Mark Ronson – Uptown Funk (Tab)

Here’s one if you’re looking for a challenge. There are lots of jumps around the neck, syncopated rhythms, twists and turns, and tricky strum blocking to get to grips with.

On part that isn’t too difficult is the strumming hand. Most of the song my right hand is just strumming sixteenth notes. The rhythm is created by muting and playing strings with the left hand.

For example, in the intro you play a constant strum, hold down the chord stabs and mute the g-string (I use the thumb of my fretting hand), otherwise mute all the strings.

Here’s a video of it done slowly then up to speed:

The verse is done in a similar way. Strum constant sixteenth notes and mute the strings when nothing is played. The difference is you also have to mute all but one string. That can get tricky and it takes a lot of practice. I call this strum blocking and I did a tutorial on it here. It’s a great way to give a piece lots of attack and a strong rhythm.

In this song I mostly mute the g-string with my thumb, C-string with my middle finger, E-string with my ring finger and the A-string with the underside of my index finger. But you’ll need to play around with it and see what works best for you.

Here’s the first line of the first verse played slowly then up to speed:

Note: in the tab I’ve noted the muted strums with just one x to keep the tab clean. But you do strum all the strings.

Other note: In the video I mess up the ‘Saturday night…’ bit in the middle section. It should sound the same as it does in the bridge sections.

Links

Buy it on iTunes
More funk tabs and chords
Five funky riff tabs

Don’t forget you can get 50% off all of my How to Play Ukulele ebooks.

Learning

– New instructional DVD from Del Rey Memphis Uke Party (thanks to Howard).
– Easy Ukulele Songs Podcast.
– N.B. Bailey and Keoki E Ukulele Solo Book.
– Halifax Ukulele Gang’s second songbook.

Ukes

– Lots of new ukes on display at NAMM 2015. Lots of great photos and videos in Hawaii Music Supply’s coverage: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.
– Three new ukes amazing looking ukes from KoAloha.
– Amy Crehore’s Tickler # 3: “Twitch” Concert Ukulele. She talks about it with the Huffington Post.
– Kala’s Elite Ukulele. Their first ukes made in the US.

New Releases

– UkePunk’s Punk Police
– Victoria Vox’s When the Night Unravels
– Ukular Reactor – Mother Ukers

Lou ‘Bossarocker’ Armer talks to BBC Radio 4.

Full Playlist

Andreas David and Corey Fujimoto – Rondo alla Turca

Wild Child – Living Tree

Nomke – One Of A Kind

Daisy Lu – Ain’t That A Kick In The Head

Jim Boggia – Bus Stop

Ruthie Craft + Kaiti Dewhirst – Listen to the Man

Thanks to Ron Hale.

EdwardAlice – Bear the Boxer

Thanks to Ron Hale.

The Jive Aces – La Dolce Vita

The Staves – Facing West (Chords)

I’m more excited for the new Staves album than I am about any other record apart from Meow the Jewels this year. The Staves with Justin ‘off of Bon Iver’ Vernon producing is a dream team.

To tide myself over I’ve written up the chords to the ukulele song from the first album Facing West.

The chords themselves are dead simple. If you’re okay singing it in F then you’ve got no problems.

But in the original they’re tuned down one fret (so is Dodie ‘dodleoddle’ Clark in her version if that’s the one you’re interested in). So you’ll have to do that if you want to play along. Alternatively you could put a capo on the first fret and play these slightly more troublesome chord shapes:

Facing West (Capo Chords)

Suggested Strumming

You can use this strum twice for every chord all the way through the song:

d – d – – u d u

Or this strum sounds great with a touch strum on the first strum. You play a touch strum by just hitting the g-string (although if you hit the C-string as well it’s not a big deal). It gives the strum a bit more variety.

Here’s how it looks (slow then up to speed):

Links

Buy it on iTunes
Bon Iver chords for Skinny Love and Michicant

Here’s the preliminary list of 2015 ukulele festivals. If you know a festival that needs adding send me a message or leave a comment on this post with the details.

