Ukulele Hunt

Tag: Rock

  • Warren Zevon/Steve Winwood – Back in the High Life Again (Tabs)

    Warren Zevon/Steve Winwood – Back in the High Life Again (Tab)Download

    Back in the High Life Again was originally by Steve Winwood but my version is much closer to Warren Zevon’s cover.

    To emphasise the Zevonness, my arrangement kicks off with a loose interpretation of Life’ll Kill Ya‘s intro. So long as you’re working within the F-Bb-C chords, there’s plenty of scope for your own ideas in the intro.

    From there, I’ve tried to keep everything very simple and easy to play.

    The only tricky bits are some fast hammer-ons and pull-offs at the end of bar 24 then into the Break section. Again, you can adjust this section to your taste. If you pick out notes from the chords and melody, you can’t go wrong.

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  • Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag (Tabs)

    Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag (Tab)Download

    Wheatus’s Teenage Dirtbag has become a bit of a uke favourite with the UOGB’s version. I haven’t entirely decided if it’s an irresistible earworm or an irritating song with terrible lyrics. But I did have fun playing it.

    Intro: Muted strums on the g and C-strings, then extra emphasis on the E and A-strings.

    Verse: One finger per string picking with a few supporting strums where there’s no melody.

    Chorus: The first chorus is full on strumming. It finishes off with a bar of 2/4 then a little riff (that’s my favourite part of the song).

    The second chorus in this arrangement (the third in the original) has constant thumb picking on the C-string while the melody notes are picked on the E and A.

    Bridge: A bit of stretch up to the seventh fret here. But the big challenge is the “She doesn’t know…” bit which first crops up in bar 27. It gets pretty fiddly in the cramped higher frets.

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  • Tina Turner – Proud Mary (Tabs)

    Tina Turner – Proud Mary (Tabs)Download

    A version of Proud Mary in tribute to Tina Turner. It’s one of those covers that completely eclipse the original version. It’s so perfect it’s hard to believe it wasn’t written for her.

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  • Iggy Pop – The Passenger (Tabs)

    Iggy Pop – The Passenger (Tab)Download

    Iggy Pop’s The Passenger is a straight-forward basher. There’s the same chord sequence the whole way through:

    Am – F – C – G

    Am – F – C – E7

    The E7 chord is a bit of an oddity. In my arrangement I’m avoiding playing the g-string (by muting with my thumb) to keep the chord ambiguous as the whether it’s major or minor.

    Later in the song (starting on bar 48) the melody hits a G note which clashes with the Ab in the E7 chord. So in those cases, I’ve substituted in a G chord to make it sound more natural on the uke. And I’ve stuck with that G chord in the final chorus as well.

    The one slightly fancy touch comes in the second half of the intro (bars 5-8). This riff based on the lead guitar part which I thought it deserved showcasing.

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  • Green Day – Basket Case (Tabs)

    Green Day – Basket Case (Tab)Download

    It’s a very simple song. Other than bars 27-28, it’s all first position beginner chords and a straightforward melody. The only thing that makes it difficult is the tempo. So be sure to practice slowly and gradually build up speed.

    One slight oddity comes in bars 6 and 15. Here there’s a hammer-on on the C-string from a note way back in the previous bar. I do this to create a subtle change to the G chord in order to emphasise the much stronger second note in the bar.

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  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps (Tabs)

    Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps (Tab)Download

    Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist, Nick Zinner is one of my favourite guitar players. His playing is very minimal but he makes every note count. Never more so than on Maps. This arrangement is minimal too. With a few nods to the acoustic version which is a bit more fleshed out with the chords.

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  • Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box (Tabs)

    Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box (Tab)Download

    Nirvana’s ever-present quiet-loud-quit-loud dynamics are in full effect on Heart-Shaped Box. So using fingerpicking for the quiet bits and strumming for the loud bits is a must in this arrangement.

    All the picking is one-finger-per-string style. That means you’re picking consecutive notes on g- and C-strings (e.g. in bar 5). I’d usually avoid that as it’s less natural than using thumb then index finger. But it works out much better for the rest of the verse.

    There are a whole bunch of bends in the song. The trickiest of them are in the chorus where you’re playing chords on the 2nd/3rd fret then bending at the 9th fret. You’re also bending whilst fretting the C-string for an extra challenge.

    On the upside, the bends sound better if they’re a little out of tune so you don’t have to worry too much about that.

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  • Garbage – Only Happy When It Rains (Tabs)

    Garbage – Only Happy When It Rains (Tab)Download

    I’m back and I’m starting the year how I intend to carry on: with pessimistic miserablism in the form of Garbage’s Only Happy When It Rains.

    Verse: Not wasting any time with an intro. Since the melody does a lot of switching between A and G, I’m taking advantage of the re-entrant string and using the open A and G notes. I love how well the bent notes at the fifth fret work here.

    Chorus: Switching to a major key for a fairly jaunty chorus melody.

    Solo: Nothing too flashy here. If you do want to get flashy, you could replace some of the notes at the third fret at the start of the bars in the second half with notes bent at the second fret. That’s more true to the original but tricky to pull off (particularly on the E chord).

    Outro: A bit of stretch here when you’re playing Am then hitting the A-string, 5th fret.

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  • The Beatles – You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (Tabs)

    The Beatles – You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (Tab)Download

    Intro: I did an extended intro based on the verse chords. It’s a little tricky so feel free to adapt it however you like. Or just replace the whole thing with one bar of G like the original.

    Verse: First time around, this section is picked (using one finger per string picking). Second time is more loose and strummed with a few notes picked out.

    Chorus: The funnest part of the song with a big G chord on the “HEY!”

    Solo: Lots of room for your own ideas here too. You could make it as simple as strumming the chords and throwing in a few sus2 and sus4 chords.

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  • Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody (Tabs)

    Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody (Tab)Download

    Intro: Starting off in usual fashion with Eb leading into G major. The Bb note (A-string, 1st fret) suggests G minor so the G major chord is a little surprising.

    Verse: I’m fingerpicking this section the first two times it’s played. The third I’m using some strumming particularly on the Gsus4-G bit. You can do that every time if you prefer.

    Chorus: The Eb chord crops up again creating discord under the line, “Everybody’s having fun,” and suggesting the Christmas isn’t as merry as claimed. If that was intentional, Noddy Holder is a more nuanced songwriter than I gave him credit for.

    Bridge: I had forgotten this section existed. But it does give us the Gm that has been hinted at since the intro.

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