ABBA – Waterloo (Chords)

ABBA – Waterloo (Chords)

It’s Eurovision next week, so I’m doing my two favourite Eurovision songs this week. I’ll level with you, there are only two Eurovision winners I’d say were great. And the first one is blindingly obvious: Sweden’s 1974 winner by ABBA.

Suggested Strumming

The main thing: swing your strumming (so the down strum lasts longer than the up strum) – the easiest way is just to get the groove of the song.

Main strum: d – d u d u d u

Intro: d u d u d u d u

Verse: I love the big emphasis on that first D chord. For that play this with the capitals being empahsised:

d – D U – u d u

On the short chords in the first two lines do d – d u for each. Using the main strum for everything else the first three lines sound like this:


Verse Strum

On the last line just do one down strum for all the short chords.

Chorus: The main strum on everything except the A at the end of line 2. This is a classic glam rock move. Play the D on the first down strum, then for the rest of the bar play A with udududu.

Bridge and Outro: use the main strum.

Twiddly Bits

I like to play the guitar riff in the chorus like this:

WaterlooRiff

And here’s a version of the lick at the end:

WaterlooLick

Here’s how those two sound along with the strumming:


Chorus

Links

Buy it on iTunes
More ABBA tabs

View Comments

10 Comments

  1. The Captain May 12th, 2015 8:49 pm

    Ha, I’m so looking forward to “Ein bisschen Frieden” on Thursday.

  2. Janne May 12th, 2015 11:30 pm

    Ah yes, “Waterloo” and “Dschinghis Khan”, the two greats!

  3. Tomas May 13th, 2015 7:00 am

    Oh yes! Thank you. Danke. We need more ABBA ukuelele!

  4. Andreas May 13th, 2015 7:23 am

    As I don’t expect you to be a Bucks Fizz kind of guy I keep my fingers crossed for Gainsbourg’s “Poupee De Cire, Poupee De Son”, yet expect K & the Waves

  5. Woodshed May 13th, 2015 7:45 am

    Captain: You may be disappointed!

    Janne: How did that not win?

    Tomas: You’re welcome!

    Andreas: It is one of those you mentioned.

  6. John K May 13th, 2015 7:56 am

    And for those who don’t know just how fine glam fashion in the early 70’s was.

    https://youtu.be/BoeAqeKW5Wk

    Agnetha looks smashing. If we don’t pay too much attention to Björn’s cape.

  7. Mark May 13th, 2015 11:13 am

    Sadly, my uke group has an allergy to Abba, only rivalled by its hostility to Mr Formby. I think Waterloo sounds much better on uke than some of their other stuff, and your twiddly bits help no end. Thanks.

  8. Woodshed May 13th, 2015 6:19 pm

    John K: I love a good cape. It’s a shame we’ll being seeing fewer pop stars wearing them after the Madonna incident!

    Mark: I hope you can win them over!

  9. Sara June 1st, 2015 10:43 pm

    AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait to get home and try this one!!!!

  10. Woodshed June 4th, 2015 10:32 am

    Sara: Have fun with it!

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