Chords for Guitar Center Sessions: Dick Dale - King of Surf Guitar
Tempo:
129.55 bpm
Chords used:
Am
D
G
F#
Em
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
So you're widely known as the king of surf guitar, right?
No, wait, I got some coots now.
I'm in GQ magazine.
I've heard of that.
I read the article.
What it is, you know, basically, basically what it is, is they, yeah, they, they called me king
of the surf guitar because I was surfing.
But actually before that happened, Gene Krupa was
my big hero on drums.
So I was playing on drums, my mom's canister set, you know, and the flower
cans banging on them, you know, this is the big band era.
My dad would kick me in the butt all
the time because I'd scratch her cans and stuff like that.
So it went from that into the piano,
but I had that rhythm in my left hand all the time.
So what happened was in those days,
when I was very young and the dinosaurs roamed the earth, this is, I used to, you could go to
the movies for 10 cents.
Gasoline was only 12 cents a gallon.
I worked, I used to work for 5
cents an hour.
I was in an Arabic bakery making Arabic bread and they'd hide me in the bathroom
when the inspectors came in because I was too young.
But what happened was in those days,
we didn't, didn't have the money.
I used to set up bowling pins, you know, like this, the hard way,
you know, they throw the ball down.
Then I got fired because I threw the ball back at the woman
because she, she did.
I was setting them up and she threw the stupid ball down the alley.
It was
coming right at me.
So I threw a pin back at her and I got fired.
And then they, they came in with
automatic pin setters after that, you know, because we used to pride ourselves, man, nobody puts them
on the spot like we do, you know, but you know, the machines came and took my job away.
So then
I was reading a Superman magazine and in the back of the Superman magazine it said,
if you sell so many jars of Noxzema skin cream, then send us the money, we'll send you this
ukulele.
And I had, I always wanted to be a cowboy singer.
And so what happened was,
you know, they say I'm a country singer, but I always wanted to be a cowboy singer because I
wanted a horse.
When I was getting my tonsils out, I asked my mom and dad, can I get a horsey?
You
know, all they got me was these little plastic boats, but I never got the horse.
But still, it
said, if you sell all the stuff, we'll send you an ukulele.
Some people call it ukulele, but really
it's called ukulele.
And actually, does anybody know what the word ukulele means?
Oh yeah, go ahead.
That's right.
That's right.
How are you?
How are you doing, mate?
Good to see you.
Anyway, jeez, I know so
many people in here.
Wow.
But anyway, what happened was, I went out in the snow at night, banging on
the doors in Quincy, Massachusetts.
I was born in South Boston.
And they said, Dickie, come out in
school.
You know, go to school.
I goes, I gotta sell these Noxzema skin cream.
So I sold all this cream,
sent them all the money, and I waited about four months.
And in came this ukulele, green with a
cowboy on it, and a horse with a lariat, and everything.
It was made out of compressed cardboard.
And the pegs, the pegs would fall out.
I got so frustrated, I smashed it, put it in the
garbage can.
I got my little red Ryder wagon, you know, and I put my Pepsi bottles in it, and
Coca-Cola bottles, and I got six dollars.
I bought my first plastic ukulele for five dollars and 95 cents.
Now, I couldn't figure out why my finger wouldn't go.
I bought a, first I bought a cord maker,
and you could strap it on, and you push on it, and it's supposed to push down on the strings.
And that way you don't have to worry about nothing.
It just does it.
But what happened was, it would
rattle the strings, because it was carved out, you know.
So I said, this is no good.
I'm going to learn
to put my fingers where the book says.
I couldn't understand why my fingers wouldn't go where the
book says, because the book didn't say, turn it the other way, stupid, you're left-handed.
That's the truth.
So by that time, I, you see, I wanted to pick with this hand, because this is my
drumming hand, right?
I'm being left-handed.
And don't mess with me, because I'm left-handed.
Do
you know how hard it was for me to overcome being right-handed?
See, it went right over your head.
Look at that shit.
See, we're smarter.
Okay, what happened was, so I'd go to sleep at night, and I'd
take some tape from my daddy.
