Buffalo Gals

I / / / | V / I / | / / / / | V / I / |

As I was walking on down the street, down the street, down the street,
a pretty little girl I chanced to meet and we danced by the light of the moon.

Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight?
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, and dance by the light of the moon?

Reading a Chord Chart

The line with the Roman numerals and the slashes tells you which chord you are supposed to strum (the one (I) or the five (V)) and how many strums or beats there are for each chord. The bar (|) separates it into sections, usually the lines of a song. Each section between the bars has the same number of beats as the other sections of the song.

You keep strumming the same chord until you get to where a new one is supposed to be played. In this particular instance, each beat (either a chord name or a slash ( I, V, or / )) should match up with the "One" of your One-Two-Three-Four strum pattern.

Chord charts don't usually match the words. You don't actually start counting beats until you get to the word "I." The word "As" is just a pickup beat. To begin the song, you would strum your One (I) chord (the first of the pair you chose to focus on) for a One-Two-Three-Four pattern and sing "As" on the Four. The One beats would come at words "I," "walking," "down," and then "street." The next One beat comes on the next "down" (of down the street) but this time you need to play the 5 (V) chord of your selected pair.

It can get confusing but you ought to just go ahead and try it. At the end of the song, (on the word “moon”), you’ll hit two strum patterns before starting into the verse.

It it's too much, here is the song laid out with the beats above the words of the first verse and the chords marked in the correct letter name for several pairs of chords:

Buffalo Gals (key of C (paired with G))

   C      /          /         /      G          /      C        / 
As I was walking on down the street, down the street, down the street,

    /            /       /         /           G              /           C   /
a pretty little girl I chanced to meet and we danced by the light of the moon.

 C       /              /          /      G          /      C           /
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight?

 /       /              /          /          G            /            C   /
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, and dance by the light of the moon?

Buffalo Gals (key of D (paired with A))

   D      /          /         /      A          /      D        / 
As I was walking on down the street, down the street, down the street,

    /            /       /         /           A              /           D   /
a pretty little girl I chanced to meet and we danced by the light of the moon.

 D       /              /          /      A          /      D           /
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight?

 /       /              /          /          A            /            D   /
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, and dance by the light of the moon?

Buffalo Gals (key of G (paired with D))

   G      /          /         /      D          /      G        / 
As I was walking on down the street, down the street, down the street,

    /            /       /         /           D              /           G   /
a pretty little girl I chanced to meet and we danced by the light of the moon.

 G       /              /          /      D          /      G           /
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight?

 /       /              /          /          D            /            G   /
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, and dance by the light of the moon?

Buffalo Gals (key of A (paired with E))

   A      /          /         /      E          /      A        / 
As I was walking on down the street, down the street, down the street,

    /            /       /         /           E              /           A   /
a pretty little girl I chanced to meet and we danced by the light of the moon.

 A       /              /          /      E          /      A           /
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight?

 /       /              /          /          E            /            A   /
Buffalo gals won't you come out tonight, and dance by the light of the moon?

Jampage Index