Chief Noda's Ukulele page

I have been a guitar player for a long time, but listening to Jake Shimabukuro made me yearn for a ukulele. I was fortunate to visit Hawaii (OK, Honolulu only) in June 2009. I visited the Kamaka shop and then went to a lecture/presentation. There, I met Sam and Fred Kamaka and their families. That pretty much clinched it - I must get a ukulele! So I purchased a Kamaka Tenor (high G). Tim at Music Emporium (LExington, MA) talked me into getting a low G (Pono, made of Ohai wood) in October 2009.

I chug along but I also do my own arrangements. Often times, it is transferring guitar music to ukulele. I guess my stuff is atypical. I try to play Bach! I will start posting the TAB here soon.

Ukulele Tabs

The Kamaka presentation at a hotel in downtown Honolulu, summer 2009. Chris, Fred, Sam, Casey (back) and Fred, Jr (front) sat on stage and talked about the operation and history of Kamaka Ukulele. Later, Chris played ukulele and we sang. Casey's daughter (Ihilani) then hulaed (she was so graceful). The evening was concluded with a Hawaiian family get-together song (title?). It was wonderful and I felt pevilaged.My Kamaka (high G) and Pono (low G) tenors. Pono uses Ohai wood.....

Ukulele Tabs that I've been writing out. Comments welcome to cnoda at comcast dot net . I use TablEdit (great software). If you don't have it, you can download a free TEFViewer which allows you to view, print and even play back MIDI. Go to Free TEFViewer

Nowhere Man

The Beatles classic

Prelude for Cello Suite No. 1 (JS Bach)

By JS Bach, this is the relude from Cello Suite No. 1 in G.

Two-part Invention No. 1 (JS Bach)

Arranged for a duet using a high-G and a low-G

Two-part Invention No. 13 (JS Bach)

By JS Bach, arranged for high-G. I made two versions. One is fairly close to the Bach's original but, due to the wide range, it's difficult to play. The other is easier as I arranged notes liberally

Spanish Fandango

Very old melody, presumably composed by Henry Warrall in mid 19th century for guitar using open G tuning. Here transposed for ukulele in key of C. I arranged for high-G, but this works eqully well for low-G.

Carcassi's Etude in A for guitar

This is an etude written for classical guitar by M. Carcassi. I always loved the chord changes using dimish chords. Here transposed for ukulele in key of D. It's written out for high-G, but works eqully well for low-G (I think).

Etude in B Minor for guitar (F. Sor, Op. 35, No. 22)

This is an etude written for classical guitar by Fernando Sor. It's known as Moonlight Etude. Here transposed for ukulele in key of Em. When you play, try to make it smooth and bring out the "melody".

Watch the video by Julian Bream - Etude in B Minor on YouTube

I first arranged it for high-G. I like the way an additional "melody" pops up from the high-G string. Since I am familiar with the original classical piece, maybe the high-G version sounds refreshing. For those of you who use a low-G ukelele, I then re-arranged it with just a few minor changes. The low-G version sounds closer to the classical guitar piece (except the key).

High-G

Low-G

Canarios (Canary Jig)

A traditional short lively dance (Jig) tune, from the Canary Island. My arrangement is based Frederick Noad's classical guitar version, and is slightly different from Gasper Sanz's arrangement

Manha de Carnaval (theme from "Black Orpheus")

A Bossa Nova piece, composed by Luiz Bonfa. Also known as the Day in the Life of a Fool. I wrote out two repeats; the first one is a little easier and I took some liberty to go out of box in the second. Don't feel like you have to play these note-for-note.

Pachelbel's Canon (in G)

Back in 1980's, I learned this for a dear friend, Deannie, on a guitar. David Atkinson of UK learned my version from a recording and he improved it and wrote out TAB (see here in 90's. The version has been widely played surprisingly.

Here, I transcribed it to a low G ukulele. As per my "method", I just translated guitar fingerings to ukulele, so the key is in G major.

The F-natural notes in measures 40 and 58 are not a mistake - I see it as a quick momentary change to key of C, and that breaks the monotony. In case, you don't like it, I added alternate measures at the end.

