The White Stripes’ Fell in Love with a Girl is a simple song but the tempo is high. I’ve slowed it down in my version (from 180BPM-ish in the original to 170) but it’s still a challenge to keep up. To make things easier, the arrangement moves across the strings rather than up and down the neck. Which means there’s a lot of open strings and use of the g-string in the melody.
Even more than usual, this one rewards practicing slowly. Let your fingers learn the patterns before building up speed . Because once it’s up to tempo, there’s no time to think.
We’re kicking off Halloween season with CCR’s Bad Moon Rising. For extra spook, I’ve worked from the minor key version of the song that cropped up in Wednesday. I always like the way dark songs sound on the uke. So this minor version works well.
I’m using Travis picking all the way through the tune. So the thumb is alternating between the g- and C-strings while the index and middle fingers cover the E- and A-strings, respectively. This technique sounds intricate and hard to play. But, once you’ve got it under your fingers, it flows very easily. So practice nice and slow before you attempt it at higher speed.
Today we’re taking on Minnie Riperton’s sweet lullaby and notoriously bad karaoke choice Lovin’ You.
I’ve kept the arrangement sparse to match the original and to focus on the melody. But it’s still a challenge to play due to the amount of movement up and down the neck. The trickiest bits being the jumps up to the 12th fret. I found bar 19 particularly challenging.
Of course, Minnie Riperton’s famed vocal range far outstrips the range of the ukulele. So the ultra-high “ah-ah-ah…” section is shifted down an octave.
Here’s my take on the most 90s song there is: STP’s Plush.
Intro: Starting off with a simple chord riff with chromatically descending notes on the C and A-strings.
Verse: Nothing too tricky in the verse. The transition between bars 7 and 8 was the bit I needed to practice most. Once you get to the, “And I feeeeeeel it,” section, you can just blast it out.
Pre-Chorus: More of challenge. It’s all barre chords until the last few notes. And so is the chorus, so you’ll need some finger stamina to get through it. There are also some big stretches in bars 19 and 21.
Chorus: The trickiest part. There’s some quick moving around the neck. I’ve included a fingering suggestion in bar 23 to make the transition easier.
Inevitably, I’ve trimmed this one down from its 8 1/2 minute runtime. This arrangement includes the opening slow verse, then speeds up for the first chorus, then speeds up again for the second verse and chorus.
There’s nothing too tricky to play until the second half of the second verse. As well as the increased tempo, there’s a lot of jumping up and down the neck to handle.
But the hardest part for me was memorising the verses. The chorus has a very catchy melody and a clear chord structure. But the verses are meandering and wordy. The chord progression never settles into a pattern. And even changes slightly between the two verses.
Doctor Worm is my favourite TMBG song. And it has been dusted off to promote their latest live album. It’s a lot of fun to play but has some challenging sections.
Intro: I tried a few different ways to play this horn riff. And three of them crop up in this arrangement.
The version in the intro is by far the trickiest but also the truest to the original. If you’d rather avoid playing it (and that’s the sensible choice), you can replace the first four bars with bars 69-72. Or, if you have the chops of Rabbi Vole, you can make the opposite substitution.
Verse: The verses are much simpler. The third verse is especially simple, as it’s just the melody without chords.
Chorus: The chorus starts with just blasting out the strums with the melody alternating between B and C on the A-string.
The chorus ends with the horn riff transposed to Bb.
Middle: The trickiest section of the whole song. You have to deal with the melody whilst the chords alternate between G and C. I highly recommend slowing this section right down when you’re learning it before attempting it anywhere near full speed.
Bridge: A nice, simple section to recover after the middle.
Solo: A very easy solo too. It starts off mirroring the verse melody then descends from there. The bass has much more room to descend than the uke, so I had to cheat it a little.
Outro: Another variation on the horn riff. This time heading up the neck for the crescendo.
Nirvana’s In Bloom is a nice, easy one. It’s almost all strumming. There’s just a bit of fingerpicking in the first half of the verses. The rest is just blasting out chords with a few extra notes here and there.
The only challenging part is the second half of bar 2 (repeated in bar 30). There’s a quick walk-up on the g-string that’s played with all down strums. If you’re finding that too hard, you can switch to just strumming out the Bb chord.
Here’s my take on a track from R.E.M.’s massive Automatic for the People: Find the River.
Intro: Easing into the song with a very straightforward four bars. Then into some tricky fast picking in the next four bars. Be sure to play the G chord in bars 5 and 7 by barreing the second fret. That’ll make for a smooth transition up the neck for the Gm7.
Verse: The verse is fairly simple. It’s all first position chords and almost all strummed.
Chorus: The chorus is more challenging as it moves up and down the neck. Although it’s still just strumming. The trickiest part comes in the second half of bars 19 and 21. If you’re finding that tricky, Here’s an alternative version that’s easier to play. Although it does require a quicker move down to the G chord.
Keeping up the summer vibes (and the Brian Wilson tributes) with The Beach Boys’ Surfin’ USA. Musically, the song is based on Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen. But Wilson took the wise decision to change the lyrics.
The key technique throughout is strum blocking i.e. muting the strings you don’t want to sound. For example, in the opening three notes, I’m muting the g-string with my thumb and the E- and A-strings with my index finger.
Intro: A very Chuck Berry-style lick. Played with all down-strums. And I’m holding my thumb against my index finger for some extra force (almost holding it like a pick).
Verse: The verse starts out alternating bars between melody notes (played on the g-string) and a standard blues shuffle. Then switches to more straightforward chords in bar 10.
For the strum blocking in the melody bars (e.g. bar 4) I’m muting the C-string with the underside of the finger I’m fretting the g-string with. And I’m muting the A-string with my middle finger (which is fretting the E-string).
Chorus: Starts almost identical to the verse except for having a more basic shuffle and not muting the C-string for the melody parts. Then it ventures up the neck for the falsetto “Everybody’s gone…” in bar 30.
Solo: I’ve stuck fairly close to the original here. But so long as you stay in the Chuck Berry area, there’s plenty of room to make changes.
Outro: Just the “Everybody’s gone…” bit repeated, then I threw in a little lick at the end.
Intro: The song kicks off with a couple of jazz licks that are completely unrelated to the rest of the song. But do sound cool. It’s fine to drop those if you’re not into it. Or adjust it to your taste.
That leads into the intro proper. I’ve changed this up a bit from the original. And I’ve shortened it since the original is 30 seconds in before the verse starts.
Verse: The verse is nice and straightforward. It’s all contained in the first few frets and uses familiar chord shapes. Be aware that the open g-string at the start åof bar 19 is a melody note, so make sure it stands out.
Pre-Chorus: Switching to strums for the build up to the chorus. I didn’t find a nice way to play the melody and the descending notes at the same time. So I sacrificed the melody and just hinted at it with the hammer-ons on the E-string.
Chorus: Almost identical to the melody in the verse. But it’s beefed up with a bunch of strumming.
Solo: The trickiest part of the song. There are some quick runs that use campanella picking and a bit of quick movement up the neck. There’s room for changing things here. But I wouldn’t move away from the original too much as it has a strong melodic sense to it.