He, you know, he was making, taping some wires and stuff.
I take the tape,
and this cord here was the, what was it?
[Am] That's it right here, watch.
[D] That was the hardest thing in
the world for me to do on the ukulele.
So I used to tape my fingers to the ukulele and go to sleep
thinking that the fairy godmother would make me wake up in the morning, and they'd be there
automatically.
But it wasn't, you know, it was all over the bed, you know, the tape.
So I just practiced
and practiced and practiced, and then one day I learned three chords, upside down backwards, on an
ukulele.
And the first one, I think, is called the G.
[G] I can't read music.
I never took a lesson in
anything in my life.
I'm like a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
If you have the desire, just go
with your desire, and you will learn.
Ask questions, you know.
So I do it like this, now watch.
Here's the
first chord.
That was, I supposed to be G, might be out of tune, I don't care, who cares.
The next one is [Em] C,
and then the next one, what is the next one?
What's the next one?
[N] Is it, who, who said that?
You're a professional, don't take it away from the little kids.
I mean, I mean, he gets fined five dollars every time he's looking at the girls and not me on stage,
because they don't know what I'm going to do next on stage, neither do I.
So that's the whole thing
in a nutshell.
He's always looking at the girls and shaking his hair all over the place.
Jesus.
And so then he gets fined five bucks every time I turn and I say I'm going to change.
So then, he looks prettier.
Oh, geez, fluff up the tires, please.
What, anyway, watch.
[A] This is the, this is the note, the key, or the, [F#] whatever you call it.
[F#m] That's a D, right?
You said D.
[B] Huh?
It's a seventh?
No way.
[Am] [D]
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
This is the seventh too, right?
[G] Yeah, [F#] yeah.
So this is that one.
Yeah, thank you.
How old are you?
Twelve.
Got it.
You watch out when he gets seventeen, because he's going to think he's twenty-five,
right?
Yeah.
When you were, when my boy was twelve, he used to tell people, my dad is really smart.
He's a great teacher and he's very wise.
Now he looks at me, dad, you're
No, wait, I got some coots now.
I'm in GQ magazine.
I've heard of that.
I read the article.
What it is, you know, basically, basically what it is, is they, yeah, they, they called me king
of the surf guitar because I was surfing.
But actually before that happened, Gene Krupa was
my big hero on drums.
So I was playing on drums, my mom's canister set, you know, and the flower
cans banging on them, you know, this is the big band era.
My dad would kick me in the butt all
the time because I'd scratch her cans and stuff like that.
So it went from that into the piano,
but I had that rhythm in my left hand all the time.
So what happened was in those days,
when I was very young and the dinosaurs roamed the earth, this is, I used to, you could go to
the movies for 10 cents.
Gasoline was only 12 cents a gallon.
I worked, I used to work for 5
cents an hour.
I was in an Arabic bakery making Arabic bread and they'd hide me in the bathroom
when the inspectors came in because I was too young.
But what happened was in those days,
we didn't, didn't have the money.
I used to set up bowling pins, you know, like this, the hard way,
you know, they throw the ball down.
Then I got fired because I threw the ball back at the woman
because she, she did.
I was setting them up and she threw the stupid ball down the alley.
It was
coming right at me.
So I threw a pin back at her and I got fired.
And then they, they came in with
automatic pin setters after that, you know, because we used to pride ourselves, man, nobody puts them
on the spot like we do, you know, but you know, the machines came and took my job away.
So then
I was reading a Superman magazine and in the back of the Superman magazine it said,
if you sell so many jars of Noxzema skin cream, then send us the money, we'll send you this
ukulele.
And I had, I always wanted to be a cowboy singer.
And so what happened was,
you know, they say I'm a country singer, but I always wanted to be a cowboy singer because I
wanted a horse.
When I was getting my tonsils out, I asked my mom and dad, can I get a horsey?
You
know, all they got me was these little plastic boats, but I never got the horse.
But still, it
said, if you sell all the stuff, we'll send you an ukulele.
Some people call it ukulele, but really
it's called ukulele.
And actually, does anybody know what the word ukulele means?
Oh yeah, go ahead.
