“Do you know Riptide?” – If you have an ukulele and at least one friend, Vances are you have been asked that question before. Easily one of the most popular and recognizable songs played on the ukulele, Riptide first dropped in 2013, and has since become a go-to crowd pleaser for ukulele players everywhere. It’s upbeat, catchy, and easily recognizable. Think about it, if someone pulls out a uke and just starts strumming the opening chords of Riptide, most people in the room are going to know what it is, even if they don’t know what it’s called.
One might go so far as to say that, as a uke player, learning Riptide has become a rite of passage. In fact, I am saying it right now. So congratulations on reaching this formative milestone in your ukulele playing journey! Riptide’s got the classic, upbeat uke sound, and it is actually quite easy to play. What’s not to love?
So what are you waiting for? Let’s go running down to the Riptide!
Four Chords
When it comes to the chords, I wanna be your left hand man. Originally recorded in the key of C#, the entirety of Riptide is made up of only four chords – A#m, G#, C# and F#.
As you can see, those chords can get a little complicated, so in this lesson we are going to drop the song down a half step to the key of C, making our four chords Am, G, C and F.
That’s much better.
Now, for the majority of the song you’ll only need Am-G-C. This is the progression for both the verse and the chorus, which are only differentiated by their strumming patterns (more on that in a minute). To play both the verse and the chorus, play Am for a measure, followed by G for a measure, and then C for two measures. That’s it. That’s 90% of the song right there.
If you just wanna, you just wanna know, the bridge section is where the F chord is introduced. To play the bridge, simply add the F chord onto the end of our Am-G-C progression, and play each of the chords for two measures. So that’s Am for two measures, then G for two measures, followed by C for two measures, and finally F for two measures.
That’s it for chord progressions!
If you really want to be able to play along with the original recording of Riptide, you’ve got a few options. First, you can take the first set of chords shown above – the ones in the key of C# – and just swap them out with what I’ve written above. Or, you can simply put a capo on the first fret, play the easier chords, and boom, you’ll be playing the song in the original key of C#! I definitely recommend the second option. If you don’t have a capo, check out our selection here.
Bonus fun: If you try the above methods and notice it still doesn’t sound quite the same as the original recording, good catch! This is because the way Vance plays it, he actually tunes his ukulele down a major third (from the standard G-C-E-A to Eb-Ab-C-F) and uses the baritone chord shapes for Am, G, C and F to play the song. Baritone ukes (and guitars) are tuned down a 4th from the standard G-C-E-A uke turning, which means that tuning his uke down a third is essentially like playing a baritone with, you guessed it, a capo on the first fret! Music is so cool.
If you’ve got a chromatic tuner and want to turn your friends green with envy, give this a try! I did it on my concert uke and found that it did sound much closer to the original recording. A word of warning though, if you tune your uke down you might find that it falls out of tune pretty quickly, as the strings try to return to their regular tension. After only a few strums mine was already out of tune. If you aren’t going to regularly keep your uke in this alternate tuning, you’re probably better off just using the capo method, but at the very least this is a fun fact you can ‘um actually’ at your friends whenever they request riptide.
Strumming Patterns
With most of Riptide consisting of the same 3 chords, Vance Joy occasionally changes up the strumming pattern in order to differentiate between different sections of the song.
Verse (Plus Intro and Pre-Chorus)
To play the verse, you strum down twice, then up once, down once, and up once more. Another way to write this is D, D, U-D-U. Notice that the first two strums are separated, and the last three are tied together. If you listen to the song, you’ll hear that the first two strums are more accented, while the last three are more slurred together. Remember to play the full D, D, U-D-U pattern once for Am, and G, and twice for C.
Chorus
For the chorus, strum down twice, up twice, down and then up. Abbreviated, this looks like this: D, D, U-U, D-U. Again, play the full pattern once for Am and G, and twice for C.
Bridge
The bridge is the same as the chorus, D, D, U-U, D-U, except we play the full pattern twice for each chord (Am, G, C and F).
