Live ‘Ukulele

I got this tab straight from Mr. Ohta a couple of minutes ago.

Sand Castles is the first song off of Herb’s new album ‘Ukulele Journey. It is sweet and simple, so even beginners should give it a look. Some of the chord voicings are probably the most difficult part of this song, so beware.

Sand Castles tab

Thanks Uncle Herb,

~Hippie Guy

This one was a request from jgkuuipo. Thank you! This is one of Jack’s best songs and I probably should have made a sheet for it earlier.

The strum is just a simple DU pattern, but I like to hammer-on and pull-off as many of the chords as I can to give everything a smoother feel.

• Better Together song sheet

~Hippie Guy

This is a really cool song by the Police that I tabbed out a while back. The chord changes in the tab are the hardest part of this song, so be sure to take the time to get that dialed in. The rest of the song is fast downstrums for the first part of the chorus, then you slow down for the C#m to A changes, and then you go back to the verse riff. You can also play through a chorus pedal to give it more of an Andy Summers feel. This song is in the Finetune player down in the sidebar if you are not already familiar with it.

Message in a Bottle tab

~Hippie Guy

It is best if you can use this tab to learn the melody of the song and then add your own variations, and vamps.

Check out the Youtube video below to see what Herb Ohta Jr. and Keoki Kahumoku are doing to get ideas for your own improvisations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d9Jta-RwnE

• Tab for ‘Ama ‘ama

~Hippie Guy

We just received some more tabs from Ken Middleton. Some of these are updates for the tabs we got awhile ago.

Ken says: “I have made some improvements, made them a bit more playable and added some left-hand fingering. I have also converted the pieces for baritone using the same positions, but written in different keys. I also include 2 new songs: Whiskey Before Breakfast (Intermediate) and Wildwood Flower (Easy). The intention with Wildwood Flower is to just give a hint of what the song could sound like and also to use some simple chords. I may do a more trick version later. As with the others I have included 2 versions: GCEA and DGBE.”

Blackberry Blossom: GCEA - updated

Blackberry Blossom: DGBE

Red Haired Boy: GCEA - updated

Red Haired Boy: DGBE

Simple Gifts: GCEA - updated

Simple Gifts: DGBE

Whiskey Before Breakfast: GCEA

Whiskey Before Breakfast: DGBE

Wildwood Flower: GCEA

Wildwood Flower: DGBE

Thanks again Ken,

~Hippie Guy

The Slack Key Kid just finished up our own blank chord and tab sheets.

Blank Chord Sheet

Blank Tab Sheet

~Hippie Guy

We just got an e-mail from Ken Middleton containing tabs for a few bluegrass songs!

Thanks Ken!

Blackberry Blossom Tab

Red Haired Boy Tab

Simple Gifts Tab

The song “Heaven” by the Los Lonely Boys is one of my all-time favorites, so this tab has been a long time coming.

The song is in the key of F#; for improvising solos the notes are F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D# and E#.

Heaven Tab

Heaven Video

~ Slack Key Kid

I just found a tab for Jake Shimabukuro’s Touch on http://www.uked.eu.kz/.

Touch Tab

~Hippie Guy

Santana has always been a huge inspiration to me, and is one of the few (in my opinion) musical “Shamans”. I have been trying to figure out how he plays with so much feeling for a long time. Oye Como Va is one of Santana’s best songs and it fits onto the ‘ukulele very nicely.

Oye Como Va Tab

Oye Como Va Video

I decided not to tab the solos out, and instead let you figure something out that works. The song is in A Dorian, so when you solo you would use the notes: A B C D E F# G A. If you are clueless when it comes to soloing, read our “Soloing” lesson.

~Hippie Guy

Here it is people! The be all end all Super Mario Bros. ‘ukulele tab. I have had Mario riffs spinning in my head for days trying to figure everything out. This tab includes:

• Overworld (main theme)
• Collecting Coins
• Underworld
• Starman
• Water
• 1-Up
• Time Warning
• Bowser’s Castle
• Boss
• Mario’s Death
• Game Over
• Course Clear

Super Mario Bros. Tab

This is not a very technical tab so all you really have to watch is the speed on “Underworld” and “Bowser’s Castle”, just slow it down until you can play it right and then speed it back up slowly.

This is a very basic version based on the original video game music (not from a Youtube video or CD), so there is a lot of room to add things.

There are MIDIs on Video Game Music.com (nice simple site - if you like video game music). The game names are in alphabetical order, just look under “Super Mario Bros.”

Let me know if there is anything missing or if you have anything to add.

~Hippie Guy

I have always been enthralled by Ledward Kaapana’s playing. For those of you who are not familiar with the name (shame!), Ledward is probably the world’s best guitarist and one of the best slack key ‘ukulele players.

I have figured out pieces of the songs he plays on videos over time, but never one all the way through. That led me to create this tab.

You need to play this song with a low-G string on your ‘ukulele.

It is a mix of “Mauna Loa Slack Key”, “L&D Slack Key”, many other Led-like runs, and of course the “charge” vamp at the end. Since this is my own arrangement I uploaded a MIDI file so that you can hear how the song sounds. I hope that somebody finds this fun and helpful, and can figure the song out using just the MIDI and videos.

Ledward Kaapana Tribute Medley Tab

MIDI File

Video of Led playing at the 2003 ‘ukulele fest

Video of Led playing “Mauna Loa Slack Key”

~Hippie Guy