That's right.
That's right.
How are you?
How are you doing, mate?
Good to see you.
Anyway, jeez, I know so
many people in here.
Wow.
But anyway, what happened was, I went out in the snow at night, banging on
the doors in Quincy, Massachusetts.
I was born in South Boston.
And they said, Dickie, come out in
school.
You know, go to school.
I goes, I gotta sell these Noxzema skin cream.
So I sold all this cream,
sent them all the money, and I waited about four months.
And in came this ukulele, green with a
cowboy on it, and a horse with a lariat, and everything.
It was made out of compressed cardboard.
And the pegs, the pegs would fall out.
I got so frustrated, I smashed it, put it in the
garbage can.
I got my little red Ryder wagon, you know, and I put my Pepsi bottles in it, and
Coca-Cola bottles, and I got six dollars.
I bought my first plastic ukulele for five dollars and 95 cents.
Now, I couldn't figure out why my finger wouldn't go.
I bought a, first I bought a cord maker,
and you could strap it on, and you push on it, and it's supposed to push down on the strings.
And that way you don't have to worry about nothing.
It just does it.
But what happened was, it would
rattle the strings, because it was carved out, you know.
So I said, this is no good.
I'm going to learn
to put my fingers where the book says.
I couldn't understand why my fingers wouldn't go where the
book says, because the book didn't say, turn it the other way, stupid, you're left-handed.
That's the truth.
So by that time, I, you see, I wanted to pick with this hand, because this is my
drumming hand, right?
I'm being left-handed.
And don't mess with me, because I'm left-handed.
Do
you know how hard it was for me to overcome being right-handed?
See, it went right over your head.
Look at that shit.
See, we're smarter.
Okay, what happened was, so I'd go to sleep at night, and I'd
take some tape from my daddy.
He, you know, he was making, taping some wires and stuff.
I take the tape,
and this cord here was the, what was it?
[Am] That's it right here, watch.
[D] That was the hardest thing in
the world for me to do on the ukulele.
So I used to tape my fingers to the ukulele and go to sleep
thinking that the fairy godmother would make me wake up in the morning, and they'd be there
automatically.
But it wasn't, you know, it was all over the bed, you know, the tape.
So I just practiced
and practiced and practiced, and then one day I learned three chords, upside down backwards, on an
ukulele.
And the first one, I think, is called the G.
[G] I can't read music.
I never took a lesson in
anything in my life.
I'm like a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
If you have the desire, just go
with your desire, and you will learn.
Ask questions, you know.
So I do it like this, now watch.
Here's the
first chord.
That was, I supposed to be G, might be out of tune, I don't care, who cares.
The next one is [Em] C,
and then the next one, what is the next one?
What's the next one?
[N] Is it, who, who said that?
You're a professional, don't take it away from the little kids.
I mean, I mean, he gets fined five dollars every time he's looking at the girls and not me on stage,
because they don't know what I'm going to do next on stage, neither do I.
So that's the whole thing
in a nutshell.
He's always looking at the girls and shaking his hair all over the place.
Jesus.
And so then he gets fined five bucks every time I turn and I say I'm going to change.
So then, he looks prettier.
Oh, geez, fluff up the tires, please.
What, anyway, watch.
[A] This is the, this is the note, the key, or the, [F#] whatever you call it.
[F#m] That's a D, right?
You said D.
[B] Huh?
It's a seventh?
No way.
[Am] [D]
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
This is the seventh too, right?
[G] Yeah, [F#] yeah.
So this is that one.
Yeah, thank you.
How old are you?
Twelve.
Got it.
You watch out when he gets seventeen, because he's going to think he's twenty-five,
right?
Yeah.
When you were, when my boy was twelve, he used to tell people, my dad is really smart.
He's a great teacher and he's very wise.
Now he looks at me, dad, you're
Key:
Am
D
G
F#
Em
Am
D
G
So you're widely known as the king of surf guitar, right?
No, _ _ _ _ _ wait, I got some coots now.
I'm in GQ magazine.
I've heard of that.
I read the article.
_ What it is, you know, basically, basically what it is, is they, yeah, they, they called me king
of the surf guitar because I was surfing.
