Chemical Switches Chords

KeyC CapoNone TuningStandard Difficulty Plays468

Chemical Switches by Andrew Bird is a moderately challenging guitar song played in the key of C. It uses the chords G, Am, F, Dm, Em and C. Use the transpose and diagram tools on this page to change the key, see each shape, or simplify the chords.

Transpose
C
Text
16
Speed
  			
Intro 

G (pluck the open low E string then Hammer on into a Barre G to sound like the recording) 
Whistling  Bit 
Am G F 
G Dm Em 
Am G F 
G F C 

Verse 

Am               G           F 
I keep hearing a vicious rumor 
G                          Dm                    Em 
From the back rooms, to the alleys, to the avenues 
Am                G             F 
That you lost your sense of humor 
G                      F              C 
And the first place you look is the soles of your shoes 

     Am            G           F 
And I watch these ice fields melt into the sea 
  G             Dm          Em 
Warming you're oceans to centuries 
          Am        G      F 
Will your saline waters bring you back to me? 
         G         F          C 
Oh the weight is bringing me to my knees 


Dm          C       G            F 
Chemical switches thrown in the dark 
        G         Dm         C 
All it takes is a spark to begin 
    Dm            C          G          F 
And can you tell which is a one with a mark? 
       G                  Dm            C 
That Bleeds through the clothes to the skin 

Whistling Interlude 

Am G F 
G Dm Em 
Am G F 
G F C 

Verse 

Am  G  F          G            Dm        Em 
Too long I keep searching the alleys and avenues 
        Am        G        F 
But it seems I'm doing it wrong 
          G            F         C 
For I've seen neither hide nor hair of you 

Humming/Singing Interlude 

Am G F 
G Dm Em 
Am G F 
G F C 

Bridge 

             F          C          G          F 
And it's a short short walk from pebbles to bricks 
        G             F 
From stones back to sticks 
         G 
We're lowering the boiling point 
         Dm      C          G       F 
And as time goes by, gets harder to fix 
          G      F           G           C 
It's a volatile mix, like hydrogen and oxygen 


Dm          C       G            F 
Chemical switches thrown in the dark 
        G         Dm         C 
All it takes is a spark to begin 
    	

Chord diagrams

Guitar tuner

--
Start the tuner and play a string

Reference tones

Standard tuning, lowest to highest. Click a string to play it; the string the mic hears is highlighted.

Click Start tuner and allow microphone access. The needle centers and turns green when a string is in tune (within 5 cents).
No microphone? You can still tap any string above to hear its exact reference pitch.

Metronome

100 BPM Andante