Coldplay’s Trouble is a nice, simple one. Even the solo is just a fancy version of the chords.
Tag: Easy
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Pearl Jam – Better Man (Tabs)
I don’t think I’ve ever anticipated an album more than I did Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy. At the time, I was disappointed it wasn’t as exciting as Ten and Vs. But in hindsight, it’s clear they were transitioning into being a band that would be around for decades. And that’s reflected in Better Man, which wasn’t even released as a single but has become one of their most enduring and popular songs.
This one is pretty straightforward. Even the riff and the verse are almost identical. But I have shifted a couple of notes from the g-string to the A-string to create a bit of contrast.
The first half of the song is all fingerpicking. After bar 44, there’s a lot more strumming going on. And it’s after that change that the biggest challenge of the song crops up: the transition from C to D at the end of bar 46. I found it tricky to barre across the second fret and hit the E-string, 3rd fret.
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Stealers Wheel – Stuck in the Middle with You (Tabs)
Stuck in the Middle with You is just strumming almost all the way through. Just a bit of fingerpicking on the “please-e-e-e-e-ease” bits and in the solo.
And the fretting hand isn’t too much of a challenge either. There’s a fair amount of bouncing up and down the neck but it’s set against the open g and C strings for most of the song. The solo is a little challenging, but you’re free to change that up to suit your own playing.
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Severance Main Theme (Tabs)
The Severance Theme minimalist, making it relatively easy to play. It can feel sparse on the ukulele, but it still retains the original’s eerie atmosphere.
A Section: Played with thumb and two finger picking. The one exception is the Abm chord. I pluck that with index and middle fingers to keep the same timbre as the other notes at the start of the bar. But you can stick with thumb and index here if you prefer.
B Section: Switching to one finger per string picking for the B section. This section is trickier but still very manageable. Start by barring at the fifth fret, then gradually move the note on the C-string down a fret each bar. In bar 11, switch to fretting the A-string,5th fret with your pinkie to prepare for the Eb on the C-string, 3rd fret.
For the giltchy outro, I used Cryogen by Glitchmachines. I wouldn’t recommend paying full price for it. I picked it up for £3 in a sale.
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Blur – Tender (Tabs)
Here’s a tab of a song that featured in Aftersun, my favourite movie of the last few years:
Blur’s Tender.Intro: Starting off with the trickiest bit. The quick hammer-on to pull-off to slide at the start of bar 3 is a finger-twister.
When this riff repeats at the end of the chorus, there is a slight change in bars 21 and 22 to watch out for.
Verse: Just a G – F – G chord progression and nothing too tricky in the melody.
Chorus: In the second and third choruses, I’ve included the high “fee-ling” part the choir sings (bars 33 and 46). This involves a slide up to the 14th fret. If your uke doesn’t have that many frets (or you just don’t fancy it) you can just repeat the first chorus.
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Only Murders in the Building Theme (Tabs)
I’ve just around to watching the first season of Only Murders in the Building so it’s time for a tab of the theme tune by Siddhartha Khosla.
The big challenge with this piece is getting it up to speed. The first challenge I had was switching the fingers from the D in bar 6 back to the D minor in bar 1. I ended up changing positions at the start of the bar. But I played around with playing the D chord with middle, ring and pinkie fingers. And with not switching until halfway through bar 1. So I recommend testing each and finding which you like the most.
The other big challenge is keeping the arpeggiated chords (bar 5 onwards) even. Particularly in the long final section. I don’t do a good job of it myself.
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Jawbreaker – Boxcar (Tabs)
I was very sad to hear of the death of Steve Albini recently. I’ve covered a bunch of songs he worked on in the past including Where Is My Mind?, All Apologies and Heart Shaped Box.
For this tribute, I went with Jawbreaker’s response to sell-out accusations: Boxcar.
The arrangement is just blasting out chords with a few picked notes here and there. The only thing that makes it tricky is the speed. I found the G-Am change in the chorus particularly tricky to get the hang of.
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Warren Zevon/Steve Winwood – Back in the High Life Again (Tabs)
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.
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Joan Jett – Bad Reputation (Tabs)
I first heard Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ Bad Reputation as the Freaks and Geeks theme.It’s a very straightforward punk song that’s ideal for just bashing out.
I’m using strumming the whole way through this. Including using strum blocking to strum the individual notes. You can pick these notes if you prefer, but you lose some of the energy and aggression of the strums.
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Johnny Cash/NIN – Hurt (Tabs)
This arrangement of Hurt is very much based on the Cash version. But I was a massive Nine Inch Nails fan as an angsty teen, so some of that version might have slipped through.
The plodding pace of this song makes it pretty easy to play. Just make sure you give the strings some welly in the chorus to recreate the thundering, steady pianos.
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