Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars – Safe and Sound (Tab)

Some suggested I do an instrumental cover of this one and my immediate – and correct – reaction was, “Hell no!” But the more I thought about it the more I fancied the challenge of marrying the guitar and vocal parts together on the uke. Because of that, I didn’t make too many compromises in the arrangement. So it’s pretty tricky.

I’m using a few different picking-hand techniques:

Intro and verse: I’m picking with thumb on the C-string, index on the E and middle on the A.

Toni-i-i-i-ight bit: One finger per string with thumb on g, index on C etc.

Chorus: I’m using my thumb for the notes on the g and C; and flicking up with my index finger for the E and A strings.

Middle: Mostly flicking up with the index finger with some strumming on the full chords.

You also need a bit of thinking ahead on the fretting hand. I’ve included some fingering in suggestions in bar 5 and they apply to the similar moves that happen through the song.

Remember to the notes in brackets more softly so they fade into the background.

Buy the MP3

Carol of the Bells (MP3)

Carol of the Bells (Tab)

This tab was originally part of the How to Play Christmas Ukulele ebook (use the code “hamhand” – without quotes – before December and get $2 off) But it turned it out was a nightmare to play and didn’t fit with the easier tabs in the ebook. So here it is for anyone brave enough to attempt it.

But if you find this version far too easy for your vast talents, have a go at the John King version.

This work by Ukulele Hunt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Christmas is the one time of year when anyone who plays an instrument is expected to entertain friends and family at some point. Which can be quite daunting if you don’t have something easy and recognisable to play. Particularly if you’re full of the Christmas pudding. But it’s nice to be able to entertain the people who have helped you along the way with encouragement, uke gifts and patience during twanging practice.

With that in mind, I’ve kept the arrangements in this second Christmas ebook as easy and playable as I can. To make sure flubs and fumbles are kept to a minimum while you’re centre of attention.

If you haven’t bought an ebook from me before, you can find full details of the process here. And if there’s anything else you need to know send me a message and I’ll get back to you.

Buy it now for $9 (via PayPal or credit cards except AmEx) by clicking below:

What You Get

After you buy you’ll be taken to a page where you can download:

- Tabs of full arrangements for these traditional Christmas favourites:

Go Tell It On the Mountain
I Saw Three Ships
Il est ne, le divin Enfant
In Dulci Jubilo
Joy to the World
O Come All Ye Faithful
Once in Royal David’s City
The First Noel
We Three Kings
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
While Shepherds Watch their Flocks

They’re all arranged without any fancy finger work. The picking hand can all be done with the thumb. And the fretting doesn’t go higher than the sixth fret. Written for high-g tuning.

- Super-simple melody arrangements of all those tunes. Only one note at a time. For high and low G.

- A PDF with a bit of history of the songs (sometimes more accurate than others) and tips on playing the tunes.

- Additional downloads of: standard notation of the tabs, mobile-friendly downloadable videos, MP3s of the full versions and the melody-only versions.

Quick warning: if you’re using iPad/iPhone/Android you can’t download directly to your gadget read this for more info.

What People Are Saying

Here’s what people who have bought the ebook are saying:

Wilfried Welti of Ukulele Arts:

Al did a great job making many Christmas carols accessible for every ukulele player. Nobody will be afraid to take on his arrangements, and this is quite an achievement!

Wilfried also made a video of the While Shepherds… tab from the ebook.

Dianne S.:

I’ve played through a few of these already. They are easy and fun. Also love the cover design.

Kempo:

Thanks for these, they’re nice and straight forward to play but sound really good, well done!

RobNY:

Great book Al. The book is well worth the full price.

Walter:

Buying this was the easiest decision I’ve made all day. Thanks for helping to make the ukulele so accessible

What They Sound Like

Full Arrangement Videos

Melody Versions

Here’s what the melody-only versions sound like. The melody tab also has chord names so you can be accompanied by a friend. Or if, like me, you’re a badass loner you can play along with these mp3s. They’re split so the left hand side has the chords and the right has the melody.

Go Tell It On the Mountain

I Saw Three Ships

Il est ne, le divin Enfant

In Dulci Jubilo

Joy to the World

O Come All Ye Faithful

Once in Royal David’s City

The First Noel

We Three Kings

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

While Shepherds Watch their Flocks

Buy it Now

Buy it now for $9 (via PayPal or credit cards except AmEx) by clicking below:

If you haven’t bought an ebook from me before you might want to read the FAQ page for more information. And if there’s anything else you need to know send me a message and I’ll get back to you.

We Three Kings (Tab)

If you’re on the fence about whether to buy the Christmas Ukulele 2 ebook, here’s one of the tabs.

And this is one of my favourites in the book. I love a good morose Christmas song like Christmas for Cowboys and Blue Christmas (I haven’t written that one up yet?). That’s why I played the minor verse of the song twice before the major chorus.

