Category: Tablatures

There is a Time – Clawhammer #Ukulele with Tablature

“There is a Time” was written by Rodney Dillard and Mitch Jayne and performed by their group, The Dillards, also known as The Darling Family, back in the early 1960s on The Andy Griffith Show. The most memorable performance was probably when Charlene Darling (Maggie Peterson) sang it. The Dillards’ version is straight-up bluegrass, but in one episode Andy Griffith played it and sang one verse in a very slow “folksie” style, which I really liked since it really highlighted the beautiful lyrics.

 

It’s become somewhat of a bluegrass standard and has been recorded by Alan Jackson, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and others.

 

My version lands somewhere in between The Dillards and Andy Griffith as I played it clawhammer ukulele style at a medium speed. I’m posting two tablatures on my site — one basic and another more advanced. Neither is “exactly” what I played but the more advanced version is close to what I played. I actually recorded the song first then created the tablature afterwards, trying to emulate on tab what I was playing, but not being too exact about it since I probably didn’t play it exactly the same way each time. I played the break four times on my recording, and if you happen to hear a sour note during the second break it’s because I flubbed it up but didn’t want to have to record it again. I figure if I played everything perfectly I’d probably be rich and famous, but I don’t and I’m not so there ya go.

 

If you’re not familiar with the clawhammer stye and want to learn it, check out my free clawhammer uke tutorial here…

Clawhammer Uke Tutorial

there-is-a-time-basic

 

there-is-a-time-advanced
there-is-a-time

Dooley – Clawhammer #Ukulele with Tablature

“Dooley” was written by Rodney Dillard and recorded by his family group, The Dillards. They were also known as The Darling Family when they appeared on The Andy Griffith Show back in the 1960s, and this is one of the songs they played on the show. It’s been a popular bluegrass tune ever since.

I played it clawhammer style on the ukulele and you’ll need to know the basics of clawhammer to play it this way. Check out the four videos in my Clawhammer Uke Tutorial to learn…

Clawhammer Uke Tutorial

I am including tablature for the break that I played twice on my recording (at the beginning and after the 1st verse). I’m also including a simpler basic version with no bells or whistles. It might help as you’re learning to use the YouTube option to slow it down to half speed or whatever’s right for you. It’s not difficult but I played it pretty fast. You could learn it and play it at about half speed when you’re playing and it’ll still sound good.

dooley-advanced

The tab below is a stripped down version of the one above that was played on the uke video. It might help to learn the easy version first if you're having trouble with the more advanced one.

dooley-basic
dooley

Amazing Grace – Chords, Lyrics, & 2 #Ukulele Tablature Arrangements

Note about the video: I recorded this as an audio MP3 in the days before video was common so the “video” is actually an audio recording. I would consider doing a video with chords and lyrics like the others I do if there’s enough interest, so let me know if you’d like to see it.

I created two tablatures for Amazing Grace:

Easy Chord Melody Solo — This is a pretty simple arrangement and is a good one for beginners since the tune is familiar to everyone and it sounds good when it’s played slowly. The “R” with the curved line on each chord stands for “Roll.” When you see that just do a nice slow downward strum with your thumb.

Fingerpicking Solo — This arrangement is similar to the EZ Chord Solo. The chords are the same. The big difference is that you are playing fill-in notes so the 3/4 rhythm of the song is heard. This makes it harder to play but a lot of the fill-in notes are on open strings so once you get used to it it’s fairly easy.

The recording features the fingerpicking solo along with pattern picking for the accompaniment (while I’m singing the verses).

Easy Chord Melody Solo:

amazing-grace-easy-chord-solo

 

 

Fingerpicking Solo:

amazing-grace-fingerpicking-solo

 

Shady Grove – #Ukulele Fingerstyle Tablature

Note about the video: I recorded this as an audio MP3 in the days before video was common so the “video” is actually an audio recording. I would consider doing a video with chords and lyrics like the others I do if there’s enough interest, so let me know if you’d like to see it.

This fingerpicking arrangement of Shady Grove features simple chords as well as a melody that is easy to fit into this style. Notice that in every measure the thumb is constantly moving, alternating between the 4th string on the 1st and 3rd beats and and 3rd string on the 2nd and 4th beats. This is similar to the way Travis picking works on the guitar except on the guitar you alternate between bass notes on the 4th, 5th, and 6th strings. Although the uke doesn’t have booming bass notes like the guitar, it still works fine for this style of playing and with the high 4th string it has a uniqueness of its own that I like.

In this arrangement I have started out with the melody arrangement in the first 8 measures that could be used between any verses. The entire song is really just 8 measures that keep repeating. Beginning in the 9th measure the top tablature line is a fingerpicking pattern that is just repeated over and over. The tablature line below contains the melody of the song as you would sing it. This was added more as a reference so you could keep up with the melody as you play the fingerpicking pattern, but it can be played on the uke as well. It might sound pretty good to play as a duet if you’ve got a friend with a uke.

 

shadgrov