From Me To You, Egérkém!

After a break of more than a month, the blog is finally being updated again. The move and unpacking are behind us, although more big tasks lie ahead. In any case I finally managed to record raw material for several tutorial videos. First up is the excellent Beatles song From Me To You, presented in a slightly “homework” style: before I could explain all the fingerings, something happened, and afterwards I simply forgot to finish going through the chords. As usual, though, you can find them below the video.

The Beatles — From Me To You

         C                      Am
Da da da da da dum dum da
         C                      Am
Da da da da da dum dum da

    C                                 Am
If there's anything that you want,
             C                   G7
If there's anyhting I can do,
       F                       Am                    C          G7        C
Just call on me and I'll send it along with love from me to you

If there's anything that you want,
Like a heart that's oh, so true,
Just call on me and I'll send it along with love from me to you

       Gm7                    C7
I got arms that long to hold you
       F
and keep you by my side.
        D7
I got lips that long to kiss you
        G               G+
And keep you satisfied.
 

(etc...)

As you can see, most of the chords are basic ones we have already learned in other songs: C, C7, G, Am and D7. There are, however, two less common chords: Gm7 and G+.

As their names suggest, both are relatives of G major or G minor, so their fingerings are related to the basic chord shapes. G minor 7 means adding the seventh degree of the G minor scale — the note F — to a G minor chord. This colours the basic G-minor sound, although it certainly does not mean that Gm should always or automatically be replaced by Gm7. We play this chord at the beginning of the middle section, and it deserves careful practice because the fingers have to fit into a very small space. The other interesting chord is G augmented. Here the fifth of the G-major chord, D, is raised by a semitone to D-sharp, producing an augmented fifth and a chord that sounds slightly dissonant on its own. Placed perfectly in the flow of the song, however, it sounds excellent. The diagram above shows that the shape differs from ordinary G major by only one fret, and the recording also shows how easily it can be derived from G: simply slide the index finger that frets the C string up by one fret. Again, the fingers have to be packed into a fairly small space. For instrument-free weekend practice, therefore, I recommend clamping your fingers in a vice for five or ten minutes.