Can I Get A Witness | Chords + Lyrics
Intro (0:00)
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab :||
Verse 1 (0:07)
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab :||
Ah listen everybody, especially you girls,
is it right to be left alone by the one you love is never home.
||: Ab Db | Eb Db :||
I love too hard, my friends sometimes say,
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab :||
but I believe, I believe, that a woman should be loved that way.
| Bb Eb | Bb A | Ab Db | Gb Db |
But it hurts me so inside, to see how you treat me so unkind.
| Eb Ab | Db Ab | Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab |
Somebody, somewhere, tell her it’s unfair – Can I get a witness?
Verse 2 (0:42)
| Eb Ab | Db Ab | Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab |
(Can I get a witness) Can I get a witness? (Can I get a witness) Can I get a witness?
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab :||
(Can I get a witness) Somebody (Can I get a witness).
||: Ab Db | Gb Db Dbsus4 Db :||
Is it right to be treated so bad, when you’ve given everything you had.
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab :||
Even tossin’ in my sleep, ’cause I haven’t seen my baby all week.
| Bb Eb | Bb A | Ab Db | Gb Db Dbsus4 Db |
Now you chicks do agree, that this ain’t the way love’s supposed to be,
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab :|| Bb | Bb |
let me hear you, let me hear you say yeah, (yeah, yeah, yeah) yeah (yeah, yeah, yeah).
Verse 3 (1:18)
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab :||
Up early in the morning, with her on my mind,
| Eb Ab | Db Ab | Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab |
took to find it out all night that I been cryin’.
||: Ab Db | Gb Db Dbsus4 Db :||
But I believe, a woman’s a man’s best friend,
| Eb Ab | Db Ab | Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab |
so I’m gonna stick by her, till the very end.
| Bb Eb | Bb A | Ab Db | Gb Db Dbsus4 Db |
But she cause so much misery that I forget how love is supposed to be,
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab :|| Bb | Bb |
somebody, somewhere, tell her it ain’t fair – Can I get a witness?
Verse 4 (1:56)
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab :||
Can I get a witness? (Can I get a witness) I want a witness. (Can I get a witness)
Witness, witness. (Can I get a witness) Witness, witness (Can I get a witness).
||: Ab Db | Gb Db Dbsus4 Db :||
Everybody knows, especially you girls,
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab :||
how love can be sad but half of love is twice as bad.
| Bb Eb | Bb A | Ab Db | Gb Db Dbsus4 Db |
Now all you chicks agree (oh-oh-oh-oh) that this ain’t the way it’s supposed to be.
| Eb Ab | Db Ab | Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab |
Let me hear you, let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab :||
I want a witness, I want a witness, come on witness (Can I get a witness).
I want a witness (Can I get a witness), just a little bit louder
(Can I get a witness), louder (Can I get a witness)
You can learn how to play Can I Get A Witness!
Can I Get A Witness is a single by Marvin Gaye. Written by Holland Dozier Holland and released in 1963, it was to be Marvin’s first release with international success.
The best thing about learning how to play Can I Get A Witness is that you’ll find all your Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, and Bb chords all over the neck, as CAGED shapes.
To achieve this we must step by step, work on all our barre chord shapes in each area of the neck.
Instead of doing this like a boring exercise to a metronome, in the course, you learn these chords by learning how to play Can I Get A Witness chords, in one area at a time.
All exercises are practiced with live band loops, this provides context, a must in order to create authentic guitar parts.
You can start the first lesson right now as it’s available for free below, enjoy!
Can I get A Witness guitar lesson | The main riff
As I speak about in the video guitar lesson above, first work your way through all examples one by one. Then start improvising.
The first example uses a C shape for the Eb, a G shape for the Ab, and a C shape for the Db.
It would have been possible to choose a D shape for the Eb chord but using strings 2-4, this would have left out the 3rd of the chord so borrowing a C shape like this sounded better. Here’s the TAB for example 1.
In the next example, we keep that C shape for the Eb but move the other chords up a shape. The Ab is now an E shape, the Db is now an A shape.
This is probably the best way to play the riff.
Next, the Eb starts with an A shape, the entire riff is now played on strings 1-3. The Ab is a D shape and the Db, which should have been a G shape got an E shape instead. Why? It sounded better.
By methodically trying shapes like this you can make decisions using your taste. Maybe you prefer the G shape! Only one way to find out – try it. Here’s the TAB, with an E-shaped Db.
Next, we start the Eb riff with a G shape, the Ab is a C shape and the Db is (still) an E shape. We are using a lower part of the E shape this time as the entire riff is played on strings 2-4. It looks like this in TAB.
Lastly, the Eb gets an E shape, the Ab an A shape, and the Db a C shape.
Again we skipped the most logical shape for the last chord which should have been a D shape but that won’t have a 3rd so we borrow a C shape from next door instead.
All these chords move a 4th up. Eb to Ab is a 4th, chord I – IV. Ab to Db is a 4th, chord IV – bVII.
When you can play all examples, start playing all over the neck in an improvised way until your allocated half an hour is up.
In the course, we next look at how to play sus4 chords as this is needed to play the riff.
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Can I Get A Witness’ chords and progressions
The chord progression for Can I Get A Witness is played in the key of Eb and switches quickly between chord stabs, as the bass stays on the root. For example, Eb, Ab, Db, Ab, as the bass stays on Eb.
The intro is played by the keyboards, it’s these chords.
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab :||
As the verse starts, we keep playing the same chords as the bass stays on Eb. When the bass switches to Ab, we play these chords:
||: Ab Db | Gb Db Dbsus4 Db :||
Following this, we move back to the Eb chords, then play the turnaround, like this:
| Bb Eb | Bb A | Ab Db | Gb Db Dbsus4 Db |
The key to playing Can I Get A Witness’ chords well, lies in being able to play them all in all positions of the fretboard. Above, we did just this for the verse.
Can I Get A Witness chords | Related pages
Can I Get A Witness – 8 guitar lessons
The chord changes of Can I Get A Witness are very fast, to play these comfortably, we must practice each section on a loop in every area of the neck.
Only by being this methodical can we play the complete song in an improvised way with the band in the final step.
Can I Get A Witness – 8 guitar lessons.
Intermediate Electric Songs
Learn all these Motown/Soul songs and you will have gained yourself a repertoire so you can jam or even join a working band.
Study these songs in-depth and you will map out the fretboard, master the CAGED system, and learn how to design a rhythm guitar part that works in a band.
Can I Get A Witness – 5 similar tunes
- Get Ready chords
- I Got A Woman chords
- It Takes Two chords
- Money (That’s What I Want) chords
- Reach Out I’ll Be There chords
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye helped to shape the Motown sound as a drummer, session singer, writer, lead singer, and producer in the 60s and 70s.
Marvin’s hits include I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Can I Get A Witness, and politically fueled What’s Going On.
Marvin Gaye on the web
