Ukulele Hunt

Tag: Germany

  • Nena – 99 Red Balloons (Tabs)

    Nena – 99 Red Balloons (Tab)Download

    Today’s tab is Nena’s 99 Red Balloons. Originally 99 Luftballons. I worked from the English version for this arrangement, but there’s not a lot of difference between them.

    Intro/Outro: The song closes with a slow, fingerpicked version of the melody. Nothing troubling to tackle here. It’s all basic chords in the first position. The g-string does some of the melody work, so make sure those notes are prominent.

    Bridge: The song speeds up for the riff section. I’m fingerpicking the notes here with muted strums (plus a muted note on the g-string that’s picked with the thumb). Keep this section staccato to match the original.

    Verse: The increased tempo and use of strums makes this section trickier than the first. But, as compensation, it’s more repetitive so it’s simple once you get it under your fingers.

    Solo: The keyboard solo doesn’t seem any trickier than the verse, but I found it much more of a challenge.

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  • Robert Schumann – Vanitas Vanitatum Mit Humor (Tabs)

    Robert Schumann – Vanitas Vanitatum Mit Humor (Tab)Download

    I’ve been getting into classical music much more over the pandemic. I’ve occasionally got the over-ambitious impulse to try something on the ukulele. And the first part of Robert Schumann’s Five Pieces in a Folk Style is the only to have made it through to this stage. 

    The piece is written for piano and cello. But this arrangement is almost entirely the cello part. The only time I dip into the piano part is bars 90 and 92.

    There are plenty of challenging sections in the piece, but the part that took the most practice was the C section (not it’s official name). There’s also a very rapid section in bars 49-56 but that doesn’t require any scooting up and down the fretboard. 

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  • Agnes Obel – Riverside (Tab)

    Agnes Obel – Riverside (Tab)Download

    I must admit, I’d never heard of Agnes Obel until it was requested on Patreon. I looked it up expecting to find a niche artist and found the video had 35 million views. No doubt helped by the long list of TV shows it’s appeared in.

    After the opening twiddle, the arrangement starts out with campanella playing. Let these notes ring into each other to build up the sound.

    The trickiest bit comes in bar 15 with three open A-string notes played in quick succession. If you’re struggling with that, you can substitute the middle note with the g-string, 2nd fret. Or miss it out entirely.

    The only other bits that might throw you are the slight finger-twister in bar 38 and the switch to 3/8 time for bar 42.

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  • Beethoven – Ode to Joy (Tab)

    Beethoven – Ode to Joy (Tab)Download

    I’ve already tabbed Ode to Joy twice: a dead easy strumming version and the UOGB’s group version. This third and final tab is a fuller solo version.

    For this piece Beethoven nicked Nirvana’s loud-quiet-loud-quiet… trick. So I use strumming for the loud bits and picking for the quiet bits.

    In the open section I strum down for the first note in the bar then flick up with my index finger for the rest. I’ve tabbed all four notes for those flicks but it’s not a big deal whether you hit the top two, three or all four strings. Bars 4 and 8 are slightly different with two down strums and a single picked note.

    I switch to picking for the softer section in bars 9-12 before returning to bombastic strumming. Repeat that section and you’re done.

    If you want more tabs like this you might like my Classical Ukulele ebook with ukulele-style arrangements of classical tunes.

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