Ukulele Hunt

Tag: Tricky

  • The Jackson 5 – I’ll Be There (Tabs)

    The Jackson 5 – I’ll Be There (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on The Jackson 5’s I’ll Be There.

    Intro: It’s odd to hear a harpsichord on a Motown record. The song was recorded in Motown’s “Hitsville West” in LA rather than Detroit. So perhaps they were influenced by the scene that produced songs like Monday, Monday and When I Grow Up.

    Verse: Nothing too difficult in the first verse. The only tricky bit is a quick flourish on the melody in bar 8. Which you can drop altogether if you don’t fancy it.

    The second verse brings in some noodling higher up the fretboard that requires some fast shifting.

    This section has my favourite part of the song: the tasty C7sus4 in bar 10.

    Chorus: The chorus modulates from the key of F to Ab. This much less uke-friendly key does present some challenges. Particularly some awkward finger-shuffling between bars 15 and 16.

    Outro: Probably the trickiest part of the song with the most shifting up and down the fretboard.

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  • Chappell Roan – Pink Pony Club (Tabs)

    Chappell Roan – Pink Pony Club (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club.

    Verse: There are two halves to the verse. The first half is loose and rhythmically varied. You can be very expressive in your playing here.

    The second half is much more structured. You have a repeated rising pattern of eighth notes. But you can still get some emotion in through dynamics. I like to increase the volume through the pattern.

    Pre-Chorus: My favourite section to play. Both the loud first pre-chorus and the quiet second one.

    Chorus: Lots of rapid picking here that you’re going to need to use alternate picking to play (i.e. alternating between picking with your index and middle fingers).

    Solo: By far the most difficult section to play. I switch to strict thumb and two-finger picking for this section. It’s played fast and you have to be quick with the chord changes.

    If you don’t fancy it, I think you can skip it and no one will care. You could also come up with your own section here using the same chords.

    Bridge: The melody here is almost the same as the verse but played over a different chord progression.

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  • Dean Martin – Sway (Tabs)

    Dean Martin – Sway (Tab)Download

    Sway aka Quién será? is best known to me for Dean Martin’s version. Although it seems like Michael Bublé’s is the most popular these days. Since Cris mentioned Dean Martin, it’s that version I worked from. Also, it’s the superior version.

    Intro: This is by far the hardest part of the song. There are a few runs, the most rapid of which comes in bar 7.

    Since it’s an intro, you have a lot of leeway to change things. The easiest option is to follow Buble’s version and create a variation of bars 13 – 16.

    Verse: Things get a lot simpler in the verse. It’s just switching between A7 and Dm with the melody sticking to the first three frets.

    Chorus: There’s a bit more going on in the chorus. More chords and a small journey up the neck. But nothing too challenging.

    Solo: The solo is based on the guitar solo in the Martin version. It’s very simple. Just the verse melody harmonised.

    Links

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  • Dolly Parton – 9 to 5 (Tabs)

    Dolly Parton – 9 to 5 (Tabs)Download

    I had to do a tribute to Dolly. Since I’ve already done Jolene and I Will Always Love You, 9 to 5 seemed like the obvious next choice.

    Intro: Give this part a little bit of palm muting (i.e. resting the underside of your strumming hand gently on the strings).

    Verse: I’m using strums here to give the melody plenty of propulsion. That means you have to mute the strings not being played. I use my thumb to mute the g-string. Then any finger I’m not using for fretting to mute the others.

    Chorus: The chorus moves up the neck. Which can make for some tricky fretting. The hardest part being the stretch up to the 12th fret in bar 20.

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  • Linkin Park/Evanescence – In the End/Bring Me to Life (Tabs)

    Linkin Park/Evanescence – In the End/Bring Me to Life (Tab)Download

    I decided to fulfil two requests at once since these two are the same song in my head. In the End is originally in Eb minor and Bring Me to Life is in Em. And they’re about 10 bpm apart. So it’s not a big challenge to combine them.

    Intro (In the End): A very simple riff to kick things off. But also very effective at setting up the harmony and vibe of the song. You can make your life easier by sliding up to the final note in bar 4 so your ring finger is free to play the following E note.

    Verse (Bring Me to Life): It’s hard to transfer rapping to the ukulele effectively. So I opted for the much more melodic verse from Bring Me to Life. The most challenging bits here are the quick notes at the start of bars 14 and 16. These mimic the chugging guitar in that section. But you can replace these with more relaxed chords if you prefer.

