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.