Chords for Wake Up Little Susie - Guitar Lesson Preview
Tempo:
121.3 bpm
Chords used:
D
F
A
G
E
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[D] [A]
[D]
[E] We're going to take a look at an Eberle Brothers tune that was, again, one of their really early hits.
This [N] was Wake Up Little Susie.
Now this has, this is a lot more complicated than it seems.
[F] Well maybe I shouldn't say that, but it's more elaborate than Bye Bye Love and many
of their other songs that are very simple, maybe three or four chord progressions and
follow normal [N] formats and sequences.
Now this one has a lot of unusual stuff in it.
A couple of different parts, it sort of hints at different keys at different times.
Doesn't use any hard chords, except we are going to need to play F's and G's as [F] bars.
[E] Well you don't even really [F] have to.
We could play them [G] as little ones and get away with no bar chords in here too.
That little part I just played in [D] there [D]
could be done [F] [C] with just the partial ones and still
have the same effect.
So you could get away with no bar chords in this.
[A] Otherwise, we're going to use chords out of the key of D and also chords out of the
key of A.
Now most of [D] those chords are overlap.
There are a lot of chords in the key of D that are also in the key of A.
But there's one important one [C#] in the key of A that gets used in a little [A] section that
sounds like it's, anyhow, we'll talk about all that.
Now this song, like a lot of the early hits of the Everly Brothers, [N] was written by the
husband and wife songwriting team of Felice and Bodlo Bryant.
And they, you know, they, with these two songs, particularly this one and Bye Bye Love, really
helped put the Everly Brothers on the map.
They were going to get on the map anyway because of what they were doing with, you know, with
vocal harmony and bringing it into rock and roll.
Speaking of which, if you'd like to work on the vocal parts of it, be sure to check out
Jim Bruno's site, totallyvocals.com, where he breaks down, there's a whole little set
of Everly Brothers tunes and he and his friend Frank go [G] through the two parts.
Where I think Jim usually does the higher part, [N] which is Phil's part, and Frank usually
does the lower part, which is Don's part.
So typically with the Everly Brothers, Don would sing more of the baritone part and Phil
would sing the tenor part, being higher.
And they would do this usually in thirds, where Don would typically sing the melody
and then Phil would sing a third higher.
Very cool concept that hadn't really been used in rock and roll until they came along
and did it.
And then of course, as everybody knows, everybody else followed that plan, the Beatles, and
subsequently the Byrds and the Hollys and everybody else.
Had to do, Simon and Garfunkel, had to do what the Everlys were doing.
So yes, they were absolutely pivotal and influential, a crucial part of the sound that really took
off in the 60s.
So anyway, let me see what else I want to tell you about this.
Three parts of the song, we'll talk about the chord progression.
A couple of different ways of playing some of the parts as well.
Typical rock strum, so very simple strumming in this.
Play a D chord and just [D] keep this down, down, up, down, up, down, up.
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
Now there's a little [F] fill in there that's done different ways by different people at different times.
And this is one that will break this down [B] in big detail.
[G] Because when you hear it in the introduction, [D]
[Em]
it's an F to G to F [A] done starting on the first
beat of the measure.
But when it happens later on, when it happens following the [D] line, break up little Susie,
[F] break up, [D] break up little Susie, break up, [Am] it [F] fits differently.
Now the Everlys, that part is very unorthodox, the fact that that same little sequence of
chords doesn't happen on the same beats of the measures that it did the first time around.
The Everlys in later years, when they would perform this with different bands, got rid
of that because [N] it didn't change it to make it more [D] conventional.
Break up little Susie, break up, [A] [D]
break up little Susie, break [A] up.
[G] [E] Anyhow, so
[N] hopefully you notice the difference between those two different things.
We'll break that down in a segment where I'll take a look at exactly that because that's
one of the real, I don't know, [F] neat elements of this song that makes it outside the box.
And [G] there's a lot of other stuff, just the [N] order of the parts and the chord sequences
that happen in those parts.
Okay, coming up, we'll talk about the chord progression and the arrangement and the little
fills that happen in there and different ways of playing them.
