Chords...

[Chriske]

Hi,

When I download a song/cords from say tabs.ultimate-guitar.com, sometimes when playing/singing it seems that there's something wrong. I mean chords sometimes do not fit in properly. I tend to change / replace it with a another chord that seems to be more 'logic'.
Has someone done the same thing, or is it just me ...?

To be clear I'm not an expert at all. I do play every day sometimes a few hours.

Thanks
Chris

[DenverSteve]

Generally there are several different arrangements/versions on line for most songs. They are generally listed as version 1, 2, 3... Look at several versions and see if one works best for you. Additionally, you may be playing the song differently because your singing style varies from the original arrangement of the song. If you find a slight change to the melody is better for you, simply change it. Play the song with the original version on Youtube and see if it all feels/sounds right without singing.

[Chriske]

Hi,
That's what I do, changing as I like it(my son does not approve at all.. , but I don't care.. )
When I hear Sinatra starts singing 'All of me' he starts with an 'C' chord. When Billy Holiday sings it she starts with an 'F' chord. In the beginning it was all very confusing, but now I'm doing it 'My way' (pun intended). And I feel comfortable with it.

Thanks for the advice btw.
So much to learn, and I'm only getting older...

Chris

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by Chriske

Hi,

That's what I do, changing as I like it(my son does not approve at all.. , but I don't care.. )

When I hear Sinatra starts singing 'All of me' he starts with an 'C' chord. When Billy Holiday sings it she starts with an 'F' chord. In the beginning it was all very confusing, but now I'm doing it 'My way' (pun intended). And I feel comfortable with it.



Thanks for the advice btw.

So much to learn, and I'm only getting older...



Chris

Many singers transpose songs to keys they’re comfortable singing in.

[pieterh]

You need to remember that many (most even) of the chord charts and tabs are submitted by amateurs of varying ability. Sometimes they will be spot on accurate but often - especially if there is an unusual voicing of a given chord or a chord that is more complicated than a simple major, minor, 7th etc - they will be an approximation that is usable but not necessarily accurate. When I need a chord chart in a hurry I will normally check a few tab and chord websites and see which one fits best. Note that different sites will often carry the exact same tab.

Using Ultimate Tabs and choosing the Pro tabs can be very useful for getting the precise fingering and voicing for a given chord. Even there there are variations between different tabs. For what it’s worth, the guitar version of the music for Eagles Hell Freezes Over has a couple of mistakes in it (they include a minor third on Joe Walsh’s solo on Hotel California for example whereas you can hear - and see on the DVD - that it’s a major third!).

[Chriske]

Thanks Pieter...!

[cdkrugjr]

On Ultimate Guitar, I've found that the best transcription is usually the SECOND most popular.

The transcriptionists can also be careless about things like calling the VI chord in E "Dbm" rather than "C#m," or understanding that "G#m7/E" is very likely to be "EMaj9."

Then there's the occasional issue of plagiarizing an error... I've seen one case where an artist published a chord chart with an obviously wrong chord, "G/Bm" iirc, for the correct "G/B", which was dutifully copied into the first half-dozen UG versions . . .

[JonPR]

A piece of info commonly missing from online chord charts is the use of a capo. Sometimes a song is in an awkward key for guitar, and someone posting a chord chart will use a capo to make the shapes easier, and forget to actually say so.
So everything you play will sound completely wrong!

Other times, if just one chord sounds wrong, there could be a few reasons:

(1) they got it wrong;
(2) they got it right, but put it in the wrong place;
(3) you're misunderstanding the chord symbol (maybe they heard the chord right, but named it wrong or confusingly);
(4) you're playing the chord in the wrong place (too early, too late, too short or long);
(5) you're hearing the original song wrong;
(6) you're listening to a different version of the song to the one they charted (even the same artist can re-record a song in a different key, or with slightly different chords);

[Big Band Guitar]

A lot of "published" chord changes come from self proclaimed experts with limited knowledge of chord theory.

I am no expert at figuring out chord changes but I hear when they are wrong.

The legal Real books seem to be the best.

I have many fake and real books, the same tune may have many different arrangements I tend to pick and combine the changes to fit my ears.

[BFD]

Originally Posted by Chriske

Hi,

When I download a song/cords from say tabs.ultimate-guitar.com, sometimes when playing/singing it seems that there's something wrong. I mean chords sometimes do not fit in properly. I tend to change / replace it with a another chord that seems to be more 'logic'.
Has someone done the same thing, or is it just me ...?

To be clear I'm not an expert at all. I do play every day sometimes a few hours.

Thanks
Chris

That's just your ear trying to steer you right - generally you should listen to it. The more you use your ear, the better it gets. Sometimes the right chord is 'logical', sometimes it comes from 'outside the fence'. The better your ear, the easier it is to tell.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Chriske

…sometimes when playing/singing it seems that there's something wrong.

Hi Chris

Typically I'll hear/see mis-labeled chords in charts…even professional charts. Probably because the song was written on piano and transcribed by a guitarist, or it was written on guitar and transcribed by a pianist. And sometimes the artist wrote something which he/she plays by ear, and doesn't know the proper 'shading' to add…m7flat5, so they just call it a m7.

You're doing what most of us do…fix it so it sounds the way it's supposed to.

[Chriske]

Thank you all guys ...

[polarred21]

I have used UG a lot for chords and find that you should pay close attention what tuning they are using. Chords may be listed as normal but guitar tuned down a half step, drop D, capo, etc.

As already said, I look for the ones with the highest reviews and pick the one I like best although I am very big on it being correct also.