USA and Canada

Allegheny Ukulele Soiree

Location: Penn State Altoona, Altoona, PA 16601
Date: March 22, 2015
Performers: Victoria Vox, Stuart “Stukulele” Fuchs, Colin Coleman
Website: http://soiree.alleghenyukes.com/

Ashokan Uke Fest

Location: Conservation Hall, Ashokan Center
Date: May 22 to 25, 2015
Performers: Joel Eckhaus, Ben Hassenger, Paul Hemmings, Marcy Marxer, Heidi Swedberg, Gerald Ross and Ruthy Ungar
Website: http://ashokan.org/camps/uke-fest/

Dock Street Uke Camp

Location: Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada
Date: September 18 to 20, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://ukecamp.blogspot.co.uk/

Lake Anne 6th Annual Ukulele Festival

Location: Lake Anne Plaza, Reston, VA
Date: July 11, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://lakeanneplaza.com/event/6th-annual-ukulele-festival/

Martha’s Vineyard Ukulele Festival

Location: Featherstone Center for the Arts, Oak Bluffs, Ma.
Date: September 19, 2015
Performers: Faith Ako, Jim & Liz Beloff, Ken Middleton, Steve McNie
Website: http://www.mvukefest.com/

May Day Play Day

Location: Modesto Church of the Brethren, 2301 Woodland Avenue, Modesto, CA 95358
Date: May 16, 2015
Performers: Strummin’ Wonders of Woodbridge Manteca, River City Ukulele Band of Roseville, Strum Bums of Grass Valley.
Website: http://funstrummers.com/4.html

Menucha Ukulele Band Camp

Location: Corbett, Oregon
Date: March 23 to 27, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://menucha.org/programs/uke-band-camp

Midwest Uke Fest

Location: Folkcraft Instruments, 22133 Main Street, Woodburn, IN 46797
Date: August 15 to 26, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.midwestukefest.com/

Mighty Uke Day 5

Location: Old Town Lansing, Michigan
Date: May 8 to 10, 2015
Performers: Victoria Vox, Stuart Fuchs, Gerald Ross, Susan Picking, Saldaje, Andy Wilson, Ukulele Dwight
Website: http://mightyukeday.com

The Oakridge Ukulele Festival

Location: TBA
Date: TBA
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.oakridge-lodge.com/events/ukulele-festival/

Palm Strings Ukulele Festival

Location: 400 E Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, CA
Date: February 6 to 8, 2015
Performers: Victoria Vox, Michael Powers, Craig Brandau, Cali Rose and Jason Arimoto.
Website: http://playuke.net/2015-palm-springs-details

Port Townsend Ukulele Festival

Location: Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Washington
Date: October 7 to 11 or October 14 to 18, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://centrum.org/the-port-townsend-ukulele-festival/

Reno Ukulele Festival

Location: Nugget Resort, Sparks, Nevada
Date: April 30 to May 3, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://playuke.net/reno

Santa Monica Ukulele Festival

Location: Santa Monica High School. 601 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405
Date: April 18, 2015
Performers: Abe Lagrimas, Jr., Jim and Liz Beloff, Craig Chee and Sarah Maisel and Cali Rose and Craig Brandau
Website: http://www.santamonicaukulelefestival.com/

Silver Creek International Ukulele Carnival

Location: Two Harbors Minnesota, USA
Date: August 21 to 23, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.twoharborsukulelegroup.com/

South Florida Ukulele Fest

Location: 1350 East Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date: March 20 to 21, 2015
Performers: James Hill, Gerald Ross, Steve Boisen, Tommy Lee Stryder
Website: http://www.southfloridaukulelefest.com/

Tunes In The Dunes V

Location: Lincoln Cultural City Center, Oregon
Date: September 18 to 20, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://tunesinthedunes.com/

Ukulele Festival of Northern California

Location: Chabot College Campus, 25555 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward, CA 94545
Date: April 26, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.ukulelefestivalnorcal.org/

Ukulele University

Location: Cascades Academy, Bend, Oregon, USA
Date: July 17 to 19, 2015
Performers: Craig Chee, Sarah Maisel, Aaron and Nicole Keim, and Rhan Wilson
Website: http://ukeu.info/

