We’re kicking off Halloween season with CCR’s Bad Moon Rising. For extra spook, I’ve worked from the minor key version of the song that cropped up in Wednesday. I always like the way dark songs sound on the uke. So this minor version works well.
I’m using Travis picking all the way through the tune. So the thumb is alternating between the g- and C-strings while the index and middle fingers cover the E- and A-strings, respectively. This technique sounds intricate and hard to play. But, once you’ve got it under your fingers, it flows very easily. So practice nice and slow before you attempt it at higher speed.
Here’s my take on the most 90s song there is: STP’s Plush.
Intro: Starting off with a simple chord riff with chromatically descending notes on the C and A-strings.
Verse: Nothing too tricky in the verse. The transition between bars 7 and 8 was the bit I needed to practice most. Once you get to the, “And I feeeeeeel it,” section, you can just blast it out.
Pre-Chorus: More of challenge. It’s all barre chords until the last few notes. And so is the chorus, so you’ll need some finger stamina to get through it. There are also some big stretches in bars 19 and 21.
Chorus: The trickiest part. There’s some quick moving around the neck. I’ve included a fingering suggestion in bar 23 to make the transition easier.
Inevitably, I’ve trimmed this one down from its 8 1/2 minute runtime. This arrangement includes the opening slow verse, then speeds up for the first chorus, then speeds up again for the second verse and chorus.
There’s nothing too tricky to play until the second half of the second verse. As well as the increased tempo, there’s a lot of jumping up and down the neck to handle.
But the hardest part for me was memorising the verses. The chorus has a very catchy melody and a clear chord structure. But the verses are meandering and wordy. The chord progression never settles into a pattern. And even changes slightly between the two verses.
Doctor Worm is my favourite TMBG song. And it has been dusted off to promote their latest live album. It’s a lot of fun to play but has some challenging sections.
Intro: I tried a few different ways to play this horn riff. And three of them crop up in this arrangement.
The version in the intro is by far the trickiest but also the truest to the original. If you’d rather avoid playing it (and that’s the sensible choice), you can replace the first four bars with bars 69-72. Or, if you have the chops of Rabbi Vole, you can make the opposite substitution.
Verse: The verses are much simpler. The third verse is especially simple, as it’s just the melody without chords.
Chorus: The chorus starts with just blasting out the strums with the melody alternating between B and C on the A-string.
The chorus ends with the horn riff transposed to Bb.
Middle: The trickiest section of the whole song. You have to deal with the melody whilst the chords alternate between G and C. I highly recommend slowing this section right down when you’re learning it before attempting it anywhere near full speed.
Bridge: A nice, simple section to recover after the middle.
Solo: A very easy solo too. It starts off mirroring the verse melody then descends from there. The bass has much more room to descend than the uke, so I had to cheat it a little.
Outro: Another variation on the horn riff. This time heading up the neck for the crescendo.
Nirvana’s In Bloom is a nice, easy one. It’s almost all strumming. There’s just a bit of fingerpicking in the first half of the verses. The rest is just blasting out chords with a few extra notes here and there.
The only challenging part is the second half of bar 2 (repeated in bar 30). There’s a quick walk-up on the g-string that’s played with all down strums. If you’re finding that too hard, you can switch to just strumming out the Bb chord.
Here’s my take on a track from R.E.M.’s massive Automatic for the People: Find the River.
Intro: Easing into the song with a very straightforward four bars. Then into some tricky fast picking in the next four bars. Be sure to play the G chord in bars 5 and 7 by barreing the second fret. That’ll make for a smooth transition up the neck for the Gm7.
Verse: The verse is fairly simple. It’s all first position chords and almost all strummed.
Chorus: The chorus is more challenging as it moves up and down the neck. Although it’s still just strumming. The trickiest part comes in the second half of bars 19 and 21. If you’re finding that tricky, Here’s an alternative version that’s easier to play. Although it does require a quicker move down to the G chord.
Keeping up the summer vibes (and the Brian Wilson tributes) with The Beach Boys’ Surfin’ USA. Musically, the song is based on Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen. But Wilson took the wise decision to change the lyrics.
The key technique throughout is strum blocking i.e. muting the strings you don’t want to sound. For example, in the opening three notes, I’m muting the g-string with my thumb and the E- and A-strings with my index finger.
Intro: A very Chuck Berry-style lick. Played with all down-strums. And I’m holding my thumb against my index finger for some extra force (almost holding it like a pick).
Verse: The verse starts out alternating bars between melody notes (played on the g-string) and a standard blues shuffle. Then switches to more straightforward chords in bar 10.
For the strum blocking in the melody bars (e.g. bar 4) I’m muting the C-string with the underside of the finger I’m fretting the g-string with. And I’m muting the A-string with my middle finger (which is fretting the E-string).
Chorus: Starts almost identical to the verse except for having a more basic shuffle and not muting the C-string for the melody parts. Then it ventures up the neck for the falsetto “Everybody’s gone…” in bar 30.
Solo: I’ve stuck fairly close to the original here. But so long as you stay in the Chuck Berry area, there’s plenty of room to make changes.
Outro: Just the “Everybody’s gone…” bit repeated, then I threw in a little lick at the end.
How else could I pay tribute to Brian Wilson than with one of the greatest songs of all time: Wouldn’t It Be Nice. The song weaves through multiple keys and spans a wide vocal range, so I’ve done some shifting to bring it all within the range of the uke.
Intro: Kicking off in the key of B with a nifty riff that is a bit of a finger-twister but fun to play. This section ends with a D chord setting things up for the key change to G in the verse. If you’re going to change keys in a song, playing the V chord of the key you’re changing to is the smoothest way to do it.
Chorus: The happiest section of the song where you’re mostly rocking out open chords. As long as you keep things bright and percussive, you can’t go far wrong here.
Verse: Moving to the key of E minor (the relative minor of G) for the more melancholy verse. This section contains my favourite chord in the song (the juicy F9 in bar 14) and favourite note (the D on “staaaaaayyyy” at the start of bar 16).
Bridge: Shifting to the key of E major. This time, it’s more abrupt, without a chord to smooth the transition. This is the trickiest part of the arrangement. Lots of barre chords and use of the g-string in the melody.
Outro: A nice, simple jam of an ending. No need to even change the chord. It’s just G all the way through.
Here’s one for everyone who is into The Doors: Riders on the Storm.
Intro: The intro has hardest part of the whole song: the long legato line in bar 7. I’ve cut it much shorter than the original, but it’s still a challenge. Particularly since it needs to be played smoothly as it’s intended to evoke rain.
Verse: Nothing much to worry about here. I’ve included the little twangy guitar riff in the first and third verses (e.g. bar 13). You can mix and match that with the straight chords in the second verse however you like.
Solo: This is loosely based on the original guitar solo. Feel free to come up with your own version. But I recommend using lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs with a few bluesy bends to keep the feel of the original.
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.
