Riptide Guitar Chords – Step by Step Tutorial on how to play the riptide song on the guitar. Easy guitar lesson for beginners, tabs included.
Riptide song became a hit about six years ago, and it’s been playing on the radio ever since. The song is mostly associated with guitar beginner players since it’s easy to play and quite fun. Apart from the song being simple to play it is quite catchy and have easy lyrics.
If you have ever attended any school presentation, you will notice that this song is sung in almost all of them. This is because learning the lyrics of the song is easy and simple.
Additionally, practicing a choreography of this song is quite simple, and most children can learn the steps. Moreover, the song can be played by a beginner on the guitar or a ukulele. Fun fact about this song is that the author played the song on a ukulele before recording it. The song has an easy to learn beat to it since the strumming of the song goes down-down-up-down-up.
Since the song does not change its tune and it’s the same all through. This makes it perfect for beginners. Also, the riptide guitar chords are only four the A minor, C minor, G minor, and F minor. Before taking a guitar, you should make a point of learning the chords to make it easier for you.
F chord is only played during the bridge section otherwise others sections are played AM, G, and C.
Here are the two verses of the song and the chorus to get you started. You can see that the riptide song guitar chords keep repeating systematically.
Verse one
I was scared of (A minor) dentists and (G minor) the dark (C minor)
I was scared of (A minor) pretty girls and (G chord) starting conversations (C minor)
Oh all my (A minor) friends are (G chord) turning green (C chord)
You’re the magicians (A minor) assistant in (G minor) their dreams (C minor)
Ooh, (A minor) ooh (G chord) ooh (C chord)
Ooh, (A minor) and they (G minor) come unstuck (C chord)
Chorus
Lady, (A minor) running down to the (G minor) Riptide (C minor)
Take away to the (C minor) dark side (A minor )
I wanna be your (G minor) left-hand man (C minor)
I love you (A minor) when you’re singing that song (G minor) and (C minor)
I got a lump in my throat (C minor) ’cause (A minor)
You’re gonna sing the words (G minor) wrong (C minor)
Verse two
There’s this movie (A minor) that I think (G minor) you’ll like (C minor)
This guy decides to (A minor) quit his job and (G chord) heads to New York City (C chord)
This cowboy’s (A minor) running from (G chord) himself (C chord)
And she’s been (A minor) living on the (G chord) highest shelf (C chord)
Chorus Lead in: )))
Part two: History about the riptide song
Although this song is associated with many children and can be heard on the school bus and the school recitals, the song is dark with a disturbing meaning since it talks about kidnap and murder. If you listen to the song and not pay attention, you probably won’t notice the darkness in the song since it is an easy and fun melody to listen to. But when you pay close attention to the lyrics and the video that’s when it hits you.
The song shows a guy who falls in love with a beautiful lady. It is more like a love at first sight sort of scenario where the guy melts at the sight of the lady. He gathers all his courage and asks the girl out, but his friends think that the girl is way out of his league. The girl is known around the area for having a bad reputation hence the lyric “my friends are turning green, you’re magician assistant in their dream.” This shows that his friends are aware that girl is tricking him with her beautiful looks.
This is not his concern, and he tries everything to win her love like quitting his job. He tries changing himself and loses his true identity “the cowboy’s running from himself” all in an attempt to please her. He wants the lady’s approval and assurance that she will stay with him. In the end, he realizes that it will never work this way since his feeling will never be reciprocated.
Realizing that his love will never be reciprocated, he does not give up and tries another way to find love. He kidnaps her and tortures her hoping she will fall for him. He forces her to do things that he loves, and the lady does them out of fear. Since he loves her singing, he asks her to perform for him, but due to fear, the lady doesn’t sing the correct lyrics. As it is seen in the video, she is scared of him, and her lips don’t sync with the words on the screen.
Although she tries her best to give him the best performance she still doesn’t get the right words. Her nerves get the best of her, and she messes up her makeup, and she notices him getting irritated. He gets agitated when he knows that she is scared of her and it dawns on him that he can’t have her no matter what. He decides to kill her since he can’t have her. This shows a story of love and romance turned to a messed up obsession.
1. About the author
Riptide is a song by an Australian singer and songwriter James Keogh who is popularly known as Vance Joy. James recorded his song in May 2012, and he didn’t realize that it was going to be such a hit. He gave himself the name Vance Joy when performing his usual few gigs around his town in small cafes on most Sunday afternoons. He got the name when he was reading a book called Bliss by Peter Carey and thought the name was edgy and catchy.
He started writing the song back in 2008, and he only got the first two word, and he got stuck. Four years later that’s when he took the step to finish the song. He based the first few lines on himself as he was a shy kid and scared of talking to pretty girls. Moreover, the title riptide apart from referring to the ocean it had a significance in his life as he once stayed in a motel call riptide. He came up with the
Conclusion
Riptide has become a world classic especially if you are a beginner in guitar and ukulele playing. This is because it has four chords which are easy to master and strum.