Like all the book, you can use just your thumb on your picking hand to play all this arrangement.

Melody Version

We Three Kings (Melody Tab)

We Three Kings

And here’s the one-note-at-a-time version of it. The mp3 is split so you can play along with the chords by just listening to the left speaker.

You can buy the whole Christmas Ukulele 2 ebook here.

Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick – Christmas in July (Chords)

John “King God” Roderick and Jonathan “Jonathan Coulton” Coulton got together this year to make a wunnerful Christmas album with this standout ukulele track.

I couldn’t find the album version streaming on the web anywhere. But here it is on Spotify:

The chord shapes in the chart are, as ever, just one option. Feel free to use these inversions.

Twiddly Bits

Christmas in July (Tab)

Here’s a broad idea of the picking part for each section.

The picking is very tricky. Particularly at this speed.

The thumb is picking the g and C strings, the index finger the E and the middle finger the A. But there’s no set pattern to the picking. I’d highly recommend starting off by slowing it right down and using a more fixed picking pattern. Then work up your own version of the picking from there rather than trying to recreate the original exactly.

Buy it on JonathanCoulton.com

John Green – Swindon Town Swoodilypoopers Medley (Tab)

Often seen as merely a , New York Times best-selling author with a huge YouTube following,
John Green’s lasting legacy will certainly be the videos of him semi-competently playing FIFA ’11 as Swindon Town on his brother’s YouTube channel. It must really annoy him that he won a Printz Award for his spare-time work while his magnum opus goes unrecognised.

But no great work goes unrecognised on this blog. So I hastily cobbled together a medley of Swoodilypooper goal songs. In the spirit of the game, they’re with heart rather than skill.

French the Lalalalalana

I didn’t include Lallana’s song in the medley because the minimum goal frequency for inclusion is, “occasionally”. But if you’re more lax you can play it like this.

French The Lallana (MP3)

Links

John Green
Kiva Nerdfighters
Charlie McDonnell chords

Dad’s Army Theme (Tab)

I’m hoping the silver lining to the cloud of shitty comedy in the UK will be plenty more memorable theme tunes. Most shows seem to take themselves far too seriously to have a theme tune capable of being hummed or played on the ukulele.

But you couldn’t accuse the Dad’s Army theme of taking itself too seriously. It’s a pastiche of the already self-mocking music hall wartime song. The even recruited WWII crooner Bud Flanagan of Flanagan and Allan. Although I would say the cover by Billy Childish is the superior version.

My version is a mish-mash of strumming and picking. The simplest way to play it is to set up your right hand the one-finger-per-string way with:

Thumb – g
Index – C
Middle – E
Ring – A

Once you’re confident doing that you can throw in strums where you see fit.

Links

Buy Music from Dad’s Army

Jim Henson and Sam Pottle – The Muppet Show Theme

Like the Dad’s Army Theme, the Muppet Show Theme was co-written by one of the show’s creators. But unlike the Dad’s Army Theme it wasn’t so well served by a modern cover.

This arrangement includes one of my favourite tricks: playing the bassline. The notes on the C-string in bars 9-16 are the bass notes. Then the melody notes are played on the E and A strings. It takes a bit of work to get the two going together but it’s really effective.

Links

Buy The Muppets (and Joanna Newsom) version
Buy the OK Go version
Manha Manha tab

Pi for Ukulele (Tab)

Happy Pi Day!

The idea behind this tune is that you assign each number to a note in the C major scale (1=C, 2=D, 3=E etc.). Then convert the digits of pie into music. There was a legal bust up over the idea but I first heard it in this uke featuring version by Michael Blake.

I’ve been a bit more loose with my interpretation of it. The melody is pi but I’ve added in any notes I felt like around it.

I should point out that the numbers under the tab are the digits of pi. Lest you were wondering how to grow nine fingers on your fretting hand.

And if you can’t get it together start working on tau and you’ve got until June.

For the Purists

Pi Melody (Tab)

If you prefer the pure version, here’s just notes of pi by themselves.

Pi Melody (MP3)

This work by Ukulele Hunt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

These hip hop riff posts fast becoming my favourite posts to do. With this one I’ve gone way down hill from the first two posts in terms of credibility. But at least there’s a long-overdue Nas riff in there.

Macklemore and Lewis – Thrift Shop

Riff

This one requires a bit of jiggering for the uke. The first note should be an octave below where it is here. So if you’re using low-G you can play it on the G-string, 1st fret.

The chords to go along with it are G#m – B – C# – D# – F#

Things get a lot more uke-friendly if you move the song down a fret (or capo the first fret). That lets you use the open g to buy you some time:

And makes the chords more familiar: Gm – Bb – C – D – F

MC Hammer – U Can’t Touch This

Riff

Nas – The Message

Riff

Unlike the other riffs in the post, this one is absolutely perfect for ukuleling. It’s based around fingerpicking a Gm chord. I use thumb on C, index on E and middle on A.

