Buddy McCue
Well-known member
Arabic music has maqam, similar to scales. This particular one (Hijaz) sounds the most typically "Middle-Eastern" to my ear; maybe that's because I hear it so often in the movies and all.
Anyway, you can noodle around with this and get an instant exotic sound on the ukulele. Among other things, this one is the basis of Misirlou, a song you might recognize. A surf-rock version of this song was used as the theme of the movie "Pulp Fiction." I'm working on tab for that song, and I'll post it when I'm done.
Here is the scale in C for the Soprano Ukulele, (or any Uke with re-entrant tuning.) This example is in 8/8 time; it's just the scale going up and down.
A||--------------1-3-|-4-3-1------------||---||
E||.-----0-1---------|-----------1-0---.||---||
C||.-0-1-------------|---------------1-.||-0-||
G||----------0-1-----|-------1-0--------||---||
Here it is in E for the Baritone Ukulele. This example starts with the root note, dips down a step and then continues up the scale and back down again.It's also 8/8 time.
E||-----------------|---0-1-4-5-4-1-0-|-----------------||---||
B||.------------0-1-|-3---------------|-3-1-0----------.||---||
G||.--------1-2-----|-----------------|-------2-1------.||---||
D||-2-0-2-3---------|-----------------|-----------3-2-0-||-2-||
(or you might want to play it this way)
E||-----------------|-------4-5-4-----|-----------------||---||
B||.------------0-1-|-3-5-6-------6-5-|-3-1-0----------.||---||
G||.--------1-2-----|-----------------|-------2-1------.||---||
D||-2-0-2-3---------|-----------------|-----------3-2-0-||-2-||
Hope you have fun with this, and my explanation makes sense to you. I'm new at this; this is my second tab. I've got lots of notebooks filled with stuff like this (different scales and tabs that I've worked out for myself,) but I need to eventually type it all into the computer.
Anyway, you can noodle around with this and get an instant exotic sound on the ukulele. Among other things, this one is the basis of Misirlou, a song you might recognize. A surf-rock version of this song was used as the theme of the movie "Pulp Fiction." I'm working on tab for that song, and I'll post it when I'm done.
Here is the scale in C for the Soprano Ukulele, (or any Uke with re-entrant tuning.) This example is in 8/8 time; it's just the scale going up and down.
A||--------------1-3-|-4-3-1------------||---||
E||.-----0-1---------|-----------1-0---.||---||
C||.-0-1-------------|---------------1-.||-0-||
G||----------0-1-----|-------1-0--------||---||
Here it is in E for the Baritone Ukulele. This example starts with the root note, dips down a step and then continues up the scale and back down again.It's also 8/8 time.
E||-----------------|---0-1-4-5-4-1-0-|-----------------||---||
B||.------------0-1-|-3---------------|-3-1-0----------.||---||
G||.--------1-2-----|-----------------|-------2-1------.||---||
D||-2-0-2-3---------|-----------------|-----------3-2-0-||-2-||
(or you might want to play it this way)
E||-----------------|-------4-5-4-----|-----------------||---||
B||.------------0-1-|-3-5-6-------6-5-|-3-1-0----------.||---||
G||.--------1-2-----|-----------------|-------2-1------.||---||
D||-2-0-2-3---------|-----------------|-----------3-2-0-||-2-||
Hope you have fun with this, and my explanation makes sense to you. I'm new at this; this is my second tab. I've got lots of notebooks filled with stuff like this (different scales and tabs that I've worked out for myself,) but I need to eventually type it all into the computer.
Last edited:
