Aitch-Bar

Writing About (Mostly) Not Astrophysics


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David Tennant’s Doctor Who, Adrift in Time?

Well, I found the 10th Doctor, adrift in history—specifically the history of whaling in Nantucket.

George Myrick Tennant

George Myrick Tennant

The familiar visage supposedly belongs to a “George Myrick Jr.,” ship owner and merchant, found while wandering the Nantucket Whaling Museum. A better image of the portrait and some of the cover story the good doctor made up to live as a whaling entrepreneur in the 19th century is here. Still looking for evidence of a sonic harpoon.

See also: “Doctor Who Theme for Ukulele


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Doctor Who Theme for Ukulele

This is the tablature for the Doctor Who Theme as played by YouTuber WS64 in his brilliant video:

He prefers to spend his time coming up with excellent arrangements like this one, rather than tabbing them up (but doesn’t mind if others do). It’s a great adaptation so I figured out how to play it and thought I’d share it for the other Whovians, Ukulelers, TARDashians, Time Signature Lords, Whokulelians? (I also put it on a uke forum a while ago, but it looks like it doesn’t come up very high in Google searches, so perhaps this will make it easier for the Sonic Screwdriver & 4-string crowd to find).

First order of business? Let's get inside that sonic screwdriver.

As of April 1st, Fermilab’s new director.

All credit obviously has to go to WS64 for his awesome videos, and for giving permission to share his work.

I haven’t tabbed out ever instance of every note— rather you have to watch the video to understand exactly how the repeated parts and strumming works. Chords marked as {} are strummed several times, usually with the rhythm of: ↓ – ↓↑↓↑ – ↓↑↓↑ – ↓↑↓ [then up to the high chord!] ↓↑↓↑↓↑. So I think you could say this tab is bigger on the inside.

As ukulele tabs go, I’d rate it slightly more difficult than average, since it has a lot of jumping up and down the neck, and frequent changes between picking and strumming. However my experience has been that learning things around this level is definitely possible (and great practice) once you’ve gotten the basics down, and there are ways to simplify it a bit if you find it too tricky. Enjoy!

 

```{Gm}`REPEAT```````````````````````````````````{ Gm}```{Dm} REPEAT
 |--{1}--{4}--|---------6---{5}---{5}---8-------|-{1}----{0}-----|
 |--{3}--{6}--|-------------{6}---{5}-----------|-{3}----{1}-----|
 |--{2}--{5}--|---2-3-------{7}---{5}------3-2--|-{2}----{2}-----|
 |--{0}--{0}--|-------------{5}---{7}-----------|-{0}----{2}-----|

 ````Bb```````````````````````Gm`````{Gm}```{Dm}``` {}```{Dm}
 |---5-------(1)--1-----1-----1--||--{1}----{0}----{x}---{0}--------|
 |---6----6--(3)--1-----1-----3--||--{3}----{1}----{4}---{1}--------|
 |---5--------2---2--3--2--0--2--||--{2}----{2}----{5}---{2}--------|
 |--(5)------(0)--3-----------0--||--{0}----{2}----{5}---{2}--------|

 ```````````{Bb}`````````F```````{Bb} 
 |------6---{5}------5---3---0---{1}-|
 |----------{6}----6-----1-------{1}-|
 |-2-3------{5}----------0-------{2}-|
 |----------{7}----------2-------{3}-|

 ```````Eb``````````````Bb````````Eb```````````Bb
 |--8---10--------------8---------10-----------8----------|
 |------11--------11----10--------11-------11--10-----10--|
 |------10--------------10----10--10-----------10---10----|
 |-----(0/10)---10----------------10----10----------------|

 ````{F}````````````````````{Gm}```{Dm}```{Gm}```{D m}
 |---{3}---0--------------|--{1}----{0}----{1}----{0}--|
 |---{1}---------3----2---|--{3}----{1}----{3}----{1}--|
 |---{0}------------------|--{2}----{2}----{2}----{2}--|
 |---{2}------3-----2-----|--{0}----{2}----{0}----{2}--|

 ````Bb```````````````````````Gm`````{Gm}```{Dm}``` {}```{Dm}
 |---5-------(1)--1-----1-----1--||--{1}----{0}----{x}---{0}--------|
 |---6----6--(3)--1-----1-----3--||--{3}----{1}----{4}---{1}--------|
 |---5--------2---2--3--2--0--2--||--{2}----{2}----{5}---{2}--------|
 |--(5)------(0)--3-----------0--||--{0}----{2}----{5}---{2}--------|

 REPEAT ONCE:
 ````````````````````````````````````{Gm}```{Dm}``` `
 |---------6---{5}---{5}---8-------|-{1}----{0}-----|
 |-------------{6}---{5}-----------|-{3}----{1}-----|
 |---2-3-------{7}---{5}------3-2--|-{2}----{2}-----|
 |-------------{5}---{7}-----------|-{0}----{2}-----|

 Then:
 ```{Gm}`REPEAT`X3|``````````Gm
 |--{1}--{4}------|-----------1-----|
 |--{3}--{6}------|-----------3-----|
 |--{2}--{5}------|-----------2-----|
 |--{0}--{0}------|-----------0-----|