Chords + Lyrics | For Once In My Life
Intro
||: F :|| x6
Verse 1
| F Faug | F6 D7b9/F# |
For once in my life, I have someone who needs me,
| Gm Gmmaj7 | Gm7 Gmmaj7 |
someone I’ve needed so long.
| Gm Gmmaj7 | Gm7 C7 |
For once, unafraid, I can go where life leads me,
| F Caug | F |
somehow I know I’ll be strong.
| F | Faug | Bbmaj7 | Bb6 |
For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of, long before I knew.
| Am7 | Dm |
Ooh, someone warm like you,
| Gm7 Am7 | Bbmaj7 C (C6) |
would make my dreams come true. Yeah, yeah, yeah (for once in my life).
Verse 2
| F Faug | F6 F#dim7 |
For once in my life, I won’t let sorrow hurt me,
| Gm9 | C13 |
not like it’s hurt me before (not like it’s hurt me before).
| Gm Gmmaj7 | Gm7 C7 |
For once, I have something I know won’t desert me,
| Fmaj7 F6 | Cm7 F7 |
I’m not alone anymore (I’m not alone anymore).
| F | Faug | Bbmaj7 | G7 |
For once I can say, “This is mine, you can’t take it”, as long as I know I have love, I can make it.
| F/C Dm7 | Gm C11 |
For once in my life, I have someone who needs me.
| F Eb Ab | Db C9 |
(Someone who needs me) Hey, hey, hey, hey, yeah.
| Gb E A | D Db9 |
(Someone who needs me) Oh, I’m in love, baby.
Solo (Key change)
| Gb Gbaug | Gb6 Eb7 |
| Abm Abmmaj7 | Abm7 Abmmaj7 |
| Abm Abmmaj7 | Abm7 Db9 |
| Gb Dbaug | Gb |
| Gb | Gbaug | Bmaj7 | B6 |
| Bbm7 | Ebm7 |
| Abm7 Bbm11 | Bmaj7 Bbm7 A Abm7 Db6/9 |
Verse 3
| Gb Gbaug | Gb6 Gdim7 |
For once in my life (For once in my life), I won’t let sorrow hurt me,
| Abm9 | Db13 |
not like it’s hurt me before (not like it’s hurt me before).
| Abm Abmmaj7 | Abm7 Db9 |
For once, I have something I know won’t desert me,
| Gbmaj7 Gb6 | Dbm7 Gb7 |
I’m not alone anymore (I’m not alone anymore).
| Gb | Gbaug | Bmaj7 | Ab7 |
For once I can say, “This is mine, you can’t take it”, as long as I know I have love, I can make it.
| Gb/Db Ebm7 | Abm7 Db7 |
For once in my life, I have someone who needs me.
Outro
||: Gb E A | D Db9 :||
(Someone who needs me) Oh, for once in my life.
(Someone who needs me) Yeah, somebody that needs me.
(Someone who needs me) Oh, baby, for once in my life.
For Once in My Life Backing Track | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning For Once in My Life. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, horns, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
Explaining the chords of For Once in My Life by Stevie Wonder could easily turn into a university dissertation—and if you start analysing Sinatra’s version too, you might need to phone a keyboard player for a second opinion…
The chromatic ascending movement in the opening line—F – Faug – F6 – D7b9—is later varied with an F#dim7 at the end. But isn’t this essentially the same idea?
Next, we move into a Latin-style progression: Gm – Gm(maj7) – Gm7 – Gm(maj7) – Gm – Gm(maj7) – Gm7 – C7.
There’s far too much going on to summarise in just a few sentences! You’ll find TAB for every section here further down this guitar lesson.
Once you can play it as shown in the TAB (and yes, there’s quite a bit of it…), the two-page chord chart below will finally make perfect sense!
When it comes to For Once in My Life’s chords, you’ll need to learn to play it first—then start to understand what you’re doing!
With that in mind, I’m not going to analyse the chords here, instead, I encourage you to move down to the TAB section where we learn what to play, at the same time as we pick the chords apart.
