Another cheeky ukulele rendition, from back in the day when Oasis wrote brilliant, fun songs. Seriously, those days happened, I was there. There are lots of chords, but it’s dead easy to play, and I think it captures the sound of the original pretty nicely.
Great big stomper of a tune, this one. QOTSA are one of the heaviest bands around for me, but every tune is packed full of melody and this one works like a charm on the uke. It involves a bit of little finger/pinkie contortion but it’s not a tough tune to play. There’s even space to bust out a bit of a solo, played on the record and live, below, by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top infamy….
This was the tune that seemed to break Modest Mouse to the world, and is the big single from Good News For People Who Like Bad News. Love the album titles those guys come up with. It’s a simple four-chord turnaround but there’s a lovely bit of melody in there that can be played on top, so it works well on a single guitar. It uses a capo again to get us in the key of F#, but of course if it’s more comfortable to sing elsewhere, just move the capo. Continue reading
Couldn’t not put this one up, especially since it works so nicely on the ukulele. All basic chords with a great bit of melody in the intro, everyone will know what you’re playing within a few seconds. Another uke rendition as I’m heading back to the homestead in West Wales over Christmas and a guitar’s too big to take on the bus. Cue a week of poor diet, alcoholism, nostalgia and strumming away on my uke…
They don’t make them like this any more, and not just because R.E.M. called it a day recently. Dead simple song, but with a couple of flourishes and moments that turn it into a real classic. Superstar Peter Buck plays a mandolin over a twelve-string acoustic guitar with a couple of little mini-solos, and the whole lot translates really well onto the ukulele, whether you’re planning to sing over it or just bash it out. Even without lyrics it’s instantly recognisable.
This one’s very much an adaptation, leaving some bits in, taking some bits out so it sounds right played on one ukulele.
This track, featuring the offensively talented Robyn, is my favourite on their Junior album, and pröbably my favöurite Röyksopp tune överall! Has all the Röyksopp hallmarks; a strong synth beat, an unexpectedly sophisticated chord progression and a fantastic production sheen. Robyn’s lyrics and vocals are the icing on this tasty cake of Nordic electro-pop.
I’m going to lay this out for a single acoustic guitar, and this one owes a lot to my own style of playing chords. I’ll try and show how to do things in a different way, but I think this method works nicely for this song. Good luck with singing that chorus! Continue reading
First!
Welcome to Ben Jones Guitar. I’ve been thrashing away at stringed instruments for about as long as I can remember, and though I’ve never had a formal lesson, I’m now a pretty useful musician with a solid grasp of the theory that makes it all work. Thank you internets! Almost since I started finding tablature on the net, I started finding problems with it. Inaccuracy, unhelpfulness and sometimes just plain wtf. This blog is my attempt to reverse the polarity.
Here’s I’ll be (doing my best to) post a single song I love to play every week, with a really useful guide on how to play it on the guitar. Not just that though, there are endless tab sites on the web, and this one is a little different. One a week isn’t a lot, but what it lacks in volume I hope it’ll make up in quality and ease of understanding. They’ll be correct, they’ll make sense to beginners and intermediate level students (and we’re all students) and most importantly they’ll sound right, and good, when you play them.
Difficulty will vary and I’ll do my best to post up a range from dead easy to really challenging, with probably more of the former than the latter. On some occasions I’ll be showing how to play exactly what the artist plays live or on record. Sometimes I’ll just put up chord tables, sometimes I’ll talk about how an artist uses a pedal or gizmo to get a certain effect. Sometimes I’ll show how I’ve adapted a song to make it work for one acoustic guitar or maybe even the uke if I’m feeling ambitious. Depends on the song and how I’m feeling.
If you get something out of a post, please do let me know I’m doing something right. I’m also more than willing to take requests (ha!) so if you can’t find a tab on the net that gives you what you need to know, stick it in a comment somewhere and I’ll see about making a stab at it.
Finally, this is my day job as well so if you like what you see and are based in London and would like to get some one-to-one tuition – any age, any style – get in touch and we can arrange a lesson.
Happy strumming.
Ben
