Toy Story is one of my favorite films. I wouldn’t be afraid to say it’s probably one of the best movies in the past 20 years. Randy Newman wrote “You’ve Got a Friend In Me” as a theme song for the movie. It’s a great song and I’ve always wanted to cover this song on the ukulele. Here is a video of my go at it. Scroll down for the chord chart.
I will say there are a lot of weird chords and changes in this song. There are also a lot of chords that use some different inversions and slash chords, meaning, their is some movement in the bass line.
For example, in the intro, you’ll see chords like “B/G” or “Bb/G.” All this chord means is that you play a B or a Bb major chord and you have a G note in the bass. The chord to the right of the slash is what chord is going to be in the bass. A bass guitar would hit these bass notes.
Because the ukulele doesn’t naturally carry a lot of low end notes, it’s hard to perfectly replicate that sound, so I adjusted as necessary. We just want to worry about playing the chord to the left of the slash.
“You’ve Got a Friend In Me” Chords by Randy Newman
This song has a lot of chords in it, and probably some that we don’t normally use. So you’ll want to refresh yourself on these chord positions. To see the finger positions for the different chords used in this song, scroll down or click here.
You’ve got a friend in me
You’ve got a friend in me
When the road looks rough ahead
and your miles and miles
from your nice warm bed
Just remember what your old pal said
For you’ve got a friend in me
Yeah, you’ve got a friend
in me
You’ve got a friend in me
You’ve got a friend in me
You got troubles, then I got ’em too
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you
If we stick together we can see it through
‘Cause you’ve got a friend in me
Yeah, you’ve got a friend
in me
Some other folks might be a
little bit smarter than I am
Big and stronger too
Maybe. But none of them would
ever love you the way I do
It’s me and you boy
And as the years go by
our friendship will never die
Your going to see it’s our destiny
You’ve got a friend in me
Yeah, you’ve got a friend in me.
You’ve got a friend
in me
Chords Used in “You’ve Got a Friend In Me”
Here are the finger positions of the chords used in “You’ve Got a Friend In Me.” You can look up other variations of these chords using my ukulele chord library.
Once you’ve figured it all out, let me know you think! I’d love to hear how it’s going for you. Post a comment below.
C major
F major
A major
Bb major
B major
Cmaj7
C7
D7
E7
G7
G#7
A7
B7
C#min7b5
Am
Em
F#dim7
Bdim7
Gaug7
You make it so easy to listen to, and to watch, and make me think I can do this too…someday! Thanks for sharing!
You’ll have it down before you know it 🙂 Glad you enjoy!
such a beautiful song! thank you for sharing it with us!
greetings from Spain
How are you you reposed to understand this…It’s so confusing 🙁
Hi Tevana, this is a pretty difficult song. You might try downloading my free lesson ebook if you haven’t already. That’s a great starting point.
Hey what size ukulele is that?
Thanks, Joey
Never mind! got it tenor…
Great song and awesome playing Brett!!! You make it look so effortless…. You are right about the tricky cord changes. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comment, Dan! It’s definitely a challenge getting all the different chord fingerings straight, but once you do, it’s not so bad.
Accidentally came across this. So well and sweetly done. can’t wait to work it out.
mindi
Awesome!
Lovely sound; who makes the uke you are playing in the video? Would you be so kind as to write to the address above?
Ritchie, I will send you an email, but in case others have the same question too, you can read all about my ukulele here! It’s a ukulele made by a luthier named M. J. Franks.
man. i actually love this website.
