Ukulele Hunt

Tag: Movie Themes

  • Dam Busters March (Group Tab)

    Continuing this week’s Kitty Lux tributes with a live UOGB favourite: The Dam Busters March by Eric Coates. This isn’t a direct tab of their version but is heavily influenced by it.

    I’ve divided up the duties in the piece so that each ukulele part has a different skill level. If you’ve got more players in your group you can divide these up further or devise your own complementary parts.

    Lead Ukulele

    Dam Busters March Lead UkeDownload

    A load of tricky sections in this part (yet somehow it was the easy section at the end I managed to screw up in the video). The hardest section are the rapid-fire notes and moves up and down the neck in bars 40-44. But all the way through the first half there are bits that might trip you up. Luckily, things are much more stately in the second half.

    I’m using fingerpicking to play this part. But it’s arranged in more of a UOGB than my usual style so it’s easier to play with a pick.

    If, like me, you have no friends here’s a backing track to play this part along with:


    Baritone Ukulele

    Dam Busters March BaritoneDownload

    The baritone tone is a little easier than the lead part. It’s mainly a simplified version of the lead part played an octave lower. The biggest challenges are the descending runs in bars 13 – 16 and bars 40-44.

    Again, I’m playing this with my fingers but it’s arranged so it’s easy to play with a pick too.

    Rhythm Ukulele

    Dam Busters March RhythmDownload

    I’ve kept this part as simple as possible. It’s all played with down-strums and it’s almost all beginner level chords.

    There are a couple of slightly unusual sections where I’m just playing the top three strings. I’m playing these by strumming down with my thumb to give them a softer, rounder sound. But you don’t have to do that. And if you want to play all the strings it happens to be the second fret on the g-string that’s missing in every case.

    Guitar/Bass

    Dam Busters March Guitar/BassDownload

    I’m playing this part on guitar but I’ve only used the bottom four strings so you can transfer it directly to bass if you prefer.

    Here you’re playing staccato quarter notes almost all the way through. The one challenge is the descending run in bars 13-16.

    Links

    Buy the UOGB version
    More movie theme tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Gene Wilder – Pure Imagination (Tab)

    Gene Wilder – Pure Imagination (Tab)Download

    For my little tribute to Gene Wilder I had to do this beautiful tune by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.

    It’s such an affecting tune it’s a great opportunity to play with emotion. I recommend experimenting with varying the tempo and volume and use vibrato when you play to get the most out of it.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    More movie themes

  • Lorde – Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tab)

    Lorde – Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tab)Download

    This is a follow on from the Hanging Tree tab in a few ways. As well as the Hunger Games connection, I’ve tried to keep the arrangement as minimal and easy to play as possible.

    The arrangement draws heavily on Lorde’s sparse, minor key version. But it also includes elements of the Tears for Fears original since I couldn’t get that version out of my head.

    I use thumb and two finger picking for my version but it’s arranged so you can play it all just using your thumb.

    Links

    Buy the Lorde version
    Buy the Tears for Fears version
    More movie theme tabs

  • Ghostbusters Theme (Group Tab)

    I’ve tackled Ray Parker Jr’s Ghostbusters theme once before way back in 2007. But I wanted to return to it to tidy it up and make it into a full instrumental version for a ukulele group. Also because it’s a stone-cold classic.

    This version has five different ukulele parts of differing levels of difficulty (including one that just involves smashing the strings in time) and each one can be simplified or fancied up as suits.

    Rhythm Ukulele

    Ghostbusters (Rhythm Tab)

    This part takes care of all the chord work. For almost all the song the chords are just C – Bb – F. You can choose whichever inversion of those chords suits your playing.

    Lead Ukulele

    Ghostbusters (Lead Tab)Download

    This part plays the riff for most of the song. For the intro and middle sections I make use of campanella style. Letting close harmony notes ring into each other makes them extra spooky.

    Melody Ukulele

    Ghostbusters (Melody Tab)

    It’s important to make this part as expressive as you can to give it the feel of a vocal melody.

    As well as handling the vocal melody, this part plays the guitar lick in bars 27-28 and 43-44.

    Extras Ukulele

    Ghostbusters (Extras Tab)

    My original plan was to combine this part and the melody part. In the end I split them off so I could have the vocal part more prominent than this one. But the two parts are never playing at the same time so you can easily combine the two into one part if you wish.

    The part starts of by plucking the strings with a pick between the nut and the pegs. It’s always high-pitched and out of tune up there so you’ll always get a spooky effect from it.

    The intro spooky noises do include one additional uke. I scrapped a pick along a wound low-G string to get a bit of a creaking effect.

    Percussive Uke

    No notes at all in this part. I’m just muting all the strings with my fretting hand. I’m using two main patterns. The first one in the video I strum down right in front of the bridge to create a thud. Then up again in that area. Then and other down-up where the fretboard hits the body.

    The next pattern is the same sort of idea. Start with the same down-up near the bridge. Then three down-ups at the fretboard.

    The bridge strums do give you a good sound but they’re a bit tough on the fingers and not essential. You can also emphasise beats just be strumming more forcefully.

    Links

    Buy the original on iTunes
    More Halloween tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Back to the Future Medley (Tab)

    Back to the Future Medley (Tab)Download

    Back to the Future (Alan Silvestri): Alan Silvestri wrote the score to all the BttF movies but he was clearly channeling John Williams for the epic theme music.

    Mr Sandman (The Chordettes): This one is already a bit of ukulele standard thanks to the opening lick being perfectly suited to re-entrant tuning.

