Ukulele Video Lessons - Lady In Red

With this ukulele video lessons, I'll be teaching you how to play this famous Chris De Burgh song, "Lady In Red".

Lady in Red was a major hit in the 80s that is still popular today. The song features a long chord progression which makes use of a 7th chord, from which the song draws its occasionally odd-sounding transitions. The chord progression for this song is remarkably long, but centers on a few basic chords that should not be hard for beginners to transition between. Remember that this song is characteristically soft. A soft, even strum will work best to create the ambient character of this particular piece of music.

The intro to this song is literally one chord. For four full measures, play a G in the second position. You can hammer on the A string with your second finger to give a bit of variety to this intro. Listen to the song a few times to see where this embellishment fits; it is also featured in the video. Once the transition is passed, the song’s main progression starts. While the chord changes in this song are not as predicable or consistent as they are in most pop songs, the basic chord order is G-D-E minor-C. There are variations on this progression throughout, however.

The verses lead up to the refrain with the following progression: C-A minor-D-E minor-D-D7. Both the C at the beginning of this progression and the D7 at the end are used throughout this song as transition tones that lead into the next major part of the song. The D7 adds a suspense tone to the song, which leads the listener’s ear to expect a resolution of the chord sooner, rather than later, and which is satisfied by the transition in to the G chord. The last transition consist of the chords C, B7, Em, A7, Am, D.

The chord progression gets more complex throughout the song and this is one where you need to listen and play along a few times to really get it. This ukulele video lesson details the full-length chord progression and offers tips on the easiest way to transition between chords.

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