i’m staying at my grandads and picked up his ukulele and tried to figure out how to play –
so searched the internet and found you on youtube…
honestly so glad i did 🙂
this song sounds amazing and i’m at a party this saturday so i’ll whip out my ukulele and dazzle everyone with my new found skills haha 😉
thank you sooo much 🙂
my grandad also loves this website and the tuning feature as his ukulele has been out of tune for about 40 years 😉
thanks again 😀
Ellie, I’m so glad you love the website! 😀 Glad to hear it’s been helpful for you and your grandad so far. My grandpa plays ukulele too (he actually taught me) so that’s fun when you got the uke in the family! 🙂
Great stuff Brett. Funnily enough I just learnt another Randy Newman song, short people, from the mighty “Uke hunt” website (ever notice how that name sounds like a very dirty non-uke type website if you say it quicj enough) and just recorded it. I had a hankering to learn a new tune and this is just perfect! Now to go sit in the sunshine on the balcony and get it down…I should really be doing my essay but sunshine is rare in the west of Ireland so I’m gonna soak it up. You only live once right?…
-F
It doesn’t get much better playing uke in the sunshine! Enjoy 🙂
whats the strumming pattern i have a hard time figuring ou what strummng patterns are
Zac, I’m doing a lot of down strums with some up strums to a count of four. There isn’t really a specific pattern. You might check out this free video lesson on strumming patterns for beginners here: http://www.ukuleletricks.com/ukulele-strumming-patterns-for-beginners/
You could probably use that strumming pattern for this song. Also, if you are interested, I have a video lesson course dedicated to strumming patterns here: http://www.ukuleletricks.com/ukulele-strumming-tricks/
So the strumming pattern is just U-D-U-D? And you did that so beautifully! ;D
You got it! I might have varied it up just a little bit in some parts of the song, but that is the idea. 🙂
This tab is amazing, I love this song so much and it sounds amazing on ukulele. Your cover was fantastic, very well done.
Thank you, Kevin!
Hi Brett..It is probably because I don’t know to much about chords but how did you come up with the Gaug7 chord? I can’t find it in any of my chord charts. I also wanted to learn this on my Baratone Ukulele but I can’t figure the chord for the Gaug7 used. I have Mel Bays Baritone Uku Chords book and that chord doesn’t show there either. Any info on this? Thanks..Keith
Hi Brett..Doing some research on the net I found that the Gaug7 is the G7+5 chord. It is on the seventh augmented fifth (7+5) page 29 of Mel Bay’s Baritone Uku Chord book..Thanks..Keith
You got it! An augmented chord is a chord where the 5th of the chord is raised a half step (+5). Glad you were able to figure it out!
Awesome! I really enjoy playing this song. Thank you very much
so happy i found you, this websight has everything and every song i wanted to learn! i just bought a ukulele the other day and im just learning, so much fun!
This makes me very happy to hear! 🙂
Cute!!!
Hi Brett! – When two chords are shown separated by a “/” (as in the intro). Does this mean you can play either chord?
Thanks
Close. The letter to the right of the slash represents the bass note a bass guitar player would play while other instruments would play the chord to the left of the slash.
When I play this song, if I’m in low G tuning, I like to keep the top string ringing completely open for those slash chords. Does that make sense?
yes – thanks Brett!
btw – I’m waiting on an anniversary gift … a new concert uke! I’m very excited! Now we’ll have 2 ukes in the family … no line, no waiting! 🙂
Hi Brett.
Awesome post, and very cool and helpful website. I have a question about the Gaug7 chord. In your chords tool, I look for G7 and the second variation appears to be the same as Gaug7. Does this means that I can use G7 instead of Gaug7?
Thanks, have a good one!
Juan
Hi Juan, thanks for the comment. I looked at the second variation for the G7 chord on the chord library, and it is different than the Gaug7 that is shown on this page. Are we looking at the same chords?
WOW!
There are so very many chords, i’m dizzy 😛
But your cover is so lovely, i’m determined to learn the heck out of this song!
Thanks for sharing this (:
Hah, I know what you mean! You gotta learn it. It’s probably my favorite song to play on the ukulele as of right now.
This site is awesome. One suggestion though: how about designing it so that the whole song and chords fit in one screen?
Maybe displaying the chord in parenthesis in the same line as lyrics would save some space?
