About

Oh my, not another boring fingerstyle tab page .....

 

Don't worry, this is site is completely tutorial-free. No twenty minute "put your first finger on the second fret of the third string and then .... " videos. Even better, no videos at all. If I wanted to see myself play, I would sit in front of the mirror. 

 

One more word on the video issue: I am asked very often if have videos or soundfiles of the songs I post. Sorry, the answer is no. I just don’t see a point in recording myself, to me that is a waste of time. What’s more, for almost every song there are numerous ways to play it. The tab sheets I make up are not trying to perfectly replicate the original song - they just help me to memorize the music.  If you are a learner, I would really encourage you to listen (not watch !) to the tune you want to play, try to catch the essentials of it and then sit back in a quiet place with your instrument and use the tab sheet as a framework to develop your own version.   

 

So, this is not a ukulele / guitar teaching site. There are already some very good and uncountable not-so-brilliant instruction resources on the web. I just want to provide a source of tabbed fingerstyle instrumentals for ukulele addicts and guitar enthusiasts. Stuff you do not find everywhere else. No Stairway to Heaven. Some friends of mine like my tab archive and proposed to share it with a greater community. So why not? All you need to know is how to read tabulatures.

 

The reasons I started writing my own tab sheets are that

- most tabs I find just ugly to look at.

- some tabs are simply too long (five pages for a pop song? come on!)

- some tabs unnecessarily ask for finger acrobatics, while a simple key change or some minor simplification (aka cheat) does the same job with less effort.

 

And here's a little twist: maybe, just maybe, practicing those finger muscles with my unique tab sheets could lead to having a "glückliches Händchen" – a lucky hand, as we say in Germany. Who knows, this could even spill over into other areas of life, such as winning in an online casino. Imagine that – the dexterity and intuition developed from mastering fingerstyle play could well be your unseen advantage in the unpredictable world of online gaming. So, while you're enjoying the process of making music your own way, you might just be training for your next big win elsewhere. How's that for a bonus track to your practice sessions?

 

Some background: 

 

Basically, I tabbed most of the material eather by ear or inspired by various sources such as leadsheets, friends, records etc.. My listening skills are not the best (ask my wife, she says I never) so I won't guarantee for absolute accuracy. Just some additional remarks:

 

First, I tried to make the songs playable for intermediates like me, focussing on the melody. That is what music is about, the melody, right? So, if I missed out another Bbmaj7|9aug for the duration of half a beat, sorry. And, for reasons of my limited playing ability, I don't care very much about the original key. Your audience doesn't either. Believe me.

 

Second, the tabs to me mainly serve as a reminder. I always try to play by heart but need to write down the tunes to remember chord progressions and melody line when I haven't played a song for a while. Don't expect full orchestration.  

 

Third, timing and note duration are sometimes rough approximations. In pop and jazz generally, but with fingerstyle grooves in particular, often it is difficult to accurately transcribe the dynamic pattern of a song.       

 

Finally, I find it helpful to have a complete tune on one page, whenever the song allows it and readability is not affected (does not always work). Not all of us have iPads with a hands-free pageturner. This is why I only tab the main parts / themes of a song once, the sequence is up to you. 

 

 

Enough said, I hope you like the stuff you find here.  

 

Keep Picking,

Frank