How to Play "Riptide" by Vance Joy on Ukulele

In this video by The Ukulele Teacher we show you have to play the hit song “Riptide” by Vance Joy on Ukulele.
Originally written and recorded by Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy, the song was initially released on his 2013 debut EP ‘God Loves You When You’re Dancing’

Check out our free Ukulele Tabs page, which of course features “Riptide”

Video Text:

0:00:00.1 –>
hello its me the ukulele teacher here to teach you how to play a Riptide by Vance joy so grab your uke okay very funny grab your uke make sure it’s in tune there’s a video in the corner of the screen to help you with that and get ready to play Riptide by Vance joy this is a really simple song because there’s only four chords in the whole song and most of the way through there’s only three chords so let me show you what they are the first chord you will need is the chord of a minor it’s a really easy chord because all you have to do is take your first finger and put it on the second fret of the fourth string up and leave the other three strings open the a minor chord should sound like this the second chord you’ll need is the chord of G / G move your first finger from the second fret of the fourth string to the second fret of the third string put your second finger on the second fret of the first string and put your third finger on the third fret of the second string

0:01:02.4 –>
and that should sound like this and the third chord you’ll need is the chord of C for C just take your third finger put it on the third fret of the first string and leave the other three strings open that should sound like this and the fourth and final chord which you will barely need is the chord of F for the chord of F put your first finger on the first fret of the second string and your second finger on the second fret of the fourth string and leave the other two strings open that should sound like this so those are the four chords you’ll need the three chords you’ll need for 99% of the song are a minor G and C in that order that includes the intro which we’re going to start with 99% of the way through the song he plays a minor G and two bars of C the strumming pattern that I’m going to use for the intro is down down up down up like this once on a

0:02:02.9 –>
minor once on G and then twice on C let’s play that twice for the intro have you managed to play that well then you’ve pretty much got 99% of the song down because that’s all there is to most of the song play it six times more through and you’ve got the verse and on that sixth and final time just play one down stroke on the C and hold it let me show you what I mean

0:03:13.2 –>
and that’s how to play the intro and the verse and hey guess what it’s pretty much how you play the chorus as well but to stop it all from sounding exactly the same at this point you might want to jazz up the strumming pattern a little bit so at this point I go from playing down down up down up to down down up up down up like this but guess what it’s still just a minor G C so with the new strumming pattern you’re playing a minor G C four times for the chorus like this

0:04:15.7 –>
so after the intro and the verse and the chorus you play verse two and the chorus again and after the second chorus there’s a little bit of finger picking but it’s nothing too difficult here’s how I play it on the uke now it sounds pretty cool but it’s very easy I have my first finger on the second fret of the third string up now that doesn’t move all the way through the pattern I’m doing what’s called hammering on I put my first finger on the second fret of the third string I play that note and then I hammer on my third finger to the fourth fret without playing it with my right hand let me show you that’s called hammering on I hammer on from the second fret to the fourth fret on the third string then

0:05:01.3 –>
I hammer on from the open string to the third fret of the second string then I just go back and play the second fret one more time on the third string and the open again one more time on the second string let me show you that really slowly hammer on 2 2 4 then hammer on open 2 3 and then second fret on the third string and open on the second string let’s put it all together play that four times and you’ve got the finger picking apart let me show you it might sound complicated but as always with these things just start off really slowly and then when you’re comfortable playing it slowly you can speed it up then after that finger-picking bit is the only part of the song that actually has a different chord in it that’s for

0:06:01.3 –>
the bit that goes I just wanna I just want to note it’s a minor G C F here you play the strumming pattern twice on each chord and remember on the final time you play the F the second time around just play one down stroke and hold it let me show you and if you enjoyed that downstroke then you’re in luck because we go back to the a minor G C pattern but before we play the chorus three times to finish we play a Down stroke on each of those chords twice I swear she’s destined for the screen the closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that I’ve ever seen and then we go back to the full strumming pattern for the chorus three times to finish so

0:07:00.2 –>
that’s how to play Riptide by Vance joy I’ve been the ukulele teacher if you have any requests for future lessons let me know in the comments below until next time I love you all and I wish you the best

How to Play “Riptide” by Vance Joy on Ukulele

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