Riptide by Vance Joy continues to be one of the most popular ʻukulele songs from the last five years. Use this chart to learn the Riptide ʻukulele chords – they’re simple and there’s also a fun strum to help bring life to the bizarre lyrics.
Riptide Strumming Pattern
The strumming pattern for Riptide is: D D UDU.
That’s down, down, up, down, up (then repeat). The trick is to keep your hand moving down and up even when you aren’t strumming the uke!
To do this, you need to change how you think of the pattern a bit. Your hand is now going to make the motion of: DUDUDUDU in the same space as the “real” strum, which, remember, is: D D UDU.
But you aren’t going to hit the strings for every strum otherwise it would sound wrong! Instead, you are going to (while continuing the non-stop down/up pattern) move your hand closer to your body when it’s time to sound the strings and further away from your body when it’s not.
If you superimpose the two on top of each other it looks like this:
The Strum: D D U D U The Motion: D U D U D U D U
Everywhere there is a gap in the original pattern you don’t strum – but your hand keeps moving! So all together the pattern will look like:
D(U)D(U)(D)UDU
On the strums in parenthesis you miss the strings as you go by.
For more on this concept, check out my book, Right Hand Technique For ʻUkulele, which includes the secret to groovy strumming
My ear tells me that it’s very likely the person playing ʻukulele on the Riptide recording used a thin flatpick to strum the rhythm part. Getting one might help you achieve the sound if you want to be super exact.
Other Tidbits
The original key is a half step higher than what is written here. If you DO want to play it in C#, tune your ʻukulele up a half step to G#-C#-F-A# or use a capo on the 1st fret and play these chords as written.
The ʻukulele chords for Riptide sound like they have the low tone of a baritone. So if you have one to use, find the baritone shape for these chord names (they’ll be different!) and strum along.
Am G C (x2) Am G C I was scared of dentists and the dark Am G C I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations Am G C Oh all my friends are turning green Am G C You're the magicians assistant in their dreams Pre-Chorus: Am G C Ooh, ooh, ooh Am G C/ Ooh, and they come unstuck Chorus: Am G C Am Lady, running down to the riptide, taken away to the dark side G C I wanna be your left hand man Am G C Am I love you when you're singing that song and, I got a lump in my throat 'cause G C You're gonna sing the words wrong Am G C There's this movie that I think you'll like Am G C This guy decides to quit his job and heads to New York City Am G C This cowboy's running from himself Am G C And she's been living on the highest shelf Pre-Chorus: Am G C Ooh, ooh, ooh Am G C/ Ooh, and they come unstuck Chorus: Am G C Am Lady, running down to the riptide, taken away to the dark side G C I wanna be your left hand man Am G C Am I love you when you're singing that song and, I got a lump in my throat 'cause G C You're gonna sing the words wrong C Am G C F I just wanna, I just wanna know, if you're gonna, if you're gonna stay, Am G C F/ I just gotta, I just gotta know, I can't have it, I can't have it any other way Am/ G/ C/ I swear she's destined for the screen Am/ G/ C/ Closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you've ever seen, oh Chorus: Am G C Am Lady, running down to the riptide, taken away to the dark side G C I wanna be your left hand man Am G C Am I love you when you're singing that song and, I got a lump in my throat 'cause G C You're gonna sing the words wrong Chorus: Am G C Am Lady, running down to the riptide, taken away to the dark side G C I wanna be your left hand man Am G C Am I love you when you're singing that song and, I got a lump in my throat 'cause G C You're gonna sing the words wrong Chorus: Am G C Am Lady, running down to the riptide, taken away to the dark side G C I wanna be your left hand man Am G C Am I love you when you're singing that song and, I got a lump in my throat 'cause G C You're gonna sing the words wrong C Am G C I got a lump in my throat 'cause you're gonna sing the words wrong.
