Guitar Lesson for a Wedding

Merry Christmas to you too, and welcome to Guitar Noise.

E-A-C#m-B7 - a classic chord sequence, used by almost everyone, and in normal music theory the B7->E sequence is a "perfect cadence" kicking off the next verse. It doesn't work here. Someone's got the E->A->C#m and used conventional logic to fill the gap; they're probably finding it doesn't work too.

I replaced the B7 in the verses with Asus2 (002200) - you still get the A and B in the chord but you get the A sounding against a consonant E rather than the harsh D# tri-tone. It is a love song, after all.

In the chorus, rather than moving A->C#m I moved A->Asus4->A, replacing the C#m with the A and using the Asus4 to introduce a very small amount of dissonance which was resolved by going back to the A.

Good luck at the wedding.

Hi and welcome to Guitar Noise.

There are several things going on between these two versions that you posted. The original version, as Alan mentions, is in the key of E and you're certainly right that the chords posted by the various tab sites are off, or at least the four I looked at while listening to the song.

And the cover version you've posted is in an entirely different key (Bb, believe it or not), and something else that you won't see in that version is that she's using a capo on the first fret and playing various embellishments of the particular chords.

Either version would be easy to come up with and teach you. It didn't take any time at all, in fact, to come up with a version in the original key that has a lot of the tonal qualities of the second version. Since the first two chords are E and A, you simply start out with the regular E chord and then instead of switching to A (or the Asus2 - 002200 that people use) just take the whole E chord and shift it up to the sixth and seventh frets and then take your finger off the A string as well (007600) and you can hopefully hear how nice this sounds.

The first thing you have to figure out, though, is where you want to sing the song. Knowing that will make your life a lot easier in terms of which version to come up with.

Just drop off another post or email me directly at [email protected] and I'll work out a version for you. Hope this helps.

And again, welcome to Guitar Noise. Hope you had a Happy Christmas and I look forward to seeing you around on the forums.

Peace

Thank you for the replies! :)
I'm glad it wasn't just me having trouble with the chords posted online. I can sing the original version a lot easier than I can the cover song because I am a soprano. Would we be able to come up with a version in that key but played like the girl does in the cover video? I like the idea of sliding the chord up a few frets. It sounds really pretty!

Okay, let's see how this works - again, feel free to post again or email me directly ([email protected]) with any questions.

Song is a waltz (3/4 time) and each chord change (unless otherwise noted) gets six beats.

Intro: E A E A

Verse: E A E A E A C#m D (this line is played twice)

Chorus: E Bm7 A A E Bm7 A A E A E A

Verse

Chorus

Bridge: F#m7 G F#m7 G F#m7 G F#m7 D (3) A (3) E A E A

Verse

Chorus: E Bm7 A A E Bm7 A A

E Bm7 A A E Bm7 A A

E A E A (repeat and fade)

And for the chords:

As mentioned, a good way to recreate the sound of the open strings in the cover version is to use different chord voicings, embellishments really, that make use of the open strings. In the key of E, that's easy to do because the open high E and B strings fit in with just about all of the chords used in this song. You'll find a lot of these (plus other ideas) in our Guitar Noise lesson called "Double Your Pleasure - A guide to the 12 string guitar," which you can find here:

https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/double-your-pleasure/

Also makes me think this would sound great on a twelve string!

Anyway, for the E and A in the introduction and the verses, use:

E - 022100 (regular open position E)

A - x07600 (move E chord up to sixth and seventh frets and take finger off A string - this is technically Aadd9, by the way)

For the A right before the C# in the verse, use the Asus2 that Alan mentioned:

Asus2 - x02200

If possible, use your ring finger and pinky to fret this. Then slide it up to the six fret and add your index finger to the fourth fret of the A string to get the next chord:

C#m7 - x46600

You could also do this chord with the open A string in the bass (x06600 or even x0665) but I think the first version sounds best, especially since you then slide that chord up one fret to get the D (technically D69):

D69 - x57700

For the chorus, play the regular E and then Bm7 (x20202) and then the Asus2 (x02200). Since you have two A chords in a row (twelve beats total), you could shift up to the Aadd9 (x07600) for the second six beats. That would sound nice and at some depth to the playing during a part where nothing else is happening.

For the bridge - F#m7 is just barring the four highest strings at the second fret (you can find a tutorial on this chord in our "Nowhere Man" lesson here at Guitar Noise:

https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/nowhere-man/

The chord progression on the bridge of "Now We're Man and Wife" starts out exactly the same)

The final D and A (which can be played as the regular D and A chords you know) are three beats each, not six. You could even just strum the D chord and let it hang over the entire six beats if you'd like.

After that, everything pretty much repeats itself. You can strum this fairly basically or strum it with picking some individual notes, which would give it more of a sound like the piano arpeggios in the original recording.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you need additional information.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing you around here at the Guitar Noise Forums.

Peace

Wow thank you so much! You have been such a big help! :)
I'm going to get started on it right now, but I was wondering. It was mentioned before but not in your last post.. do I still need to use a capo on the 1st?
Thanks!

You don't want a capo if you're going to sing in the original key. This arrangement uses the original key of E but also uses variations of them to give you the sound of the second arrangement.

Again, let me know if you need more help with this. And good luck playing and singing at the wedding! That's a great thing to be able to do for a friend.

Peace

Ok. So I've been working on it this whole time and I ended up using the Asus2 throughout the whole intro and first verse instead of just before the C#m because I like the sound of it better. :) However, I am concerned with the C#m. It doesn't seem like it goes with the E and Asus2. I tried looking up different variations of it but nothing I try sounds right. It could be just me though lol. Is there another chord that can be played there? The more I listen to it and try to sing with it, I realize that I am not singing it as sharply (I think that is the right word for it) as she is on the "and what you deserve" part. I hope that makes sense. If it doesn't let me know and I will record of video of how I am singing it. Thanks a lot!

Assuming you're perfectly in tune - is it really the whole chord that sounds wrong, or is it one note in that chord that doesn't seem to work?

I'm thinking maybe keep the basic chord shape but play it as a partial.

Playing an open position Amaj7 and just not hitting the A string (XX2120) gives you the same notes as C#m. Not everyone likes this voicing but it may work for you.

Hope this helps.

Peace

It has been a while since I have posted but I have still been working on this song. The wedding is next month :). I took some time away from it long enough to realize that the chords are in fact working out and it sounds great. I think I was having a hard time playing those chords and singing with the original artist. Anyways, I am about finished but I have a question about the G. Am I playing an embellishment of a G or what? What do you think?
Thanks!

Hello again

I gave the original recording another listen and the G is definitely right. I don't know how you're playing - whether you're strumming full chords or finger picking or playing arpeggios (picking the strings one at a time instead of strumming the whole thing) but while playing along with this, it seems playing simple arpeggios on the bridge gives the nicest result with both the F#m and the G chords. For the G chord, try to first first the low E string, then the D, G and B strings and just let that ring under the vocals as they finish the line.

Hope this helps and looking forward to hearing how it goes at the wedding.

Peace

Hope this helps. And again, apologies for not replying sooner.

Peace