Ukulele World Congress

Location: Needmore, Indiana
Date: June 5 to 6, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: https://ukuleleworldcongress.wordpress.com/

Utah Uke Fest

Location: Historic City Hall, American Fork, UT
Date: July 18, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://utahukefest.org/

Utah Ukulele Festival

Location: Willow Park, Logan, Utah
Date: August 1, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://utahukefest.com/

Vancouver Ukulele Festival

Location: St James Hall, Vancouver, Canada
Date: March 6 to 8, 2015
Performers: Sarah Maisel, Craig Chee, Victoria Vox, Aaron & Nicole Keim, John Nash, Ralph Shaw and Daphne Roubini.
Website: http://www.rubysukes.ca/vancouver-ukulele-festival/

West Coast Ukulele Retreat

Location: Asilomar, Monterey Peninsula
Date: May 13 to 17, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://westcoastukuleleretreat.com/

Hawaii

Great Waikoloa Ukulele Festival

Location: Kings’ Shops and Queens’ MarketPlace, Waikoloa Beach Resort
Date: March 7, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.ukulelefestivalhawaii.org/en/waikoloa.htm

Uke Ohana

Location: Pu’u O Hoku Ranch & Halawa Valley, Molokai, Hawaii
Date: May 22 to 26, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://ukeohana.com/

Ukulele Festival

Location: Kapiolani Park, Waikiki, Oahu
Date: July 19, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.ukulelefestivalhawaii.org/en/oahu/index.htm

Ukulele Picnic in Hawaii 2015

Location: Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows, Kohala Coast, Big Island, Hawaii
Date: February 8, 2015
Performers: Mark Yamanaka, John Keawe Kohala, Kris Fuchigami and Brittni Paiva.
Website: http://www.ukulelepicnicinhawaii.org/en/

United Kingdom and Ireland

Cardiff Ukulele Festival

Location: St David’s Hall, Cardiff
Date: March 28, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.ukenights.co.uk/

Grand Northern Ukulele Festival 2015

Location: Lawrence Batley Theatre
Date: May 22 to 24, 2015
Performers: Manitoba Hal, Sarah Maisel, The Quiet American, Craig Chee, Phil Doleman, Zoe Bestel, Chonkinfeckle, Mother Ukers, and U.K.E.
Website: http://northernuke.com/

Leamington Ukulele Festival

Location: Newbold Comyn Arms & Grounds, Leamington Spa. CV32 4EU.
Date: July 4, 2015
Performers: Lynda Styne & Red Hot Duo, Chonkinfeckle, Matt Richards
Website: http://spa-strummers.co.uk/fest2015.html

Rye Ukulele Festival 2015

Location: The Cinque Ports, Cinque Ports St, Rye, East Sussex
Date: May 24, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://ryeukuleleexperiment.co.uk/rye-ukulele-festival/

Summer Strum

Location: Hoylake Rugby Club, Hoylake, Wirral, UK
Date: July 4 to 5, 2015
Performers: Wirral Ukulele Orchestra, Mighty Flea, Splintered Ukes, Ukulele Club Liverpool
Website: http://summerstrum8.wix.com/summerstrum

Ukes for UNICEF – Ukulele Festival

Location: Berkhamsted Civic Centre
Date: February 28, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.ukesforunicef.com/

Ukulele Festival of Great Britain

Location: The Norwood Arms, 1 Leckhampton Rd, Cheltenham GL53 0AX
Date: June 19 to 21, 2015
Performers: James Hill, Ryo Natoyama, Herb Ohta Junior, Ukulele Bartt, Tobias Elof, Tomoki Sato, Hot Potato Syncopators and Zoe Bestel
Website: http://www.ukulelefestival.co.uk/Home.aspx

Ukulele Hooley

Location: Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
Date: August 22 to 23, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.ukulelehooley.com/

Europe

Czech Ukulele Festival

Location: Unetice, Prague, Czech Republic
Date: July 24 to 26, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.ukulelefestival.cz/?sJaz=en

Helsinki Ukulele Festival

Location: Helsinki, Finland
Date: May 22 to 24, 2015
Performers: Ken Middleton, Chris Hough
Website: http://www.uke.fi/start/

