Ukulele Hunt

Tag: Traditional

  • The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (Tabs)

    The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (Tab)Download

    House of the Rising Sun has been performed by every folkie including Bob Dylan, Leadbelly and Mumford & Sons. But the most famous is by The Animals. And it’s that version I’ve based the arrangement on.

    Intro: You could pluck this section out of the song and it makes a nice little fingerpicking exercise (played with one finger per string picking). Worth learning even if you’re not tackling the whole song.

    Verse: Sticking with the one finger per string picking. The priority here is making sure the melody notes stand out. It helps that the tune is so well known that people will hear it more easily.

    Solo: This solo is built around the chords with notes from the D blues scale (i.e. the D minor pentatonic with an Ab). I also throw in a few chromatic notes right at the end. Plenty of scope here for including your own ideas.

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  • In the Pines/Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Tabs)

    In the Pines/Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Tab)Download

    In the Pines is a traditional song but the most famous versions are by Lead Belly and Nirvana. I mostly worked from the Nirvana version for this arrangement and I’ve kept it very simple.

    The arrangement kicks off with a short intro. There’s lots more you can do here if you’re in the mood.

    The first verse is very simple fingerpicking. The melody is all played on the C-string with just the open E and A-strings for backing. There are a couple of exceptions. In bars 7 and 15, I add a bit of dissonance with the E-string, 6th fret. And in bar 17 the open A-string is part of the melody.

    The second verse stays with the fingerpicking but adds chords. The the third verse switches to strums. After that, it’s a re-run of the first verse.

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  • Oh Shenandoah (Tabs)

    Oh Shenandoah (Tab)Download

    Loads of people have covered Oh Shenandoah, but the Tom Waits and Keith Richards version is the one I’m most familiar with.

    I’ve arranged it three different ways. In order of easiest to trickiest. I’d recommend using this version as a springboard for your own. You can mix and match sections and add your own ideas.

    Intro: Just a short intro to establish the harmony.

    Verse 1: A very simple way of playing it. There are a few grace notes and an Fmaj7 chord in bar 6. But that’s as fancy as it gets.

    Verse 2: This verse harmonises the melody. It’s starts using thirds. Then switches to using a pedal at the end of bar 15 (around the open g-string and A-string, 7th fret). Then, bars 16-17 switch to sixths. After that, it goes back to using thirds.

    Verse 3: This one throws around all sorts of curlicues and filigree. There’s a lot of jumping up and down the fretboard and rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs. By far the hardest section, but still not too bad. You can add more frills here if you like. Or pare it back and make it more tasteful.

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  • The Foggy Dew (Tabs)

    The Foggy Dew (Tab)Download

    The Foggy Dew is a traditional Irish tune that gathered lyrics in 1919. It’s usually sung slowly but my version is closer to the tempo The Dubliners play it at.

    The arrangement starts of with a bit of campanella playing before beefing things up with chords. It’s also worth varying the dynamics of repeated sections so it doesn’t get same-y.

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  • What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor? (Tabs)

    What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor? (Tab)Download

    I recorded the video for this ages ago and never got around to posting it. But International Talk Like a Pirate Day seems like a good occasion to get it up at last.

    This arrangement of Drunken Sailor includes one of my favourite tricks: playing the same note on multiple strings. The first bar has consecutive A notes on the g, E and A strings. Followed in bar two by consecutive G notes on the g, C and E strings.

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