A Whiter Shade Of Pale chords

by Procol Harum

Song Key: C Major

Key Signature: No sharps or flats

Time Signature: 4/4 (♩)

Tempo: 75 bpm (Slowly)

Vocal Range: G4 - A5


Guitar Tuning: E A D G B e

Skill Level: Beginner (all easy chords - see charts below)

Chords: C, Em/B, Am, C/G, F, Am/E, Dm, F/C, G, G7, Em

Chord Chart Legend
C Major C/G Dm Em Em/B F Major F Major Barre Chord G Major G/F G7 Am Am/E
Lefties Chord Chart Legend
C Major - LH C/G - LH Dm - LH Em - LH Em/B - LH F Major - LH F Major Barre Chord - LH G Major - LH G/F - LH G7 - LH Am - LH Am/E - LH

Whiter Shade Of Pale

Intro: 4/4    
    |  C  -  Em/B  |  Am  -  C/G  |  F  -  Am/E  |  Dm  -  F/C   |
    |  G  -  G/F   |  Em  -  G7   |  C  -  F     |  G  /  F  G7  |   

 C    Em/B                   Am    C/G
1. We skip-ped the light fan-dan-go 
 F        Am/E                    Dm     F/C
   Turned cart-wheels a-cross the floor
 G       G/F              Em      G7
   I was feel-ing kind of sea-sick
 C     Em/B                 Am     C/G
   The crowd called out for more
 F     Am/E              Dm      F/C
   The room was hum-ming hard-er
 G        G/F             Em     G7
   As the ceil-ing flew a-way
 C         Em/B             Am      C/G
   When we called out for a-noth-er drink
 F     Am/E              Dm      G
   The wait-er brought a tray...(and so it)

                  C    Em/B     Am     C/G
Chorus: And so it wa – as  that lat-er
      F        Am/E             Dm     F/C
        As the mil-ler told his tale
      G          G/F                Em      G7
        That her face at first just ghost-ly
                  C      F          C    G7
        Turn-ed a Whit-er  Shade Of Pale

Instr:
  |  C  – Em/B  |  Am  – C/G  |  F  – Am/E  |  Dm  –  F/C  |
  |  G  –  G/F  |  Em  –  G7  |    C  –  F  |  G  / F  G7  |

 C     Em/B             Am     C/G
2. She said there is no reas-on
 F         Am/E              Dm     F/C
   And the truth is plain to see
 G       G/F                  Em           G7
   But I wand-ered through my play-ing cards
 C     Em/B              Am     C/G
   And would not let her be
 F        Am/E             Dm      F/C
   One of six-teen vest-al virg-ins
 G          G/F              Em     G7
   Who were leav-ing for the coast
C         Em/B      Am            C/G
   And al-though my eyes were o-pen
 F            Am/E                   Dm        G
   They might just as well have been closed...(and so it)

                  C    Em/B     Am     C/G
Chorus: And so it wa – as  that lat-er
      F        Am/E             Dm     F/C
        As the mil-ler told his tale
      G          G/F                Em      G7
        That her face at first just ghost-ly
                  C      F          C    G7
        Turn-ed a Whit-er  Shade Of Pale

Instr:
  |  C  – Em/B  |  Am  – C/G  |  F  – Am/E  |  Dm  – F/C  |
  |  G  –  G/F  |  Em  –  G7  |   C  –  F   |      G      |
                                                 (and so it)   

                     C    Em/B        Am     C/G        
Chorus: And  so  it  wa – as    that  lat-er ...  (fade out)

Notes:

  • Level of Ease: Fairly easy once you become familiar with all the chords
  • Em/B, C/G, Am/E etc., means you play the chord with a leading bass note which follows the forward slash, therefore Em/B is an Em chord with a leading B bass-note, C/G is a C chord with a leading G bass note, Am/E is an Am chord with a leading E bass note etc.
  • There are several different ways to play most of these chords... I have kept them as simple as possible all hovering around the first 3 frets.
  • The Intro consists of 8 bars of music. The first 7 bars each contain 2 chords separated by a hyphen. This means each chord is played for 2 beats with the hyphen splitting the beat count of each bar in half.
  • The 8th bar | G / F G7 | consists of a repeat sign / which means you repeat the previous chord within the bar - play G for 2 beats, F for 1 beat and G7 for 1 beat.
  • Make sure you are comfortable playing all the chords before playing the song - saves a lot of time and effort.
  • If you are a beginner and find the chord structure with added bass notes a little confusing, you can simply play the Intro, Instrumental and related sections of the song using the following chords. Replace:
| C - Em/B | Am - C/G | F - Am/E | Dm - F/C | G - G7/F | Em - G7 | C - F | G / F G7 | 
WITH
|     C    |    Am    |     F    |    Dm    |     G    | Em - G7 | C - F | G / F G7 |
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