One of my favourite things to do on a ukulele is blast out a riff that everyone knows but no one has ever heard on the ukulele. And, to be frank, are sometimes wholly unsuited to it. They’re always fun to play and provoke smiles. Over the years I’ve tabbed up a load of these. So here’s a mega post of them.
How To Play Blues Ukulele covers everything from the absolute basics like simple 12 bar blues patterns to more complex playing techniques, progressions, riffs and more. This 128 page PDF guide has 123 examples for you to learn (all with supporting YouTube videos) and 4 mp3 backing tracks for you to solo along with. Buy How To Play Blues Ukulele.
The idea with these riffs isn’t to play the whole song or that the suit the ukulele particularly well. It’s to throw them in to your playing for a bit of light relief and audience recognition (like the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain on Orange Blossom), to provoke the ‘I didn’t think you could play that on the ukulele’ or just for shits and gigs. Because of that, the riffs aren’t always arranged in the original key but the key that suits the ukulele best. And don’t request the rest of the song!
![Play Play](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8c/70/cf/8c70cfa5a798875a4f3427f634b36f2e.jpg)
Five Riffs Series
Acoustic Riffs/Intros: Mumford and Sons, Nick Drake, Jose Gonzalez, Tracey Chapman, Black Crowes.
Black Keys: 10am Automatic, Act Nice and Gentle, Tighten Up, Your Touch, Modern Times.
Funk: The Meters – Cissy Strut and Funky Miracle, Stevie Wonder – Superstition, Funkadelic – Hit It and Quit It, Rick James – Super Freak.
Grunge:Soundgarden Spoonman, Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box, Pearl Jam – Alive, Temple of the Dog – Hunger Strike, Alice in Chains – Them Bones.
Hip Hop Part 2: Jay Z and Kanye West – Ni**as in Paris, Dr Dre – Still DRE, Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On, Usher – Yeah, Panjabi MC – Beware.
Hip Hop Part 2: Kanye West, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Killer Mike, Jay-Z, Eminem
Hip Hop Part 3: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, MC Hammer, Nas, Warren G, Das Racist.
Jack White: White Stripes – Hardest Button to Button and Icky Thump, Raconteurs – Salute Your Solution, Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother, Tom Jones – Evil.
Manchester: Stone Roses – Waterfall, Happy Mondays – Loose Fit, Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart, Chemical Brothers – Galvanize, The Fall – Right Place, Wrong Time
Punk Pop: Paramore, Blink 182, Green Day, Sum 41, Panic! at the Disco.
REM: Losing My Religion, Shiny Happy People, Pop Song 89, Driver 8, Pretty Persuasion.
The Who: Can’t Explain, Substitute, Pinball Wizard, The Seeker
Black Keys: 10am Automatic, Act Nice and Gentle, Tighten Up, Your Touch, Modern Times.
Funk: The Meters – Cissy Strut and Funky Miracle, Stevie Wonder – Superstition, Funkadelic – Hit It and Quit It, Rick James – Super Freak.
Grunge:Soundgarden Spoonman, Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box, Pearl Jam – Alive, Temple of the Dog – Hunger Strike, Alice in Chains – Them Bones.
Hip Hop Part 2: Jay Z and Kanye West – Ni**as in Paris, Dr Dre – Still DRE, Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On, Usher – Yeah, Panjabi MC – Beware.
Hip Hop Part 2: Kanye West, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Killer Mike, Jay-Z, Eminem
Hip Hop Part 3: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, MC Hammer, Nas, Warren G, Das Racist.
Jack White: White Stripes – Hardest Button to Button and Icky Thump, Raconteurs – Salute Your Solution, Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother, Tom Jones – Evil.
Manchester: Stone Roses – Waterfall, Happy Mondays – Loose Fit, Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart, Chemical Brothers – Galvanize, The Fall – Right Place, Wrong Time
Punk Pop: Paramore, Blink 182, Green Day, Sum 41, Panic! at the Disco.
REM: Losing My Religion, Shiny Happy People, Pop Song 89, Driver 8, Pretty Persuasion.
The Who: Can’t Explain, Substitute, Pinball Wizard, The Seeker
- A blues in the key of C ( C, F7 & G7 chords). A simple riff ( melodic figure) is used along with the chords. Chords and riff are played and explained.
- Ukulele tablature (tab) is a very easy to understand and useful way of notating ukulele music. It allows you to read and notate melodies without being able to read music, and it shows you exactly where to play it on your ukulele fretboard. The four horizontal lines represent the strings of your uke.
Single Riffs
AC/DC – Back In Black
AC/DC – Hells Bells
AC/DC – Let There Be Rock
AC/DC / James Hill – Thunderstruck
Aerosmith – Walk This Way
Alice Cooper – School’s Out
Audioslave – Cochise
Beastie Boys – Fight for Your Right To Party
The Beatles – Come Together/Day Tripper
Biz Markie – Just A Friend
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear the Reaper
Chic – Good Times/Rapper’s Delight
Chic – Le Freak
The Clash – Straight to Hell / MIA – Paper Planes
Cream – Sunshine of Your Love
The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry
The Darkness – I Believe In A Thing Called Love
Deep Purple – Smoke On the Water
Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart
Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus
Dillinger Escape Plan – Milk Lizard
Dire Straits – Money for Nothing
Donna Summer – Hot Stuff
Electric Six – Gay Bar
Eric Clapton – Layla
Free – All Right Now
Girls Aloud – Love Machine
Gogol Bordello – Not A Crime
Guns n Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine
Hanson – MmmBop
Happy Mondays – Step On
Harold Faltermeyer- – Axel F
Ian Dury – Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll
Iron Butterfly – In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Jay-Z – Death of Auto-Tune
Jimi Hendrix – Fire
The Hives – Hate To Say I Told You So
Judas Priest – Breaking the Law
Kasabian – Vlad the Impaler
The Killers – Mr Brightside
Lady Gaga – Poker Face
Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love
Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way?