When you perform, feel free to improvise and add your own melodies but make sure to keep the tempo constant. You do not want to start out too fast and slow down for repeats 6 and 7.

It is fun to play duet or even jam on Canon. When you do, you probably want to avid using the natural-F and stick to straight G major scale all the way through. When you do duet, it works very well if you stagger - One ukulele starts and the other comes in after four measures with the first repeat. At the end, the first ukulele plays four measures with a simple chord arpeggio, and two can finish at the same time. Give it a shot

On a whm, I tried the above low-G version on a high-G and it was usable so I modified it a little. Here is the high-G version.

The Swan (in low G)

A lovely piece written for cello by Saint-Saens. The original is in G major, but I transposed it to C major. I love the use of diminish chords.

On You Tube, you can watch Yo-yo Ma perform this piece. There is also a great guitar version by SweetLagoon

Goodnight (high G and low G)

A lullaby by the Beatles. This is the last track on the White Album, sung by Ringo. I wrote out two versions (they are actually identical), one for high G and another for low G. I kinda like the low-G version. I did alter some chords and used a dissonant chord in places. Remember this is a lullaby, so play it slow! I wrote out three verses but feel free to reorganize. I am not too happy about the interlude so I leave it up to you to decide if you want to skip. If you do, you won't hurt my feelings at all.

One note: The natural harmonics. I did it since it's actually easier to play that way than holding 12-fret. My fingering is the index finger on 10-th fret (A string). The ring finger touches 12th fret (C and E strings) to generate harmonics. When it works, it is pretty!

On You Tube, you can watch Goodnight.

Hey Jude (low G; works OK on high-G)

This is a trasciption from my guitar arrangement (on open G). I changed it to key of C. If you're curious, try Hey Jude (solo guitar, open G)." I think this arrangement works OK on high-G as well. Maybe some day, I will fix it for hi-G but for now, you just have to make do. Paul wrote this for Julian Lennon and it was originally "Hey Jule", FYI

Dedicated to Cathy and Manny. They met when Cathy asked Manny if he would sing this song

Nagoriyuki (high G)

A Japanese folk song, written by Shouzo Ise, from 1975. Dedicated to Junko-san

You can watch a duet by Shouzo Ise and Iruka Nagoriyuki, and an English version (cool) English version.ă€€After finishing this arrangement, I found this very nice rendition ukulele version .

JS Bach's Air on the G String (low G)

This is a trasciption from my guitar arrangement (on drop D). I changed it to key of G. If you're curious, try Air on the G String (solo guitar, open G)." and the guitar tab is Guitar TAB

To Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan)

This song was written by Bob Dylan, probably more recognized by Adele's performance. Very beautiful song. Cool chord progression. Adele sings in key of Bb, and here I arranged for a low-G ukulele in key of C. The arrangement is quite playable on a hi-G, although you may want to change things around a bit

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (WA Mozart)

I took a guitar arrangement into a low-G arrangement. As written, it's a bit too long to my taste. If I were to perform, I would just do one repeat. A cute little tune.

Black MoutainRag (Americam traditional)

In Memorium - Doc Watson (March 3, 1923 - May 29, 2012)

With the sad news of passing of Doc Watson, I figured I should write out his guitar work for a ukulele. It's written out in key of C. Mr Watson used the C form, but he capoed up so the actual key is either D or Eb. It's probably very difficult to play at his speed but still a fun tune to try out. aybe flatpicking is the way to go? although I do fingerstyle. It's assuming a low-G ukulele, but it's playable on a high-G with a little bit of modification.

You Belong To Me

I did an arrangement for low-G, based on Patsy Cline's recording. Then, Diane Rupnow wrote out a version in high-G based on Bob Dylan's version which is somewhat different from Patsy Cline's.

On low-G version, I am not quite sure if she goes to E chord in measure 22 but I could not find a better chord

JS Bach - Prelude in C Major from Well-Tempeared Clavier Book I (BMW 846) (low G)

Lovely piece. I love the sequence of chord changes. Some fingerings are awkward, and if you find other fingerings, feel free to do so. The transcription is pretty close to the piano version. It works better on low G

By the way, I'm now (March 2014) using TablEdit 2.74 and I have a better control of printouts. No more "large prints"

Prelude in C Major