Eduardo, thanks for the suggestion. For now, something you might try is cutting and pasting the chords and lyrics from Ukulele Tricks into a text or Word document you can print off of your computer–that way you’re not printing all the graphics and extras on the Ukulele Tricks website.
Hi Brett..Eduardo made a good point but I have found out that the way it is done now requires me to memorize the chords more than if they were in with the song. Also I can just copy the chords and print them out..Cheers..Keith
Hi Brett–have been playing uke with a group of seniors for the past year–having fun–even have done a few gigs.this course you are offering on different strumming patterns– would it be worthwhile to me. thanks Pat
Hey Pat, there is a woman who is apart of the Ukulele Strumming Tricks course that is also apart of a ukulele group that gigs and plays out. I included her testimonial on the Ukulele Strumming Tricks page. She had said that she was still able to gain a lot of tips and tricks from the course. In the course, I don’t just throw a bunch of strumming patterns your way, but I structure the course in a way that gives you a method to approach strumming, which I think is very beneficial to any player. Please feel free to email me if you have any other questions!
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH
haha, thank you!
hey this is amazing! i love it, but its really tricky, and you r very talented, i just got my ukulele and i cant wait to learn this song thanx, keep up the good work! ^_^
hey mate this is a great website fantastic for learners! just wondering with how you have the chords that are played is there any chance you could put the number of times you strum it besides it? just something like F… 4 times. cause i find it hard get the strumming right.
Hey Tommy, thanks for the comment! The problem with putting a number for how many times you strum is that timing is a very relative thing. The thing is that a lot of strumming patterns could work for this song. The best thing to do if you’re uncertain about a songs strumming pattern is to just do down strums at first till you start to get a sense of the feel for a song. As you get comfortable, you can start adding your own variations.
With that being said though, I do have a great video lesson on a beginning strumming pattern that would work really well for this song. You can get the lesson here: http://www.ukuleletricks.com/ukulele-strumming-patterns-for-beginners/
thank you. the world is a better place for this post. time to play… Merci, Gracias, tack tack
Thank you very much indeed for your teaching!!
My pleasure!
how do u actually do b/g and bb/g, am i just being plain thick?? XD
Hey Ellie, these chords are known as slash chords because they are separated with a “/” symbol. Essentially, you play the chord on the left hand side of the slash. The note on the right side of the slash is played by the bass. Because ukuleles don’t really carry a lot of bass, it’s hard to play a G in the bass.
I do have a low G tuned ukulele, so I will essentially play a normal B and Bb major chord, but I will let the top low G string ring open. You can do this with a ukulele tuned to normal tuning and it doesn’t sound bad either.
ah, right thankyou 🙂
To my friend Bret;
I am a 79 yr old man that has never played any instrument in my life.
My wife recently passed away and I was really depressed until I decided that I need some music in my life. I bought a Soprano uke and started your lessons you cannot imagine the joy this has given me. Then I bought a Tenor uke with a low G wound string set. The frets are easier for these old fingers. Question??? Are the chords the same on both and if not where can i find the proper chords for the tenor???:
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and God bless you! John
John, thank you for sharing this comment with me. I’m so sorry to hear about your loss, but I’m so happy to hear about how the ukulele has given you joy. I’m honored that Ukulele Tricks could play a part in that. When I read your comment earlier today, I was very inspired and moved. It was a great reminder how powerful music is and how powerful it is to share that with others.
I love my tenor ukulele. I want to get a soprano eventually (I’m thinking this Christmas maybe). The chords are the same on both if you are tuned to GCEA. Even with a low G tuning, the chord shapes are the same, although they might sound a little different. This is just because that low G string adds some extra notes to the bottom end. You’d be able to use the chord library here on Ukulele Tricks for your low G ukulele.
Merry Christmas, John, and God bless you too!
Thank you Bret, you are an inspiration. Thanks so much.
