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Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground)

Digital Citizen 2 Comments

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

Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for Here Comes the Sun (George Harrison)

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This Beatles classic was written by George Harrison and has been used by him so much it seems wrong now to say the song was by the Beatles rather than George. The song is tabbed pretty much as is in the recording people know best, which is the one used in the video below.

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George Harrison

The one thing my tabs call for, though, is that the singer also sings all the main instrumental phrasings. You can hum it, if you like, but I prefer to use “doo doo”. It makes for a song with a lot of “doo doo” in it, but a good one! 🙂

All the notes are written out so wherever you see notes in the main body of the lyrics, you sing or hum them.

There is a bit of syncopated strumming in the middle instrumental interlude. “Slash” characters describe them. Read them left to right so if they rise, you’re on an upstroke, whereas if they fall, you’re on a down stroke. It’d be hard to describe it more without a video to show it, which I may some day, but I think if you listen to the song and try to strum along, you’ll get it. It’s not that difficult.

If you do the strumming and singing of the instrumental parts on top of the regular song, you’ll find you won’t feel like you need a band to play a pretty good version of this great tune. The depth of talent in the Beatles still blows my mind!

Enjoy!

Here Comes the Sun, George Harrison Guitar Tabs Letter Sized PDF

Here Comes the Sun, George Harrison Guitar Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

Here Comes the Sun, George Harrison Ukulele Tabs Letter Sized PDF

Here Comes the Sun, George Harrison 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: 6.4

Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for In the Still of the Night (Five Satins)

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This is a gorgeous doo wop song from the 1950s which would obviously have to get severely trimmed down if you’re going to perform it solo with one guitar or ukulele instead of having a band and 3 back up singers.

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The Five Satins

But that’s where arrangement comes in.

In the tabbed versions here, you actually do sing some of the accompanying parts when the lead singer is not singing. It’s about as complete a piece as you can do solo.

I’ve also simplified a few phrases ever so slightly, taking out a few subtle melismas (singing of a single syllable while moving between different notes) that are rather hard to do. Finally, I left out that stunning ending vocal interlude the lead singer, Fred Parris, does at the end. If you can do that, you shouldn’t be surfing this site for your music.

The notes are all written out in the tabs (by note letter) to help you figure out how to play my version of the tab.

Now, all that said of playing solo, if you had a group of people, you can certainly train them to sing the back up parts. That would be the “shoh doh shoh be doh” part throughout. This would be a great ukulele group piece, for example, if you put the time in to learn it!

In the Still of the Night, 5 Satins Guitar Tabs Letter Sized PDF

In the Still of the Night, 5 Satins Guitar Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

In the Still of the Night, 5 Satins Ukulele Tabs Letter Sized PDF

In the Still of the Night, 5 Satins 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.

By the way, the video was from the 1950s and is quite sad if you realized segregation was in full tilt back then. The white people loved these guys’ music, but treated them worse than they treated their pets. They forced them in the back door, drink from different fountains, probably dressed outside, etc. No wonder they don’t look very happy.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Reading Level: 7.4

Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for It Never Rains in Southern California (Albert Hammond)

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The 70s song is about the struggles of a singer who moves out to California to pursue a career in Hollywood but does not have any success and deteriorates in the process. That’s in the words of Wikipedia.

Being in Halifax, Nova Scotia, sometimes known as Haliwood for its local prominence in the movie industry, I sometimes substitute “Nova Scotia” for “California”. It’s just for the cheesy fun of it.

It’s a great and catchy song that’s fairly to play otherwise. For newbies to the song, you can just skip the intro and instrumental bit in the middle. Just go through the verses. There are a few small variations among some of the lines that seem to be repeated, like It never rains in California. Pay attention to those if you want to watch the details, but most people probably wouldn’t care or notice those variations much. Otherwise, the tune is pretty close to the one in the video below.

Albert Hammond

It Never Rains in Southern California, Albert Hammond Guitar Tabs Letter Sized PDF

It Never Rains in Southern California, Albert Hammond Guitar Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

It Never Rains in Southern California, Albert Hammond Ukulele Tabs Letter Sized PDF

It Never Rains in Southern California, Albert Hammond Ukulele Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

These tabs all fit on one page to avoid the inconvenience of page turns. However, the letter size tabs (8.5″ x 11″) may be too small for your eyes. If so, 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: 8.6

Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for I Shall Be Released (Bob Dylan)

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One measure of the popularity of a song over time, and not just on the charts at a given time, is the number of covers it has. Well, there’s no shortage for Bob Dylan’s I Shall Be Released!

Bob Dylan

With every cover, there’s a little variation on it from the others and from the original. However, for this song, most only differed slightly in the notes sang and tempo. There’s no big rearrangement involved. My tabbed version is no different, with only a high D to emphasize a few important points in the lyrics. It is noted among the notes that come with the tabs.

I Shall Be Released (in C), Bob Dylan Guitar Tabs Letter Sized PDF
I Shall Be Released (in C), Bob Dylan Guitar Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

I Shall Be Released (in G), Bob Dylan Guitar Tabs Letter Sized PDF
I Shall Be Released (in G), Bob Dylan Guitar Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

I Shall Be Released (in F), Bob Dylan Ukulele Tabs Letter Sized PDF
I Shall Be Released (in F), Bob Dylan Ukulele Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

I Shall Be Released (in G), Bob Dylan Ukulele Tabs Letter Sized PDF
I Shall Be Released (in G), Bob Dylan Ukulele Tabs Tabloid Sized PDF

These tabs all fit on one page to avoid the inconvenience of page turns. However, the letter size tabs (8.5″ x 11″) may be too small for your eyes. If so, 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.

The chord sequence is fairly easy with G, Am, Bm and back down again with Am and G. Then a D7 separates the next phrase, and it cycles all over again throughout the entire song. You need to Capo 2 this to get it in the key of A that Bob originally wrote it in. I took the chords off The Definitive Bob Dylan Songbook.

If you have trouble playing the Bm on guitar like I do, you might try the version in C, capoing as you need to get it in your voice range. That uses C, Dm, Em and G7. These are a lot easier than that Bm, in my opinion.

The ukulele challenge is also with that Bm, but I tabbed an alternate version in F because the Em (like in the guitar alternate version), is almost like that Bm on guitar, which was what I was trying to avoid. The version in F on the ukulele uses F, Gm, Am and C7, which I find all fairly easy chords to play.

As for trying to find a video close to my tabbed version, the one below from a concert in 1976 matched it best, though not exactly. This was some concert, featuring Bob and an all-star cast like Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr and many other famous musicians! It should serve as a good guide to figuring out the tabs.

The good thing about a “solid” song like this, though, is that the chords are pretty robust to any little variation you might want to put in the melody to “make it your own”. So you don’t have to follow the notes I have. Just sing it the way it feels to you for notes and it will work.

Rhythm is another story, though!  The trickiest part to this song is adjusting from phrase to phrase of when you start in. For some phrases, you strum the opening chord (like G) on the first word. For many phrases, you start in while still on the 7th chord that separates the phrases. Then for the rest, you actually strum that opening chord before you start singing, like with the opening line to the chorus. Figuring out the adjustments from line to line is the hardest part, by far, as far as I’m concerned, to learning this song.

But it just wouldn’t be Bob if it were otherwise! 🙂

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

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Reading Level: 6.7