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ukulele song · Strings

I'll Tell Me Ma Ukulele Tab

Composer
Traditional
Year
—
Key
G
Time
4/4
Tempo
132 BPM
Difficulty
Beginner · ★
First note
D4

I'll Tell Me Ma on ukulele

The full melody, rendered as four-string ukulele tab in re-entrant High-G (gCEA) you can read on screen or print for the stand — free, and never truncated.

Tuning: g C E A (re-entrant High G) · Strum: D DU DU DU

AECgVerseG2G2022CG3222D72002G0000AECgG20222CG3222D72002G000AECgChorusG5554Am3330G2220D70202AECgG5554C333GD720002G000

Arranged for the standard re-entrant High-G (gCEA) ukulele. On Low G, Baritone or D tuning the app re-fingers the same melody live. Left-handed? The app can mirror the whole tab.

Lyrics

Bar 1 — I'll tell me ma when I go home

Bar 4 — the boys won't leave the girls alone

Bar 6 — they pulled my hair and they stole my comb

Bar 8 — but that's all right till I go home

Bar 10 — She is handsome, she is pretty

Bar 12 — she's the belle of Belfast city

Bar 14 — she is courting, one two three

Bar 16 — please won't you tell me, who is she?

Trad. Irish children's song, 19th c. — public domain.

How to practise this on ukulele

I'll Tell Me Ma is in G and opens on D4. This tab is arranged for the standard re-entrant High-G ukulele: the fourth string (the top of the written tab, marked g) is tuned above the two strings under it, which is why a melody can dip onto the open g and come out sounding high — that's the instrument's signature, not a misprint. If you play Low G, the app re-fingers the same melody for your tuning live.

Pick the melody with alternating thumb and index, or the index alone on slower pieces, and keep your fretting fingers curled so open strings ring clear. Set the metronome under around 132 BPM, watch the tab rather than your hands, and loop the bar your take review grades worst until it comes back clean twice in a row. By the numbers, this setting runs 64 notes across 17 bars, from D4 up to D5 in 4/4 time.

Also playable on

The same melody is graded across 6 Playsoloist instruments. See every version, with difficulty and provenance, on the I'll Tell Me Ma cross-instrument hub.

guitarkalimbapianotrumpetviolin

Keep exploring

All ukulele songsI'll Tell Me Ma across instrumentsEasy ukulele songsStrumming, explainedAloha ʻOeAlouetteLearn ukulele with Soloist Ukulele

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Play I'll Tell Me Ma — and hear every note graded.

Soloist Ukulele reads this four-string ukulele tab in re-entrant High-G (gCEA) under the notation and grades your take on-device, note by note — free on iPhone, no ads, no account.

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