Riptide

How to play Riptide by Vance Joy on guitar

These are the sounding chords. With a capo on fret 1 you play C, G, Am, A, F, Em, the shapes the player above shows.

This is a great beginner song to learn because the progression is short, catchy, and easy to loop once you get the feel. It has a light, upbeat motion that makes you sound like you are making real progress quickly.

The chart uses barre shapes, so your main job is getting clean pressure and smooth shifts between C#, G#, A#m, A#, F#, and Fm. The change to watch most closely is the opening move from C# to G# and back again, since that back-and-forth sets the pattern.

Start by practicing the opening progression slowly, one clean change at a time. Then loop the full chord sequence until your hands remember it, and only after that bring it up toward the song's tempo. Keep the rhythm steady and relaxed.

Use the play-along above to follow each chord change in time with the music, or learn the shapes first with the chord diagrams below.