I was lucky to be already a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers before they released the By The Way album. So I was able to experience the hype for it when it was released. They released the title track as a single first and my and mates would split our thumbs open trying to master Flea’s epic bass riff. One of the standout riffs of the entire album though is the gorges arpeggio from The Zephyr Song. Let’s learn to play it 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.Â
Ukulele Tabs
The main riff from this song is fairly straightforward to play. You need to form the chords first. Use individually fingers for them all apart from the 2nd chord. If you are able, you want to barre the 7th fret on the bottom three strings.
The second riff is fidly and it’s more of an intermediate/advanced riff. The principle is the same, form the chord, pluck the notes. Except for this time, you have a lick at the end of each one. For the licks, you want to stop forming the chord and take all your fingers off. Watch the video and you will see I am able to hit each note easier this way.
A|-----10--------8--------2--------3-|
E|---8---------7--------3--------5---|
C|-9---------7--------4--------5-----|
G|-----------------------------------|
A|-----7---10-8-7--------5---8-7-5--------2---5-3-2--------3---5h7p5-----
E|---8-----------------7----------------3----------------5-----------8-7-
C|-9-----9-----------7-----7----------4-----4----------5-----5-----------
G|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
