spring

Primavera Original Ukulele Fingerpicking Song Tab

I was noodling around on the ukulele just the other day and I came up with a little fingerpicked tune that sounded ok. Rather than let it go to waste and out of my mind (like I usually do) I figured I would tab the tune out and make it available for anyone that is interested. This makes it my first original that I’ve tabbed out for the site (so please be gentle with me).

Primavera

So here’s my original track Primavera. It’s a fairly steady fingerpicked song that shouldn’t take too long to get to grips withe even if you’re pretty new to fingerpicking in general. Have a listen and see what you think.

 

It’s heavily based around a C chord and is really just me playing around with the C scale throwing some notes in between to give it a little bit more depth and turn it into a song.

Why Primavera? Well there’s no real reason – with my love of the Spanish language and me willing the warmer weather to come along it seemed to fit.

The Tab

Here’s the tab, nothing too tricky here – or is there? Actually there is something that seems a little tricky. I’m playing around with the time signature a little bit mid-song. There are some isolated bars in 2/4 timing and even a bar of 3/4 timing but the rest of the song is largely played in straight 4/4 timing using eighth notes throughout.

Primavera Original Ukulele Fingerpicked Song Tab

If the changing time signature scares you a little bit, don’t let it. It sounds way more complex than it is. Get to grips with the picking pattern and let your ear do the rest. Also feel free to mix it up, you don’t have to play it exactly like I do (most of the time I switch the different sections around at will anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever played it the same way twice).

Playing Tips

The first tip is let your thumb take the G string throughout. For the melody notes that are played on the rest of the strings you can get away with just using your index finger to pick them if you like. Personally I play it a little differently and use my middle finger to play all the notes that occur on the A string and let my index finger pick up the rest. Whichever works for you.

Take it slowly to begin with and you’ll soon find that your picking fingers get into their own rhythm (half the time I’m not even aware what my picking fingers are doing).

If you prefer you can grab the tab as a PDF…

Primavera tab PDF

Hope you like it, have fun with it and if you record a version hit me with a link – I’d love to see what you turn it into!

Grab my free Ukulele Go! beginners pack.

31 thoughts on “Primavera Original Ukulele Fingerpicking Song Tab

  1. I love this!! Nice job. I’ve had fun learning and playing this piece. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next 🙂

  2. This might be a dumb question but could you describe your finger position on measures 10 and 11? The way my fingers naturally want to place on the frets is not making for a very smooth transition…

    Thanks!

    1. Hey Jenn, yeah I can indeed. I play that section with an F chord fretted for most of it and then I drop my pinkie on to the A string for the C note (3rd fret) when needed. Does that help?

  3. Dave,

    Is your track playing the song exactly as you have written out the tabs? I’m trying to follow along with you, but seem to get lost.

    Thanks

    1. Hey Ally, I think so yes – but I really wouldn’t get too hung up on playing exactly as I’ve tabbed or as it sounds. Just play around with it, I still play this one a little bit different every time I play it.

  4. Hi Dave, hate to make even more work for you, but could you include an audio to go with ‘Primavera’? I can’t read it yet but I’d love to hear it and it might help people that are more advanced than me.

  5. Hi Dave, I’ve just managed to snail my way through ‘Primavera ‘, I really like the pattern that runs through it. The first time I played it, it sounded nothing like yours but then I realised I’d been paying all the strings in between (silly me). Anyway I have it right now thanks to re reading the finger picking section again, and sleeping on it!

  6. I just wanted to let you know that when I picked up the Ukulele about a year ago this was the first song I taught myself. I thought it was pretty ambitious at the time, and now I’m amazed at how easily it plays. I put the bits in random orders and add things here and there. It’s been the foundation of my Ukulele experience, so thank you very much!

    1. Wow, thanks for letting me know, that makes me really pleased that I published it. It’s the only song of my own on the whole site.

    2. Gerrit – Can you share with us some of the ways you altered the piece? Where did you put the bits and what did you add here and there?

      -Ally

      1. Sure thing! The first thing I did was to slide between A5 and A7 on the end of the 3rd measure. So instead of just plucking A7, pluck A5 and slide to A7 right away. Next I reversed the progression to go from A7 to A3. That sounded pretty cool. Then, recently I switched the song to be based on the C string instead of the G. It gives it a completely different feel. Just play the open C instead of the open G each time.

        What else can you do….try lifting your finger (fret hand) quickly after plucking a string, or hammer your finger down on the fret right after plucking.

  7. I like the song, and like the name. Thank you! I’ve been trying a little finger picking here and there, but haven’t learned a whole song yet. This might be my first!

  8. This is beautiful and I really enjoy playing it. Such a nice sound, very balanced and the notes complement each other so well.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *