Category Archives: Ask the Musician

Jim Fusco answers your music questions about recording, singing…anything!

“San Francisco” (Scott McKenzie) – Chords/Lyrics/How To Play : Ask the Musician

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By Jim Fusco:

On tonight’s edition of “Ask the Musician”, I have a YouTube email from Todd:

Hi, Could you please send me the tabs of “San Francisco”?  Thanks a lot, you are a great musician.

Thanks, Todd- with me, flattery gets you everywhere!  I don’t have the tabs (don’t really need them for this song), but here are the chords and lyrics: 

Start on G

Em        C        G       D
If you're going to San Francisco,
Em         C         G               D
be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
Em        G        C       G
If you're going to San Francisco,
G            Bm     Em               D
you're gonna meet some gentle people there.

Em            C       G       D
For those who come to San Francisco
Em     C         G             D
Summer-time will be a love-in there.
Em     G          C       G
In the streets of San Francisco,
G         Bm       Em               D
gentle people with flowers in their hair.

F
All across the nation,
F                         G
such a strange vibration, People in motion...
F
There's a whole generation,
F                       G                 D
with a new explanation, People in motion, people in motion.

Em            Am C    G        D
For those who come to San Francisco,
Em          C        G               D
be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
Em      G       C       G
If you come to San Francisco,
G         Bm     Em           G
Summer-time will be a love-in there.

Em     F#m     A     D     A
       If you come to San Francisco
A      C#m     F#m        A        F#m     A
Summertime will be a love-in there

______________________________________

Thanks again for the comment, Todd, and happy playing!

“Disney Girls (1957)” by the Beach Boys Chords, Tabs, and How To Play: Ask the Musician

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello all, and welcome to another edition of “Ask the Musician” with me, Jim Fusco!

Tonight, I’m answering a question I’ve gotten a lot: “What are the chords to the Beach Boys’ “Disney Girls (1957)”?  One of our readers, Albert, left a nice message on my cover version of this song here on the blog, so I wanted to thank him by posting the chords so he can play it himself!

If you want to see the song played solo and acoustically, CLICK HERE to read my blog post and see the music video!

“Disney Girls (1957)”

Bruce Johnston

Capo on the first fret.

Intro: F / / Fmaj7 / / Gm7/F / / F F/G F/A Bb / / Dm/A / / Gm7/C / C7

F                                Am/E                      Gm7/D              Gm7
Clearing skies and drying eyes now I see your smile
Gm7/C                      C7                          Fmaj7               F.Bb  /   F.Fdim
Darkness goes and softness shows a changing style
F                    Am/E                               Gm7/D                Gm7
Just in time words that rhyme well bless your soul
Gm7/C                        C7                 Fmaj7             F6
Now I’ll fill your hands with kisses and a Tootsie Roll
Eb               Bb/D                     F/C                       F7
Oh reality, it’s not for me and it makes me laugh
Eb7                          Bb/D                   F/C                 F  /  Fdim  /  C7  /  Gm7  /  D  /  C7  /  E
Oh, fantasy world and Disney girls I’m coming back

Patti Page and summer days on old Cape Cod
Happy times making wine in my garage
Country shade and lemonade guess I’m slowing down
It’s a turned back world with a local girl in a smaller town
Open cars and clearer stars that’s what I’ve lacked

Eb7                          Bb/D                   F/C                    A7
But fantasy world and Disney girls I’m coming back

Dm                                                                Gm7
Love…Hi Rick and Dave Hi Pop…good morning mom
C7                                                                        Fmaj7          F6
Love…get up guess what I’m in love with a girl I found
Bb                  C7/Bb                          Gdim/A            A7                  D7+5         D7        Fdim/G  /   G7  /   C7+5  /  C7   /   Gm7/C   /    C7
She’s really swell ’cause she likes Church, bingo chances and old time dances

All my life I spent the night with dreams of you
And the warmth I missed and for the things I wished they’re all coming true
I’ve got my love to give and a place to live guess I’m gonna stay
It’d be a peaceful life with a forever wife and a kid someday
It’s early nights and pillow fights and your soft laugh

Eb7……………………….Bb/D………………..F/C
Fantasy world and Disney girls I’m coming back

Ask the Musician: Recording with limited tracks

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to a new series here on the Laptop Sessions that I like to call “Ask the Musician”.  On a daily basis, I get questions from young (and old) YouTube viewers that saw my tutorial and informational videos about recording and writing songs.  They ask me questions about my process and the equipment I’ve chosen.  Well, I decided I should share my advice with the world in this new series here on the best music blog on the planet!  The questions are first, followed by my responses in italics.

Our first question comes from TheBeatlesFan1991 on YouTube:

The way i record my songs is through an mp3 because I still am in high school so I’m kinda limited to an extent, and so the way I record is I take a track with just the guitars the rhythm and the lead and then I go and record another track with the guitar parts in the background playing while we record.

I haven’t done this yet its more of an experiment and since I’m guessing you’ve probably have gone through something similar to this and I was wandering if you could tell me if it’ll work or not.

You know, it’s not a bad way to record.  When I was recording with my band, though, we had four of us playing music parts.  So, we recorded the instruments live, then went back and over-dubbed the vocals.  We’re very vocal-based, as I’m sure you can tell.

I’d say the best way to go is to keep the recordings of the music and vocals separate whenever you can, because you want to make sure the vocals don’t get buried or stand out too much.  But, you know, I’ve been through a lot of ways of recording and I think I’ve changed my definition of the “best” way to record about five times.  So, hopefully you try this for a bit and make some changes accordingly.  I hope you’ll keep me posted!

If you have a question, please feel free to write to me on YouTube or leave a comment here on the blog- I’ll be happy to answer it and continue the conversation.

“That Was the Day” by Jim Fusco (Chords & Lyrics) – Ask the Musician

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By Jim Fusco:

My new friend Dianne on Facebook asked me a while ago for the chords to my “classic” song, “That Was the Day” off of the “That’s All Jim” album.  I remember coming up with this song oh so long ago about my future wife, Becky.  Little did I know that we’d get married seven years later…

Anyway, I’m so happy to have a fan in Dianne and I finally get to post the chords and lyrics for all to see.  I hope you enjoy!  Don’t know how the song goes?  Check out my YouTube acoustic video below the chords.

That Was the Day
Written by Jim Fusco

Dm            Em            F            D            G            (All on barre chords)

G                                                        Dm7
I remember the day a great man told me
Am7            D            G
The perfect girl             did not exist.
G                                             Dm7
I said that if I should ever find her,
Am7       D                 G
I knew that I            would not resist.

Dm7            Am7                                  Dm7                      G
That was the day I             met you; that was the day you stole my heart.
Dm7            Am7                                  Dm7                         G
That was the day I            met you; you were the one right from the start.
Dm7            C                                        Dm7                         G
And that was the day I             met you; when I found out that you were true.
Dm7            Am7                                Dm7                  G
That was the day I             met you; then I knew what I should do.

Right up to that day, my heart was hurting,
I never knew you’d come around.
I almost gave up all of my searching,
Right before you turned around.

CHORUS

(Instrumental break- all on barre chords)
Dm            Em            6x
F            D
Dm            Em            8x
F            D            G

CHORUS 2x

Dm            Em            6x
F            D            G