This is a deceivingly easy song, though it’s not that hard, either. You spend a lot of time on one note in some phrases that don’t go anywhere much, with the challenge being that you don’t make it sound that way. On the other hand, you also spend some time doing slight acrobatics while singing with intervals just below an octave, as well as doubling for the back up parts in performing this solo. The chord accompaniments are also interesting with the major 7th chords being a bit off the usual major chords you might use otherwise, but which gives the song a whole different flavour. Without going into theory, it’s a great hands-on example of how major seventh chords can affect the feel of music. If you haven’t played a lot of music with major 7th chord before, this is a great introduction as it was for me when I first played it.

How the Velvet Underground accompanied their melodies is just one example of why they were considered one of the most influential bands of the 1960s despite not having much commercial success while together. The band had members like the legendary Lou Reed, was managed by artist Andy Warhol, and collaborated with people like German singer Nico (a model for Andy Warhol) who sang the track in the video below.

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The Velvet Underground (with Nico)

What is tabbed is pretty close to what you hear in the video. However, the guitar and ukulele chords used differ bit. The Fmaj7 chord used in the guitar version is replaced by a regular F on the ukulele version. It just sounded better. The chords were meant for guitar anyway. Then, where the F chords appear in the guitar version, an alternate F chord is used in the ukulele version, which has a higher note on the A string. Instead of the 2010 fingering of the four strings, a 2013 version is used. That does make it a bit harder to switch from the Cmaj7 chord that precedes it, even if you play the 0002 fingering with the ring finger on the second fret rather than the usual middle finger. If you have trouble with that, use the 2010 traditional version of the F chord just the same. It’s not a big loss.

Enjoy!

Femme Fatale, Velvet Underground Guitar Tabs Letter Sized PDF

Femme Fatale, Velvet Underground Guitar Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

Femme Fatale, Velvet Underground Ukulele Tabs Letter Sized PDF

Femme Fatale, Velvet Underground Ukulele Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

If the letter size tabs (8.5″ x 11″) are too small for your eyes, you can either enlarge to tabloid size (11″ x 17″) using an automatic enlarge feature on many photocopiers, or download the tabloid sized versions for printing. The tabloid size tabs can be inserted into a typical letter sized binder on the 11″ size, and folded almost in half to fit. You just open each tab to use it.

Please click here for guitar and ukulele tabs and chords to other songs on this blog.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Reading Level: 8.5