guitar ukulele chords

guitar ukulele chords

Ukulele Tab: Learn To Play Tom Dooley On Your Ukulele

Maybe you play mostly chords on you ukulele? Do you know that you can play melodies with the help of ukulele tab? Let’s play Tom Dooley!

Here you have the lyrics to the first verse:

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley
Poor boy you’re bound to die

You don’t have to know sheet music notation to play. Instead we will use a form of tablature.

Tablature is a special form of musical notation that will show you how to place your fingers in order to play a melody on your ukulele. This notation is also called ukulele tab.

On your ukulele you have four strings. The one with the highest pitch is called the first string and is usually tuned to an A.

When you play on your ukulele you will have the first strings nearest your feet.

Before you start to play Tom Dooley let’s take a look at the ukulele tab notation. What does the following tab mean?

01

In this type of ukulele tab this means that you play the first open string. An open string is a string you play without pressing down a left hand finger. One more example:

32

The numbers indicate that you shall press down the third fret on the second string.

Now it’s time to play the first part of Tom Dooley. Here is the lyrics and corresponding ukulele tab:

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley

03 03 03 23 12 01 01

Remember, the first digit tells you which fret to press down and the second which string. Here comes the next ukulele tab:

Hang down your head and cry

03 03 03 23 12 32

This type of ukulele tab doesn’t tell you the length of the notes but you will probably find that out by yourself as you already know the melody.

Let’s move on!

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley

03 03 03 23 12 32 32

You can use your right hand thumb to play the notes. What about your left hand?

Of course you can play all notes with your left hand index finger. However in the long run you will probably find it easier to play melodies with more of your left hand fingers.

I suggest that you use your left hand index finger to press down the notes on the first fret, your middle finger for the second fret and your ring finger for the notes on the third fret.

Let’s continue with the last ukulele tab:

Poor boy you’re bound to die

32 32 01 12 23 12

This ukulele tab will also work on a guitar as the first three strings are tuned in the same way on a guitar.

Try to memorize the melody by practicing the ukulele tab one line at a time!

Well, now you can play Tom Dooley on your ukulele so now it’s time to play for your friends!

If you have a friend who owns another ukulele and can play chords you can play the melody together with the following two chords:

F major: 24 03 12 01

C7: 04 03 02 11

Start with F until you come to the word cry. When you sing cry change to the chord C7 and play it until you come to the word die where you change back to F again.

It is always nicer to play with friends, isn’t it!

About the Author

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your
free sheet music
and ukulele tab at
http://www.capotastomusic.com

Losing My Religion Guitar & Ukulele Lesson REM

3 Classic Hawaii Calls Old Time Radio Broadcasts on DVD (over 83 Minutes running time) $11.99 This unique old time radio DVD collectible features 3 digitized reels of classic Hawaii Calls radio broadcasts and over 83 Minutes of total running time on 1 DVD. Take a journey back through radio broadcasting history with this large audio library of OTR memorabilia. The golden age of old time radio has been rescued, digitized, and packaged into a gift set that any classic radio lover can apprecia…

chordAlchemy $29.95 chordAlchemy offers a rich and robust set of capabilities for looking up chords and determining what chord you are playing. Variations on chords are quickly and easily done with a click of the mouse. Modify the chord formula, force an added bass note or eliminate the root from the chord. As each modification is made, chordAlchemy automatically generates chord diagrams to reflect the changes. Once…

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Best Day Ever $5.49 It was only a matter of time before SpongeBob Squarepants became a star big enough to pull off a concept album. Where so many other megawatt celebrities, be they living and land-based or fictional and sea-dwelling, can get all high-minded and grand when cobbling together a theme for their music, though, our man Sponge proves he’s as humble and porous as ever on The Best Day Ever, a 26-track bonanz…

Ke’alaokamaile $4.98 Whether it’s ukulele music, the island exotica of Martin Denny, the lounge crooning of Don Ho, or the slack key acoustic guitar tradition, many styles of music have emerged from the jeweled necklace in the Pacific known as Hawaii. Over the course of five albums, popular singer Keali’i Reichel (pronounced kay-ah-LEE-ee rye-SHELL) touches on both commercial adult contemporary songcraft and tradition…

Ukulele For Dummies $14.15 Learn everything ukulele – from chord progressions to playing pop, folk and holiday favorites. Includes audio CD….

The Daily Ukulele (Fakebook) (Jumpin’ Jim’s Ukulele Songbooks) $20.31 Strum a different song every day with easy arrangements of 365 of your favorite songs in one big songbook! The Daily Ukulele features ukulele arrangements that feature melody, lyrics and uke chord grids and are in ukulele-friendly keys that are particularly suited for groups of one to one hundred to play and sing. Includes favorites by the Beatles, Beach Boys and Bob Dylan, folk songs, pop songs, …

The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook $14.27 This great collection features all 194 songs written and sung by The Beatles, specially transcribed here for strumming guitarists, from the actual recordings, in the original keys. Each song includes chord symbols, guitar chord boxes and complete lyrics. Also features a helpful playing guide and a full discography….