Friday, May 31, 2013

Guitar chords for The Pogues "Dirty Old Town" and "Fiesta"

Forging on with my website upgrade,  today I'm moving on to my Pogues guitar songs page, and giving the 'makeover' and health check to two of my favourite songs of theirs, "Dirty Old Town", and "Fiesta" .  "Dirty Old Town" is an old classic ballad by Ewan McColl ( father of the late and sadly missed Kirsty ), covered by many artists, but The Pogues version has always been my favourite.  "Fiesta" is a riotous Mariachi band pastiche that always brings a smile to the face.


The new pages containing these songs are at the links below, and videos for both songs have been embedded. The songs are chorded in the correct key for playing along with the video.



"Dirty Old Town" features chords - G   C   D  and Em,  but for the harmonica intro the key is changed to D, so the chords here are  D  G  A  and Bm.  For a later instrumental part, on Uileann Pipes,  the key changes to  C, so the chords here are  C  F  G  and Am  ( see Guitar Chords for Dirty Old Town )

"Fiesta" has chords  -  G   D7  and  C,  with a G#o ( xx3434 ) and a Cm in the closing chords ( see Guitar Chords for Fiesta )


These new versions have been added to the other Pogues on the page.  I'll be tackling these on my next pass through. You can find all of  my Pogues songs guitar transcriptions at the link below:


Guitar Chords and Lyrics to Songs by The Pogues

Video - The Pogues "Dirty Old Town"
 


Video - The Pogues "Fiesta"
Play along with the videos above to help you learn the tempo, strumming etc.

Go to CDUniverse to browse The Pogues albums and other works: The Pogues music at CDUniverse
If you're looking to improve your guitar playing, check out my friend Dan Denley's great Acoustic Guitar Lessons site.

Enjoy your music!

P.J. Murphy
Guitar Songs Website: PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics - http://www.guitarsongs.info/
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com/
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com/
Facebook Page: P.J. Murphy - Guitarsongs.info on Facebook

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Guitar chords for Blur "Country House" and "Parklife"

I was fortunate enough during the 'Britpop battle' between Blur and Oasis in the 90s to actually really like both bands, so I have Blur and Oasis song chord pages on my website.

The Blur page is the subject of today's attention, I have coverted the text pages for "Country House" and "Parklife", in the process correcting some errors and omissions, including patiently placing the chords in the correct places for the spoken-word  parts of "Parklife".

The new pages containing these songs are at the links below, and videos for both songs have been embedded. The songs are chorded in the correct key for playing along with the video.



"Country House features chords - A  E  Bm  D  C#7  C#  E  and E7  ( see Guitar Chords for Country House )

"Parklife" has chords  -  E  A  Bb  B   G  F#  D  and C ( see Guitar Chords for Parklife )


These new versions have been added to the other Blur songs on the page, which I'll be reviewing at a  later date, you can find them all at the link below:


Guitar Chords and Lyrics to Songs by Blur

Video - Blur "Country House"
 


Video - Blur "Parklife"

Play along with the videos above to help you learn the tempo, strumming etc.

Go to CDUniverse to browse Blur albums and other works: Randy Newman music at CDUniverse
If you're looking to improve your guitar playing, check out my friend Dan Denley's great Acoustic Guitar Lessons site.

Enjoy your music!

P.J. Murphy
Guitar Songs Website: PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics - http://www.guitarsongs.info/
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com/
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com/
Facebook Page: P.J. Murphy - Guitarsongs.info on Facebook

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Guitar Chords for Randy Newman "Jolly Coppers" and "My Old Kentucky Home"

Continuing with my improvement and audit project for the older songs on my website PJs Guitar Chords and Lyrics ,  today I'm taking two songs from my Randy Newman page, "Jolly Coppers" ( from the "Little Criminals" album ) and "My Old Kentucky Home" ( from the "12 Songs" album )

You can check out the updated pages with these songs, complete with embedded videos of the songs to play along with, at the links below.

Note:  for "Jolly Coppers", I've chorded the song in the key of G - in the video Randy plays it in F#.  This would lead to a really complex set of chords, so I figure most learning guitarists would prefer to play it in G, just a semitone higher.  This means that to play along with the video, you will need to tune each string on your guitar down one semitone, i.e.  Eb Ab C# F# Bb Eb ( or put a capo on the 11th fret! ).  In this case it would be best to just listen to the song, learn the rhythms, strumming patterns and vocal nuances, and then pick up the guitar and try to play the song in G, having learned how the song should sound and 'feel'.   