Morkelele – Morecambe Summer Ukulele Spectacular

Location: Morecambe, Lancashire, UK
Date: July 10 to 11, 2015
Performers: Uff & Dave Trio, Mersey Belles, Dead Mans Uke
Website: http://www.etickets.to/buy/?e=12267

My Big Fat Greek Ukulele Adventure

Location: Askeli Beach, Poros Beach, Greece
Date: September 19, 2015
Performers: Seeso, Matt Lindahl
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/678798715542758/?notif_t=plan_user_joined

Paris Ukulele Festival

Location: La Bellevilloise – 21 rue Boyer – 75020 Paris
Date: May 14 to 16, 2015
Performers: The Sweet Hollywaiians, Les Poupées Gonflées, Les Rois du Macadam, Yan Yalego, Dust Sweepers
Website: http://www.ukuleleboudoir.com/festival/

Australia and New Zealand

Blue Mountains Ukulele Festival

Location: Carrington Hotel, 15-47 Katoomba Street, Katoomba NSW
Date: February 13 to 15, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: http://www.bluemugs.com.au/

The Huskisson Uke Muster

Location: Huskisson, Jervis Bay New South Wales 2540
Date: June 16, 2015
Performers: TBA
Website: https://www.facebook.com/vangonesinstumentalandchoralensemble

Lauder Ukulele Festival

Location: Lauder Green, Lauder, Omakau
Date: February 5 to 8, 2015
Performers: Keith Lightfoot, Hyram Ballard, The Misfits, Pic’N Mix, Aspiring Ukes and LX Ukes.
Website: http://www.lauderukefest.com/

Melbourne Ukulele Festival

Location: Thornbury Theatre, 859 High Street, Thornbury VIC 3071, Australia
Date: March 13 to 15, 2015
Performers: Victoria Vox, Ralph Shaw, Ukulele Russ
Website: http://muf.org.au/

Sunshine Coast Ukulele Festival

Location: Borumba Deer Park, Imbil
Date: March 13 to 15, 2015
Performers: Sarah Maisel, Craig Chee, Matthew Fagan, Mic Conway and Mike Jackson.
Website: http://www.sunshinecoastukulelefest.com/

James Newton Howard ft. Jennifer Lawrence – Hanging Tree (Tab)

After last week’s two nightmare difficulty posts something much more straight forward this week.

Like the original, I start my version off with just the melody. It’s a great traditionally inspired melody (written by the guys off of The Lumineers) and is plenty strong enough to hold your attention alone. I’m just picking this with my thumb but you can use fingers if you’re comfortable with that.

Then from bar 17 I introduce a few chords but still keep it very minimal. Again, I’m just using my thumb to play these. Strumming down the strings whenever there’s more than one note.

Links

Buy it on iTunes
More movie theme tabs

My ebooks are available in the EU again thanks to Gumroad getting on top of the VAT situation. Sorry about the delay on that.

Learning

– Two great new ukulele blogs: Jonathan Lewis has a site for tabs of his spectacular campanella arrangements of traditional tunes, and Ukulele Go! covering everything uke related including reviews, lessons, links and general uke miscellany.
– Aaron and Nicole Keim’s A Ukulele Handbook: a beautiful, illustrated beginner’s guide.

New Releases

– I’ve kicked off the Ukulele 2015 playlist on Spotify with Victoria Vox, Kimo Hussey, Seryn, The Vespers and the ubiquitous Meghan Trainor.
– Speaking of Kimo Hussey, he has a new album Low G.
– Not often I come across some ukulele on my trips to DatPiff but my last visit turned up two: a fantastic uke riff on Vee Tha Rula and Kid Ink’s fantastic Out In Pari on the VRSES EP and a much more brief the IZ-sample on Jermone N Da House by Trinidad James.

Ukes

– KoAloha have been busy. They’re relaunching their entry level KoAlana ukes and introducing a the new Opio range of mid-priced ukuleles.
– The Brian May Uke.

Kickstarting

– Animals EP by EdwardAlice.

Videos

– Ukulele controlled quadcopter
– Why make uke videos?
– Musical preview of Portlandia.