I’ve just started ukulele after playing the guitar and the bass, and this is the best website i’ve found to learn from, thanks!
Thanks for the compliment, Freddy! I’m really happy to hear it!
Hey brett its me again! i just got a baritone ukulele for christmas. can you please make another song tab for baritone ukuleles?
This is awesome! It seems complicated at first, but it flows very well and is insanely fun to play! Thanks for this 🙂
Hey Nico, I’m glad you like it!
Would you mind telling me how you do your fingering for B7? I can’t seem to get my fingers to make that chord… Thanks!
Hey Gwen, I barre the 2nd fret completely with my index finger. Then, I place my middle finger on the 3rd fret of the second to top string.
Thanks!
Hi(: So, I’m a girl with a relatively higher voice than you..for obvious reasons. Is there a way this can be transcribed for someone with a higher vocal range? If not, thanks anyways. You made this song fun and easy to learn.
Totally. What you want to do is transpose the song. Transpose is a word used for “changing the key” of a song.
http://www.ukuleletricks.com/how-to-transpose-a-song/
The easier way to change the key would be to buy a capo and place it up a couple frets. This will raise the key for you to suit your voice more.
Hi! I was wondering what kind of strumming pattern are you using
for this song? Thanks!
Hi Aurora, I actually teach a strumming pattern that you can use for this song here in this video lesson:
http://www.ukuleletricks.com/ukulele-strumming-patterns-for-beginners/
Enjoy.
Hey Brett, I actually have a Disney ukulele song book and this song is in there but in the book they show it as:
C G7#5 C7 F F#dim7 for the intro but then it switches for most of the song to
C F C E7 Am etc, and I find that version a lot easier to play but it makes me wonder if this version is just transposed to be easier to sing?
Hey Montana, great question. It’s quite possible that the Disney book simplified the chord progression to make it easier to play. It’s still in the same key as my chord chart, however, it’s very common for chord books to do this with difficult songs. It looks like for their intro progression they are playing the first part of a verse. I say this because a G7#5 is the same as a Gaug7, which is very similar to the verse chord progression.
Hey Brett! The song is great and I was curious if you could tell me the chords to the original version which is 3 half steps higher? I’m a Music Teacher and I’m teaching my kids to play your version on the soprano ukulele but when I played it with the Toy Story movie soundtrack, it’s in a different key. Thanks so much!!!
Joel
Hey Joel, I believe the original key for the Toy Story movie is Eb. The reason I didn’t write out the chords in Eb is because the chords in that key aren’t the easiest on the ukulele. A great way to bump up the key to play along with the soundtrack would be to use a capo, or you could transpose it up three half steps.
I imagine you probably know how to transpose, but I included a good “cheat sheet” to transpose the song here:
http://www.ukuleletricks.com/how-to-transpose-a-song/
Hi.
Love the site, it’s been great helping me to learn new songs. I’ve played guitar for about 20 years, but only started playing the ukulele.
I play this a tiny bit differently. I don’t like the sound of the G#7 chord in the intro, it sounds so high pitched compared to all the other chords. I play the F#dim7 instead, probably wrong from the chord theory perspective, but sounds OK to my ears 🙂 I also prefer to play D7 as 2020 instead of 2223.
Anyway, thanks for the great work!
Great comment, Einar! That’s another really great way to play the D7. You might check out different variations of the G#7 chord on my ukulele chord library:
http://www.ukuleletricks.com/ukulele-chords/
You’ll probably be able to find a chord that is voiced a little lower so it’s not so high pitched. It’s awesome you are using your ears and letting that guide your playing. Awesome work!
Hah, I wasn’t that far off. I was playing F#dim7 (2323), but there is a voicing of G#7 that is very similar to that, 1323, found through your chord chart. Very happy with the way it sounds now, now I just need to remember the lyrics 🙂
Hiya there Brett,
you make the song look sooooo cool, wish i could play as well as you.
