Chords for Message in a Bottle by Sting (acoustic solo)
 

I would like to know what chords Sting is playing for the verses in a recent video. Any help would be appreciated. Link here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_78wVBmIPc

Pretty sure he's just playing the regular chord progression for the song but tuned down a half or full step. Actually on second thought I think he's just playing the normal progression but starting with Bm instead of C#m and then adjusting the rest to fit that.

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab...chords-1744532

Similar to the electric version but down a tone and a more acoustic friendly fingering. Basically all add9 chords, Bmin, G, A, Emin (could say sus2, especially given the chord shapes for the B and A chords as we have no 3rd in the usual place but add9 is how this tune is usually spelled out in its electric version, hope that makes sense.)

Anyway, this is what Sting is playing. Arpegiate the shapes below from lower note upwards (in pitch) for each chord, I can't remember the way to format tab here:


X
2
x
4
2
x

X
X
2
0
X
3

X
0
X
2
0
X

X
X
0
4
2
0

Thanks so much.

This is great. I really appreciate you doing the tab for me.

No worries. I grew up with the Police and used to play lots of their stuff. It was interesting to see how Sting had tweaked it to sit in his vocal range these days.

What is key of the song?
Assuming intro: C#m A B F#m (repeat)
But chorus seems to resolve to E

I have been here before, uncertain how to establish key! I can usually figure out key but some songs I have difficulty with. This song has me stumped! I can see key as C#m or E. (One source reported key of A but that doesn’t seem to fit all that well)

Well what we are discussing in this thread is in B minor.

I assume you mean the original recording, which is in C#minor. The latter is the relevant minor of E major so they share the same key signature. However C# is clearly the tonal centre of the main riff/verses *and* the chorus plus its a melancholy tune about loneliness, so E major would be a really odd choice of key sig.

The start of the bridge section ("I'll send an SOS to the world..") throws in a D5 chord which suggests a *very* brief major key modulation (a spark of optimism?) to A major (at least that's one way of looking at it).

I'm not sure what you mean about the chorus, there is no E major resolution.

Yes. You must be right about key = C#m (or Bm to address the step down) I have found myself stuck on Major vs. it’s relative minor (and visa versa) more than once. I took the chords out for another spin this morning but last night I kept resolving to E! I must veer away from the actual song at times!

Thanks, Jon, for taking the time to share your music theory knowledge as it applies to this song.

I recently subscribed to "Ultimate Guitar" website. Not very expensive. I can download ".PDF" files for every tune I need. I get the chord progression and words that way. I can even transpose the chords to different keys. Diagrams for all the chords are provided. BTW, this is not a sales pitch. Very easy and relatively inexpensive way to get GOOD chord/word charts for a tune. The website seems to have tunes for different musical tastes.