Ukulele Hunt

Tag: UK

  • Stereophonics – Handbags and Gladrags (The Office Theme)(Tabs)

    Stereophonics – Handbags and Gladrags (The Office Theme)(Tab)Download

    Handbags and Gladrags was written by, lead singer of Manfred Mann, Mike d’Abo in the sixties. But it wasn’t until the song was used as the theme to The Office (UK) and Stereophonics released a version that it became a hit. And it’s that version I based this arrangement on.

    Intro: The first four bars are the sweet oboe melody. Then the bluesier piano riff comes in bar 5 (which is my favourite part).

    Verse: The verse melody itself is very simple. The tricky part is quickly moving all the way up the neck for the piano riff. If you don’t fancy that, you can always sub in the oboe line for the piano line.

    Chorus: Also needs a few jumps around the neck but they’re not so big and quick. There’s a big stretch at the start of bar 16 to watch out for.

    Solo: The big brass solo is just three notes played over and over again.

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  • The Smiths – There is a Light That Never Goes Out (Tabs)

    The Smiths – There is a Light That Never Goes Out (Tab)Download

    Intro: A quick intro previously used by Marvin Gaye, The Rolling Stones and The Velvet Underground. It uses one of Marr’s favourite tricks: letting open strings ring through chord changes.

    Verse: The verse is all in the first position. Mostly just switching between Dm and Csus4. There’s a little lick in bars 25-26 which I play first time round but not second time (where I substitute in bars 9-10).

    Chorus: The chorus is a step up in difficulty. In bars 39 and 47, there’s a big stretch to the fifth fret while playing Bb. If you want to make it easier, you could just play the A-string, 5th fret by itself. Or play the C-string open if you want a fuller sound.

    In bar 43 of the second chorus (“heavenly way to dieeeee”), I accidentally played bar 51 (“Pleasure and the privilege is mine”). So play what’s written rather than my screw up.

    Outro: A nice, easy strummed outro.

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  • Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart (Tabs)

    Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart (Tab)Download

    Don your Joy Division oven gloves for a round of Love Will Tear Us Apart.

    Intro/Outro: This section ramps up the tension and anticipation. In the original, the bass plays an A power chord, and the guitar plays an Em chord. Combined, these produce an A9 chord.

    This arrangement moves the song down a step. So the G5 and Dm create a G9 chord. The intro chord also includes a 4th (the C note on the A-string) for an extra bit of tension.

    Chorus: This section flows so smoothly on ukulele. I love playing it. Which is handy because it makes up most of the song.

    Verse: The verse I found less natural to play. The melody here fits more awkwardly against the chords to fit the song’s lyrical theme.

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  • Blur – Tender (Tabs)

    Blur – Tender (Tab)Download

    Here’s a tab of a song that featured in Aftersun, my favourite movie of the last few years:
    Blur’s Tender.

    Intro: Starting off with the trickiest bit. The quick hammer-on to pull-off to slide at the start of bar 3 is a finger-twister.

    When this riff repeats at the end of the chorus, there is a slight change in bars 21 and 22 to watch out for.

    Verse: Just a G – F – G chord progression and nothing too tricky in the melody.

    Chorus: In the second and third choruses, I’ve included the high “fee-ling” part the choir sings (bars 33 and 46). This involves a slide up to the 14th fret. If your uke doesn’t have that many frets (or you just don’t fancy it) you can just repeat the first chorus.

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  • Monty Python – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Tabs)

    Monty Python – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Tab)Download

    Diving into 2025 with some wildly unjustifiable optimism in the shape of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

    Intro: Lots of jumping around the neck in the section. But it’s slow and loose, so it’s not too challenging.

    Chorus: The tempo ramps up here and we switch to swing time. This bit is my favourite part to play. It has a nice flow to it on ukulele. Lots of use of the g-string in the melody.

