The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go like all good punk songs, it’s just four chords. And the melody and chords alternate so you’re only doing one of them at any given time. Just make sure you’re bashing it out.
The only slightly unusual element is the song shifting to double time in the chorus. So you’re strumming twice as fast with this pattern:
d – d – – u d u
d – d – – u d u
d – d – (then a picking section)
Pink Floyd’s Time is a real epic so I’ve done the most un-Pink Floyd thing of all time and shortened the song by trimming the solo and cutting out the more atmospheric parts.
Intro: Starting off with the ticking sound. Made by muting the strings high up the neck and plucking close to the bridge. Then a lick to lead into the verse.
Verse: This section is forceful and confrontational so keep the chords short and stabby.
Chorus: The chorus switches from the brooding G minor section to a blissed out Ebmaj7. Let the chords ring out in this section to match the mood.
Solo: I’ve changed this considerably from the original. So feel free to make changes for your version. I’m using the G minor pentatonic for the solo plus the occasional A note.
Outro: The outro throws in a few curve balls. It throws in a Gb and modulates to Bb. Then ending on a glum sounding Ebm – E – Cm.
The stomp-clap era has been receiving a sometimes unhinged level of vitriol recently. But I still enjoy it so here’s Mumford and Sons’s The Cave.
Intro: The intro works very nicely on uke. Well worth learning even if you’re not bothered about the rest of the song.
I’m using thumb-and-two-finger picking in this section. And switching to one finger per string in the other sections.
Verse: The verse melody is very similar to the riff. So, to distinguish them, I’m using fretted notes rather than open strings. There are slight variations in the verses. But I don’t think anyone would notice if you played them all the same.
Chorus: This section uses a mixture of strums and picking. With the strums getting more intense each time. The final chorus really ramps up the intensity and is the hardest part to play.
Instrumental: Here, you’re bashing out the verse chords and the riff. There are also some hammer-ons that give it a very Beirut feel.
Something has become particularly associated with the ukulele since Paul has been regularly playing it on uke in tribute to George Harrison. And it transfers over to one very nicely.
Intro: A brief, one-bar intro. Make sure you bend the note at the 7th fret before you pick it.
Verse: The verses are built on two chromatically descending lines. Firstly, descending notes on the A-string set against a C chord. Secondly, descending notes on the g-string set against an Am chord.
With the steady pace of the song, there’s nothing too challenging here.
Bridge: Things get a bit more challenging in the bridge. The action shifts up the fretboard and there are a couple of stretches to deal with.
Solo: The trickiest section. And it’s such a great solo, I’d advise against changing it too much.
Coldplay’s Trouble is a nice, simple one. Even the solo is just a fancy version of the chords.
Here’s my take on Phil Collins’ Against All Odds.
Intro: A quick intro with the thumb picking the C-string with index and middle on the higher strings.
Verse: Switching to one finger per string picking from here up to the outro. That allows the g-string to get in on the melody in bars 3 and 4. You can take advantage of the open strings in bar 2 to give yourself time to move up to the fifth fret.
Chorus: This is the trickiest section, with lots of movement up and down the neck, some campanella playing, and a stretch for the Gm chord in bar 11.. To prepare for that stretch, make sure you’re playing the E-string, 6th fret with your index finger. That’ll put your hand in the right place for the chord.
The chorus includes a couple of bars of 2/4. The original only has the second one. But it felt much more natural to me to play it both times. If you don’t want to do that, you can skip the first half of bars 13 and 19.
Outro: A repeat of the intro with another, “Take a look at me now.” Then a series of chords that leave the song on a cliffhanger.
This arrangement of Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good. The chords are simple but effective. The move from Gm to Cm6 (a Cm chord with an open A-string) to D has such a melancholic and resigned feel to it.
Nothing goes above the fourth fret (and even that is only in the solo), so there’s not much movement to deal with.
The only challenging technique is the use of grace notes. A grace note is a quick note you play just before the main note. For example, in bar 8 you play the open A-string then immediately hammer-on at the first fret. This gives the melody more of human touch.
When grace notes happen inside a chord, they’re written before the chord in the tab, but you play them as part of the chord itself. For example, in bar 2 you play 021X, then immediately hammer-on the third fret of the E-string.
I hadn’t thought about Eagle-Eye Cherry’s Save Tonight since the Cretaceous period until it was requested on Patreon. But the chorus is still buried in the back of my brain.
Intro: Just strumming out the chords with a few hammer-ons. Don’t feel you have to slavishly follow the tab here. So long as you keep the feel of the original
Verse: A few challenges here. There’s a lot of movement up to the fifth fret and back, some quick chord changes and some pull-offs to deal with.
Chorus: The chorus is much easier to get in a groove with. Be sure to keep the strums on the second and fourth beats of each bar percussive. I’m almost moving into the range of them being chnks.
Solo: I kept the solo short and strummy. If you want to stretch out, you can double the number of bars (to make it the same length as the original) and introduce your own ideas.
Here’s one to learn while sweating your bollocks (or lady bollocks) off: Bananarama’s Cruel Summer.
The intro is by far the hardest part of this one. It gets fiddly at the top of the fretboard. Apart from that, it’s pretty straightforward. There’s only three chords in the whole song (Em, D and C). And those are all in the open position until the break section where I use different inversions and things get sweaty on the strumming front.
Intro: Well worth learning the opening even if you don’t bother with the rest of it. It’s the easiest part of the song.
Verse: Here’s where things get tricky. A lot of quick alternate picking to deal with. Make sure you’re fretting the E-string with you pinky for the G minor chord in bar 11. That’ll mean you’re in position for the quick hammer-on and pull-off between bars 12 and 13.
Chorus: The trickiest part of the song comes in the transition between the Ab and the Eb. You can make it easier by releasing the Ab chord rather than letting it ring. That’ll give you time to prepare your index finger on the A-string, 1st fret.
Break: Just the second half of the intro played a few times. Build up the volume here to increase the pull back to the chorus.
Outro: A key change right at the end. Which does make it trickier to play. The upside is you can just slow it down and call it ritardando and people will think you’re fancy.