Chords + Lyrics | Empire State Of Mind
Intro
||: F# | F# | Bmaj7 | Bmaj7 :||
Oh, New York. Oh, New York.
Verse 1
||: F# | F# | Bmaj7 | Bmaj7 :||
Grew up in a town that is famous as a place of movie scenes.
Noise is always loud, there are sirens all around and the streets are mean.
If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere, that’s what they say.
Seeing my face in lights or my name in marquees found down on Broadway.
| A# | A# |
Even if it ain’t all it seems, I got a pocketful of dreams, baby, I’m from,
Chorus 1
| Bmaj7 | Bmaj7 | F# | C# |
New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in,
| Bmaj7 | Bmaj7 | F# | C# | Bmaj7 | Bmaj7 |
New York, these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, hear it for New York, New York, New York.
Verse 2
On the avenue, there ain’t ever a curfew, ladies work so hard.
Such a melting pot, on the corner selling rock, preachers pray to God.
Hail a gypsy cab, takes me down from Harlem to the Brooklyn bridge.
Someone sleeps tonight with a hunger far more than an empty fridge.
I’m gonna make it by any means, I got a pocketful of dreams, baby, I’m from,
Chorus 2
New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in,
New York, these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, hear it for New York, New York, New York.
Middle 8
| Bmaj7 | Bmaj7 |
One hand in the air for the big city. Street lights, big dreams, all looking pretty.
| C#no3 | D#m | A# | A# |
No place in the world that can compare, put your lighters in the air, everybody say, yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah!
Chorus 3
In New York, Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in New York.
These streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, hear it for New York.
End
| F# |
Empire State Of Mind | Chords + Lyrics (capo 2)
Intro
||: E | E | Amaj7 | Amaj7 :||
Oh, New York. Oh, New York.
Verse 1
||: E | E | Amaj7 | Amaj7 :||
Grew up in a town that is famous as a place of movie scenes.
Noise is always loud, there are sirens all around and the streets are mean.
If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere, that’s what they say.
Seeing my face in lights or my name in marquees found down on Broadway.
| G# | G# |
Even if it ain’t all it seems, I got a pocketful of dreams, baby, I’m from,
Chorus 1
| Amaj7 | Amaj7 | E | B |
New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in,
| Amaj7 | Amaj7 | E | B | Amaj7 | Amaj7 |
New York, these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, hear it for New York, New York, New York.
Verse 2
On the avenue, there ain’t ever a curfew, ladies work so hard.
Such a melting pot, on the corner selling rock, preachers pray to God.
Hail a gypsy cab, takes me down from Harlem to the Brooklyn bridge.
Someone sleeps tonight with a hunger far more than an empty fridge.
I’m gonna make it by any means, I got a pocketful of dreams, baby, I’m from,
Chorus 2
New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in,
New York, these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, hear it for New York, New York, New York.
Middle 8
| Amaj7 | Amaj7 |
One hand in the air for the big city. Street lights, big dreams, all looking pretty.
| Bno3 | C#m | G# | G# |
No place in the world that can compare, put your lighters in the air, everybody say: Yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah!
Chorus 3
In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in New York.
These streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, hear it for New York.
End
| E |
Empire State Of Mind Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Empire State Of Mind. 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?
Originally performed on the piano in the key of F#, I’ve adapted Empire State of Mind for guitar by placing a capo on the second fret and thinking of it as if in the key of E. Theer are backing tracks above with charts in both keys.
It’s a great exercise to take a song originally arranged for a different instrument and create your version, let’s look at the chords form this perspective as if you can do it on the acoustic on your own, adapting a part for the electric will be easy.
Verse/Bridge
The verse and bridge use I, IV, and IIIx, like this:
||: E (I) | E | Amaj7 (IV) | Amaj7 :||
| G# (IIIx) | G# |
I’ve created some TAB for how you could play this—you can find further down this guitar lesson.
Chorus
The chorus starts on IV, returns to I, and resolves on V, like this:
||: Amaj7 (IV) | Amaj7 | E (I) | B5 (V) :|| x2
| Amaj7 | Amaj7 |
Middle 8
The middle 8 (sometimes called the bridge) introduces chord VI (C#m), like this:
| Amaj7 (IV) | Amaj7 | B5 (V) |
| C#m (VI) | G# (IIIx) | G# |
Outro
The outro follows the chorus progression, but I’ve altered the extensions, using add9 and add4, like this:
||: Aadd9 (IV) | Aadd9 | E (I) | Badd4 (V) :|| x2
| Aadd9 | Aadd9 | E |
Since several of Empire State of Mind’s chords include extensions, let’s break them down:
- Amaj7 – Formed by adding a major 7th to an A major triad.
- B5 – A power chord containing only roots and 5ths, making it neither major nor minor.
- Aadd9 – Created by adding a 9th (B) to an A major triad.
- Badd11 – Formed by adding an 11th (E) to a B major triad.
I’ve provided TAB for all sections below—start with that before adjusting to suit your arrangement.
In the end, all you’ll need to play Empire State of Mind is a simple chord chart, like this one.
Empire State Of Mind Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Empire State Of Mind chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Empire State Of Mind iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key, most likely to F#.
Empire State Of Mind | TAB
Using TAB, let’s go through all sections of Empire State of Mind to find out how we can play it on the acoustic guitar.
This works best if we fit a capo on fret 2 and think in the key of E. Here’s the intro/verse.
The chord progression here is I – IV on repeat. The G# is a IIIx, building tension for the chorus, which looks like this:
The chorus simply turns the movement around and goes IV – I before we add chord V as well.
Here’s the middle 8 section, which some prefer to call a bridge. There is now one new chord in the mix, a C#m—chord VI.
Using the same rhythm throughout builds anticipation for the G# (IIIx), which is a tension chord taking us to the final outro chorus—my favourite section.
Here, I’ve added add9 and add4 chords to create a sense of release.
Empire State Of Mind Chords: Continue Learning
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