Chords for St James Infirmary Blues - Guitar Lesson
Tempo:
79.85 bpm
Chords used:
Am
E
F
G
C
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
I'm going to show you how to [Eb] play the song to James Infermary Blues.
This is a jazz
standard made famous by Louis Armstrong [Ab] and others from the turn of [C] the 20th
century, [Bb] the early 20th century, and normally when you hear it played it's
played with a jazz band and you have horn section going and so on.
Obviously
[N] we're going to play it just on the guitar so we're going to have a different kind of
arrangement of it.
Now in this arrangement we're only going to use four chords, [Am]
[E] an A
7, [F] an F major barred at the first fret [G] and then we're going to have a variation on
that F major.
So to get the variation we're just going to [F]
keep our index
fingers on the sixth string there on the first fret to get that [Db] F.
Keep the other
[D] fingers where they are but remove the bar so that [B] the top two strings, the B
and the E, are [F] ringing open.
You get this [B] flamenco-y kind of discord which is rather nice.
And we'll [Db] use that to spice the song up a bit.
If you want to see where you play the
[C] chords look at the Acoustic Music [N] Archive website.
There's a link in the
description of the YouTube video.
Look there and you can see where all the
chords are played.
But what I want to do in the video is just to focus on the right
hand technique and we're going to borrow a technique used by Latin guitar players
which involves damping.
And [Am] so it's used in things like [C] rumbas.
[Bb] [Am] Yeah and [A] it really consists of playing a bass note with our thumb, using the [Gb] thumb to
strum as well with an upstroke [Ebm] and then damping with our right hand like this.
[Am] [A] So I'm just playing a bass note, it's the A I'm playing here, this is an A minor
seven chord I've got fretted.
I'm playing the A on the fifth string with my thumb, an
upstroke with my thumb [Eb] and then I'm damping with my right [A] hand to stop the
strings ringing.
[N] And in between [A] playing the bass note with my thumb and the upstroke with the thumb, I'm doing a little downstroke with my
index [C] finger just really hitting the top two or three strings there.
[Am] Now [N] let me
play you a verse of St James Infirmary Blues and then we'll have more of [F] a think
about exactly how we're [Db] using that technique.
So we can do it like [E] this.
[G] [E] I [Em] went down to St James [G] Infirmary, did [F] you see my baby [G] there?
[Am] [E] She was lying on the long white table, [G] [F] so sweet, so [G] cool, so fair.
[Am]
So there's an example of [N] how it could sound.
I hope you think that sounds nice.
And [Cm] let me just take apart a bit what I'm doing.
So [Am] I'm starting on the A minor
seventh chord, [A] I'm playing an A in the bass fifth string open, as I said I'm
doing [Am] a little downstroke with my index [C] finger just hitting the top two or three
strings and then an upstroke with my [Bb] thumb and then damping [F] with my right hand.
[A] So I'm doing that [N] and then I'm moving to the E7 chord with my left hand [E] and
playing the open bass E on the [C] sixth string there [Gb] and the same thing, downstroke
with the [G] index finger, upstroke with the thumb, damp.
[E]
[Am] [E] [Bb] [N] And then finally, still on the E7, I'm then fretting at the third fret of the sixth string which [G] gives me a G in the bass, plucking that with my thumb and instead [A] of doing the damping business and the upstroke with the thumb, [Ab] I'm just then going with my index finger down up, down up.
And [E] [G]
[Eb]
[E] [G] [C] [E] [Am]
[G] [Am] [G]
[Am] that's the basic pattern.
So put that together with the lyrics and you get
I [E] went down to St [Em] James Infirmary.
[Am]
Now on the next line, to see my baby there, the chords change and it's to see my
that's the A minor seventh, [F] then an F.
[E] Baby there.
F to E7.
So [Ebm] what I tend to do on the F and the E7 is [B] instead of bothering with picking up the [F] bass notes, I just strum down with my thumb getting
all of the strings.
[Am] To [F] see my [E] baby there.
Okay.
[Db] Then we're back to the same pattern for the [C] third line as [A] the first line.
She was [G] lying on a white [E] table, [F] so sweet, so cool.
Which is where you can play that adapted F.
[C] So fair.
So adapted F to E7 [Bb] and back to the A minor seventh.
And that's the way I play the song.
So I'll see if [Am] I can play a few of the verses.
[E] [G]
[Am] I [E] went down to St James Infirmary.
[G] [F] To see my [E] baby there.
She was [G] lying on a [Am] white table.
[F] So sweet, so cool, [E] so fair.
[G] I went to see [Am] the doctor.
She's [F] buried below [E] his head.
[Am] I [Gb] went back to see my [E] baby.
[F] Good God, she's lying there dead.
[Am] I went down to Old Joe's Barroom.
On the [F] corner by [E] the square.
They were serving drinks as usual.
[F] And the usual crowd. Stay.
[Am]
This is a jazz
standard made famous by Louis Armstrong [Ab] and others from the turn of [C] the 20th
century, [Bb] the early 20th century, and normally when you hear it played it's
played with a jazz band and you have horn section going and so on.
Obviously
[N] we're going to play it just on the guitar so we're going to have a different kind of
arrangement of it.
Now in this arrangement we're only going to use four chords, [Am]
[E] an A
7, [F] an F major barred at the first fret [G] and then we're going to have a variation on
that F major.
So to get the variation we're just going to [F]
keep our index
fingers on the sixth string there on the first fret to get that [Db] F.
Keep the other
[D] fingers where they are but remove the bar so that [B] the top two strings, the B
and the E, are [F] ringing open.
You get this [B] flamenco-y kind of discord which is rather nice.
And we'll [Db] use that to spice the song up a bit.
If you want to see where you play the
[C] chords look at the Acoustic Music [N] Archive website.
There's a link in the
description of the YouTube video.
Look there and you can see where all the
chords are played.
But what I want to do in the video is just to focus on the right
hand technique and we're going to borrow a technique used by Latin guitar players
which involves damping.
And [Am] so it's used in things like [C] rumbas.
[Bb] [Am] Yeah and [A] it really consists of playing a bass note with our thumb, using the [Gb] thumb to
strum as well with an upstroke [Ebm] and then damping with our right hand like this.
[Am] [A] So I'm just playing a bass note, it's the A I'm playing here, this is an A minor
seven chord I've got fretted.
I'm playing the A on the fifth string with my thumb, an
upstroke with my thumb [Eb] and then I'm damping with my right [A] hand to stop the
strings ringing.
[N] And in between [A] playing the bass note with my thumb and the upstroke with the thumb, I'm doing a little downstroke with my
index [C] finger just really hitting the top two or three strings there.
[Am] Now [N] let me
play you a verse of St James Infirmary Blues and then we'll have more of [F] a think
about exactly how we're [Db] using that technique.
So we can do it like [E] this.
[G] [E] I [Em] went down to St James [G] Infirmary, did [F] you see my baby [G] there?
[Am] [E] She was lying on the long white table, [G] [F] so sweet, so [G] cool, so fair.
[Am]
So there's an example of [N] how it could sound.
I hope you think that sounds nice.
And [Cm] let me just take apart a bit what I'm doing.
So [Am] I'm starting on the A minor
seventh chord, [A] I'm playing an A in the bass fifth string open, as I said I'm
doing [Am] a little downstroke with my index [C] finger just hitting the top two or three
strings and then an upstroke with my [Bb] thumb and then damping [F] with my right hand.
[A] So I'm doing that [N] and then I'm moving to the E7 chord with my left hand [E] and
playing the open bass E on the [C] sixth string there [Gb] and the same thing, downstroke
with the [G] index finger, upstroke with the thumb, damp.