Last Pre-Chorus
The only time you need another strumming pattern in Riptide is during the final pre-chorus. But don’t worry, it’s as easy as it gets as far as strumming patterns go! Just strum down once for each measure. That’s it.
While they are relatively simple, once you get up to full speed these patterns can be challenging – especially when switching back and forth between them. If you are having trouble with them, I recommend slowing down and playing them at half speed for a while first to build up that muscle memory!
Song Format and Lyrics
Once you’ve got the chords and strumming patterns down, you’re ready to play! Here’s how Riptide is laid out by section:
Intro: Am-G-C-C x2
Verse: Am-G-C-C x4
Pre-chorus: Am-G-C-C x2
Chorus: Am-G-C-C x4
Verse: Am-G-C-C x4
Pre-chorus: Am-G-C-C x2
Chorus: Am-G-C-C x4
Pre-bridge melody: x4 (find this at the end of the article)
Bridge: Am G C F x2
Special Pre chorus: Am-G-C-C x2 (remember to strum)
Chorus: Am G C x13
Putting the Lyrics and Chords Together
No one wants to be the reason Vance has got a lump in his throat, so let’s make sure we don’t sing the words wrong!
[Verse #1]
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 magician’s assistant in their dreams
[Pre-chorus]
Am G C
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Am G C
Ooh, ooh, and they come unstuck
[Chorus]
Am G C
Lady, running down to the riptide, taken away
Am G C
To the dark side, I wanna be your left hand man
Am G C
I love you, when you’re singing that song, and I got a lump
Am G C
In my throat , ‘cause you’re gunna sing the words wrong
[Verse #2]
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 Your city
Am G C
This cowboy’s running from himself
Am G C
And she’s been living on the higher shelf
[Pre-chorus]
Am G C
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Am G C
Ooh, ooh, and they come unstuck
[Chorus]
Am G C
Lady, running down to the riptide, taken away
Am G C
To the dark side, I wanna be your left hand man
Am G C
I love you, when you’re singing that song, and I got a lump
Am G C
In my throat, ‘cause you’re gunna sing the words wrong
[Pre-bridge melody]
[Bridge]
Am G
I just wanna, I just wanna know
C F
If you’re gunna, if you’re gunna stay
Am G
I just gotta, I just gotta know
C F
I can’t have it, I can’t have it, any other way
[Special pre-chorus] – strum each chord once
Am G C
I swear she’s destined for the screen
Am G C
The closest thing to Michelle Pfeiffer that you’ve ever seen
[Chorus x3]
Am G C
Lady, running down to the riptide, taken away
Am G C
To the dark side, I wanna be your left hand man
Am G C
I love you, when you’re singing that song, and I got a lump
Am G C
In my throat, ‘cause you’re gunna sing the words wrong
(On the third time through the chorus, play the last line twice.)
Pre-Bridge Melody Bonus
If you’ve mastered the rest of the song and are looking for a way to take your performance up a notch – really stand out amongst the Riptide playing masses – I’ve got you covered. Here’s how you play the slick little pre-bridge turnaround at the 1:44 mark.
Put your first (index) finger on the 3rd fret of the C (3rd) string, then pluck the C string once with the index finger of your right hand and hammer-on your third finger to the 5th fret of the C string. Then, repeat the same note again and go to the 4th fret of the E string, hit that note once and go back to the 3rd string to end the lick with 2 notes on the 3rd and 5th frets of the C string.
Here it is in TAB format:
A —————————-
E —————4————
C —–3–5–5——-3–5—-
G —————————-
Repeat this melody 4 times.
Practice, Practice, Practice…
Congratulations, you now have almost everything you need to play the uke mega hit Riptide. The only thing left to do is practice. So go forth and practice the chord changes, or the strumming patterns, or the pre-bridge melody, or the lyrics. Whatever is giving you trouble, just stick with it, and next time someone asks “Can you play Riptide?” you’ll be ready.
For more lessons on chords, techniques, and songs, make sure to run down to www.ukelikethepros.com. We offer you a bunch of great ukulele content that comes hand-in-hand with an awesome ukulele community that will support you in this journey.
