Bei Mir Bist Du Schön — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Bei Mir Bist Du Schön by Sholom Secunda & Sammy Cahn & Jacob Jacobs & Saul Chaplin — key of A (manouche), form Intro A B. Below is the full chord grid; on Haute Gitanerie you can play along with a scrolling chord ribbon, transpose to any key, set the tempo, and switch on a rhythm backing (la pompe) to practise your solos over the changes.
About
Bei Mir Bist Du Schön began as a 1932 Yiddish theatre song by composer Sholom Secunda and lyricist Jacob Jacobs. With new English words by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, the Andrews Sisters' 1937 swing hit made it a worldwide standard, quickly adopted by manouche bands.
The sound — a minor swing in A minor, where the Am6 tonic and Dm6 iv give it that bittersweet, dance-floor lift, driven forward by strong dominants.
Practising it — drill the A harmonic minor scale and your Am6, Dm6 and E7 arpeggios. Lean on the E7 pulling back to Am, and keep the pompe buoyant — this one is meant to swing hard.
Bei Mir Bist Du Schön chords — the grille
Intro : | Am6 | Dm6 | Am6 | Dm6 | Am6 | Dm6 | E♭° | E7 |
A : | Am6 | Am6 | F7 | F7 | E7 | E7 | Am6 G7 | F7 E7 | Am6 | Am6 | F7 | F7 | E7 | E7 | Am | Am |
B : | Dm6 | Dm6 | Am6 | Am6 | Dm6 | E♭° | E7 | E7 | Am6 | Am6 | F7 | F7 | E7 | E7 | Am6 Dm6 | Am6 E7 |
Chords used
Am6 · Dm6 · E♭° · E7 · F7 · G7 · Am
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Bei Mir Bist Du Schön: loop any section, transpose to any key, set the tempo, and play over a rhythm accompaniment — with a real recorded pompe on featured tunes. In the browser, free.