Warren G and Nate Dogg – Regulate

Riff

Das Racist – Rainbow in the Dark

Riff

Links

Hip Hop Riffs Part 1
Hip Hop Riffs Part 2
More Hip Hop

Elvis Costello and Clive Langer – Shipbuilding (Tab)

This is easily one of the best protest songs ever written. And one of the best songs of any sort. The lyrics are as nuanced and thought-provoking then any other. But it’s the music – written by Clive Langer – that really makes it shine.

The song is in the key of E minor but you’re hardly ever using the Em chord. In my arrangement there’s a grand total of three bars of it. So the song never feels relaxed or settled. It’s always shifting. The jazzy elements unsettle the tune. All that is added to in Robert Wyatt’s version with his vocal wobbles.

I could keep rambling on but I’ll let you play it.

Links

Buy the Elvis Costello version.
Buy the Robert Wyatt version.

Roger Miller – Whistle Stop (Tab)

I somehow managed to pass my entire childhood without coming across Disney’s take on Robin Hood. So when I first heard this tune my reaction was, “AZIZ WHISTLE STOP is a straight rip off from The Hampsterdance Song. What’s Roger Miller‘s email?” Roger Miller responded, “nooooooooooooooo! that song came out afterwards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Anyway, Roger Miller’s more laid-back delivery of the tune makes it much more ukeable. I’ve included the first three variations on the tune. They raise in difficulty quite nicely each time.

I tried to stick to an alternating thumb pattern (moving between g and C). With index finger on E and middle on A. But the melody does sometimes stray onto the C-string which screws things up (such as the D in bar 4). Those notes I play with my index finger.

Links

I can’t find a place to buy the song but you can buy the movie.

Takashi Tateishi – Mega Man 2: Flash Man Theme

I’ve always had a bias towards 80s game themes. Which I’ve taken to be partly because I did most of my gaming in the 80s and partly because 80s game music was much better.

But the ever-interesting – even for non-gamers – Extra Credits had an episode about video game music a while back made me look at it in a more nuanced way.

They make the convincing argument that game music hasn’t got worse, just less memorable. I’d completely forgotten that game music was there primarily to increase immersion in the game. And as far as that goes game music certainly is better now that it was in the 80s.

But the fact that 80s game composers were restricted to three notes and had to come up with memorable tunes certainly does make for good conversions to ukulele. And I think the Flash Man theme from Mega Man 2 works particularly well.

Trickiest Bits

Bars 3 and 4: I use fingerpicking through most of the song. But for the rapidfire notes in bar 3 and the first half of bar 4 I’m strumming.

I switch back to picking for the last half of the bar. Fret the third and second frets here with your ring and middle finger and have your index finger on the E-string second fret ready for the pull-off.

Bar 17: For the last note barre across the second fret.

Bar 21: If you’re using a soprano ukulele you can play this bar like this:

Links

Buy the MP3
Interview with Takashi Tateishi and other early Mega Man composers
More Game Theme Tabs

Fatso – Keyboard Cat (Tab)

I was inspired by Ukulele Cat to knock up my own version of the Keyboard Cat tune. It’s dead simple, just the D and Dm chord shapes on the C, E and A strings. Make sure you’ve got the chord shape in place at the start of the bar and you’re good to go.

For the picking I’m using:

Thumb – C-string.
Index – E-string.
Middle – A-string.

My version is in a different key. Here’s a version in the original key.

Links

Buy the MP3
More theme tune tabs.

Eddie Vedder – Tuolumne (Tab)

Nype suggested I do a uke version of Eddie Vedder’s Tuolumne from the soundtrack of Into the Wild (and the precursor to Just Breathe). I was a bit trepedacious as a lot of guitar picking songs end up finger-crunchingly tricky on ukulele. But it actually works out very well. I didn’t even have to change the key.

Trickiest Bit

Moving down from the 10th fret at the end of bar 2 to the 3rd fret. If you have trouble with that you can take off that 10th fret and just play bar 2 like bar 3.

Picking Pattern

The right hand is doing a constant Travis-picking pattern. The thumb alternates between the g and C-strings, the index finger picks the E-string and the middle finger picks the A-string.

Here’s the pattern:

And here’s what it looks like slowed down:

The only variation is that I occasionally miss out the final i to buy some time for the chord change. And the slow-down bit at the end of bar 7.

Links

Buy the MP3
EddieVedder.com
More Vedder tabs and chords.

