabs)

    Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag (Tab)Download

    Wheatus’s Teenage Dirtbag has become a bit of a uke favourite with the UOGB’s version. I haven’t entirely decided if it’s an irresistible earworm or an irritating song with terrible lyrics. But I did have fun playing it.

    Intro: Muted strums on the g and C-strings, then extra emphasis on the E and A-strings.

    Verse: One finger per string picking with a few supporting strums where there’s no melody.

    Chorus: The first chorus is full on strumming. It finishes off with a bar of 2/4 then a little riff (that’s my favourite part of the song).

    The second chorus in this arrangement (the third in the original) has constant thumb picking on the C-string while the melody notes are picked on the E and A.

    Bridge: A bit of stretch up to the seventh fret here. But the big challenge is the “She doesn’t know…” bit which first crops up in bar 27. It gets pretty fiddly in the cramped higher frets.

    Links

    More 2000s tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Tina Turner – Proud Mary (Tabs)

    Tina Turner – Proud Mary (Tabs)Download

    A version of Proud Mary in tribute to Tina Turner. It’s one of those covers that completely eclipse the original version. It’s so perfect it’s hard to believe it wasn’t written for her.

    Links

    More soul tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Iggy Pop – The Passenger (Tabs)

    Iggy Pop – The Passenger (Tab)Download

    Iggy Pop’s The Passenger is a straight-forward basher. There’s the same chord sequence the whole way through:

    Am – F – C – G

    Am – F – C – E7

    The E7 chord is a bit of an oddity. In my arrangement I’m avoiding playing the g-string (by muting with my thumb) to keep the chord ambiguous as the whether it’s major or minor.

    Later in the song (starting on bar 48) the melody hits a G note which clashes with the Ab in the E7 chord. So in those cases, I’ve substituted in a G chord to make it sound more natural on the uke. And I’ve stuck with that G chord in the final chorus as well.

    The one slightly fancy touch comes in the second half of the intro (bars 5-8). This riff based on the lead guitar part which I thought it deserved showcasing.

    Links

    More 70s tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Green Day – Basket Case (Tabs)

    Green Day – Basket Case (Tab)Download

    It’s a very simple song. Other than bars 27-28, it’s all first position beginner chords and a straightforward melody. The only thing that makes it difficult is the tempo. So be sure to practice slowly and gradually build up speed.

    One slight oddity comes in bars 6 and 15. Here there’s a hammer-on on the C-string from a note way back in the previous bar. I do this to create a subtle change to the G chord in order to emphasise the much stronger second note in the bar.

    Links

    More 90s tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps (Tabs)

    Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps (Tab)Download

    Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist, Nick Zinner is one of my favourite guitar players. His playing is very minimal but he makes every note count. Never more so than on Maps. This arrangement is minimal too. With a few nods to the acoustic version which is a bit more fleshed out with the chords.

    Links

    More 2000s tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box (Tabs)

    Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box (Tab)Download

    Nirvana’s ever-present quiet-loud-quit-loud dynamics are in full effect on Heart-Shaped Box. So using fingerpicking for the quiet bits and strumming for the loud bits is a must in this arrangement.

    All the picking is one-finger-per-string style. That means you’re picking consecutive notes on g- and C-strings (e.g. in bar 5). I’d usually avoid that as it’s less natural than using thumb then index finger. But it works out much better for the rest of the verse.

    There are a whole bunch of bends in the song. The trickiest of them are in the chorus where you’re playing chords on the 2nd/3rd fret then bending at the 9th fret. You’re also bending whilst fretting the C-string for an extra challenge.

    On the upside, the bends sound better if they’re a little out of tune so you don’t have to worry too much about that.

    Links

    More 90s tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Garbage – Only Happy When It Rains (Tabs)

    Garbage – Only Happy When It Rains (Tab)Download

    I’m back and I’m starting the year how I intend to carry on: with pessimistic miserablism in the form of Garbage’s Only Happy When It Rains.

    Verse: Not wasting any time with an intro. Since the melody does a lot of switching between A and G, I’m taking advantage of the re-entrant string and using the open A and G notes. I love how well the bent notes at the fifth fret work here.

    Chorus: Switching to a major key for a fairly jaunty chorus melody.

    Solo: Nothing too flashy here. If you do want to get flashy, you could replace some of the notes at the third fret at the start of the bars in the second half with notes bent at the second fret. That’s more true to the original but tricky to pull off (particularly on the E chord).

    Outro: A bit of stretch here when you’re playing Am then hitting the A-string, 5th fret.

    Links

    More 90s tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon