How to Play Chuck Berry's Memphis Tennessee on Ukulele, Gugug Style

Here’s Gus playing Memphis Tennessee about 4 years ago:

And here’s how I’ve been trying to play it:

The chords are …

[G7]Long distance in formation, give me Memphis Tennessee

Help me find the party trying to get in touch with me

She [C] could not leave her number, but I know who placed the call

‘Cause my [G7] uncle took the [F] message and he [G7] wrote it on the [C] wall

Once you’ve got that, you can add some extra bits…

There’s a shuffle between G7 and G67 (or whatever the right name is… anybody help here?) for the long G7 bit

You play something like this:

0212 / 0212 / 0412 / 0412

Throw in some C6s and C7s during the C bits

During the C bit of the verse, Gus sometimes throws in a C6 (0000) or a C7 (0001) as well as the usual C.

In the C big AFTER the verse, I THINK he uses a different kind of C6: 0053 and C7: 0063. Try it, it’s fun.

The chord solo

The first part of the chord solo is just switching back and forth between G6 and F6, but played high up the neck:

G6: 7777

F6: 5555

…play that over and over a few times.

Then the second part is a switch between C and Bb barre chords, but with an open G-string:

C: 0433

Bb: 0211

You switch between those 2 twice, then back to the G6, F6 figure that appeared at the start of the solo.

And then back to an open C with a bit of gravel, like you play at the end of the verses.

There’s more to it than that…

If anybody can spot mistakes or bits I’ve left out (I think there are a few more little riffs he’s throwing in here and there), please pitch in.

Also if anybody can help me get his strumming chops I’ll be your slave forever.

This is at least enough to have fun playing the song. Enjoy.

This was posted 1 year ago. It has 1 note.

Ukulazy