New ruling for air travel: U.S. Department of Transportation now say musicians who board planes must be allowed to carry on their instruments provided they fit in the overhead bin.

Full Playlist

Seryn – Paths

Queen Porter Stomp – Just Come On

Thanks to Ron Hale.

Jonathan Lewis – La Rotta

Hayley Harland & Martha Paton – Know Me Well

UkuLise – Shutdown

James Hill – If Wishes Were Horses

Inglenook – La Voleuse

UkePunk – Frack Off

Annie Bacon & her OSHEN – When Anybody Laughs

Mylow – The Way It Used to Be

Meghan Trainor – Baby Doll (Chords)

I’m not saying I single handedly launched Meghan Trainor’s career, but she did start to get huge after I gave this song the old Uke Hunt bump. It didn’t make the album but it’s easily my favourite song of hers. It has some classic ukulele chord moves like C – A7 – Dm – G7.

First thing to do: put a capo on the fourth fret.

There are a few chord names you might not be familiar with in this one. But don’t be intimidated, they’re very easy to play. The most difficult chord is Fm played in a different way to the usual 1013. But you can use the 1013 version and it’ll sound just fine.

Suggested Strumming

You can use this as the main strum all the way through:

d – d u d u d u

Verses: Do that once for each chord.

Bridge: Main strum twice for each chord.

Intro and Chorus: Here you have to split the strum into two parts (d – d u and d u d u). You do:

– d – d u on the C then d u d u on the Cmaj7.
– One play through the full main strum for each for C7 – Fadd9 – Fm.
– Half each for C – A7 – Dm – G7. A main strum on C.
– Then d – d u on G7, d u on G7sus4 and d u on G7.

Here’s how that sounds (slow then up to speed):

Intro/chorus strum (MP3)

Links

Meghan Trainor on iTunes

Today’s post is a guest tutorial by classical guitarist and ukulelist Samantha Muir. She recently won the UOGB’s Valentines contest with a fancy bit of tremolo picking and was kind enough to let me share her technique with you.

You can find out more about Sam and buy her classical ukulele tab ebooks at SamanthaMuir.com.

What Is Tremolo?

Tremolo is a technique which uses rapidly repeated notes to give a shimmering or trembling effect. For string players, such as violinists, this involves the rapid moving back and forth of the bow. Classical guitarists also love tremolo. It’s a great way to woo your audience!

The most well known solo classical guitar piece is Tarrega’s haunting Recuerdos de la Alhambra, or Memories of the Alhambra, which uses tremolo. Throughout the gardens and courtyards of the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain, you can hear sounds of water coming from the many fountains. The tremolo technique captures this idea of flowing water beautifully.

About 5 years ago I was fortunate enough to visit the Alhambra and a friend made a video of me playing Recuerdos de la Alhambra in the palace grounds. You can see it here on YouTube…

How Do You Do That?

Tremolo can be achieved using a pick. This requires a rapid back and forth movement with the pick (and bucket loads of practise!). The other way is to use your right hand fingers and thumb. To grasp the basics it is best to identify the fingers in the following way:

P = thumb and comes from the Spanish word Pulgar
i = index and comes from the Spanish word Indices
m = middle and comes from the Spanish word Medio
a = ring finger and comes from the Spanish word Anular

Note: The p i m a system is used by classical guitarists and is a good way to abbreviate all RH finger style patterns. It would make sense for ukulele players to universally adopt this system as it is a quick and easy system to learn. The left hand fingers are identified numerically so using the p i m a system for RH identification makes it immediately quite clear which hand is being referred to on the score.

OK, down to the nitty gritties…

When playing a tremolo you are basically playing a repeated 4 note pattern with the right hand. The RH fingering is:

p a m i p a m i p a m i p a m i etc

The pattern is repeated over and over. The speed and fluidity of the pattern create the tremolo effect.

Try playing this pattern on one string to get the feel of it. The critical thing is the connection between the thumb and ring, or a, finger. All the notes have to be played as evenly as possible.

Tremolo becomes really interesting when you play the thumb note on a different string, thus creating a bass.

