Puttin' On The Ritz by Irving Berlin Guitar - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.923851

Puttin' on the Ritz is a favorite of all time, first written and composed by Irving Berlin in 1927 and then recycled for the movie Blue Skies in 1946, for which he wrote the music, lyrics, and story. The film starred Fred Astaire in a memorable solo performance of this song.

I've seen several versions of this song, some with the verse and chorus in two different keys, and in different timing signatures. I chose to keep the common timing signature in order to provide some spacing for my guitar chord diagrams. Fred Astaire sang this number, and danced to it, at a pace of about 80 beats per minute. One shouldn't feel pressured into playing every single chord in that opening verse - it's easier to just skip every other one in those run-on chord progressions, but they are there for the experts. The player can pick up a couple of good continuation sequences in this composition.

I've placed the repeat at the very beginning of the song, rather than at the beginning of the chorus, to give the player an opportunity to segue into that verse seamlessly and harmoniously. I've arranged it entirely in the key of C - it doesn't need two keys. The melody arrangement is essentially the Paramount version, but the guitar chord sequencing is mine.