Metallica – Enter Sandman
Metallica – Master of Puppets
Metallica – Seek and Destroy
Michael Jackson – Beat It
Motorhead – Ace of Spades
Muddy Waters – Mannish Boy
Muse – Plug In Baby
Nirvana – Come As You Are
Nirvana/UOGB – Smells Like Teen Spirit
Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy Train
Pearl Jam – Jeremy
Phoenix – Lisztomania
Pink Floyd – Money
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows
Rage Against the Machine – Freedom
Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name Of
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Suck My Kiss
Rolling Stones – Satisfaction
Slayer – Raining Blood
The Sonics – Have Love, Will Travel
System of a Down – Toxicity
They Might Be Giants – Older
Thin Lizzy – Boys are Back in Town
U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
Vampire Weekend – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Riff)
The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs – Pin
Yes – To Be Over
AC/DC – Hells Bells
AC/DC – Let There Be Rock
AC/DC / James Hill – Thunderstruck
Aerosmith – Walk This Way
Alice Cooper – School’s Out
Audioslave – Cochise
Beastie Boys – Fight for Your Right To Party
The Beatles – Come Together/Day Tripper
Biz Markie – Just A Friend
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear the Reaper
Chic – Good Times/Rapper’s Delight
Chic – Le Freak
The Clash – Straight to Hell / MIA – Paper Planes
Cream – Sunshine of Your Love
The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry
The Darkness – I Believe In A Thing Called Love
Deep Purple – Smoke On the Water
Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart
Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus
Dillinger Escape Plan – Milk Lizard
Dire Straits – Money for Nothing
Donna Summer – Hot Stuff
Electric Six – Gay Bar
Eric Clapton – Layla
Free – All Right Now
Girls Aloud – Love Machine
Gogol Bordello – Not A Crime
Guns n Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine
Hanson – MmmBop
Happy Mondays – Step On
Harold Faltermeyer- – Axel F
Ian Dury – Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll
Iron Butterfly – In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Jay-Z – Death of Auto-Tune
Jimi Hendrix – Fire
The Hives – Hate To Say I Told You So
Judas Priest – Breaking the Law
Kasabian – Vlad the Impaler
The Killers – Mr Brightside
Lady Gaga – Poker Face
Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love
Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way?
Metallica – Enter Sandman
Metallica – Master of Puppets
Metallica – Seek and Destroy
Michael Jackson – Beat It
Motorhead – Ace of Spades
Muddy Waters – Mannish Boy
Muse – Plug In Baby
Nirvana – Come As You Are
Nirvana/UOGB – Smells Like Teen Spirit
Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy Train
Pearl Jam – Jeremy
Phoenix – Lisztomania
Pink Floyd – Money
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows
Rage Against the Machine – Freedom
Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name Of
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Suck My Kiss
Rolling Stones – Satisfaction
Slayer – Raining Blood
The Sonics – Have Love, Will Travel
System of a Down – Toxicity
They Might Be Giants – Older
Thin Lizzy – Boys are Back in Town
U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
Vampire Weekend – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Riff)
The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs – Pin
Yes – To Be Over
![How To Play Blues Ukulele Pdf How To Play Blues Ukulele Pdf](/uploads/1/1/8/5/118524792/161957871.png)
BY JAMES HILL
Whether you’re a strummer, a hummer, a picker, or a singer, you need to know the pentatonic scale. The good news is it’s easy to play and it’s found in most genres of music from nearly every corner of the world. What’s not to love? In this lesson, you’ll explore this often-overlooked musical wonder.
As you can see in the diagram below, the pentatonic scale is simply the open strings plus one new note on each string (for this lesson I’ve chosen C-major pentatonic).
It’s that easy!
Start by playing eight times on each note, then try four on each. Then two, then one. Keep the rhythm steady! [Fig. 1]
A Truly International Scale
If I were stranded on a desert island, the pentatonic scale is the one scale I’d take with me. It’s lightweight (just five notes) and it’s international. By that I mean it’s a scale found in music from all over the world. Want proof? Compare the following melodies. The first is a Chinese folk song from the Ming Dynasty–era (circa 14thcentury) called “The Flower Drum.” [Fig. 2]
The second is a well-known ditty by Stephen Foster, the father of American popular music that uses the same notes as “The Flower Drum.” Can you name the tune? [Fig. 3]
My point is this: the pentatonic scale is well-traveled. It’s a cornerstone of musical traditions from all over the world (European, Asian, and African traditions in particular). It’s a sound that unites humanity across borders and generations.
It’s the little scale that could!
The Bonus Blues
But wait, there’s more! There’s a bluesy bonus to learning the C-major pentatonic scale: it doubles as the A-minor pentatonic (think blues and old-time music). Why? Because every major scale has a relative minor scale—A minor is the relative minor of C major. That’s right, it’s a two-for-one!
Don’t believe me?
Try these blues licks and see for yourself: they only use notes from the pentatonic scale you learned in this lesson. [Fig. 4]
Now it’s your turn: take the notes of the C major pentatonic scale (aka A-minor pentatonic scale) and create your own melodies. In doing so you’ll join a musical conversation that began centuries ago and continues to echo in the pop, rock, jazz, and blues music of today.
Enjoy!
How To Play Blues Ukulele Pdf
(The mystery tune in Fig. 3 is Stephen Foster’s “Oh, Susanna!”)