_ But actually before that happened, Gene Krupa was
my big hero on drums.
So I was playing on drums, my mom's canister set, you know, and the flower
cans banging on them, you know, this is the big band era.
My dad would kick me in the butt all
the time because I'd scratch her cans and stuff like that.
So it went from that into the piano,
but I had that rhythm in my left hand all the time.
So what happened was in those days,
when I was very young and the dinosaurs roamed the earth, this is, I used to, you could go to
the movies for 10 cents. _ _
Gasoline was only 12 cents a gallon.
I worked, I used to work for 5
cents an hour.
I was in an Arabic bakery making Arabic bread and they'd hide me in the bathroom
when the inspectors came in because I was too young.
_ But what happened was in those days,
we didn't, didn't have the money.
I used to set up bowling pins, you know, like this, the hard way,
you know, they throw the ball down.
Then I got fired because I threw the ball back at the woman
because she, _ _ she did.
I was setting them up and she threw the stupid ball down the alley.
It was
coming right at me.
So I threw a pin back at her and I got fired.
And then they, they came in with
automatic pin setters after that, you know, because we used to pride ourselves, man, nobody puts them
on the spot like we do, you know, but you know, the machines came and took my job away.
So then
I was reading a Superman magazine and in the back of the Superman magazine it said,
if you sell so many jars of Noxzema skin cream, _ then send us the money, we'll send you this
ukulele.
And I had, I always wanted to be a cowboy singer.
And so what happened was,
_ you know, they say I'm a country singer, but I always wanted to be a cowboy singer because I
wanted a horse.
When I was getting my tonsils out, I asked my mom and dad, can I get a horsey?
You
know, all they got me was these little plastic boats, but I never got the horse.
But still, it
said, if you sell all the stuff, we'll send you an ukulele. _ _
Some people call it ukulele, but really
it's called ukulele.
And actually, does anybody know what the word ukulele means?
Oh yeah, go ahead.
_ _ That's right.
That's right.
How are you?
How are you doing, mate?
Good to see you.
_ Anyway, jeez, I know so
many people in here.
Wow.
But anyway, what happened was, I went out in the snow at night, banging on
the doors in Quincy, Massachusetts.
I was born in South Boston.
And they said, Dickie, come out in
school.
You know, go to school.
I goes, I gotta sell these Noxzema skin cream.
So I sold all this cream,
sent them all the money, and I waited about four months.
And in came this ukulele, green with a
cowboy on it, and a horse with a lariat, and everything.
It was made out of compressed cardboard.
And the pegs, the pegs would fall out.
I got so frustrated, I smashed it, put it in the
garbage can.
I got my little red _ Ryder wagon, you know, and I put my Pepsi bottles in it, and
Coca-Cola bottles, and I got six dollars.
I bought my first plastic ukulele _ for five dollars and 95 cents.
_ Now, I couldn't figure out why my finger wouldn't go.
I bought a, first I bought a cord maker,
and you could strap it on, and you push on it, and it's supposed to push down on the strings.
And that way you don't have to worry about nothing.
It just does it.
But what happened was, it would
rattle the strings, because it was carved out, you know.
So I said, this is no good.
I'm going to learn
to put my fingers where the book says.
I couldn't understand why my fingers wouldn't go where the
book says, because the book didn't say, turn it the other way, stupid, you're left-handed.
_ _ _ That's _ _ the truth.
_ So _ by that time, I, you see, I wanted to pick with this hand, because this is my
drumming hand, right?
I'm being left-handed.
And don't mess with me, because I'm left-handed.
Do
you know how hard it was for me to overcome being right-handed? _ _ _
_ See, it went right over your head.
Look at that shit.
See, we're smarter.
Okay, what happened was, so I'd go to sleep at night, and I'd
take some tape from my daddy.
He, you know, he was making, taping some wires and stuff.
I take the tape,
and this cord here was the, _ what was it?
[Am] That's it right here, watch.
_ _ [D] That was the hardest thing in
the world for me to do on the ukulele.