"Jolly Coppers" features the chords G  D6 ( x00230 ) Cmaj7  Am7  Em7  Bm7  C and C/D ( 030210 ) ( see Guitar Chords for Jolly Coppers )

"My Old Kentucky Home" can be played with just the chords G  D7 and C ( with Capo on 2nd Fret ). You could play without Capo, using chords A E7 and D, but I thing the song sounds better played in the key of G, see Guitar Chords for My Old Kentucky Home )


I've added these transcriptions to the other Randy Newman songs on the page, which will be updated later, you can find them all at the link below:


Guitar chords and lyrics to songs by Randy Newman

Video - Randy Newman "Jolly Coppers"


Video - Randy Newman "My Old Kentucky Home"
Play along with the videos above to help you learn the tempo, strumming etc.

Go to CDUniverse to browse Randy Newman albums and other works: Randy Newman music at CDUniverse
If you're looking to improve your guitar playing, check out my friend Dan Denley's great Acoustic Guitar Lessons site.

Enjoy your music!

P.J. Murphy
Guitar Songs Website: PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics - http://www.guitarsongs.info/
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com/
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com/
Facebook Page: P.J. Murphy - Guitarsongs.info on Facebook

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Guitar chords and lyrics for The Kinks "Lola" and "Waterloo Sunset"

I created my website PJs Guitar Chords and Lyrics 15 years ago.

Things were a lot different then, pages loaded very slowly, images, videos etc. were a huge overhead for a web designer trying to make their pages accessible for their visitors. My approach to this was to create web pages for each artist and genre on my site, with a list of the songs I've worked out, but with each song page being a plain text file, which loaded very quickly, and could be printed easily.

I'm now about 1/3 way through a project to convert these text files into web pages. This allows me to include links back to the artist and main pages, and also to embed videos of the songs, so that you can play along with the originals while you learn the songs.

Initially I looked on this as a 'chore', but by only taking two songs at a time from each artist, I managed to keep it interesting, and 'dug up' some treasures I had almost forgotten about myself. I'm checking out each song by playing along myself, to catch any 'doozers' and also to make sure I have the song in the original key ( or have transposed it, and shown which fret to use the capo on)

So today's artists are The Kinks, and I've given the 'makeover' to two of their most popular songs, "Lola" and "Waterloo Sunset", you can check them out at the links below.

I've also embedded the video links for the songs, so you can play along with the original and get a good feel for how the song should sound, guitar strumming patterns etc.


"Lola" features the chords C D E A Asus4 ( x02230 ), B, F#m, B7, C#m and G#m ( see Guitar Chords for Lola )

"Waterloo Sunset" can be played with A7, D, A, G, Em, G, B, E, E7 and A7 chords ( see Guitar Chords for Waterloo Sunset )


I've added these transcription to the other Kinks songs on the page, you can find them all at the link below:


Guitar chords and lyrics to songs by The Kinks

Video - The Kinks "Lola"


Video - The Kinks "Waterloo Sunset"
Play along with the videos above to help you learn the tempo, strumming etc.

Go to CDUniverse to browse The Kinks albums and other works: The Kinks music at CD Universe

If you're looking to improve your guitar playing, check out my friend Dan Denley's great Acoustic Guitar Lessons site.

Enjoy your music!

P.J. Murphy
Guitar Songs Website: PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics - http://www.guitarsongs.info/
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com/
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com/
Facebook Page: P.J. Murphy - Guitarsongs.info on Facebook

Monday, May 27, 2013

Guitar chords for "People Are Strange" and "Riders on The Storm" by The Doors

I was saddened to hear this week of the passing of Ray Manzarek, keyboard player with legendary 1960s/1970s band The Doors.

I hope that, as well as radio stations playing their great songs, that amateur guitar players will learn them, and include them in their sets for open-mic nights, sessions with friends etc., to ensure that these songs endure and be enjoyed by future generations.

I have transcribed two of my favourites for easy guitar playing, "People Are Strange" and "Riders On The Storm", you can check them out at the links below.

I've also embedded the video links for the songs, so you can play along with the original and get a good feel for how the song should sound, guitar strumming patterns etc.

My transcriptions won't make you sound like the great Doors themselves, but even if you are a learning guitar player, you should be able to carry off your own version of at least one of these songs.

"People Are Strange" can be played with just Em, Am and B chords.

"Riders On The Storm" can be played with just Em, Am, D and C chords, although you can experiment with playing a 'Am-Bm-C-Bm' riff for the Am part, to try to capture the sound originally created by the late Ray Manzarek on keyboards.


I've added these transcription to the other Doors songs on the page, you can find them all at the link below:


Guitar chords and lyrics to songs by The Doors

Video - The Doors "People Are Strange"


Video - The Doors "Riders On The Storm"
Play along with the videos above to help you learn the tempo, strumming etc.

Go to CDUniverse to browse The Doors albums and other works: The Doors music at CD Universe

If you're looking to improve your guitar playing, check out my friend Dan Denley's great Acoustic Guitar Lessons site.

Enjoy your music!

P.J. Murphy
webmaster: PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics - http://www.guitarsongs.info/

Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com/
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com/

Facebook Page: P.J. Murphy on Facebook