For Once in My Life Chords | Stevie Wonder Guitar Lesson

Video blocked due to privacy settings

[rcb-consent type=”change” tag=”link” text=”Change privacy settings”]

For Once In My Life | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

||: F :|| x6

Verse 1

Verse 2

Solo (Key change)

Verse 3

Outro

||: Gb E A D | D Db9 :||
(Someone who needs me) Oh, for once in my life.
(Someone who needs me) Yeah, somebody that needs me.
(Someone who needs me) Oh, baby, for once in my life.

For Once in My Life Chords: Understanding the Complexities of the Classic Tune

Explaining the chords of For Once in My Life by Stevie Wonder could easily turn into a university dissertation. And if you start analysing Sinatra‘s version as well, you might need to phone a keyboard player for a second opinion…

The chromatic ascending movement in the opening line—F – Faug – F6 – D7b9/F#—is later varied with an F#dim7 at the end. But is this essentially the same thing?

Then we move into a Latin-style progression: Gm – Gmmaj7 – Gm7 – Gmmaj7 – Gm – Gmmaj7 – Gm7 – C7.

There’s too much to summarise in just a few sentences! What I need to do is record an eight-part, step-by-step lesson on how to play For Once in My Life.

So, I suppose a coming soon disclaimer is in order… Until then, try working through the chords and lyrics above, or perhaps the two-page chord chart below will suit you better.

Stick with it long enough, and you’ll find a way!

For Once In My Life chord chart. Page 1.

For Once In My Life chord chart. Page 2.

For Once in My Life Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro

My chord chart above is available for download as a two-page PDF, or as two separate files in the iReal Pro format. Unfortunately, iReal Pro doesn’t support two-page charts…

For Once in My Life – A Benchmark Song for Musicians!

If Master Blaster and Sir Duke are essential milestones in a musician’s education, then For Once in My Life is the final dissertation.

I once played a gig with a keyboard player who hadn’t touched this song in years—if ever. He was an exceptional reader and a master of jazz improvisation. When we reached the solo, which modulates from F to Gb, he read the entire thing flawlessly.

No sight-reading course alone can prepare you for that. It takes decades of gigging, reading, improvising, and truly becoming one with your instrument before you can pull off something like that.

This (very) long journey starts with simply being able to play For Once in My Life’s chords from beginning to end. The next step is to understand the chord progression as Roman numerals, then play it live—many, many times.

After that, you need to find ways to voice the chords across the neck, learn the solo just as Stevie plays it, and maybe, twenty years from now, you’ll be able to do what the best keyboard player I’ve ever met did.

If only I could remember his name…

For Once In My Life Chords | Related Pages

Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics

When you can play For Once In My Life's chords, try these five tunes from the songbook.