    Choruses: Exactly the same chords in both choruses. In the End‘s chorus is lower than Bring Me to Life, so I put that one first to create a build-up.

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  • Zelda Main Theme (Tabs)

    Koji Kondo – Zelda Main Theme (Tab)Download

    This one is short but very tricky. Even after slowing the tempo way down.

    A Section: This section has a big stretch in bar 2 and some quick alternate picking. But the biggest challenge is at the start of bar 3. You need a very quick change from your pinkie on the A-string in bar 2 to your middle finger at the start of bar 3.

    B Section: This starts with a fast run in bar 13, which is repeated in bar 14. The second time around, it’s played more quietly. I think of it as an echo. The next three bars are fiddly as they’re played high up the neck. This section ends with a chromatic descending line set against a D note.

    C Section: After the first two bars, this section is mercifully easy. There’s a lot of hopping up and down the neck. But there’s plenty of time to make those transitions.

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  • The Beatles – Help! (Tabs)

    The Beatles – Help! (Tab)Download

    Intro: This is the trickiest part of the song. You’ve got the thumb providing a descending bass line on the C-string. Meanwhile, the E and A-strings play the melody (plus one note on the g-string in bar 3).

    The guitar line that finishes the intro (bars 7-8) doesn’t fit well on the ukulele. So this arrangement is more in keeping with the vibe rather than the actual notes. Even so, it’s a bit of a stretch to play.

    Verse: Things ease off in the verse. Just use some alternating picking with your index and middle fingers on the A-string to get the notes up to speed.

    Chorus: This returns to the descending bass line idea from the intro. For the second chorus, I threw in a bit of the vocal harmony at the end of bar 41.

    Outro: A big jump up the neck to mimic the high harmonies.

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  • Bob Marley and the Wailers – Is This Love (Tabs)

    Bob Marley – Is This Love (Tab)Download

    There are some tricky sections to get to grips with here. The verses in particular have a few oddities that I hadn’t even noticed before trying to play the song.

    Intro: A great little riff in the intro. Well worth learning even if you’re not attempting the whole song.

    Verse: This is where you’ll find the oddities. In most of the verse, the Am7 chord lasts two bars. But in the opening verse, the first Am7 chord lasts only one bar.

    The second verse (bar 52) is even stranger. The first Am7 is just one bar. But the following F is extended to two bars. Then the second Am7 is also shortened to one bar.

    Chorus: The chorus is much more regular. Even so, the second set of “Is this love?”s is slightly different to the first.

    Bridge: Nothing too challenging here. Just be sure to keep the strummed Dm chords tight rather than letting them ring out.

    Links

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  • Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama (Tabs) and Jurassic Park

    Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama (Tab)Download

    Intro: Kicking off with strums and a lot of muting (just relax your fretting hand so the notes don’t ring).

    Verse: A quick campanela lead into the verse. From there, it’s all open chords and a compact melody. Just a long string of pull-offs in bars 13 and 15 to deal with.

    Pre-Chorus: An even longer stretch of campanela notes starting out the pre-chorus. All played on open strings. Even though the song is in C major, the minor third (Eb) crops up here. Giving it a bluesy feel.

    Chorus: The falsetto means a big jump up the neck. Other than that, it’s just bashing out chords all the way.

    Solo: The solo is only loosely based on the original. So you’re free to use your own ideas. For my take, I’m mostly noodling around the chords and throwing in some bends.

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    Jurassic Park (Tabs)

    Here’s a quick tab of the main section of the Jurassic Park theme in tribute to, enthusiastic uker, Sam Neill.

  • Cab Calloway – Minnie the Moocher (Tabs)

    Cab Calloway – Minnie the Moocher (Tab)Download

    Intro: I love the way the Em6 here gives the song a heavy, brooding feel. There are a couple of challenging bits here. First, the slide up to the 7th fret in bar 6. Second, the fast picking on the triplets in bar 10.

    Verse: The verses are nice and simple. If you like, you can use the Em6 here as well in place of the Em. I chose the Em here to make the harmony clearer to the listener.

    Chorus: It’s important to create as much contrast as possible between the call and the response here. So this arrangement has the call in single notes high on the neck. And the response is low on the neck and in a chord.

    Double Time Chorus: This section is a burst of anarchy in the song. It’s also the most difficult to play. So I embraced the chaos and did whatever I felt like in this section.

    Outro: A very effective descending chord run to end on.

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