Ukulele Hunt

Tag: Moderate

  • Outkast – Hey Ya (Tabs)

    Outkast – Hey Ya (Tab)Download

    Here’s my take on Outkast’s Hey Ya! which was ably covered by the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra back in the day.

    Verse: The big challenge with this arrangement is the speed. The second verse in particular needs some quick alternate picking.

    The other thing to watch out for is the bars of 2/4 that crop up on the G chord in the verse and chorus.

    Chorus: I’ve arranged the chorus a couple of ways. The first half (bars 8 to 13) is just strumming it through (with the exception of a little bit of picking in bar 12).

    Then in the second half (bars 14-19) I add in the synth riff. It’s more tricky to play but the chorus feels incomplete without it. It’s your choice which way to play it.

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  • R.E.M. – Nightswimming (Tabs)

    R.E.M. – Nightswimming (Tab)Download

    The chords for this one are very simple, and the melody fits nicely on the fretboard. But the way the vocals shift unevenly against the chords made this tricky for me to get my head around.

    The other challenge is to keep the vocal melody distinct from the backing (both the chords and the piano runs e.g. bar 8) by giving the melody notes an extra-hard pluck.

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  • Green Day – American Idiot (Tabs)

    Green Day – American Idiot (Tab)Download

    Green Day’s American Idiot doesn’t require a whole lot finesse. Just blasting out the strums all the way through. The hardest bit is making sure the strum blocking is effective in the parts where there’s just a vocal melody.

    The solo is just messing around with the chorus melody and chords. Lots of scope for you to come up with your own set of chord inversions here.

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  • Buena Vista Social Club – Chan Chan (Tabs)

    Buena Vista Social Club – Chan Chan (Tab)Download

    Chan Chan was originally written by Compay Segundo. But it’s the Buena Vista Social Club version that is best known. And it’s that one I worked from.

    Intro: The intro sets up the chord progression that’s used (adding a 6 or 7 here and there) all the way through the song: Dm-F-Gm-A. The rest of the song is in 4 bar sections, but the intro has 6 bars. Which makes the start of the verse come in at an odd place.

    Verses: For the melody sections, you’re playing the same chords at the fifth fret. And that’s interspersed with two bars from the intro.

    Chorus: A very similar melody to the verse, but this time played twice through and with a four bar section of the intro.

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  • Monty Python – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Tabs)

    Monty Python – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Tab)Download

    Diving into 2025 with some wildly unjustifiable optimism in the shape of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

    Intro: Lots of jumping around the neck in the section. But it’s slow and loose, so it’s not too challenging.

    Chorus: The tempo ramps up here and we switch to swing time. This bit is my favourite part to play. It has a nice flow to it on ukulele. Lots of use of the g-string in the melody.

    Verse: Similar to the intro, but the increased tempo makes it much harder to play. I’ve simplified much of it to make it easier. Particularly bar 19 where I’ve dropped the chords entirely. If you fancy a challenge, you could play this like bar 3.

    Outro: There’s a key change here, so you’re playing the chorus in D. It is more difficult to play in this key. So you could play the chorus again in C and no one would notice or care.

    I’ve tacked on an “have a banana” outro at the end as a nod to the song’s musical hall style.

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  • Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Tabs)

    Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Tab)Download

    Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? is one of the most lyrically disastrous songs ever written. But since this is an instrumental, we can ignore that.

    The chords simple; just F, G and C with a few D minors and A minors thrown in.

    The melody gets a little fiddly though. And it wanders all over the fretboard. A couple of bits to look out for are Bono’s legendary “Tonight thank God…” (in bars 38 and 39) and the pinkie stretch to the fifth fret in bar 32. You can make that part easier by using the open E-string instead of holding the third fret.

    The other challenge is memorising it all. There are no repeats until the chorus right at the end of the song.

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  • The Cure – Friday I’m in Love (Tabs)

    The Cure – Friday I’m in Love (Tab)Download

    I had to break protocol for this one so I could post The Cure’s Friday I’m in Love on a friday.

    Intro: There’s an odd start to the song with the first note coming in on the “and” of 1. If the listener is unfamiliar with the song, it can throw them off.

    After the opening lick, it’s into some straight-forward strumming with a few picked notes thrown in.

    Verse: The first two verses are simple, with all familiar chord shapes in the first position. The third and fourth verses are a bit more tricky since they incorporate a high note on the A-string, fifth fret.

    Chorus: The trickiest part is going from the riff at the end of the verse to G chord with the high D note. If you’re struggling, you can just strum out the A chord in bar 17.

    Solo: The solo has a lot of moves up and down the neck. But there’s nothing too fancy to trip you up.

    Bridge: This is the hardest section to play. You’re up at the fifth fret and it gets a bit fiddly. That’s one reason I halved its length.

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  • The Clash – I Fought the Law (Tabs)

    The Clash – I Fought the Law (Tab)Download

    I Fought the Law was originally recorded by The Crickets after the death of Buddy Holly. The Bobby Fuller Four had a big hit with it later in the 60s. Then The Clash recorded the definitive version. And it’s The Clash version I based this arrangement on.

    Most of this arrangement is very easy. It’s just strumming out basic chords. For the single open-C strings notes the first crop up in bar 11 (where they lyrics say “and the”), I’m strumming all the strings while muting the g-string with my thumb and the E and A-strings with my fingers. If you prefer, you can just play these with fingerpicking the C-string alone. But that does lose a bit of the energy of the song.

    Things only get tricky in the solo section. But even then, it’s not exactly a finger-twister.

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  • Chappell Roan – Picture You (Tabs)

    Chappell Roan – Picture You (Tab)Download

    Chappell Roan seems unavoidable at the moment. And Uke Hunt is no exception with a tab of Picture You.

    Intro: I took some inspiration from the Tiny Desk version in the intro. I like the way that lazy slide down from G to F# sets up the rest of the song.

    Verse: The awkwardness of the F# chord comes into play in the verse. I’d recommend trying out my favourite way to play the D chord here. I like to fret the g and C-strings with the tip of my index finger. Then fret the E with my middle finger. Playing it that way means your middle finger is already in position for the F# and the index finger is already half way to barreing the strings.

    The other tricky part is the long slide up to the ninth fret in bar 13.

    Pre-Chorus: There’s a shift down in the octave in bar 16. It is a little clunky but it’s necessary to keep things from going way up the fretboard.

    Chorus: Nothing new in the chorus. The transition from D to F# felt more natural here.

    Bridge: There are some very long hammer-on and pull-off bits in the “you-ou-ou-ou” bits that are tricky to get down.

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  • Oasis – Acquiesce (Tabs)

    Oasis – Acquiesce (Tab)Download

    This might be the first time I’ve arranged a b-side. But with Oasis reforming and the country being mad for it, I’ve tabbed my favourite Oasis song: Acquiesce.

    It’s a very simple song. You’re just bashing out chords for the most part. The only wrinkle is the stretch at the start of the chorus (and in the repeats of that line). If you prefer, you can play it x565. But that requires a quick drop down for the next note.

    For the outro, I took inspiration from the live version where Noel would quote The Stone Roses’ Sally Cinnamon.

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