For example:

Now you have a tremolo with 2 parts. The high G on a ukulele creates some interesting possibilities. You can, for example, play the melody note with the thumb and use notes played by the fingers as the accompaniment.

Achieving a fast, smooth and even tremolo takes a lot of time and practise. I mean lots, So don’t despair if you are finding this difficult. It is difficult. Start slowly and gradually increase the tempo. One method to develop your tremolo is to try and accent a particular finger. For example: practise slowly with a heavy accent on the a finger. Then try bringing out the m. And finally the i. Rhythmically this is quite weird but don’t worry. It will help to improve your control and overall RH technique.

If you want to hear some ukulele tremolo in action have a look at this video on YouTube. This was the video I enter for The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s Valentines Day Competition. The challenge was to do a 30 second version of Let Me Call You Sweetheart. Mine was considered “cheesiest”!

Here’s a little Tremolo Study to help you on your way.

Sam has released a number of classical ukulele tab ebooks including The Little Book of Carulli and The Little Book of Sor for Ukulele on Gumroad.

Better Call Saul (Tab)

I had assumed Junior Brown’s Better Call Saul would be the theme tune to the show. But they went with the more unexpected choice of, Nottingham indie rockers, Little Barrie.

But the theme is very in keeping with the feel of the Breaking Bad theme. It’s similarly sparse which makes it a bit tricky to keep time. As you can see in the video, I keep strumming without touching the strings to keep time. But you can do it by tapping your foot or nodding your head.

Links

LittleBarrie.com
Better Call Saul on iTunes
Breaking Bad theme (Tab)
More Breaking Bad related tabs and chords

On the Radio

– CBC debates ukes vs recorders in school. James Hill argues for ukuleles.
– Phil Jupitus celebrates The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain for BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Ukes

– New Fender electric ukuleles.
– Lichty long neck tenor.
– Rebel custom tenor.
– Devine Muse tenor.
– Ironman ukulele.
– Antica Ukuleleria.
– Siren Songs ukulele diorama.

Learning

– Two new books from Fred Sokolow: Jazzing Up the Ukulele and The Beatles for Fingerstyle Ukulele.

New Releases

– annie bacon & her OSHEN – Stranded Songs. (Pay what you like.)
– Matthew Richards – Thinking About You.
– Cammy Enaharo – From the Garage.

Kickstarting

– Craig Chee & Sarah Maisel.

Pictures

– Olive Thomas shakes it off.
– Abandoned Martin 5K.

Full Playlist

To celebrate International Women’s Day this Sunday today’s UkeTube is all women ukers.

Veronica & the Red Wine Serenaders – The Mexican Dress

Thanks to Ron Hale.

Kristin Andreassen – The New Ground

Thanks to Ron Hale.

Corina Lawrence + Ensamble Vasco Russo – La Descarriá

Sam Muir – Allegretto by Carcassi

Cammy Enaharo – Not For You and I

Michelle Qureshi – Uke 5

Nosy Mangabe – First Date

Happy Gland Band – Soap Floats

Those Folk – Milk and Honey

Pogues – Sally MacLennane (Chords)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! As is tradition, here’s a Pogues song. It’s a straightforward three chord romp.

Suggested Strumming

Strumming d u d u with swing will get you through everything but the bridge. But throw in a bit of d – d u for variety.

In the bridge you can do just one down strum for each chord in the first two lines. Or it’s a good chance to follow the drum and pull out a triplet strum for the last chord in the first and second lines. So on that last chord you’d do.

d – ttt d – – –

Which sounds like this:

After those first two lines just go back to the d u d u strum.

Twiddly Bits

Here’s little whistle line that crops up in the intro, outro and other bits:

And here’s how that sounds with the chords backing:

Links

Buy it on iTunes
More Pogues tabs and chords
More Irish tabs and chords

I like to keep a list of songs that use just the most common ukulele chords. Arranged by the order people usually learn them in. That way you can find some songs to play no matter how few chords you know.

And here’s the updated list including notable additions like:

Lorde/WIOU – Team
Junior Brown – Better Call Saul
The Pogues – Sally McLennane
Mungo Jerry – In the Summertime

C, F and G

If you prefer, you can use G7 in the place of G or vice versa for any of these songs.

