Searching for a guitar chord

Cafe Society
1

Elle and Toni have a new song, a self described ‘murder ballad’. I’m trying to figure out the chords. As far as I can tell the first chord is E, followed by C (?) but what’s the chord after C? I notice that what ever it is, it appears her fingers are picking the higher strings. Is she maybe playing in an alternate tuning? Any other help on chords for this song would be appreciated.

Here’s the song:

2

This is a standard chord progression in which you take a major chord, in this case E major, and move the fifth up by half steps and then down again.

So we start with E major, and the fifth is B. Then for the next chord, raise that fifth to B# (to give it its technically correct spelling, though no need to quibble if you just want to call that note C natural). So the second chord is now E augmented (E+).

Then the fifth goes up another half-step to C#, giving us E6, or you could think of it as C#m over E. And then the fifth goes back down a half step to give us another E augmented chord. So the progression is E E+ E6 E+ and then repeats.

This is most explicit in the electric guitar part. The nylon string player is doing different voicings of those chords that an actual guitarist would be better qualified to opine on (I’m primarily a keyboardist myself).

3

The third chord looks like an e minor add d flat. It’s a d flat, e, g, b ,e on the thinnest 5 strings anyway.

I think…

4

Thanks, I’ll give that a try when I get home tonight

5

I agree with @Stratocaster about the third chord for the acoustic player (Elle?). I don’t know what you would call that; as @hoops said: C#m, E6 or maybe F#m9. After the second chorus, the electric player (Toni?) plays the verse with first position chords and uses an Amaj7 form (without the A).

It is a nice song. I think these are the correct chord progressions, but my ear isn’t great. I used C#m (and D#m for the chord one step up).

Intro:

E C C#m C
E C C#m C

Verse:

E C C#m E
E C#m F# B7
A E D#m C#m -> (b) 
A C#m A -> Asus2 E

Chorus:

Amaj7 Emaj7 C#m7 -> C#sus2  F# -> F#7
Amaj7 Emaj7 B5  G6 -> A7 (no 3rd)

Edit: For the chorus I used the electric guitar’s chords.

6

Thank you! Appreciate it. I’ll give those a try,

7

The new AI apps are getting really good. I use Moises to isolate the instruments and identify chords. The AI models will continue getting better.

I’m old now and my hearing reflects my age. Ear training is great for teens and young adults. It’s a skill that I regret not acquiring 35 years ago. I used to have very good hearing.

Now, I prefer to use my limited free time practicing guitar and learning songs.