So I used to tape my fingers to the ukulele and go to sleep
thinking that the fairy godmother would _ make me wake up in the morning, and they'd be there
automatically.
But it wasn't, you know, it was all over the bed, you know, the tape.
_ So I just practiced
and practiced and practiced, and then one day I learned three chords, upside down backwards, on an
ukulele.
And the first one, I think, is called the G.
[G] I can't read music.
I never took a lesson in
anything in my life.
I'm like a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
If you have _ the desire, _ just go
with your desire, and you will learn.
Ask questions, you know.
So I do it like this, now watch.
Here's the
first chord.
_ _ _ That was, I supposed to be G, might be out of tune, I don't care, who cares.
The next one is [Em] C,
_ _ _ and then the next one, what is the next one?
What's the next one?
[N] _ _ Is it, who, who said that? _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ You're a professional, don't take it away from the little kids. _
_ _ _ I mean, I mean, _ _ he gets fined five dollars every time he's looking at the girls and not me on stage,
because they don't know what I'm going to do next on stage, neither do I.
_ So that's the whole thing
in a nutshell.
He's always looking at the girls and shaking his hair all over the place.
Jesus.
_ And so then he gets fined five bucks every time I turn and I say I'm going to change.
So then, _ _ _ he looks prettier.
Oh, geez, fluff up the tires, please.
What, anyway, watch.
_ [A] This is the, this is the note, the key, or the, [F#] whatever you call it.
[F#m] That's a D, right?
You said D.
[B] _ Huh?
It's a seventh?
No way.
_ _ _ [Am] _ [D]
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
_ This is the seventh too, right? _
[G] _ _ Yeah, [F#] yeah.
So this is that one.
_ Yeah, thank you. _
How old are you?
_ Twelve.
_ Got it.
You watch out when he gets seventeen, because he's going to think he's twenty-five,
right?
Yeah.
When you were, when my boy was twelve, he used to tell people, my dad is really smart.
He's a great teacher and he's very wise.
Now he looks at me, dad, you're
No, _ _ _ _ _ wait, I got some coots now.
I'm in GQ magazine.
I've heard of that.
I read the article.
_ What it is, you know, basically, basically what it is, is they, yeah, they, they called me king
of the surf guitar because I was surfing.
_ But actually before that happened, Gene Krupa was
my big hero on drums.
So I was playing on drums, my mom's canister set, you know, and the flower
cans banging on them, you know, this is the big band era.
My dad would kick me in the butt all
the time because I'd scratch her cans and stuff like that.
So it went from that into the piano,
but I had that rhythm in my left hand all the time.
So what happened was in those days,
when I was very young and the dinosaurs roamed the earth, this is, I used to, you could go to
the movies for 10 cents. _ _
Gasoline was only 12 cents a gallon.
I worked, I used to work for 5
cents an hour.
I was in an Arabic bakery making Arabic bread and they'd hide me in the bathroom
when the inspectors came in because I was too young.
_ But what happened was in those days,
we didn't, didn't have the money.
I used to set up bowling pins, you know, like this, the hard way,
you know, they throw the ball down.
Then I got fired because I threw the ball back at the woman
because she, _ _ she did.
I was setting them up and she threw the stupid ball down the alley.
It was
coming right at me.
So I threw a pin back at her and I got fired.
And then they, they came in with
automatic pin setters after that, you know, because we used to pride ourselves, man, nobody puts them
on the spot like we do, you know, but you know, the machines came and took my job away.
So then
I was reading a Superman magazine and in the back of the Superman magazine it said,
if you sell so many jars of Noxzema skin cream, _ then send us the money, we'll send you this
ukulele.
And I had, I always wanted to be a cowboy singer.
And so what happened was,
_ you know, they say I'm a country singer, but I always wanted to be a cowboy singer because I
wanted a horse.
When I was getting my tonsils out, I asked my mom and dad, can I get a horsey?
You
know, all they got me was these little plastic boats, but I never got the horse.
But still, it
said, if you sell all the stuff, we'll send you an ukulele. _ _
Some people call it ukulele, but really
it's called ukulele.
And actually, does anybody know what the word ukulele means?
