Page 1 of 1

Lou Reed - Perfect Day

Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2025 3:41 pm
by TGNeil
Hey Gang,

Nesh has dug a bit deep into the Lou Reed songbook and put together a lesson on Perfect Day. It is a bit on the moody side but pretty straightforward in most respects.


Perfect Day is a song written by American musician Lou Reed in 1972. It appears on his album 'Transformer' produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. 

The lesson takes a close look at the many chords, including several barre chords, and a few ways to dress it up a bit. 

The arrangement is in 6/8 and can be accompanied a few different ways. One could strum through it, use flatpicking, or do a combination of both. Even fingerstyle would work just fine. 

On stage often a second guitar player would play some lead in the instrumental part and outro, somewhat copying the piano on the orginal recording. We take a close up look at that as well. 

Note that the album version is a half step up. For that the guitar should be capoed on the 1st fret. In live performances Reed usually plays it without, and this lesson does the same.