James Bay – Hold Back the River (Chords)

I love how this song builds. I rarely make strong pronouncements on how you should strum a song but if you use the same strum all the way through this song you will ruin it.

Twiddly Bits

With a bit of octave switching the riffs fits onto the uke nicely as a series of thirds.

Suggested Strumming

I’d highly recommend not using the same strum all the way through this song. If not you’re playing the riff, I’d recommend just one down strum per chord for the first two verses and the first chorus.

Then punch it up a bit in the second chorus to something like:

d – d – – u d u

Back to one strum per chord for the middle and then another chorus with the chorus strum. For the second middle section I recommend really building up the tension with double-time down strums:

d d d d d d d d

James Bay – Hold Back the River (Chords)