The Everly Brothers, wake up little Susie.
[D]
[E] We're going to take a look at an Eberle Brothers tune that was, again, one of their really early hits.
This [N] was Wake Up Little Susie.
Now this has, this is a lot more complicated than it seems.
[F] Well maybe I shouldn't say that, but it's more elaborate than Bye Bye Love and many
of their other songs that are very simple, maybe three or four chord progressions and
follow normal [N] formats and sequences.
Now this one has a lot of unusual stuff in it.
A couple of different parts, it sort of hints at different keys at different times.
Doesn't use any hard chords, except we are going to need to play F's and G's as [F] bars.
[E] Well you don't even really [F] have to.
We could play them [G] as little ones and get away with no bar chords in here too.
That little part I just played in [D] there [D]
could be done [F] [C] with just the partial ones and still
have the same effect.
So you could get away with no bar chords in this.
[A] Otherwise, we're going to use chords out of the key of D and also chords out of the
key of A.
Now most of [D] those chords are overlap.
There are a lot of chords in the key of D that are also in the key of A.
But there's one important one [C#] in the key of A that gets used in a little [A] section that
sounds like it's, anyhow, we'll talk about all that.
Now this song, like a lot of the early hits of the Everly Brothers, [N] was written by the
husband and wife songwriting team of Felice and Bodlo Bryant.
And they, you know, they, with these two songs, particularly this one and Bye Bye Love, really
helped put the Everly Brothers on the map.
They were going to get on the map anyway because of what they were doing with, you know, with
vocal harmony and bringing it into rock and roll.
Speaking of which, if you'd like to work on the vocal parts of it, be sure to check out
Jim Bruno's site, totallyvocals.com, where he breaks down, there's a whole little set
of Everly Brothers tunes and he and his friend Frank go [G] through the two parts.
Where I think Jim usually does the higher part, [N] which is Phil's part, and Frank usually
does the lower part, which is Don's part.
So typically with the Everly Brothers, Don would sing more of the baritone part and Phil
would sing the tenor part, being higher.
And they would do this usually in thirds, where Don would typically sing the melody
and then Phil would sing a third higher.
Very cool concept that hadn't really been used in rock and roll until they came along
and did it.
And then of course, as everybody knows, everybody else followed that plan, the Beatles, and
subsequently the Byrds and the Hollys and everybody else.
Had to do, Simon and Garfunkel, had to do what the Everlys were doing.
So yes, they were absolutely pivotal and influential, a crucial part of the sound that really took
off in the 60s.
So anyway, let me see what else I want to tell you about this.
Three parts of the song, we'll talk about the chord progression.
A couple of different ways of playing some of the parts as well.
Typical rock strum, so very simple strumming in this.
Play a D chord and just [D] keep this down, down, up, down, up, down, up.
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
Now there's a little [F] fill in there that's done different ways by different people at different times.
And this is one that will break this down [B] in big detail.
[G] Because when you hear it in the introduction, [D]
[Em]
it's an F to G to F [A] done starting on the first
beat of the measure.
But when it happens later on, when it happens following the [D] line, break up little Susie,
[F] break up, [D] break up little Susie, break up, [Am] it [F] fits differently.
Now the Everlys, that part is very unorthodox, the fact that that same little sequence of
chords doesn't happen on the same beats of the measures that it did the first time around.
The Everlys in later years, when they would perform this with different bands, got rid
of that because [N] it didn't change it to make it more [D] conventional.
Break up little Susie, break up, [A] [D]
break up little Susie, break [A] up.
[G] [E] Anyhow, so
[N] hopefully you notice the difference between those two different things.
We'll break that down in a segment where I'll take a look at exactly that because that's
one of the real, I don't know, [F] neat elements of this song that makes it outside the box.
And [G] there's a lot of other stuff, just the [N] order of the parts and the chord sequences
that happen in those parts.
Okay, coming up, we'll talk about the chord progression and the arrangement and the little
fills that happen in there and different ways of playing them.
The Everly Brothers, wake up little Susie.
Key:
D
F
A
G
E
D
F
A
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
[E] We're going to take a look at an Eberle Brothers tune that was, again, one of their really early hits.
