The Who – Blue, Red and Grey (Chords)
I think the fact that The Who – one of the hardest rocking bands in history – had a ukulele song deserves a bigger mention than it usually gets. Perhaps it will do now that Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey both regularly play the song live on uke.
They both play Blue, Red and Grey slightly differently to the version on The Who by Numbers (which is the version I’ve written up). The original is played in D-tuning but both now play it in C-tuning. Daltrey uses the same chords as the original while Townshend uses – broadly – the same chord shapes as the original (so it’s a tone lower). Another difference is that Townshend uses the F – C7M progression from the bridge in the verses as well.
Suggested Strumming
Time to invent a new bit of shorthand: t = touch strum (i.e. a down strum only hitting the g-string).
The only tricky bit is the intro:
D………..Dsus4
t – d – - u d -
For the rest of the song it’s just
t – d – t – d -
over and over.
excellent! do love me a bit of the who