Arcade Fire – Keep the Car Running (Chords)

Given Arcade Fire’s penchant for strange instruments such as French horns, the hurdy-gurdy, the sackbut and the Tuvan nose-banjo, it’s a huge oversight of them not to have used a ukulele.

Happily for us, their latest single, Keep The Car Running, fits very nicely on the ukulele.

The chords for the song are straightforward enough. The only chord name you might not recognise is Gsus2. However, the chord is so simple even a baby could play it (although perhaps not this baby, who can’t even finger a chord at all). A Gsus2 is just the standard G chord with the finger taken off the top string allowing it to ring open.

The song’s riff also falls nicely on the uke.

This riff is played over the D and the Gsus2 chords. If you’re playing this part on a single uke you’ll want to support these notes with others from the chords. For example, over the Gsus2 you can play:

There you have it. Next time you go to see Arcade Fire you can hustle your way on stage and add that vital missing ingredient.