Ukulele Hunt

Tag: Rock

  • Sleater Kinney – Modern Girl (Tabs)

    Sleater Kinney – Modern Girl (Tab)Download

    Sleater Kinney’s Modern Girl has a straightforwardness and sarcastic cheeriness that makes this one their most uke-able songs.

    Intro: The intro is a very simple bit of fingerpicking. It’s a good piece to try if you’re new to fingericking. The thumb picks everything on the C- and E-strings. And the middle finger picks the A-string. Then the index finger picks the E-string in bar 5 and from bar 10 onwards.

    Verse: The picking gets trickier in this section. I’m mostly using one finger per string picking. But I play the rapid notes in bar 22 with alternate picking.

    Chorus: A lot more strums in this section. But some more quick alternate picking in bar 26.

    Solo: The harmonic solo is my favourite part of the song. And it’s pretty simple to play. The tricky part is the quick transition into the next verse.

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  • Weezer – Island in the Sun (Tabs)

    Weezer – Island in the Sun (Tab)Download

    In a shocking turn of events, it’s raining in England. So here’s  Island in the Sun for some sunny vibes.

    Intro: Just strumming out the chords. Be sure to make the “hip hip” bits stand out.

    Verse and Chorus: Other than a slide up to the fifth fret in bars 5 and 9, this is all stays in the first position. It does get a little fiddly in places.

    Bridge: Very straightforward. You can just bash this section out.

    Solo: The solo in the original just follows the verse melody. For my version, I’ve beefed up the melody with a few harmonies. You could just play this section like the verses. Or you could go your own way entirely.

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  • Jawbreaker – Boxcar (Tabs)

    Jawbreaker – Boxcar (Tab)Download

    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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  • The Black Keys – Tighten Up (Tabs)

    The Black Keys – Tighten Up (Tab)Download

    The Black Key’s Tighten Up, like most of their songs, is a very straight forward blues rock song. But there are a couple of oddities. The first is a rogue bar of 3/4 in bar 38.

    The second starts at bar 48 when the song, ironically, loosens up and the tempo slows. I think you could switch the 3/4 bar to 4/4 and no one would notice. But the tempo change feels integral to the song.

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  • Blink-182 – All the Small Things (Tabs)

    Blink-182 – All the Small Things (Tab)Download

    Here’s a fun version of Blink-182’s infectious (in the good sense and the bad sense) earworm All the Small Things.

    Intro: All strums. I’m using my index finger a bit like a pick here (and in most of the song).

    For all the strumming parts in the song, don’t worry about hitting the exact strings so long as you’re holding down the chord.

    Verses: I’m using a bit of palm muting on the strings during the strums (i.e. resting the side of my strumming hand lightly on the strings). That allows the melody to stand out more.

    The only tricky part here is in bar 17. I like the harmony on “At my show” so I’ve included that with the lower note picked by the thumb and the higher note by the index finger.

    Pre-Chorus, Chorus and Outro: All very simple strumming on standard chords.

    Solo: Similar to the intro but with a little melody on the g-string. So try to emphasise that as much as you can.

    Break: Starts of with strumming then switches to fingerpicking which builds into the outro. The picking isn’t complicated but it is fast. If you’re only it for the strumming, you can skip this bit entirely and just play the first four bars of the break.

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  • Hozier – Take Me to Church (Tabs)

    Hozier – Take Me to Church (Tab)Download

    I can’t say Hozier’s massive hit Take Me to Church fits nicely on the uke. But it is well worth learning if you’re up for a challenge.

    Verse: No mucking around with an intro. The verse starts in 3/4 time and switches to 4/4 at the end. If you know the song, it shouldn’t trip you up.

    Pre-Chorus: Back to 3/4 for the “Amen” section. And again switching to 4/4 at the end.

    This is the most sparse section of the song. Creating contrast with the chorus.

    Chorus: Staying in 4/4 for the most challenging section of the song played high up the neck. Reaching the 14th fret for the falsetto on “death”.

    Bridge: Some movement up and down the neck in this section, but it’s still easier than the chorus. And it stays in 4/4 time but with a cheeky bar of 2/4 that threw me off when I was first learning the song.

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  • Ozzy Osbourne – Mama I’m Coming Home (Tabs)

    Ozzy Osbourne – Mama I’m Coming Home (Tab)Download

    Intro: Starting off with an incongruous country lick. Then moving into a descending line played on the g- and C-strings with the thumb. Set against static notes on the E- and A-strings (plucked by the index and middle fingers respectively).

    It fits nicely on the uke and sounds more intricate than it actually is.

    Verse: Carrying on the descending line but now played with one finger per string picking.

    Pre-Chorus: Building up the tension with a strum each time there’s a chord change.

    Chorus: Bringing in more strums, slides and ventures up the neck. Stepping things up in terms of intensity and difficulty.

    Break: This little acoustic break is my favourite part to play. It’s a challenge to play at speed but it suits the ukulele very well.

    Solo: The big electric solo is less suited to the uke but still fun to play. I haven’t been particularly faithful to the original, so feel free to adjust it to your own taste.

    Coda: The coda is just like the end of the chorus, but there are an extra couple of beats on the F chord that add a little suspense.

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  • The Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock (Tabs)

    The Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock (Tab)Download

    At first, I thought there’s no way Cherub Rock would work on the uke. But I found it a fun song to play that you can blast out with strums.

    Intro: Starting out at full pelt building up a C chord and breaking into the intro riff.

    If you don’t have the space on your uke to play the riff high up the neck, you can move the E-string notes on the A-string. Just lower each note five frets and let the E-string ring open. You can do the same with the melody in the verse.

    Verse: Staying high up the neck for the verse and continuing to blast out the strums with just a few picked notes.

    Chorus: All strums here too. Be sure to mute the g-string with your thumb for everything but the Eb chord.

    Bridge: Adding a C chord to the chord progression from the chorus.

    Solo: The trickiest part of the song. I’ve changed it significantly from the original. So feel free to make adjustments of your own.

    Bridge 2: Similar to the chorus, but watch out for the A-string, 5th fret at the start of the F chord (first in bar 39).

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  • Tom Odell – Another Love (Tabs)

    Tom Odell – Another Love (Tab)Download

    Tom Odell’s Another Love managed to amass 900 million views on YouTube without me ever having heard it. Luckily, my Patreons are more on the ball than I am and requested it. And it’s a catchy song that fits nicely on ukulele in the original key.

    Technique-wise, it’s a song of two halves. For the first half, it’s all fingerpicking. The intensity picks up in the first midtro with the strums coming in during bar 42. Don’t worry about hitting every note exactly as it’s tabbed in the strumming section. It’s more important to keep up the intensity and the feel.

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  • Arctic Monkeys – Fluorescent Adolescent (Tabs)

    Arctic Monkeys – Fluorescent Adolescent (Tab)Download

    After tabbing Do I Wanna Know? in January, I hope it’s not too soon to cover another Monkeys track: Fluorescent Adolescent

    The biggest challenge here (after spelling the title) is the very rapid delivery of the verse melody. These bits are played with a long succession of hammer-ons and pull-offs. Make sure you pull-off downwards rather than straight off the string. That’ll give it an extra pluck to keep the notes sounding.

    Other than that, it’s a fun song to blast through.

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