[E]
[Am] [E] [Bb] [N] And then finally, still on the E7, I'm then fretting at the third fret of the sixth string which [G] gives me a G in the bass, plucking that with my thumb and instead [A] of doing the damping business and the upstroke with the thumb, [Ab] I'm just then going with my index finger down up, down up.
And [E] [G]
[Eb]
[E] [G] [C] [E] [Am]
[G] [Am] [G]
[Am] that's the basic pattern.
So put that together with the lyrics and you get
I [E] went down to St [Em] James Infirmary.
[Am]
Now on the next line, to see my baby there, the chords change and it's to see my
that's the A minor seventh, [F] then an F.
[E] Baby there.
F to E7.
So [Ebm] what I tend to do on the F and the E7 is [B] instead of bothering with picking up the [F] bass notes, I just strum down with my thumb getting
all of the strings.
[Am] To [F] see my [E] baby there.
Okay.
[Db] Then we're back to the same pattern for the [C] third line as [A] the first line.
She was [G] lying on a white [E] table, [F] so sweet, so cool.
Which is where you can play that adapted F.
[C] So fair.
So adapted F to E7 [Bb] and back to the A minor seventh.
And that's the way I play the song.
So I'll see if [Am] I can play a few of the verses.
[E] [G]
[Am] I [E] went down to St James Infirmary.
[G] [F] To see my [E] baby there.
She was [G] lying on a [Am] white table.
[F] So sweet, so cool, [E] so fair.
[G] I went to see [Am] the doctor.
She's [F] buried below [E] his head.
[Am] I [Gb] went back to see my [E] baby.
[F] Good God, she's lying there dead.
[Am] I went down to Old Joe's Barroom.
On the [F] corner by [E] the square.
They were serving drinks as usual.
[F] And the usual crowd. Stay.
[Am]
Key:
Am
E
F
G
C
Am
E
F
I'm going to show you how to [Eb] play the song to James Infermary Blues.
This is a jazz
standard made famous by Louis Armstrong [Ab] and others from the turn of [C] the 20th
century, [Bb] the early 20th century, and normally when you hear it played it's
played with a jazz band and you have horn section going and so on.
Obviously
[N] we're going to play it just on the guitar so we're going to have a different kind of
arrangement of it.
Now in this arrangement we're only going to use four chords, [Am] _ _
[E] an A
7, _ [F] an F major barred at the first fret [G] and then we're going to have a variation on
that F major.
So to get the variation we're just going to [F]
keep our index
fingers on the sixth string there on the first fret to get that [Db] F.
Keep the other
[D] fingers where they are but remove the bar so that [B] the top two strings, the B
and the E, are [F] ringing open.
You get this [B] flamenco-y kind of discord which is rather nice.
And we'll [Db] use that to spice the song up a bit.
If you want to see where you play the
[C] chords look at the Acoustic Music [N] Archive website.
There's a link in the
description of the YouTube video.
Look there and you can see where all the
chords are played.
But what I want to do in the video is just to focus on the right
hand technique and we're going to borrow a technique used by Latin guitar players
which involves damping.
And [Am] so it's used in things like [C] rumbas.
_ [Bb] _ _ [Am] Yeah and _ _ _ [A] it really consists of playing a bass note with our thumb, using the [Gb] thumb to
strum as well with an upstroke [Ebm] and then damping with our right hand like this.
[Am] _ _ [A] So I'm just playing a bass note, it's the A I'm playing here, this is an A minor
seven chord I've got fretted.
I'm playing the A on the fifth string with my thumb, an
upstroke with my thumb [Eb] and then I'm damping with my right [A] hand to stop the
strings ringing.
[N] _ And in between [A] playing the bass note with my thumb and the upstroke with the thumb, I'm doing a little downstroke with my
index [C] finger just really hitting the top two or three strings there.
[Am] Now _ _ _ [N] _ let me
play you a verse of St James Infirmary Blues and then we'll have more of [F] a think
about exactly how we're [Db] using that technique.