This [N] was Wake Up Little Susie.
Now this has, this is a lot more complicated than it seems.
[F] Well maybe I shouldn't say that, but it's more elaborate than Bye Bye Love and many
of their other songs that are very simple, maybe three or four chord progressions and
follow normal [N] _ _ _ formats and sequences.
Now this one has a lot of unusual stuff in it.
A couple of different parts, it sort of hints at different keys at different times.
Doesn't use any hard chords, except we are going to need to play F's and G's as [F] bars.
[E] Well you don't even really [F] have to.
We could play them [G] as little ones and get away with no bar chords in here too.
That little part I just played in [D] there _ _ _ [D] _
could be done _ [F] _ [C] with just the partial ones and still
have the same effect.
So you could get away with no bar chords in this.
[A] Otherwise, we're going to use chords out of the key of D and also chords out of the
key of A.
Now most of [D] those chords are overlap.
_ There are a lot of chords in the key of D that are also in the key of A.
But there's one important one [C#] in the key of A that gets used in a little [A] section that
sounds like it's, anyhow, we'll talk about all that.
Now this song, like a lot of the early hits of the Everly Brothers, [N] was written by the
husband and wife songwriting team of Felice and Bodlo Bryant.
And they, you know, they, with these two songs, particularly this one and Bye Bye Love, really
helped put the Everly Brothers on the map.
They were going to get on the map anyway because of what they were doing with, you know, with
vocal harmony and bringing it into rock and roll.
Speaking of which, if you'd like to work on the vocal parts of it, be sure to check out
Jim Bruno's site, totallyvocals.com, where he breaks down, there's a whole little set
of Everly Brothers tunes and he and his friend Frank go [G] through the two parts.
Where I think Jim usually does the higher part, [N] which is Phil's part, and Frank usually
does the lower part, which is Don's part.
So typically with the Everly Brothers, Don would sing more of the baritone part and Phil
would sing the tenor part, being higher.
And they would do this usually in thirds, where Don would typically sing the melody
and then Phil would sing a third higher.
Very cool concept that hadn't really been used in rock and roll until they came along
and did it.
And then of course, as everybody knows, everybody else followed that plan, the Beatles, and
subsequently the Byrds and the Hollys and everybody else.
Had to do, Simon and Garfunkel, had to do what the Everlys were doing.
So yes, they were absolutely pivotal and influential, _ a crucial part of the sound that really took
off in the 60s.
So anyway, let me see what else I want to tell you about this.
_ Three parts of the song, we'll talk about the chord progression.
A couple of different ways of playing some of the parts as well.
Typical rock strum, so very simple strumming in this.
Play a D chord and just [D] keep this _ _ _ down, down, up, down, up, down, up.
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
_ _ Now there's a little [F] fill in there that's done different ways by different people at different times.
And this is one that will break this down [B] in big detail.
[G] Because when you hear it in the introduction, [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
it's an F to G to F [A] done starting on the first
beat of the measure.
_ But when it happens later on, when it happens following the [D] line, break up little Susie,
[F] break up, _ _ [D] _ break up little Susie, break up, _ _ _ [Am] it [F] fits differently.
Now the Everlys, that part is very unorthodox, the fact that that same little sequence of
chords doesn't happen on the same beats of the measures that it did the first time around.
The Everlys in later years, when they would perform this with different bands, got rid
of that because [N] it didn't change it to make it more [D] conventional.
Break up little Susie, break up, [A] _ _ _ [D]
break up little Susie, break [A] up. _
_ _ [G] _ [E] Anyhow, so _ _
[N] hopefully you notice the difference between those two different things.
We'll break that down in a segment where I'll take a look at exactly that because that's
one of the real, _ I don't know, _ [F] neat elements of this song that makes it outside the box.
And [G] there's a lot of other stuff, just the [N] order of the parts and the chord sequences
that happen in those parts.
Okay, coming up, we'll talk about the chord progression and the arrangement and the little
fills that happen in there and different ways of playing them.