I find your video really helped me with the tricky cord changes especially Gsharp7; really tough change!
Thanks sooooo much!!!!!
Felicity
Hey Felicity! You’re welcome!
Hi fella,just having a break from your tutorial checking out the songs on here only to find that for this song you have switched to playin as a leftie so cool! i tried myself and could not seem to MIRROR the chords or strum at all STRANGE. Tutorial is great bye the way anyway got to go need to swing low>
Hey alcooke, you know what’s interesting is that I’m naturally a lefty, but for this video, I was actually playing right handed. It was just that the video program I was using flipped the video! So it looks like I’m playing left handed, but I really wasn’t. Oops! 🙂
These are the most wonderful ukulele lessons in the world! Thank You soooo much
I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying them, Boberina!
Just got my first ukulele and just found your website. Thanks. This is also one of my favorites. Hope I can learn this this year. Do you know “I’m Alive” performed by Kenny Chesney and Dave Matthews? Looking for a ukulele version of it.
Hey Sherrie, welcome to Ukulele Tricks! Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll keep it in mind for future lessons.
Great cover. New to your site and the ukulele. Played guitar for a while and now im devoting a lot of time to the uke. You are helping me a lot. Took me two full days to get this down.. still need to smooth out the rough edges but IT IS SO FUN TO PLAY. 🙂 thank you so much man. keep it up.
Hey David, you’re very welcome. I’m glad to hear you’re getting this song down. I might have said this before, but it’s my favorite to play on the ukulele. Keep up the good work yourself!
It was such a blast to play one of my favourite songs of all time…!! Thanks for putting it up. I literally got my uke last week and I LOVE it. I can’t believe I never discovered this wonderful little bundle of joy sooner. Great site for uke newbies like myself… 🙂
Welcome to the world of playing ukulele! This song is one of the best to play on the uke if you ask me. 🙂
A damp cold day in England made sunny and warm. Thanks Brett!
Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Your website is AMAZING!!!!
It is very helpful and useful.
I love the song but its so hard to do. I can’t even memorize 3 chords. 🙁 any suggestions?
Takes time and practice. Keep at it!
Thanks! I almost got it perfect. Its so fun!
Is the struming pattern just down up down? %(
You got it. For this song, I’m just doing down and up strums. I like to keep it simple. You might start off with down strums first and then add to it later on as you get more comfortable. Let me know how your show goes! Best of luck!
I’m going to play this while my friend sings it for the talent show!!!
Hi Brett,
This is a great song and a challenge for me, but I’m getting it, thanks to your great lessons.
One thing I don’t understand is bothering me: The chord shape for F#dim7 is the same as Bdim7, with the two chords being just one fret removed. So if I play the F#dim7 chord as shown, and then move it down one fret, wouldn’t that make it an Fdim7? Is it possible that Fdim7 has the same notes as Bdim7?
Probably not phrasing my question very well, but I hope you understand me. Thanks for all your help.
This is an excellent question/observation. You are right that Fdim7 and Bdim7 share the same notes.
The individual notes in Fdim7 are F-Ab-B-D.
The individual notes in Bdim7: B-D-F-Ab.
Fully diminished seventh chords (dim7) are funny like this.
What’s the strumming patter of this one ? 🙂
Thank you so much for your website !I search this song on ukulele so it’s just the right place !! I enjoy playing ukulele and everytime I need I go to your website =)
Just want to say a huge thank from France 😉
Thanks for the cool new chords. The tune is new to me and perfect w the uke. Thanks!
Hi Brett, my dad taught me to play the uke when I was 5 and I learnt a few songs and a few strumming techniques before I gave up on it and took up magic as my grandpa made tricks and it was easier I suppose, now my dad has gone I regret the loss of all that knowledge, he could play many instruments and read music too. Now I am in my 50s I want to take it up again and your site is fantastic, thank you for giving me the confidence and some of the knowledge that I am sure my dad would have passed on to me if he was still around…one question though, I have always wanted to own and play a banjo uke is there much difference of just the sound? Jack
Hi Jack, so glad you’re learning how to play the uke! The biggest difference between the banjolele and ukulele will be the sound. You can tune a banjolele to standard ukulele tuning, so it’d be easy to follow along with my material. I know that some banjo uke players will tune up a half step or entire full step for a higher sound.
Hi Brett,
Many thanks for coming back to me, I have had a Mahalo soprano Uke for some time and up till recently it had been gathering dust, when I took it out and played some chords on it I found it was too high and the keyboard too small, so I have been looking around the last few days and been looking at your recommendations and as I only have a limited budget at the moment of around £100 to spend I would need at least double that to go for a starter banjolele so maybe my best bet is to spend that cash on a decent tenor uke as I like the sound of them. I found a Hohner Lanikai Tenor Uke for just under my budget do you know this brand and if so what do you think?
Hi Jack, a tenor sounds like the right way to go, especially if you’re finding the soprano uke to be too small for your fingers. I’ve heard great things about Lanikai ukuleles and have tried them out myself. That is probably your best bet in that price range. I’d also take a look at Kala or Cordoba ukuleles in that price range as well. Any of these brands will suit you. Best of luck to you!
Thanks so much for this. It’s my new favourite. Improving everyday and loving it. Thankyou again.
i think im in love with you <3
Thanks for the help, i only recently started ukelele after being hooked on the guitar for 2 years, this website really helped in getting different chord progressions and stuff. I am now attempting this song and slowly getting there!!
Wow…great chording 🙂
using it n playing along ith my guitar! love it!
Sweet!
Hi there. I got here via google, and I just wanted to say how impressed I am with your website. Not only is it very informative and user friendly, but I am blown away by your attentiveness to the comments on your page. Keep up the great work, and I wish you happiness and success in all your endeavors.
Thank you!
Hey Brett I recently got a ukulele and I love looking at the songs on your website. I was wondering for this song what the strumming pattern is? I’m so excited to work this song out for its been the number one song to learn on my list.
Hi Maura, thanks for your comment. Check my comments above for some recommendations for the strumming.
Hi Brett, Nice playing of a delightful song. I was poking around for chord charts to play this on my mandolin and ran across your version. It took a bit of rearranging for chord positions but it sounds good on this instrument too. I’m just a beginner at mando but I can figure out the chords with the help of other great websites. Thanks for posting this. Fun to play.
Greg, that’s great to hear this chord chart could be adapted using the mandolin! Enjoy!
THX! this wedsite helped so much! I can finally play my ukulele because its been stuck in my basement so long! Thanks again Brett!
Hi Brett
Great video!
Can you explain the B/G chord(s) in the intro?
Philip
Hi Philip,
Great question. The B/G is considered a slash chord. For this kind of chord, play a B major chord with a G note in the bass. In a band environment, typically instruments that sit in a higher dynamic range would play a B major chord and the bass guitar would play a low G note.
Because the ukulele has a higher and narrower range, the idea would be to play a chord that allows you to play all the notes in a B major chord (B-D#-F#) plus a G note. This would give you a chord that has the notes: B-D#-F#-G.
This creates a weird chord. If you rearranged the notes, you could consider it as a G+M7 (G augmented major seventh) chord which would have the notes arranged in order: G-B-D#-F#.
As I type this, it would make a lot of sense to consider the B/G chord as a G+M7 chord, but to be more specific, in different live recordings of the song, the bass guitar is playing the low G note in the walk down.
What you’ll find with this music theory stuff is that you can look at things in different ways.
First off, thanks for all of the posted tips and tricks! You’re iBook was a really good intro. What chord variation of B7 are you using in this song? I can’t really tell but it doesn’t look like the one posted under the tab.
So glad you’re enjoying the lessons! I am using the B7 variation as presented in the chord diagram picture for this lesson.