Oh yeah, go ahead.
_ _ That's right.
That's right.
How are you?
How are you doing, mate?
Good to see you.
_ Anyway, jeez, I know so
many people in here.
Wow.
But anyway, what happened was, I went out in the snow at night, banging on
the doors in Quincy, Massachusetts.
I was born in South Boston.
And they said, Dickie, come out in
school.
You know, go to school.
I goes, I gotta sell these Noxzema skin cream.
So I sold all this cream,
sent them all the money, and I waited about four months.
And in came this ukulele, green with a
cowboy on it, and a horse with a lariat, and everything.
It was made out of compressed cardboard.
And the pegs, the pegs would fall out.
I got so frustrated, I smashed it, put it in the
garbage can.
I got my little red _ Ryder wagon, you know, and I put my Pepsi bottles in it, and
Coca-Cola bottles, and I got six dollars.
I bought my first plastic ukulele _ for five dollars and 95 cents.
_ Now, I couldn't figure out why my finger wouldn't go.
I bought a, first I bought a cord maker,
and you could strap it on, and you push on it, and it's supposed to push down on the strings.
And that way you don't have to worry about nothing.
It just does it.
But what happened was, it would
rattle the strings, because it was carved out, you know.
So I said, this is no good.
I'm going to learn
to put my fingers where the book says.
I couldn't understand why my fingers wouldn't go where the
book says, because the book didn't say, turn it the other way, stupid, you're left-handed.
_ _ _ That's _ _ the truth.
_ So _ by that time, I, you see, I wanted to pick with this hand, because this is my
drumming hand, right?
I'm being left-handed.
And don't mess with me, because I'm left-handed.
Do
you know how hard it was for me to overcome being right-handed? _ _ _
_ See, it went right over your head.
Look at that shit.
See, we're smarter.
Okay, what happened was, so I'd go to sleep at night, and I'd
take some tape from my daddy.
He, you know, he was making, taping some wires and stuff.
I take the tape,
and this cord here was the, _ what was it?
[Am] That's it right here, watch.
_ _ [D] That was the hardest thing in
the world for me to do on the ukulele.
So I used to tape my fingers to the ukulele and go to sleep
thinking that the fairy godmother would _ make me wake up in the morning, and they'd be there
automatically.
But it wasn't, you know, it was all over the bed, you know, the tape.
_ So I just practiced
and practiced and practiced, and then one day I learned three chords, upside down backwards, on an
ukulele.
And the first one, I think, is called the G.
[G] I can't read music.
I never took a lesson in
anything in my life.
I'm like a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
If you have _ the desire, _ just go
with your desire, and you will learn.
Ask questions, you know.
So I do it like this, now watch.
Here's the
first chord.
_ _ _ That was, I supposed to be G, might be out of tune, I don't care, who cares.
The next one is [Em] C,
_ _ _ and then the next one, what is the next one?
What's the next one?
[N] _ _ Is it, who, who said that? _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ You're a professional, don't take it away from the little kids. _
_ _ _ I mean, I mean, _ _ he gets fined five dollars every time he's looking at the girls and not me on stage,
because they don't know what I'm going to do next on stage, neither do I.
_ So that's the whole thing
in a nutshell.
He's always looking at the girls and shaking his hair all over the place.
Jesus.
_ And so then he gets fined five bucks every time I turn and I say I'm going to change.
So then, _ _ _ he looks prettier.
Oh, geez, fluff up the tires, please.
What, anyway, watch.
_ [A] This is the, this is the note, the key, or the, [F#] whatever you call it.
[F#m] That's a D, right?
You said D.
[B] _ Huh?
It's a seventh?
No way.
_ _ _ [Am] _ [D]
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
_ This is the seventh too, right? _
[G] _ _ Yeah, [F#] yeah.
So this is that one.
_ Yeah, thank you. _
How old are you?
_ Twelve.
_ Got it.
You watch out when he gets seventeen, because he's going to think he's twenty-five,
right?
Yeah.
When you were, when my boy was twelve, he used to tell people, my dad is really smart.
He's a great teacher and he's very wise.
Now he looks at me, dad, you're