    Verse: Similar to the intro, but the increased tempo makes it much harder to play. I’ve simplified much of it to make it easier. Particularly bar 19 where I’ve dropped the chords entirely. If you fancy a challenge, you could play this like bar 3.

    Outro: There’s a key change here, so you’re playing the chorus in D. It is more difficult to play in this key. So you could play the chorus again in C and no one would notice or care.

    I’ve tacked on an “have a banana” outro at the end as a nod to the song’s musical hall style.

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  • Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Tabs)

    Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Tab)Download

    Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? is one of the most lyrically disastrous songs ever written. But since this is an instrumental, we can ignore that.

    The chords simple; just F, G and C with a few D minors and A minors thrown in.

    The melody gets a little fiddly though. And it wanders all over the fretboard. A couple of bits to look out for are Bono’s legendary “Tonight thank God…” (in bars 38 and 39) and the pinkie stretch to the fifth fret in bar 32. You can make that part easier by using the open E-string instead of holding the third fret.

    The other challenge is memorising it all. There are no repeats until the chorus right at the end of the song.

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  • The Cure – Friday I’m in Love (Tabs)

    The Cure – Friday I’m in Love (Tab)Download

    I had to break protocol for this one so I could post The Cure’s Friday I’m in Love on a friday.

    Intro: There’s an odd start to the song with the first note coming in on the “and” of 1. If the listener is unfamiliar with the song, it can throw them off.

    After the opening lick, it’s into some straight-forward strumming with a few picked notes thrown in.

    Verse: The first two verses are simple, with all familiar chord shapes in the first position. The third and fourth verses are a bit more tricky since they incorporate a high note on the A-string, fifth fret.

    Chorus: The trickiest part is going from the riff at the end of the verse to G chord with the high D note. If you’re struggling, you can just strum out the A chord in bar 17.

    Solo: The solo has a lot of moves up and down the neck. But there’s nothing too fancy to trip you up.

    Bridge: This is the hardest section to play. You’re up at the fifth fret and it gets a bit fiddly. That’s one reason I halved its length.

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  • The Clash – I Fought the Law (Tabs)

    The Clash – I Fought the Law (Tab)Download

    I Fought the Law was originally recorded by The Crickets after the death of Buddy Holly. The Bobby Fuller Four had a big hit with it later in the 60s. Then The Clash recorded the definitive version. And it’s The Clash version I based this arrangement on.

    Most of this arrangement is very easy. It’s just strumming out basic chords. For the single open-C strings notes the first crop up in bar 11 (where they lyrics say “and the”), I’m strumming all the strings while muting the g-string with my thumb and the E and A-strings with my fingers. If you prefer, you can just play these with fingerpicking the C-string alone. But that does lose a bit of the energy of the song.

    Things only get tricky in the solo section. But even then, it’s not exactly a finger-twister.

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  • The Faces – Ooh La La (Tabs)

    The Faces – Ooh La La (Tab)Download

    I had assumed Rod Stewart was singing Ooh La La, but it’s a rare vocal outing for Ronnie Wood. Although Rod would go on to do his own version in the 90s.

    The chords couldn’t be simpler. It’s just G – Am7 all the way through. And there’s nothing too complicated in the verses and chorus but the rhythm can be a little tricky to keep straight.

    The hardest section is the solo. It’s completely of my own making. So feel free to mess around and come up with your own ideas.

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  • David Gray – Babylon (Tabs)

    David Gray – Babylon (Tab)Download

    Intro: The intro in the album version is much better than the single version. And suits the uke more. So that’s the version I went with.

    Verse: The trickiest part of the song comes in bar 18 with a big jump up to the top of the neck. But there’s not much happening in the bar before it, so you have plenty of time.

    Then you jump down in bar 17. You could make the jump sooner and change the 6-7-6 to 2-3-2 on the E-string (as it’s played in the rest of the song).

    Chorus: Increasing the amount of strumming and picking harder in this section. In the second chorus, from “Let go of your heart” the melody is harmonised.

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