April 2, 2016

Ukulele lesson for 'Take On Me' by A-ha

Video of me playing

Here’s a video of my uke arrangement. The tabs for what I play are shown further below. Enjoy!


Intro tabs

Quite simply, the four bars shown below are what you’ll need to play. In each bar, I’ve included the main chord played for that measure. You can play this chord or not play it – it’s up to you.

A ||---2--2----------------|--(4)---------4--4--5--7--|-
E ||---3------3------------|---5--5---5---------------|-
C ||---4----------4---4----|---4----------------------|-
G ||---0-------------------|---6----------------------|-
       Em                      A

A -|---5--5--5-------------|---2--2---2--0--0--2--0---||
E -|---5----------5--------|---3--------(2)-----------||
C -|---6--------------7----|---2--------(2)-----------||
G -|---7-------------------|---0--------(2)-----------||
       D                       G

Verse chords

Here’s the verse chords I play on ukulele. Broken into measures, the verse goes like this. You’re repeating the same progression twice, and then slightly modifying it for the third play-through.

"We're talking away..."
| Em . . . | A . . . | D  . . . | G  . Bm . |

"I'll say it anyway..."
| Em . . . | A . . . | D  . . . | G  . Bm . |

"Shying away..."
| Em . . . | A . . . | Bm . . . | Bm . .  . |

The tabs for the chords above are here:

A ||---2-----0-----0-----2-----2----
E ||---3-----0-----2-----3-----2----
C ||---4-----1-----2-----2-----2----
G ||---0-----2-----2-----0-----4----
       Em    A     D     G     Bm

Chorus chords

And, here’s the chorus. A bit more straight forward than the verse:

"Take on me..."
| D . . . | A . . . | Bm . . . | G . . . |    x4

Here’s how I play these chords:

A ||---0-----0-----2-----2----
E ||---2-----0-----2-----3----
C ||---2-----1-----2-----2----
G ||---2-----2-----4-----4----
       D     A     Bm    G

How to play on guitar?

If you’re looking for a guitar lesson with chords and tabs, check out my write-up here.