NeverShoutNever! – Your Biggest Fan/Did It Hurt?
Noah and the Whale – Five Years Time
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass
Paolo Nutini – High Hopes
SoKo – I Will Never Love You More
The Bobby McGee’s – A Dog At All Things
The Lancashire Hotpots – He’s Turned Emo
Mungo Jerry – In the Summertime
The Tiger Lillies – Start A Fire
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra/Kings of Leon – The Bucket

Plus Am, Dm and Em

Addams Family Theme Tune
Alton Ellis – Rock Steady
Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend to Dance With You
Blondie/Imelda May – Dreaming
Darlene Love – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Darren Hanlon – All These Things
Electrelane – Cut and Run
Garfunkel and Oates – Me, You and Steve
Florence and the Machine – Dog Days Are Over
GUGUG – California Sun
Israel Kamakawiwoíole/Jason Castro – Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Julien Dore – Cet Air-La
Kate Nash – Foundations
Kate Micucci/The Gooch – Mr Moon
Kelli Rae Powell
Last Shadow Puppets – Standing Next to Me
LP – Into the Wild
The Lumineers – Ho Hey
Phosphorescent – Wolves
She & Him – Sentimental Heart

Plus D

Allo Darlin’ – Tallulah
Allo Darlin’ – Space Christmas
Amanda Palmer – In My Mind
Antsy Pants/Bear Creek – Vampire
Belle and Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap
Daniel Johnston – Living Life
Damon Albarn – Mr Tembo
Garfunkel and Oates – The Fade Away (you can use D instead of D7)
Gothic Archies – Shipwrecked
GUGUG/The Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop
Keston Cobblers’ Club – You-Go
Phredd – Elmer’s Electric Tricycle
Skinny Lister – Colours
The Dubliners and The Pogues – The Irish Rover
The Pogues – Fiesta
The Little Ones – Tangerine Visions
Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma
Velvet Underground and Nico – I’ll be Your Mirror
Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London

Plus A and E7

Camera Obscura – Cock Up Your Beaver
Florence & the Machine – Kiss With A Fist (don’t panic, you can use E7 instead of E in this song)
The Pogues – Sally McLennane
Joan Jett – Bad Reputation
Junior Brown – Better Call Saul
Kate Micucci & Ted (Scrubs) – Screw You
Paolo Nutini – Pencil Full of Lead
The Pogues – Streams of Whiskey
The Weavers – Pay Me My Money Down

Plus Bb

Beirut – A Candle’s Fire
Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know (You can use C instead of C5)
Ingrid Michaelson – Be OK
Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love
Lorde/Walk off the Earth – Royals
Lorde/WIOU – Team
Mumford and Sons – The Cave
Nevershoutnever – First Dance
Neutral Milk Hotel – King of Carrot Flowers
Noah and the Whale – Jealous Kind of Love
Sufjan Stevens – Lumberjack Christmas
The Tokens – The Lion Sleeps Tonight

More…

Mastered all those? Tackle more:

Easy ukulele songs
Beginner ukulele lessons

The Strokes Medley (Tab)

If you’ve been following my riffs for ukulele series you’ll have heard me encourage you to use it more creatively than just playing one riff at a time. One way to use them is to cram a bunch of them together to make a melody. That’s what I did with my Arctic Monkeys medley and this collection of Strokes riffs.

The songs in this medley are:

Barely Legal/Take It Or Leave It/Hard to Explain/12:51/One Way Trigger/Reptilia/Barely Legal (again)/Someday/Under Cover of Darkness/Last Nite

Links

TheStrokes.com
The Strokes on iTunes
Arctic Monkeys AM Medley tab
80s Medley tab

Ukuleles for Ukraine: a charity project to supply orphans with basic necessities and ukuleles. You can help by donating to their GoFundMe (which is close to reaching its target as I write this) or by attending their fundraiser if you’re in the Southsea area.

New Releases

– Kahiwa – First Kiss.
– Two new instructional DVDs from Play Ukulele by Ear: Strumming Ukulele by Ear and Picking Ukulele by Ear.
– New album from Craig Roberston: STAB.

