Chords + Lyrics | Brick House
Intro
||: Am7 Gmaj7 G#m7b5 Am7 | Am7 D C :|| x4
Uh! Uh-hu-hu (whistles).
Chorus 1
||: Am7 Gmaj7 G#m7b5 Am7 | Am7 D C :||
Ow, she’s a brick house. She’s mighty-mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out.
She’s a brick house. That lady’s stacked and that’s a fact, ain’t holding nothing back.
Ow, she’s a brick house. Well put together, everybody knows, this is how the story goes.
Verse 1
||: D/A Am7 D/A Am7 :||
She knows she got everything. That a woman needs to get a man, yeah, yeah.
How can she lose with the stuff she use. Thirty-six, twenty-four, thirty-six oh what a winning hand.
Chorus 2
‘Cause she’s a brick house. She’s mighty-mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out.
She’s a brick house. Ow, that lady stacked and that’s a fact, ain’t holding nothing back.
Ow, she’s a brick house. Yeah, she’s the one, the only one, built like an amazon.
Verse 2
The clothes she wears, her sexy ways. Make a old man wish for younger days, yeah, yeah.
She knows she’s built and knows how to please. Sure enough to knock a strong man to his knees.
Chorus 3
‘Cause she’s a brick house. Yeah, she’s mighty mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out.
Hey, brick house. That lady’s stacked and that’s a fact, ain’t holding nothing back. Yeah aw.
Breakdown 1
||: D/A Am N.C :||
Shake it down, shake it down now, shake it down, shake it down now.
Shake it down, shake it down now, shake it down, shake it down, down, down.
Shake it down, shake it down now, shake it down, shake it down now.
Shake it down, shake it down now, shake it down, shake it aww!
Chorus 4
Brick house. Yeah, she’s mighty mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out.
Aww brick house. Yeah, she’s the one, the only one, built like an amazon, yeah.
Breakdown 2
||: Am7 Gmaj7 G#m7b5 Am7 | Am7 D C :||
Shake it down, shake it down, shake it down now, shake it down, shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down, shake it down now, shake it down, shake it down, shake it, shake it
Shake it down, shake it down, shake it down now, shake it down, shake it down, shake it down now
Shake it down, shake it down, shake it down now, shake it down, shake it down, shake it!
Instrumental
| Am7 Gmaj7 G#m7b5 Am7 | Am7 D C |
| Am7 Gmaj7 G#m7b5 Am7 | Am7 N.C |
Outro
||: Am7 Gmaj7 G#m7b5 | Am7 D C :|| to fade
Ow, a brick house.
Brick House Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Brick House. 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.
Should you want to play along with the original recording instead, you need to tune your guitar sharp to 441Hz. In the backing tracks, I’ve done this job for you by tuning it to 440Hz.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
The chorus progression for Brick House is often written as Am7 – Gmaj7 – G#m7b5, but the last two chords are essentially the same, with only the bass note shifting up a semitone from G to G#. This leads into Am7 – D – C.
If we see the G#m7b5 as part of a chromatic bass movement rather than a separate chord, the entire progression stays within A Dorian. But if you want to emphasise the G#, things start to sound more like melodic minor (Dorian with a major 7, not a b7).
The verse is even simpler—just D/A – Am7. In funk and R&B, a static min7 chord often signals a Dorian tonality.
Exactly what to play using Brick House’s chords is so complex that you’ll need TAB—find this further down this guitar lesson.
For improvisation, Brick House provides an excellent loop to “blow over,” as sax players would say, making it a great practice track for exploring the A Dorian scale (with the option of melodic minor).
Personally, I’d blend Dorian with what I call the Conspirian scale. To fully grasp this, you’ll need to complete my SEPR (practice routine) course, found on the members-only subdomain.
Here’s a chord chart. Its main function is to guide you through the structure.
Brick House Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
My chord chart can be downloaded for free, either as a PDF or in the format I used to create it, iReal Pro.
Brick House | TAB
Let’s work through the TAB you need to play this awesome tune – it’s so much fun to play!
Bass line
We start with the bass line and general chords, making sure you can play both.
Main progression – 4 ideas
With that bass line and those chords, let’s explore a guitar part. Starting with playing a chord, followed by some funky picked notes.
Next, we add a stronger opening rhythm and more sophisticated intervals to make it funkier. Notice how the intervals highlight the chord extensions in bar 1 and the first half of bar 2 – then go off piste!
Let’s incorporate some horn lines while varying the opening chord (not in an Am shape, not Dm anymore).
Here’s another idea, returning to a Dm shape for the first chord.
Verse
The verse moves from D/A to Am, very Dorian!
Breakdown 1
The first breakdown section combines the verse with the picked concept. The next breakdown section uses the main chords.
Once you can play all this TAB, try the backing tracks with chord chart!
One of the 30 Greatest Funk Songs Ever
Released in 1977 as a single from their self-titled fifth studio album, Brick House became one of The Commodores’ signature hits.
By this time, Motown had fully relocated to Los Angeles, having left Detroit behind five years earlier. The song itself was born out of an unplanned break in the studio due to equipment failure. During this downtime, the band’s bass player came up with the initial idea, and guitarist William King later played the demo for his wife, Shirley Hanna-King, who wrote the lyrics—modifying the phrase “built like a brick shithouse.”
Drummer Clyde Orange handled lead vocals for the track, while Lionel Richie’s involvement remains unclear. Reaching the top five in both the U.S. and the U.K., Brick House cemented its place in funk history. Billboard later ranked it among the 30 greatest funk songs of all time.
Brick House Chords: Continue Learning
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