Can I Get A Witness | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab :||
Verse 1
||: 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
| 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
||: 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
||: 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).
Can I Get A Witness Chords: Learn the progressions
Can I Get A Witness‘ chord progression is a play on a traditional Blues in the key of Eb.
Instead of staying on chords I, IV, and V, we quickly move to chords around each I, IV, and V, like this:
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab :|| x4
||: Ab Db | Eb Db :||
||: Eb Ab | Db Ab :||
| Bb Eb | Bb A | Ab Db | Gb Db |
| Eb Ab | Db Ab | Eb Ab | Db Ab Absus4 Ab |
For the Eb (chord I) we also play Ab (IV) and Db (bVIIx).
This pattern is not repeated when we go to chord IV. Instead of staying on Ab, we’ll go from Ab to Db and up to Eb. If it had been the same, we would have played Gb instead of Eb.
For the V chord, we play “up a 4th”, and then chromatically go down to chord IV.
Here’s a chord chart I made for you.
Can I Get A Witness Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
The chord chart you see above may look very busy, but it’s just a blues with those variations applied to each I, IV, and V chord discussed earlier.
The only other change is that we go to the V chord again in the middle of the song (verses 2 and 3). In the chord chart, I’ve called this section B.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Can I Get A Witness Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iRealPro, here’s a link to that file: Can I Get A Witness iReal Pro.
You can change the key using this and the iRealPro app, should the singer in your band request this last minute.
Playing all those chords is very difficult if you haven’t methodically built up to it, ingraining it in your muscle memory.
In the course, we do this all over the neck so you can improvise these fast changes, making Can I Get A Witness’ chords great fun to play, every time.
To find out exactly how we do this, check the preview below.
Can I Get A Witness TAB | Course Preview
The best thing about learning 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, in the course, we 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, you’ll learn these chords when playing Can I Get A Witness chords, in one area at a time, along with a band!
Above you’ll find a play–along TAB loop, demonstrating how this is done for the verse chords in the first position.
We build up to the comping in three stages and cover all areas of the neck, here’s TAB for the lowest position:
In the course, we next move up the fretboard and do it all there. After four more examples, you will have covered the entire neck.
By methodically working through all shapes like this, you can decide how to play these chords using your taste, not your limitations.
Only by being this methodical can you play the complete song in an improvised way with the band in the final step.
Here’s a link to the 8 step-by-step guitar lessons: Can I Get A Witness – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
Can I Get A Witness was Marvin Gaye’s first hit!
Can I Get A Witness is a single by Marvin Gaye. Written and produced by Holland Dozier Holland and released in 1963, it was to be Marvin’s first release with international success.
Apparently, Marvin recorded it in one take, something that impressed Eddie Holland so much he referred to him as “the most versatile vocalist I ever worked with”. Not bad praise considering who else he was involved with!
Following Can I Get A Witness, his next hit would be How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) (1964) which then led to the duet It Takes Two (1966) with Kim Weston and Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (1967) with Tammi Terrell.
In just four years, Marvin Gaye had gone from being a session drummer at Motown to one of the label’s biggest stars.
Can I Get A Witness Chords | Related Pages
Can I Get A Witness | 8 Step-by-step Guitar Lessons + TAB
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.
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
The Funk Brothers tunes
Motown’s house band, The Funk Brothers was the most successful group of studio musicians of all time.
Their contributions can be heard on Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Dancing In The Street, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, My Girl, and My Guy.
The Funk Brothers on the web
Marvin Gaye tunes
Marvin Gaye helped 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
Holland-Dozier-Holland tunes
Motown’s main songwriting team, Holland-Dozier-Holland are responsible for some of the biggest tunes of all time.
Their hit parade includes classics such as Can I Get A Witness, Jimmy Mack, Reach Out, I’ll Be There, You Can’t Hurry Love, and Band Of Gold.
Holland-Dozier-Holland on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Can I Get A Witness chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