For Once in My Life Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
You can download my chord chart above as PDF‘s, or as iReal Pro files. Unfortunately, iReal Pro doesn’t support two-page charts…
- For Once in My Life chord chart PDF, page 1
- For Once in My Life chord chart PDF, page 2
- For Once in My Life iReal Pro, page 1
- For Once in My Life iReal Pro, page 2
For Once In My Life | TAB
It took me a lifetime to reach the point where I could fully understand, transcribe, and play the chords in the masterpiece that is For Once In My Life.
Once I finally got the chords right, it only took half a day to write down a part that develops over the course of the song.
If you can play the TAB below and understand the extensions, you’ll undoubtedly grow as a guitarist.
Intro
We start with something similar to the rhythm coming up, using just a D shape for a simple F chord. There is a small but critical difference on beat 3—pay close attention!
Interestingly, I realised the other day this must be where Sixpence None The Richer got the idea for their pop hit Kiss Me, which also changes in the first bar before settling into the progression.
Verse 1
The first verse uses muted strums—play this on repeat for a long time before moving on. Almost everything in the song is a variation on this concept.
Make sure you can see how beat 3’s rhythm is different!
Here’s what’s going on:
- F chord ascends from the 5th → #5 → 6. When we go up a semitone again, the bass changes to D, giving D7b9.
- Gm descends from root → maj7 → b7, then back up.
- C7 → F is varied with Caug → F.
- The rhythm is identical throughout.
Second half of verse 1:
Changes here:
- Rhythm changes: no muted strums, beat 1 held longer on every other chord.
- First bar’s chords are dragged out to two bars.
- Bbmaj7 functions as F6 with a bass change.
- Bb6 = IV, Am7 = III, Dm = VI.
- Final two bars require isolation practice: II → III → IV → V.
Verse 2
Very little repeats:
- Starts similarly but goes to F#dim7 instead of D7b9.
- Gm → Gmmaj7 replaced by Gm9 → C13.
- Following chords are rhythmically varied in the signature Latin feel.
- Last two bars: Fmaj7 → F6, then Cm7 → F7 (II–V in a new key!).
Second half of verse 2:
Changes:
- Starts similarly but goes to G7 (IIx) instead of Bb6 (IV).
- F → Dm7 replaces Am7, keeping the same note relationships; bass root shifts.
- Final bars: II-V (Gm → C11).
- Last four bars are tricky—a semitone up sets the stage for the new key of Gb for the solo.
Solo
Good news: rhythm is like verse 2, chords like verse 1 (almost). Differences:
- Db9 (not just dom7)
- Eb7 (no b9)
Here’s the second half of the solo:
First six bars identical (in Gb). Last two bars feature complex chords—memorisation is your best friend here.
Verse 3
- First four bars match verse 2.
- Minor → minmaj7 chords play like verse 1 but with new shapes.
- Rhythm continues consistently for the last chords.
Second half of verse 3:
- Chords match verse 2 (second half).
- Last four chords are looped.
- Chord shapes differ: using an E shape for the Gb chord, staying low until the end.
After many hours of practice, try playing this using just the backing tracks and chord chart—it’s a true test of mastery.
A Benchmark Song for Musicians
If Master Blaster and Sir Duke are essential milestones in a musician’s education, then For Once in My Life is the final dissertation.
I once played a gig with a keyboard player who hadn’t touched this song in years—if ever. He was an exceptional reader and a master of jazz improvisation. When we reached the solo, which modulates from F to Gb, he read the entire thing flawlessly.
No sight-reading course alone can prepare you for that. It takes decades of gigging, reading, improvising, and truly becoming one with your instrument before you can pull off something like that.
This (very) long journey starts with simply being able to play For Once in My Life’s chords from beginning to end. You must also understand the chord progression as Roman numerals, then play it live—many, many times.
After that, you need to find ways to voice the chords across the neck, learn the solo exactly as Stevie plays it, and maybe, twenty years from now, you’ll be able to do what the best keyboard player I’ve ever met did.
If only I could remember his name…
For Once In My Life Chords: Continue Learning
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