Here’s a version of Roy Orbison’s Crying. Which Rolling Stone declared the 69th greatest song of all time. Nice.
Roy Orbison’s unmistakeable falsetto is in full effect in this song. So the big challenge here is jumping up and now the neck accurately.
In the second chorus, the melody goes all the way up to the 15th fret. If you can’t access that fret on your uke, you can just play it the same as the first chorus. Or, if you really want to go for it, you could use artificial harmonics.
The song is built around a sample of Ike’s Rap by Isaac Hayes (the same sample used in Tricky’s Hell is Round the Corner). So the whole song is on an Em chord (Ebm in the original) with descending bass notes on the C-string of E, D, C#, C.
By far the hardest part of the arrangement is the artificial harmonics in bars 21-22 (“A thousand flowers could bloom”) played at the same time as the bass notes. If, like me, you struggle with that bit, you can ignore the harmonics all together and just play it as written.
The solo starts off like the original but I go off on my own from there. I suggest you do the same. I’m using notes from the melody plus a Bb (A-string, 1st fret) that lends some gritty dissonance to the solo.
Till There Was You was originally recorded by Meredith Wilson. But, of course, is much better known by The Beatles’ cover.
This arrangement is heavily based on The Beatles’ version but is closer to the tempo of the original. I’ve taken a few liberties including adding my own intro and solo. Feel free to do the same for your version.
I recommend one finger per string picking for everything but the solo. I just used whatever falls under my fingers in that section.
There are a few fancy chords in the arrangement. Including my favourite chord: C7(#5). C7 is already an unsettled chord and adding that #5 creates even more tension that is released when you move back to the F chord.
Here’s my take on, part-time uker and full time Belieber, Sufjan Stevens’s heartbreaking Casimir Pulaski Day. I also love Mikaela Davis’s harp cover, so a bit of that has snuck into the arrangement too.
The song gets much of its power from being blunt and straightforward. So I’ve kept the arrangement stark and tried to play it directly without too much emotion.
The picking is mostly thumb on the g- and C-strings and the index and middle on E and A respectively. The big exception is the rapid notes on the C-string at the end of each stanza e.g. bars 9 and 17. For those, I recommend using alternate picking as it’s too quick to comfortably play with your thumb.
The other big exception is the trumpet solo, where I switch to strumming to give things a lift.
The opening riff for REM’s Losing My Religion is a blast to play and fits nicely on the uke. I particularly like the riff on the G chord leading into the verse which I play campanella style.
At first, I was playing the chords with strums. But I switched to fingerpicking for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it makes the chords sharper and more mandolin-like. Secondly, it means you can keep the chords very short (by immediately stopping the strings ringing with your picking fingers) making the sound punchier. Even so, strumming is a perfectly legitimate way to go and lends the tune a different feel.
Things get a lot more miserable once Stipe turns up. I mostly play the verses and choruses with one finger per string picking. You can be fairly loose with these sections and don’t need to play everything note for note.
My second favourite part is the riff right at the end. It’s ultra simple but very effective. Well worth learning even if you don’t bother with the rest of the song as it’ll fit in many situations.
Following up Bob Dylan with another “Blue” song: When the Stars Go Blue by Ryan Adams (one of the many sensitive singer-songwriters I listened to who turned out to be a full-time shithead). Although it was a bigger hit when Bono and The Corrs covered it.
I’ve paired that with Semisonic’s only hit Closing Time as they have almost identical choruses.
There are at least five options when it comes to the best Bob Dylan album. And I’ve cycled through all of them. But currently it’s Blood on the Tracks. So here’s an arrangement of the opening track.
This tab is very straightforward. It’s mostly strummed with a few notes picked out here and there. The only big challenge is the stretch up to the 7th fret in bars 11 and 13. If you’re struggling with that, you can just play the note at the 5th fret and no one will notice.
The arrangement plays through the verse twice and ends with a solo. The solo is very loosely based on the harmonic part at the end of the original but is mostly just me bashing out whatever I feel like.
I had always assumed the first verse was mocking George Harrison’s Taxman. But it appears Sunny Afternoon was released a couple of months before Taxman. So phenomenally rich people moaning about taxes must have been the rage at the time. Thank god that’s over.
The tune starts off with a bit of a stretch but an otherwise simple descending riff. Be sure to release the pressure with your fretting hand shortly after playing to keep the notes short. The melody is reasonably straightforward as well.
The problems only start when you have to combine the descending run with the melody notes in bars 35 to 40.
This Sega classic by Masato Nakamura starts off with the hardest bar in the entire arrangement. And it’s such an iconic run there’s not much scope to change it.
The good news is that this is followed by a very easy section of just Em, Dm and F chords. And the rest of the tune isn’t too tricky. The most difficult bit are the little runs in the Em parts (e.g. bars 11 and 13).
I’ve cut the intro way down from the original version. You’re welcome to use any picking pattern and any inversion of the chords here.
The chorus is brilliant. It manages to pull of the trick of being both bleak and catchy.
The verses are angry and even more sparse than the chorus. In a case of do as I say not do as I do, let the verse breath and try not to rush the melody.
Finally, the legendary drum Phil (bar 60). I’ve gone with a descending run based on the D blues scale with the last four notes played chromatically.