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!
"Morning Has Broken" is a Christian hymn. It has often been erroneously attributed to Cat Stevens, who recorded a popular version of the song.
Here is the first verse:
Morning has broken, like the first morning Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird Praise for the singing, praise for the morning Praise for the springing fresh from the world
You don't need to read sheet music to play this song on your ukulele. Instead we will use tablature.
Tablature is a form of musical notation, often with numbers and letters, which tells the player where to place their fingers on a particular instrument rather than which pitches to play.
We will use a form of ukulele tab that is correctly displayed on article sites. You will find the more common ukulele tab notation on my site with guitar tab, ukulele tab and free sheet music.
The four strings on your ukulele is numbered from the one with the highest pitch which is called the first string.
The first string is the one nearest your feet when you hold your ukulele to play. It is normally tuned to an A.
Let't take a look at the first ukulele tab and lyrics in the song Morning Has Broken:
Morning has broken, like the first morning
03 02 32 31 51 21 01 32 01 21 01 32
Now it's time to learn to read this ukulele tab. The first number in the pair tells you what fret to press down and the second number what string to play.
The first note 03 tells you to play on the open third string which means that you play the string without pressing down any fret.
32 means that you press down a left hand finger on the third fret of the second string and play the note.
This type of ukulele tab doesn't tell you the length of the notes. If you sing the lyrics you will probably feel how to play the notes so you will recognize the song.
It's time for the next ukulele tab:
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
03 23 02 32 01 32 02 03 23
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 and in this song also on the fifth fret.
Of course you might find it easier to use your left hand index finger for pressing down all notes.
However in the long run you will probably find it easier to play melodies if you get used to this more sophisticated fingering.
The next ukulele tab comes here:
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
32 02 32 31 01 32 02 03 03 32
By now you know how to interpret ukulele tab so I don't need to help you!
The last line with lyrics and ukulele tab follows:
Praise for the springing fresh from the world
02 23 02 32 01 23 02 23 03
Congratulations! Now you can play Morning Has Broken with ukulele tab!
This type of ukulele tab will work on a guitar too as long as you only use the first three strings as we have done in this melody.
The best thing you can do with this melody is probably to memorize it by learning one line at a time. It is nice to have a repertoire and be able to play melodies anytime and everywhere!
Peter Edvinsson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Guide Guitar, Programming and Guide Guitar. Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your and ukulele tab at. Peter Edvinsson's top article generates over 135000 views. to your Favourites.