One Love first came out in a ska version in 1965. But my arrangement is based on the later, more laid-back and more famous reggae version. You might have noticed that good-time island vibes and togetherness are not my métier. So I’m sure you can improve on my version.
I love the mix of textures on this track. Particularly the sharp guitar stabs, the rinky-dink piano and Marley’s smooth vocals. I’ve tried to include those in this arrangement as much as I can.
This arrangement is based on Nico’s version rather the more laid-back Jackson Browne version. I couldn’t resist playing the Cotton picking guitar of the Nico version (played by Browne himself) on the ukulele.
Intro: Setting up the cotton picking pattern along with the thumb alternating between the g- and C-strings, the index finger picking the E-string and the middle A.
Except in bars 1 and 3 you start on the g-string and in the others you’re starting on the C-string. I’ve done to complete the descending line on the g-string. That run goes C-B-A-G in the first bar and needs the F on the C-string to finish it off.
Verse: Some more switching of the pattern in this section. This time it’s because some of the melody notes go low enough to fall on the C-string e.g. the final C note in bar 6 and the C-string, second fret in bar 8.
There’s a break from the alternating picking when you switch to one-finger-per-string picking in bar 12. That continues until you ease back into the alternating style in bar 16.
Solo: My take on the solo is a bit more in the Jackson Browne style. Particularly with the country bend in bar 26. I’ve also taken a hint from the descending bass-line and used a descending line harmonised with thirds in bars 24 and 34. The rest is plucking the chords with a few references to the melody thrown in.
Of course, you’re allowed and encourage to do whatever you fancy in this section and make it your own.
I tabbed R.E.M.’s Losing My Religion a while back. So high time I did a song from their follow-up Automatic for the People.
Intro: Plenty of room to play around with ideas in the intro. I’m just picking out notes from a few chord inversions.
Verse: Just two chords (C and D), a stately pace and a contained melody.
Pre-Chorus: A classic pre-chorus, building up the energy into the chorus. So it starts at the same level as the verse, builds complexity and moves up the neck in bars 26 and 27. Then switches from picking to strumming in bar 28.
Chorus: The trickiest part of the song with chord changes coming thick and fast.
Solo: Another place you can introduce your own ideas. Mine is a similar idea to the intro with notes coming mostly from the chords. I’m also doing plenty of sliding around to emulate the slide guitar in the original.
This arrangement goes straight from the solo in the chorus. So I’ve taken a hint from the pre-chorus and ending the solo with a move up the neck and then some strumming.
Joe Hisaishi is a prolific film composer (I only realised while researching this post that he scored a movie I watched while working on this piece). But he’s best known for his scores for the Studio Ghibli films and for Takeshi Kitano. Summer comes from one of Kitano’s gentler movies: Kikujiro.
This arrangement starts with some palm muted arpeggios before moving into the main melody. In this section, I’ve used the open g-string as a melody note in a number of places. You can replace any of these with E-string, 3rd fret if you prefer.
The arrangement goes full campanella mode in bar 18. Playing one note on each string means you don’t have to move your left hand at all for this quick section. Once you’ve got the picking pattern under your fingers it’s very easy.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the rising bass line here to fit with the higher pattern. So I’ve divided them up. So you play the pattern in G, then the lower bass part in bars 20-21, the high pattern in C in bars 22-23 and the bass pattern in C in bars 24-25.
After a reprise of the A section, the outro closes out with some notes up the neck. Which I manage to flub in bar 39. So play what’s written rather than my screw-up. I manage it second time around in bar 41 if you want to hear how it’s supposed to sound.
Spandau Ballet’s True is a real new romantic cheese-fest. Despite (or maybe because of) that, I had a lot of fun playing this. There are some tasty chords and runs in there.
Cheesiest and funnest of all is the sax solo. I’ve kept this as close to the original as I could manage. The chord progression switches to a simple Eb – Ab vamp. So there’s plenty of scope to throw your own ideas in there. The trickiest part of the whole song comes in bar 60 with a quick descending run at the climax.
Following on from No Rain with another 90s one-hit wonder: Marcy Playgraound’s Sex and Candy.
The song only has verses and choruses but they still manage to sneak in three key changes. The verses are in G and the choruses in Bb.
The key change from the verse to the chorus is very smooth. Although the Bb note (A-string, 1st fret) isn’t in the key of G, we’ve heard it a lot in the Eb chord and the melody. So the transition that occurs during the “I smell sex and…” part is seamless.
The key change back at the end of the chorus calls attention to itself though. In bar 20 the chords shift down half a step to D to set up the key of G. A bit of theory: the most common way to change key is to play the V chord of the key you’re changing to. This sets up the new key rather than diving straight into it. In this case, D is the V chord of G.
For this arrangement, I’ve stuck fairly closely to the George Michael original. But I’ve listened to the Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright version more often so some of that version has snuck into this arrangement. And, of course, the Sexy Sax Man version is definitive.
The chords are the same the whole way through: Dm – Gm7 – Bb – Am (the same key as the original). But things don’t get boring as you’ll be playing the chords in different inversions. And you can make things even more interesting by varying the dynamics as you’re playing.
There is a note played on the E-string, 13th fret in bar 14. If you playing a soprano and don’t have a 13th fret, you can replace that note with A-string, 8th fret.
Following up the Zombie tab with another of The Cranberries’ most loved songs.
The intro has a fingerpicking figure switching between Cmaj7 and G that reminds me of Tonight, Tonight. After that, the original has a jarring fade into the main body of the song. I’ve smoothed that out so it’s closer to the acoustic version.
The other part to look out for comes in the bridge. Because the melody goes below the C on the uke, I’ve had to shift the melody in bars 35 and 36. The transition back down in bar 37 needs to be played confidently to get away with it.
Here’s my take on the No Doubt mega-hit Don’t Speak. The second best song Gwen Stefani has been involved with. I wasn’t sure if this one would work on uke, but I like how mournful it sounds on the instrument.
The chords in the verse are a little unusual. The first time around the Dm chord lasts one bar. The second time, it lasts half a bar and all the chords are moved half a bar earlier with an extra half a bar of Dm in bar 9.
The pre-chorus introduces some strums to build up to the chorus. The chord progression in the chorus is great. Particularly moving between D and Cm.
There’s a key change to Eb in the bridge. Which makes it tricky to play.
Next is the solo, which also has a few tricky bits. Most notably the trip up the neck in bar 31.
After that is a minimal version of the verse and a chorus with a slight variation at the end.
Here’s a tab for The La’s’s massive (and only) hit There She Goes. Despite their one-hit-wonder status, they were massively influential and were the template for the Britpop fad that kicked off a few years later.
This arrangement kicks off with the riff moved up to the key of C. That makes things much easier because you can use the open g-string as the pivot note. Things get a little trickier in bar 5 when the chords come in. If you’re struggling with that, you can keep playing the single note version and no one will care.
You can make the chorus easier with some forward-thinking fretting. If you fret the C chord at the start of bars 11 and 13 with your middle finger, you’ll be able to transition into the G chord much more smoothly. And at the start of bars 15 and 17, fret a Dm chord like you usually would and play the E-string third fret with your pinkie.
Next it’s back to the riff with a short solo section. Then the song shifts to A minor in the bridge but keeps the same melody. From there, the arrangement switches to mostly strumming as it builds towards the end.