Often described as one of the greatest British albums of all time. The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed is phenomenal. The jangling riffs sound as crisp today as they did 50 years ago. Let’s learn to play some of them on the ukulele.
Today we are learning to play Gimme Shelter, Monkey Man and You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Below the arrangement in which these ukulele tabs are taken from.
This video is from my YouTube channel. I upload arrangements of my favourite albums of all time. If you like The Rolling Stones you might be keen to hear my covers of The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac too.
Gimmie Shelter
I was cautious about posting this tab as i thought it might be too much of a stretch for most beginner ukulele players. But then i thought, that’s a really bad attitude to have as most uke players want to improve. This is the perfect chance to do that.
This song is all about the rhythm. You are going to need to play along to get it right. I would advise getting an idea of how it goes and then slow it down so you can really nail it.
A |-----9---9----9--9-|---6-7--7---7-7-|-----2-0-2-0-2-0------2-0-----4----| E |---9-11--11---11-9-|---7-9--9---9-7-|---5-5-5-5-5-5-5----5-5-5---7-7-7--| C |-8----------8------|-6--------6-----|-4----------------4-------6--------| G |-------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------|
A |--2-4-4---4-2-------------------2-4-4-| E |--------------4---4-5---2-4-----------| C |------------------------------4-------| G |--------------------------------------|
Monkey Man
This is one of the more underrated Stones riffs in my opinion. A fantastic use of diminished chords. i’m using a low G for my arrangement but it works equally well with a high G too.
All of the chords are based around barring the 5th fret with your first finger.
A |-------5-----------5-----------8---------5-----| E |-----8-----------7-----------6---------5-------| C |---5-----------5-----------5-------------------| G |-7-----------7-----------7-----------7---------|
You Cant Always Get What You Want
Another one that i’m using a low G for but it’s not super important as all the notes are still the same. The strumming pattern would be D, D, U, D, D, D, U, D.
I haven’t included the rest of the chord on the little melody parts as I wanted you to know to accent those parts. You can pretty much play open notes while playing that.
A |-------|-3---3---3-3-3--5-3-5--0---0---0-0-0--------| E |-------|-0---0---0-0-0---------1---1---1-1-1--------| C |-----0-|-0---0---0-0-0---------0---0---0-0-0------0-| G |-0h2---|-0---0---0-0-0---------2---2---2-2-2--0h2---|
A |------0----------------------------------------------| E |--------3-----3-1------------------------------------| C |----0-------------0-2-2---4-------5-4-----4-3-2-1/0--| G |--2--------------------------------------------------|
A |-------------------------|-------------------|-------------------------|--------------------| E |-------------------------|-------------------|-------------------------|--------------------| C |-0-4---4-2-4---2-2-0-5---|-0-4-4-4---2-0-2---|-0-4-4-2-4-2-4--2-2-0-2--|--0-4-4-4---2-0-2---| G |-----------------------2-|-----------------2-|-----------------------2-|------------------2-|
A |-3-7---7-7-7---5-3-5--0--|----|-3-3-3-7-5---------------8-8-8---8-7-|
E |-------------------------|----|-----------5---5-8-8-5---8-8-8---8-7-|
C |-0-4---4-4-4---2-0-2-----|-x3-|-------------------------------------|
G |----------------------2--|----|-------------------------------------|
D D D D U U D U U D D D D D U U D U U D
A |-7-7-7---7-7---7-7-7---7-7-|-8-8-8---8-8---8-8-8---8-8-| E |-8-8-8---8-8---8-8-8---8-8-|-5-5-5---5-5---5-5-5---5-5-| C |-7-7-7---7-7---7-7-7---7-7-|-5-5-5---5-5---5-5-5---5-5-| G |-9-9-9---9-9---9-9-9---9-9-|-5-5-5---5-5---5-5-5---5-5-|