The xx – Intro (Harp Ukulele Tab)

The xx were the highlight of my sofa-Glastonbury this year. It might have been Arctic Monkeys if it weren’t for that weird gameshow host thing and the cheesy, Oasis-style string arrangements. For a better example of arranging for pop bands have a listen to Alex Baranowski’s work with The xx.

Anyway, their performance inspired me to have a go at this instrumental piece. I first tried it on standard uke but it didn’t work out. I moved on to low-G with was better. Then I went insane and decided to drag my aNueNue harp ukulele out of deep storage.

Harp Ukulele

The harp strings on the uke are supposed to be tuned C, D, E, F. But I retuned the bottom two to A. One to pluck and the other to give a bit of sympathetic resonance. The sympathetic resonance turned out quite well. You can particularly hear the reverb-like effect at the beginning.

Important: The letters above the tab represent the bass note being played in that bar they’re not the chords.

Low-G

The strings tabbed are just tuned like a normal low-G. And it’s tabbed in the same key as the original. So if you’re playing a low-G you can just play this tab along with the record or a bass-playing friend.

Standard Tuning Version

To play it with a high-g ukulele you’ll need to move the whole thing up an octave. Here’s a tab for that. This time with the chord names above the tab.

The xx – Intro (gCEA Tab)

Links

But the MP3
Thexx.info
Crystalised Intro Tab
Here Comes the Sun on Harp Ukulele

David Beckingham – Spanish Flea

It’s a great pleasure to have David Beckingham back on the blog. His arrangements are always a treat. And I’m obviously not the only one to think so. His version of In the Mood
the trailer for the documentary As Time Goes by in Shanghai.

David was kind enough to let me post his tab of his arrangement of Spanish Flea.

Links

Buy the Herb Alpert version
More David Beckingham tabs

This post started out as one of my Riffs for Ukulele posts but it ended up evolving into an intros post.

I did think that acoustic guitar would transfer better to the uke than the electric riffs. Nope! They tend to be much more complex. So I’ve taken a few liberties with these arrangements and some of them are still very tricky.

The same riff rules apply:

- These aren’t necessarily in the same key as the original.
- If you want the rest of the song you’re shit out of luck.

Mumford and Sons – Roll Away Your Stone

Intro

Nick Drake – Fly

This version is for smaller ukes. If your uke goes as high as the 13th fret you can play the descending notes all on the C-string. That does make it a bit easier and gives it a more consistent tone.

It’s played campanella style and picked with thumb and two fingers.

Intro

Jose Gonzalez – Heartbeats

Intro

This is the one I had most trouble getting down and is the most changed from the original. Again it’s played thumb and two fingers picking style.

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car

Intro

Finally, a straight forward one. Here I’m doing strumming and picking the g-string with my thumb. And picking the A-string with my index finger.

Black Crowes – She Talks to Angels

Intro

The picking for this one is all over the place. I just use whichever finger comes to hand at any point.

Links

More Riffs for ukulele
Nick Drake – Cello Song (Intro Tab)

Mike Post and Pete Carpenter – A-Team Theme (Tab)

Part of my sworn duties as a ukulele blogger is peruse the YouTube uploads and check out anything interesting. Recently that has involved clicking on everything titled “A Team Ukulele Cover” hoping it would be the theme tune to the superior 80s TV show. And every single time I’ve been distraught to find it’s another cover of that Ed Sheeran song. Never again let it be said I don’t make sacrifices for my art.

So in the spirit of “If you want something doing properly don’t ask an Ed Sheeran fan” I’ve done my own version.

I can’t really blame them though. It was a trial getting it to sound right on the uke. I cropped out the boring bit in the middle but I kept all the exciting bits.

Technique-wish it’s a mish-mash. The first ten bars are played with strums (including roll strums for extra emphasis). Then there are octaves plucked with thumb and index finger in bar 10. That’s followed by the fifths in bar 13 again plucked with thumb and index.

Links

Buy the MP3
More theme tune tabs.

Marty Robbins – El Paso (Instrumental Tab)

Following on from Take My True Love… with another tune from the closing stages of Breaking Bad. This time an instrumental version of Marty Robbins’ El Paso from Felina.

This piece – while not really bad – is a challenge. I’ve slowed it down slightly from the original version to make it more playable.

There’s a bit of a mishmash of picking techniques. Mostly it’s one finger per string with some supporting strums. But I switch to thumb and two fingers in the sections where the g-string isn’t played.

The other technique I use is the roll strum. I use that in bar 9.

The Trickiest Bit

The run in the bar three is very difficult. The first part is played campanella style. That gives you two open strings during which you can move from the first position up so your middle finger is playing the note at the sixth fret.

Easy Version

Marty Robbins – El Paso (Easy Tab)

Here’s a much more straight forward version without the intro and just playing the melody.

Links

Buy the original on iTunes
Limeliters – Take My True Love (Chords)
Breaking Bad theme tab