So we can do it like [E] this. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ [E] _ I [Em] went down to St James _ [G] Infirmary, did [F] you see my baby [G] there?
_ [Am] [E] She was lying on the long white table, [G] [F] so sweet, so [G] cool, so fair.
_ _ [Am] _
So there's an example of [N] how it could sound.
I hope you think that sounds nice.
And [Cm] let me just take apart a bit what I'm doing.
So [Am] I'm starting on the A minor
seventh chord, [A] I'm playing an A in the bass fifth string open, as I said I'm
doing [Am] a little _ downstroke with my index [C] finger just hitting the top two or three
strings and then an upstroke with my [Bb] thumb and then damping [F] with my right hand.
_ [A] So I'm doing that [N] _ and then I'm moving to the E7 chord with my left hand [E] and
playing the open bass E on the [C] sixth string there [Gb] and the same thing, downstroke
with the [G] index finger, upstroke with the thumb, damp.
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ [E] _ [Bb] _ [N] And then finally, still on the E7, I'm then fretting at the third fret of the sixth string which [G] gives me a G in the bass, plucking that with my thumb and instead [A] of doing the damping business and the upstroke with the thumb, [Ab] I'm just then going with my index finger down up, down up.
And [E] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ [G] _ _ [C] _ [E] _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ [G] _ [Am] _ _ _ [G] _ _
[Am] _ that's the basic pattern.
So put that together with the lyrics and you get_
I [E] went down to St [Em] James Infirmary.
_ [Am] _ _
Now on the next line, to see my baby there, the chords change and it's to see my_
that's the A minor seventh, [F] then an F.
[E] Baby there.
F to E7.
So [Ebm] what I tend to do on the F and the E7 is [B] instead of bothering with picking up the [F] bass notes, I just strum down with my thumb getting
all of the strings.
[Am] To [F] see my [E] baby there. _ _ _
Okay.
[Db] Then we're back to the same pattern for the [C] third line as [A] the first line.
She was [G] lying on a white [E] table, _ [F] so sweet, so cool.
Which is where you can play that adapted F.
[C] So fair.
So adapted F to E7 [Bb] and back to the A minor seventh.
And that's the way I play the song.
So I'll see if [Am] I can play a few of the verses. _ _
_ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Am] I [E] went down to St James Infirmary. _
[G] [F] To see my [E] baby there.
_ She was [G] lying on a [Am] white table.
[F] So sweet, so cool, [E] so fair.
_ [G] _ _ _ I went to see [Am] the doctor.
She's [F] buried below [E] his head.
[Am] I [Gb] went back to see my [E] baby.
_ [F] Good God, she's lying there dead. _ _
[Am] _ _ I went down to Old Joe's Barroom.
On the [F] corner by [E] the square.
_ They were serving drinks as usual.
[F] And the usual crowd. Stay.
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
This is a jazz
standard made famous by Louis Armstrong [Ab] and others from the turn of [C] the 20th
century, [Bb] the early 20th century, and normally when you hear it played it's
played with a jazz band and you have horn section going and so on.
Obviously
[N] we're going to play it just on the guitar so we're going to have a different kind of
arrangement of it.
Now in this arrangement we're only going to use four chords, [Am] _ _
[E] an A
7, _ [F] an F major barred at the first fret [G] and then we're going to have a variation on
that F major.
So to get the variation we're just going to [F]
keep our index
fingers on the sixth string there on the first fret to get that [Db] F.
Keep the other
[D] fingers where they are but remove the bar so that [B] the top two strings, the B
and the E, are [F] ringing open.
You get this [B] flamenco-y kind of discord which is rather nice.
And we'll [Db] use that to spice the song up a bit.
If you want to see where you play the
[C] chords look at the Acoustic Music [N] Archive website.
There's a link in the
description of the YouTube video.
