Eliza Doolittle – Skinny Genes (Chords)

Eliza Doolittle – Skinny Genes (Live) (Chords)

I almost tabbed up this song when it came out but it slid by. But after hearing the live version I was won over.

Vevo tends to block a lot of stuff so if you can’t see it above, you can listen to the original version here. But that one is in the key of E (the live version is in G) so here are the chords in that key:

Eliza Doolittle – Skinny Genes (Original Key) (Chords)

Be careful with the chords. Take note of the numbers at the top right of the chords diagrams. That’s the fret the chord diagrams start at. So for the live version you’re mainly barring at the 7th fret (4th fret for the original version).

Suggested Strumming

Do this once each time you see a chord written:

You can play the ‘x’ with a chnk, but I prefer to release the pressure with my fretting hand and strum that.

Slowed down, it sounds like this:


Strumming Pattern

You can also add an extra strum at the end so it’s:

d – x u – u d u

Twiddly Bits

The picking bit he does in the first verse varies a lot. Here’s one basic pattern you can use and play around with.

Which sounds like this:


Picking Pattern

View Comments

17 Comments

  1. Tina August 16th, 2011 6:38 pm

    I love the song, but haven’t listened to any of her stuff for almost half a year. But the chord charts are the same on both versions.

  2. Woodshed August 16th, 2011 7:07 pm

    Tina: Thanks very much. Fixed it.

  3. Tina August 16th, 2011 7:14 pm

    you are made of awesome. thank you.

  4. Lindy Danny August 17th, 2011 4:09 pm

    I feel like John Cusack, Jack Black, and Todd Louiso in High Fidelity.

    Barry: I want to date a musician.
    Rob: I wanna live with a musician. She’d write songs at home and ask me what I thought of them, and maybe even include one of our little private jokes in the liner notes.
    Barry: Maybe a little picture of me in the liner notes.
    Dick: Just in the background somewhere.

  5. Woodshed August 18th, 2011 7:23 am

    Tina: Thanks! DFTBA.

    Linday Danny: I’m going to have to watch that film again today.

  6. LNA August 19th, 2011 5:12 pm

    Thank you sooooo much!

  7. Mindy August 19th, 2011 5:42 pm

    Absolutely adored this. It took a while to get used to – because I’ve never played that high up on my uke before. But was very fun when I got the hang of it. Thanks!

  8. Woodshed August 20th, 2011 6:58 am

    LNA: You’re very welcome.

    Mindy: Glad you got the hang of it. It’s well worth learning chords higher up the neck.

  9. Anya August 23rd, 2011 3:57 pm

    i love this song!! thank you!!!!

  10. Woodshed August 23rd, 2011 10:45 pm

    Anya: You’re very welcome.

  11. francesca September 26th, 2011 8:47 pm

    Thank you so much for this! I’m a bit confused about the finger pattern suggested – I might just be really thick, but how do you do eg. Am11 which asks for your first finger to be on two opposite strings?

  12. Woodshed September 27th, 2011 7:57 pm

    Francesca: It’s played with the index finger holding down all the strings. There’s an explanation of barre chords here.

  13. Pigskin November 2nd, 2011 11:20 am

    My Favourite song to play on the uke. Love it!

  14. Captain Nirvana December 8th, 2011 3:36 am

    We need more Eliza Doolittle tabs!!

  15. Clark August 22nd, 2012 5:59 pm

    What is the chord that he plays at the very end?

  16. Julia September 25th, 2013 4:44 pm

    Really dumb question- How do i tune to key of G for the live version?

  17. Woodshed September 25th, 2013 10:51 pm

    Julia: You don’t need to retune. It’s the same tuning just different chords.

Sorry, Comments Are Broken Right Now

You must be logged in to post a comment.