Kickstarting

– Heidi Swedberg is Kickstarting Color-Along Ukulele a ukulele-learning/colouring book. You know, for kids.

Video

– 1930s boxing champ, Jack Sharkey tiples with Abe Lyman.
– Playing ukulele and guitar at the same time.

Pictures

– Painted ukes from this year’s Pimp My M.U.F. contest.
– Adventure Timers ukeing.
– 1917 university professors wonder if the ukulele makes real music.

The Guardian encourages people to pick up a ukulele with words from Will Grove White and a mention of Uke Hunt.

Full Playlist

Janet Klein And Her Parlor Boys – Hello Bluebird

Blues Lee – Running Funky

Da ‘Ukulele Boyz – G Minor Fleas

The Bobby McGees – Vamos Curtir!

Rusty Cage – Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta Fuck Wit

Clarence E. Wombat, Esquire – I’m Sorry!

Pure Heart – Tokada

Victor Kozlovsky – ?i?? ??? ????????

butterflybandito – Charlie Brown’s Blues

James Bay – Hold Back the River (Chords)

I love how this song builds. I rarely make strong pronouncements on how you should strum a song but if you use the same strum all the way through this song you will ruin it.

Twiddly Bits

With a bit of octave switching the riffs fits onto the uke nicely as a series of thirds.

Suggested Strumming

I’d highly recommend not using the same strum all the way through this song. If not you’re playing the riff, I’d recommend just one down strum per chord for the first two verses and the first chorus.

Then punch it up a bit in the second chorus to something like:

d – d – – u d u

Back to one strum per chord for the middle and then another chorus with the chorus strum. For the second middle section I recommend really building up the tension with double-time down strums:

d d d d d d d d

Links

Buy it on iTunes

An intro acts like an ice breaker in a conversation. They get people’s attention, set the mood (usually by establishing the key and the tempo) and set people at ease that you’re not some nutjob Ukip supporter. There’s a bit of a tension there between being interesting and setting your audience at ease. A good way to achieve that is to take a familiar intro and mix it up a bit.

To that end, here are the five best old school ukulele intros. They’re all in the key of C but the ideas can be transferred to any key.

Intro 1: The Traditional Ukulele Intro

D7 – G7 – C – G7

This is the classic intro. It does a great job of setting up the the song. The opening two 7 chords create a bit of drama and – because the 7 gives them an unsettled feel – they’re pushing towards the C chord and setting up the key of the song. Then the G7 brings in the tension to make you anticipate the song itself starting.

It also works nicely if you use Dm or Dm7 in place of the D7 (e.g. Meghan Trainor’s Baby Doll).

Intro 2: The Fancy Traditional

D9 – G9 – C6 – G+9

Here’s a great example of taking a familiar theme and mixing it up that I nicked from Peter Moss’s tutorial. It takes the traditional progression and includes a bunch of jazzy touches.

That last chord is a pain in the arse to play smoothly so I take the lazy option and switch it with a Gaug.

Intro 3: The Hot Tamale

C – A7 – D7 – G7 – C

This intro shares the D7 – G7 – C move but extends it backwards a little. You might recognise the progression from songs like They’re Red Hot and Hurry on Down.

Intro 4: The Blues Intro

C7 – C6 – C+5 – C – G7

In this progression you have descending chromatic notes on the g-strings. That’s a classic blues move that crops up all the time in intros, outros and turnarounds.

If this is your jam, there are a lot a variations on this theme in How to Play Blues Ukulele.

Intro 5: The Shimmy

I just love this intro! I stole from Bob Brozman for my version of Sister Kate.

The Sister Kate version is in G and easier to play. This one is further up the neck which, if you ask me, is more fun. In the video I play it slow then up to speed.

Bonus: The Pharrell

The Pharrell Williams intro is the route one of intros. It’s just four or five chord stabs. It’s short and simple but it does establish the key and tempo. And it makes it a very short journey from to the hook.

Here’s how it sounds:

Pharrell Intro

For this version I’m using the barre chord version of C (5433) to keep the chord stabs short.

Links

Outros: Five Ways to End It
Acoustic Intros 1
Acoustic Intros 2