    Time Bomb Town (Lindsey Buckingham): This one is a bit more incidental than the others (it’s the tune on the radio when Marty wakes up before the first DeLorean scene) but I had to include it because if it’s not played on a ukulele it sure sounds a lot like one.

    Power of Love (Huey Lewis & the News): The first bit of this is just switching between different inversions of F and C. It shows how effective just changing up inversions can be.

    Doubleback (ZZ Top & Alan Silvestri): The only part of the medley that doesn’t crop up in the Part I. It’s the tune from the ZZ Top bit in Part III. It’s supposed to be the ZZ Top song of the same name although any resemblance is lost on me.

    Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry. You know, Marvin’s cousin.): The climax of local rhythmic ceremonial ritual the Fish Under the Sea Dance and this medley.

    Links

    Back to the Future Soundtrack on iTunes
    More movie theme tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Hanging Tree (Hunger Games) (Instrumental Tab)

    James Newton Howard ft. Jennifer Lawrence – Hanging Tree (Tab)Download

    After last week’s two nightmare difficulty posts something much more straight forward this week.

    Like the original, I start my version off with just the melody. It’s a great traditionally inspired melody (written by the guys off of The Lumineers) and is plenty strong enough to hold your attention alone. I’m just picking this with my thumb but you can use fingers if you’re comfortable with that.

    Then from bar 17 I introduce a few chords but still keep it very minimal. Again, I’m just using my thumb to play these. Strumming down the strings whenever there’s more than one note.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    More movie theme tabs

  • Claudia’s Theme from Unforgiven (Tab)

    Lennie Niehaus – Claudia’s Theme (Tab)Download

    Have to admit, I’ve never actually seen Unforgiven. It’s a western with Clint Eastwood and that’s about all I know. But I got a request for Claudia’s Theme, gave it a listen and loved it. Plus it seems ideal for the uke.

    The original starts in the key of E before switching to F. But I stuck to the more uke-friendly F for my arrangement.

    The intro and outro are very sparse. If you catch me nodding my head in those sections that’s me trying to keep time. It’s very tempting to rush these bits. But I’d recommend trying as hard as you can to hold it back.

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    More movie theme tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Mr Moustafa from Grand Budapest Hotel (Tab)

    Alexandre Desplat – Mr Moustafa (Tab)Download

    I got a request from Justin saying that Alexandre Desplat’s music from the new Wes Anderson movie Grand Budapest Hotel would be perfect for ukeing. And he was absolutely right. As soon as I heard this tune I knew it would suit a campanella-style ukulele arrangement.

    And it turned out to be even easier than I expected. Without even changing the key the whole first section of the verses mostly could be played on the open strings.

    Trickiest Bit

    As with most campanella arrangements the trickiest bit is memorising the string plucking order. If there’s a quicker way to learn it than playing through slowly over and over again I don’t know what it is.

    Flicking the Bean

    In the bridge section I’m trying to recreate the mandolin tremolo strumming. Tremolo strumming is a bit more tricky on the uke though. So I used a technique I refer to as “flicking the bean”.

    It involves turning your strumming hand palm upwards and wiggling your middle fingers across the strings like this:

    Links

    Buy it on iTunes
    GrandBudapestHotel.com
    More movie theme tabs

  • Karen O – The Moon Song (from Her) (Chords and Tab)

    The Moon Song (Chords)Download

    By my reckoning the last ukulele song to win the Best Song Oscar was Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head in 1969.

    But that could change this year with the nomination of Karen O’s The Moon Song this year. The song was written for the Spike Jonze film Her where it’s performed by Joaquin Phoenix playing ukulele and Scarlett Johansson playing a Siri. Here’s a ukulele-based précis if you need to catch up.

    I’ve written up two versions of the song. Above is the plain chords based on the Karen O guitar version. And below the ukulele picking version from the movie.

    Suggested Strumming

    For the main pattern you can use:

    d – d u – u d u

    Do that once each for Dm and G. You can do it twice for the C chord. Or you can do this:

    d – d u – u d u
    – u d u d u d –

    Just do one down strum each for the F and Fm.

    Picking Version

    The Moon Song TabDownload

    The ukulele version has the same basic chords but a few different inversions. That means you can switch chord inversions as you see fit.

    The arrangement, though, is slightly different. The intro is longer and there’s a verse missing.

    I’ve suggested a thumb and two fingers picking pattern (shown in the first bar and repeated all the way through). It doesn’t seem to be what he’s using but it’s what I’d recommend.

    Links

    Karen O on iTunes
    Visit HerTheMovie.com
    More movie tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon

  • Roger Miller – Whistle Stop from Robin Hood (Tab)

    Roger Miller – Whistle Stop (Tab)Download

    I somehow managed to pass my entire childhood without coming across Disney’s take on Robin Hood. So when I first heard this tune my reaction was, “AZIZ WHISTLE STOP is a straight rip off from The Hampsterdance Song. What’s Roger Miller‘s email?” Roger Miller responded, “nooooooooooooooo! that song came out afterwards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

    Anyway, Roger Miller’s more laid-back delivery of the tune makes it much more ukeable. I’ve included the first three variations on the tune. They raise in difficulty quite nicely each time.

    I tried to stick to an alternating thumb pattern (moving between g and C). With index finger on E and middle on A. But the melody does sometimes stray onto the C-string which screws things up (such as the D in bar 4). Those notes I play with my index finger.

    Links

    More movie theme tabs
    Uke Hunt Patreon