Look there and you can see where all the
chords are played.
But what I want to do in the video is just to focus on the right
hand technique and we're going to borrow a technique used by Latin guitar players
which involves damping.
And [Am] so it's used in things like [C] rumbas.
_ [Bb] _ _ [Am] Yeah and _ _ _ [A] it really consists of playing a bass note with our thumb, using the [Gb] thumb to
strum as well with an upstroke [Ebm] and then damping with our right hand like this.
[Am] _ _ [A] So I'm just playing a bass note, it's the A I'm playing here, this is an A minor
seven chord I've got fretted.
I'm playing the A on the fifth string with my thumb, an
upstroke with my thumb [Eb] and then I'm damping with my right [A] hand to stop the
strings ringing.
[N] _ And in between [A] playing the bass note with my thumb and the upstroke with the thumb, I'm doing a little downstroke with my
index [C] finger just really hitting the top two or three strings there.
[Am] Now _ _ _ [N] _ let me
play you a verse of St James Infirmary Blues and then we'll have more of [F] a think
about exactly how we're [Db] using that technique.
So we can do it like [E] this. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ [E] _ I [Em] went down to St James _ [G] Infirmary, did [F] you see my baby [G] there?
_ [Am] [E] She was lying on the long white table, [G] [F] so sweet, so [G] cool, so fair.
_ _ [Am] _
So there's an example of [N] how it could sound.
I hope you think that sounds nice.
And [Cm] let me just take apart a bit what I'm doing.
So [Am] I'm starting on the A minor
seventh chord, [A] I'm playing an A in the bass fifth string open, as I said I'm
doing [Am] a little _ downstroke with my index [C] finger just hitting the top two or three
strings and then an upstroke with my [Bb] thumb and then damping [F] with my right hand.
_ [A] So I'm doing that [N] _ and then I'm moving to the E7 chord with my left hand [E] and
playing the open bass E on the [C] sixth string there [Gb] and the same thing, downstroke
with the [G] index finger, upstroke with the thumb, damp.
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ [E] _ [Bb] _ [N] And then finally, still on the E7, I'm then fretting at the third fret of the sixth string which [G] gives me a G in the bass, plucking that with my thumb and instead [A] of doing the damping business and the upstroke with the thumb, [Ab] I'm just then going with my index finger down up, down up.
And [E] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ [G] _ _ [C] _ [E] _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ [G] _ [Am] _ _ _ [G] _ _
[Am] _ that's the basic pattern.
So put that together with the lyrics and you get_
I [E] went down to St [Em] James Infirmary.
_ [Am] _ _
Now on the next line, to see my baby there, the chords change and it's to see my_
that's the A minor seventh, [F] then an F.
[E] Baby there.
F to E7.
So [Ebm] what I tend to do on the F and the E7 is [B] instead of bothering with picking up the [F] bass notes, I just strum down with my thumb getting
all of the strings.
[Am] To [F] see my [E] baby there. _ _ _
Okay.
[Db] Then we're back to the same pattern for the [C] third line as [A] the first line.
She was [G] lying on a white [E] table, _ [F] so sweet, so cool.
Which is where you can play that adapted F.
[C] So fair.
So adapted F to E7 [Bb] and back to the A minor seventh.
And that's the way I play the song.
So I'll see if [Am] I can play a few of the verses. _ _
_ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Am] I [E] went down to St James Infirmary. _
[G] [F] To see my [E] baby there.
_ She was [G] lying on a [Am] white table.
[F] So sweet, so cool, [E] so fair.
_ [G] _ _ _ I went to see [Am] the doctor.
She's [F] buried below [E] his head.
[Am] I [Gb] went back to see my [E] baby.
_ [F] Good God, she's lying there dead. _ _
[Am] _ _ I went down to Old Joe's Barroom.
On the [F] corner by [E] the square.
_ They were serving drinks as usual.
[F] And the usual crowd. Stay.
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _