Artists & Bands

Chic | Tunes + Guitar Lessons

Chic became one of the most influential disco bands of all time. Their late-'70s hits defined the era and laid the foundation for countless future collaborations and samples in hip-hop and pop!

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Nile Rogers has sold more than 500 million albums!

Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards met in New York in 1970. After playing in a few bands together, they teamed up with drummer Tony Thompson and keyboard player Raymond Jones to perform covers. They soon recruited singer Norma Jean Wright, and Chic began to take shape.

At first, nobody knew quite how big this was going to become.

But Rodgers and Edwards had developed something special: a sophisticated, rhythm-driven style built around tight guitar and bass parts, infectious grooves and beautifully arranged vocals.

It was Disco, but it was also much more than that.

Everybody Dance

Everybody Dance was the second single from Chic’s debut album and the first song Nile Rodgers wrote for the band. Released in 1977, it topped the U.S. Dance chart and reached the U.K. Top 10.

At this point, Chic hadn’t yet become one of the biggest names in music. But the ingredients were already there.

Listen to the guitar and bass. Neither is trying to dominate the track. Instead, they lock together and create a groove that makes the vocal and drums feel even more powerful.

That’s one of the great lessons in Nile Rodgers’ guitar playing. The goal isn’t always to play more. Sometimes the goal is to play exactly the right thing—and repeat it until it becomes irresistible.

As Chic’s popularity grew, the hits started arriving thick and fast.

Le Freak

In 1978, Chic released Le Freak on their second album, C’est Chic. It became their biggest hit, spending seven weeks at number one in the United States and selling millions of copies.

The song was originally inspired by the band’s frustration at being turned away from Studio 54, the legendary New York nightclub. That annoyance was turned into one of the most famous dance songs ever recorded.

Le Freak also belongs to a long tradition of songs designed to get everybody moving.

Unlike some dance crazes, though, it never really told you exactly what to do. There was no complicated choreography to learn. The crowd could simply make up its own moves. And that’s probably part of the reason it has lasted so well.

For a disco or party band, Le Freak is still an incredibly effective song to have in the setlist.

Good Times

Then came Good Times. Released in 1979, it became one of Chic’s signature songs and one of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards’ most influential compositions.

The groove is deceptively simple. The guitar, bass and drums all occupy their own space, but together they create something that feels almost impossible to sit still to. And then there’s that breakdown.

Good Times became one of the most sampled songs in music history, most famously providing the musical foundation for the Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight.

This is where Chic’s influence suddenly becomes much bigger than Disco. Their music became part of the vocabulary of hip-hop.

The bass line, the rhythm and the groove were lifted, reworked and reimagined by musicians who came along years later. That’s quite a legacy for a song that was originally released as a Disco single.

For guitarists, Good Times is also a brilliant study in rhythm. Rather than filling every available space, Nile Rodgers creates a part that works because of its precision.

Learn the chords and rhythm carefully and you’ll start to understand why the groove works so well.

Chic and Sister Sledge

During this period, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards were also writing and producing for other artists. One of the most important collaborations was with Sister Sledge.

In 1979, the group released We Are Family, an album produced and largely written by Rodgers and Edwards.

The title track became a huge hit, but the album contained several other classics, including He’s the Greatest Dancer and Lost in Music.

It is one of those records where the Chic sound is unmistakable even though the artist is different.

And that’s an important part of understanding Nile Rodgers. He wasn’t simply the guitarist in Chic. He was becoming a songwriter, producer and musical architect who could take the same musical ideas and build something around completely different artists.

Diana + Nile = success

The next major collaboration came with Diana Ross.

Berry Gordy, who had worked with Diana throughout her Motown career, recognised the potential of putting her together with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.

Rodgers and Edwards went on to write and produce Diana’s 1980 album Diana.

The result included two enormous songs: Upside Down and I’m Coming Out. Both became disco and pop classics.

And here’s my slightly controversial opinion: As iconic as those two tracks are, the rest of the album is, how shall I put it… filler. But those two songs? Absolutely brilliant.

Nile Rodgers’ songwriting career explodes

By now, Nile Rodgers’ career had expanded far beyond Chic.

He went on to work with an astonishing list of artists, including Madonna, Duran Duran, David Bowie, Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The B-52s, Grace Jones, INXS, Paul Young and many more.

Perhaps the most famous example from the 1980s was David Bowie’s Let’s Dance.

Rodgers produced the album and helped create the enormous sound that turned the title track into a worldwide hit.

He also worked with Madonna on Like a Virgin, Duran Duran on The Reflex, and a huge range of other artists across pop, rock, soul and dance music.

The remarkable thing is that the Nile Rodgers guitar sound remained recognisable throughout.

Different artists. Different songs. Different decades. But the same incredible sense of rhythm.

The Chic guitar lesson

If you’re learning guitar, Nile Rodgers is a particularly useful player to study because his parts are often incredibly economical.

You don’t need a wall of effects. You don’t need a complicated solo. You need timing. You need a good sense of rhythm.

And you need to understand exactly where your guitar sits within the groove.

Take Good Times, Le Freak or Everybody Dance. The individual guitar parts aren’t necessarily technically difficult. But playing them correctly is another matter.

That’s the difference between knowing some chords and actually understanding rhythm guitar.

A great funk or disco guitarist isn’t trying to prove how much they can play. They’re trying to make the band sound better.

Bernard Edwards

It’s impossible to talk about Chic without talking about Bernard Edwards.

Rodgers and Edwards were musical partners for decades, and their combination of guitar and bass was one of the foundations of the Chic sound.

Nile has often spoken about Bernard as the true genius of the band.

Having read Nile’s autobiography, Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny, their relationship is one of the things that stayed with me.

There’s a particularly poignant story about Bernard suffering a serious medical episode on stage during a concert in Japan in 1996.

Nile initially thought Bernard had simply dropped out of the song for a moment and joked about repeating the musical trick the following night. Bernard died in his hotel room that night from pneumonia.

It was a devastating loss. Chic would never be the same.

Nile Rodgers carries on

After Bernard’s death, Nile continued working across an extraordinary range of musical projects. And somehow, decades after Chic’s original run of hits, his career was still producing huge records.

In 2013, Nile Rodgers collaborated with Daft Punk on Get Lucky. Suddenly, a whole new generation discovered that unmistakable guitar sound.

The song became a worldwide hit and introduced Rodgers’ playing to millions of listeners who may never have listened to a Chic album.

It’s a remarkable thing to have been at the centre of disco in the 1970s and still be making some of the biggest records in the world more than 40 years later.

From disco to hip-hop to pop

This is perhaps the most interesting thing about Chic’s legacy. Their influence didn’t stop when Disco went out of fashion. The grooves continued.

Good Times became a foundational sample for early hip-hop. Nile Rodgers’ guitar style influenced generations of funk, pop and dance musicians. The songs he wrote and produced for other artists became classics in their own right.

And then, decades later, he appeared on Get Lucky with Daft Punk.

The same basic musical philosophy kept coming back: Great rhythm + great players + great songwriting = timeless music.

That’s why Chic still matters.

The Nile Rodgers repertoire

For guitarists, the Chic catalogue is a goldmine.

You can learn Everybody Dance, Le Freak and Good Times and immediately start working on your rhythm playing.

Then you can follow the trail into We Are Family, I’m Coming Out, Upside Down, David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, Madonna’s Like a Virgin, and eventually Get Lucky.

Suddenly, learning Chic isn’t just about learning three Disco songs. You’re discovering an entire musical family tree.

And that’s exactly what I like about building a repertoire. One song leads to another. One guitarist leads you to another artist. One groove leads you into an entirely different style of music.

Nile Rodgers has spent more than five decades doing exactly that.

From Chic’s disco classics to Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Madonna and Daft Punk, his guitar playing and songwriting have travelled through some of the biggest records in popular music.

So if you want to improve your rhythm guitar, learn Nile Rodgers tunes!

And if you want to build a repertoire that gets people dancing, you’d better have a few Chic songs ready to go.

Chic Tunes | Related Pages

Everybody Dance | Chords + TAB

You can learn how to play Everybody Dance by Chic using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.

| Cm7 Bb11 | C11 |
Everybody dance, do-do-do…

Get Lucky | Chords + TAB

You can learn to play Get Lucky by Daft Punk using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.

| Bm | D | F#m | E |
Like the legend of the Phoenix, huh. All ends with beginnings…

Good Times | Chords + TAB

You can learn Good Times by Chic using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.

He’s The Greatest Dancer | Chords + TAB

You can learn how to play He’s The Greatest Dancer by Sister Sledge using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.

| Cm7 Dm7 | F#dim7 Gm7 |
Oh, what, wow, he’s the greatest dancer…

I’m Coming Out | Chords + TAB

You can learn how to play I’m Coming Out by Diana Ross using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.

Le Freak | Chords + TAB

You can learn Le Freak by Chic using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.

| Am7 | D9 |
Have you heard about the new dance craze…

Let’s Dance | Chords + TAB

You can learn how to play Let’s Dance by David Bowie using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.

| Bb7sus4 | N.C | Bbm6 | N.C |
Let’s dance. Put on your red shoes and dance the blues…

Lost in Music | Chords + TAB

You can learn how to play Lost in Music by Sister Sledge using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and backing tracks.

| C Dm7 | Dm7 | C G | G |
We’re lost in music, caught in a trap…

Thinking of You | Chords + TAB

You can learn how to play Thinking of You by Sister Sledge using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.

| Gm7 Dm7 | Eb Bbmaj7 |
Everybody let me tell you ’bout my love…

Upside Down | Chords + TAB

You can learn Upside Down by Diana Ross using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.

We Are Family | Chords + TAB

You can learn how to play We Are Family by Sister Sledge using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.

| A (A6) | G (G6) | D (Dadd9) | G11 |
We are family, I got all my sisters with me…

Chic on the web