The Everly Brothers, wake up little Susie. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
[E] We're going to take a look at an Eberle Brothers tune that was, again, one of their really early hits.
This [N] was Wake Up Little Susie.
Now this has, this is a lot more complicated than it seems.
[F] Well maybe I shouldn't say that, but it's more elaborate than Bye Bye Love and many
of their other songs that are very simple, maybe three or four chord progressions and
follow normal [N] _ _ _ formats and sequences.
Now this one has a lot of unusual stuff in it.
A couple of different parts, it sort of hints at different keys at different times.
Doesn't use any hard chords, except we are going to need to play F's and G's as [F] bars.
[E] Well you don't even really [F] have to.
We could play them [G] as little ones and get away with no bar chords in here too.
That little part I just played in [D] there _ _ _ [D] _
could be done _ [F] _ [C] with just the partial ones and still
have the same effect.
So you could get away with no bar chords in this.
[A] Otherwise, we're going to use chords out of the key of D and also chords out of the
key of A.
Now most of [D] those chords are overlap.
_ There are a lot of chords in the key of D that are also in the key of A.
But there's one important one [C#] in the key of A that gets used in a little [A] section that
sounds like it's, anyhow, we'll talk about all that.
Now this song, like a lot of the early hits of the Everly Brothers, [N] was written by the
husband and wife songwriting team of Felice and Bodlo Bryant.
And they, you know, they, with these two songs, particularly this one and Bye Bye Love, really
helped put the Everly Brothers on the map.
They were going to get on the map anyway because of what they were doing with, you know, with
vocal harmony and bringing it into rock and roll.
Speaking of which, if you'd like to work on the vocal parts of it, be sure to check out
Jim Bruno's site, totallyvocals.com, where he breaks down, there's a whole little set
of Everly Brothers tunes and he and his friend Frank go [G] through the two parts.
Where I think Jim usually does the higher part, [N] which is Phil's part, and Frank usually
does the lower part, which is Don's part.
So typically with the Everly Brothers, Don would sing more of the baritone part and Phil
would sing the tenor part, being higher.
And they would do this usually in thirds, where Don would typically sing the melody
and then Phil would sing a third higher.
Very cool concept that hadn't really been used in rock and roll until they came along
and did it.
And then of course, as everybody knows, everybody else followed that plan, the Beatles, and
subsequently the Byrds and the Hollys and everybody else.
Had to do, Simon and Garfunkel, had to do what the Everlys were doing.
So yes, they were absolutely pivotal and influential, _ a crucial part of the sound that really took
off in the 60s.
So anyway, let me see what else I want to tell you about this.
_ Three parts of the song, we'll talk about the chord progression.
A couple of different ways of playing some of the parts as well.
Typical rock strum, so very simple strumming in this.
Play a D chord and just [D] keep this _ _ _ down, down, up, down, up, down, up.
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
_ _ Now there's a little [F] fill in there that's done different ways by different people at different times.
And this is one that will break this down [B] in big detail.
[G] Because when you hear it in the introduction, [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
it's an F to G to F [A] done starting on the first
beat of the measure.
_ But when it happens later on, when it happens following the [D] line, break up little Susie,
[F] break up, _ _ [D] _ break up little Susie, break up, _ _ _ [Am] it [F] fits differently.
Now the Everlys, that part is very unorthodox, the fact that that same little sequence of
chords doesn't happen on the same beats of the measures that it did the first time around.
The Everlys in later years, when they would perform this with different bands, got rid
of that because [N] it didn't change it to make it more [D] conventional.
Break up little Susie, break up, [A] _ _ _ [D]
break up little Susie, break [A] up. _
_ _ [G] _ [E] Anyhow, so _ _
[N] hopefully you notice the difference between those two different things.
We'll break that down in a segment where I'll take a look at exactly that because that's
one of the real, _ I don't know, _ [F] neat elements of this song that makes it outside the box.
And [G] there's a lot of other stuff, just the [N] order of the parts and the chord sequences
that happen in those parts.
Okay, coming up, we'll talk about the chord progression and the arrangement and the little
fills that happen in there and different ways of playing them.
The Everly Brothers, wake up little Susie. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _