I couldn't tell you the exact spelled out chord name, but it's a Bb with an open high-E, rather than playing the first fret.

Then you drop a fret down down to the A, and the little variation is I THINK the "sus2" where you lift up the ring finger from your standard A form (second fret, second string).

Hope that helps,
~B~

oh...and during the Dm part before the lead begins, I arpegiate/mute strum an Am shaped barre chord at the fifth fret...

-dp

Last edited: Jan 26, 2007 11:34:26

Here's my opinion (and it sure sounds right to me):

1. F on the D (4th str) Bb on the G (3rd str) D on the B (2nd str) open E (1st str)
   

2. Open D (4th str) A on the G (3rd str) D on the B (2nd) str) open E (1st str).
   

3. E on the D (4th str) A on the G (3rd str) C# on the B (2nd str) open E (1st str).
   

p.s. Pauls e-mail is paul@pjmoto.com

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Laphillyboy
Wow - thnks for all the responses.

I'll try them out tonight -

It makes sense because that Bflat is the chord change the modal melody is based around - I just didn't think to try it as the opening chord. Duh!

Thanks again guys.

Jim C.

So how did it work out? I've been waiting 2 days to hear the results

BTW, does your ID mean you came to LA from Phila? That's the move we made in the early 70's.

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...until then: you can watch Paul playing 'Mr Moto' with the DuoTones on the YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we7trOSuEPA

You can watch me, Doug Forbes, and Don Ross playing it here: http://us.share.geocities.com/jeff_leites/movies/coolomatics.wmv

It's only a partial video, and does not include the beginning or end. It does include me making a couple of mistakes though

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here's the Hodaddy's version of "Mr Moto" on the
Youtube

I thought the first chord was an open A chord with the notes on the D, G & B strings all moved up one fret:

e:-0-  
B:-3-  
G:-3-  
D:-3-  
A:-0-  
E:---

-Warren

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

if you play the Dstring, I'd fret the second chord (Asus4) second fret, esp. when playing without a bass. you don't want it to sound like a D chord.

WR

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Paul Johnson's reply below:

"I got a kick out of reading your discussion! But don't feel bad; fact is, nobody ever seems to get those opening chords right: even the Ventures and the Lively Ones versions deviate from the way we did it... A couple of you guys came close, but I didn't see the exact right way among your attempts.

Here's how I did it on the Belairs record, and I still do it the exact same way to this day. My notation here is a variation on Jeff's format; numbers refer to which fret is fingered; an x means don't play this string...

string.......1st chord.........2nd chord........3rd chord

e-----------open-------------open------------open
b-------------3-----------------3----------------2
g-------------3-----------------2----------------2
d-------------3-----------------2----------------2
a-----------open-------------open------------open
e-------------x-----------------x----------------x

Some of your examples would have been closer except they left the A string out of the equation and only used the top 4 strings. Listen to the original Belairs version and you will hear that string come in and subtly add its character to the first chord; it's not as evident in the other chords, as it is not re-strummed; but it IS still vibrating from the initial strums!

I discovered this progresion by accident when I was first learning to play:

I was going for a basic A major chord, three finger style, but I accidentally missed the target (fret #2) by one fret; this resulted in combining what amounts to a Bb triad (I had fingered F/Bb/D on the 3rd fret) with the open A & E strings. (Not sure just what to call this chord...)

Then I tried to correct this by sliding the three fingers down to the 2nd fret where they belonged; but as often happens with untrained fingers, I only succeeded with two out of three fingers. The one on the b string was still hung up on the 3rd fret. This resulted in an "almost" A chord (actually, it's an A with a suspended 4th).

Then I tried one more time and finally got it right. The last chord is a simple A major.

I decided in the process that this progression sounded cool, so I kept diddling with it until it got enlisted as intro to Mr. Moto!

There you have it. Now you can go on to discussing something else...

BTW : You are all invited to come to my site and view the free videostream there of the Duo-tones playing a bunch of tunes including Mr. Moto. My fingers are visible doing this progression during the ending, though not from the best angle to see the exact fretting. However, there are a lot of good close up shots of our hands on many of the tunes throughout the video.

Go to pjmoto(dot)com, click on the PR DEPT link, then go to the booking info/PR kit page, where you'll find the videostream partway down the right side of the page. Feel free to provide a link to this stream on the chat site if you like..."

Thanx!
- pj

Last edited: Aug 27, 2009 18:21:48