For anyone who has been following this website for a while, you know I’m a huge Linkin Park fan. This was my first band—you know, the one that you become more than a casual listener to. Posters on the wall, ripping articles out of Kerrang!, taping their videos on VHS, that sort of thing, lol. Anyway, let’s learn to play their monster hit “What I’ve Done” on the ukulele.
What Are We Learning To Play?
Below is a video of what you will be able to play by the end of this post.
Ukulele Tabs
The key to playing this riff is getting your fingers in the correct position from the start. I must admit, in the video above, I didn’t play it as efficiently as I possibly could have. So what I’m instructing in this post is different from what you see above—it’s going to be much easier. With age comes wisdom, I guess.
This riff is actually super simple and basically just repeats itself constantly. The only thing that’s changing is the root note, which makes it much easier to learn once you get the core shape down.
Start by placing your middle finger on the 3rd fret of the E string and your pinky on the 5th fret of the A string. Your pinky will also need to reach the 6th fret on the A string, so make sure it’s comfortable stretching to both positions.
Keep your index and ring fingers free and ready—they’ll be helping out with the root notes as we move through the riff. Don’t let them get locked into any position yet.
For your picking hand, assign specific fingers to each string and stick with this pattern: use your thumb for the G and C strings, your index finger for the E string, and your middle finger for the A string. These assignments never change, which keeps everything clean and controlled.
Once you’ve got this foundation set up, the riff becomes much more manageable because you’re just shifting that basic shape to different root positions.
A|---5---5-6-5---5-|---5---5-6-5---5-|
E|-3---3-------3---|-3---3-------3---|
C|-----------------|-----------------|
G|-0---------------|-3---------------|
A|---5---5-6-5---5-|---5---5-6-5---5-|
E|-3---3-------3---|-3---3-------3---|
C|-5---------------|-0---------------|
G|-----------------|-----------------|