For Once In My Life | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: F :|| x6
Verse 1
| F Faug | F6 D7b9/F# |
For once in my life, I have someone who needs me,
| Gm Gmmaj7 | Gm7 Gmmaj7 |
someone I’ve needed so long.
| Gm Gmmaj7 | Gm7 C7 |
For once, unafraid, I can go where life leads me,
| F Caug | F |
somehow I know I’ll be strong.
| F | Faug | Bbmaj7 | Bb6 |
For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of, long before I knew.
| Am7 | Dm7 |
Ooh, someone warm like you,
| Gm7 Am7 | Bbmaj7 C7 |
would make my dreams come true. Yeah, yeah, yeah (for once in my life).
Verse 2
| F Faug | F6 F#dim7 |
For once in my life, I won’t let sorrow hurt me,
| Gm9 | C13 |
not like it’s hurt me before (not like it’s hurt me before).
| Gm Gmmaj7 | Gm7 C7 |
For once, I have something I know won’t desert me,
| Fmaj7 F6 | Cm7 F7 |
I’m not alone anymore (I’m not alone anymore).
| F | Faug | Bbmaj7 | G7 |
For once I can say, “This is mine, you can’t take it”, as long as I know I have love, I can make it.
| F/C Dm7 | Gm C11 |
For once in my life, I have someone who needs me.
| F Eb Ab Db | Db C9 |
(Someone who needs me) Hey, hey, hey, hey, yeah.
| Gb E A D | D Db9 |
(Someone who needs me) Oh, I’m in love, baby.
Solo (Key change)
| Gb Gbaug | Gb6 Eb7b9 |
| Abm Abmmaj7 | Abm7 Abmmaj7 |
| Abm Abmmaj7 | Abm7 Db9 |
| Gb Dbaug | Gb |
| Gb | Gbaug | Bmaj7 | B6 |
| Bbm7 | Ebm7 |
| Abm7 Bbm7 | B A Abm11 Db9 |
Verse 3
| Gb Gbaug | Gb6 Gdim7 |
For once in my life (For once in my life), I won’t let sorrow hurt me,
| Abm9 Abm7 | Db13 Db9 |
not like it’s hurt me before (not like it’s hurt me before).
| Abm Abmmaj7 | Abm7 Db9 |
For once, I have something I know won’t desert me,
| Gb Gb6 | Dbm7 Gb7 |
I’m not alone anymore (I’m not alone anymore).
| Gb | Gbaug | Bmaj7 | Ab9 |
For once I can say, “This is mine, you can’t take it”, as long as I know I have love, I can make it.
| Gb/Db Ebm7 | Abm Db11 |
For once in my life, I have someone who needs me.
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’s chords and progressions
Explaining For Once In My Life’s chords by Stevie Wonder could easily turn into a University dissertation. If you then start looking at Sinatra‘s version as well, you may need to call a keyboard player and ask a few questions…
The chromatic ascending movements in the opening line F – Faug – F6 – D7b9/F#, later on, varied with an F#dim7 at the end, or is this essentially the same thing?
This is followed by the Latin sounding Gm – Gmmaj7 – Gm7 – Gmmaj7 – Gm – Gmmaj7 – Gm7 – C7.
It’s all just too much information, to sum up here in a few sentences. What I need to do is record an 8-series, step-by-step lesson guide on how to play For Once In My Life.
So I guess I’ll have to put a coming soon disclaimer here… Until then, get to work on playing For Once In My Life using the chords and lyrics you see above!
If you stick with it long enough, you’ll find a way to do it.
For Once in My Life – A benchmark song for musicians
If Master Blaster and Sir Duke are benchmark songs in a musician’s education, then For Once In My Life surely is the dissertation.
I did a gig with a keyboard player once who hadn’t played this song before, or at least not for a while. He was an amazing reader and jazz improvisation master.
When we came to the solo, which modulates from F to F#, he read the entire thing, flawlessly.
There is not a sight reading course in this world that will enable you to do this, rather you need decades of gigging, reading, improvising, and fully becoming one with your instrument before you can pull something like that off.
This (very) long journey starts with just being able to play For Once In My Life’s chords from beginning to end.
The next step would be to understand the chord progression as Roman numerals, then play it live many, many times.
Following this, you need to find ways to play the chords in all areas of the neck, learn the solo just like Stevie plays it, and then maybe one day, twenty years from now, you’ll be able to do what the best keyboard player I’ve met did.
If I could only remember his name…
For Once In My Life chords | Related pages
For Once In My Life – 5 similar tunes
- Ain’t No Mountain High Enough chords
- Can’t Take My Eyes Off You chords
- River Deep, Mountain High chords
- Sir Duke chords
- You Can’t Hurry Love chords
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder is the legend whom most practicing musicians come across that has a life-changing impact on them.
Stevie’s natural groove and ability to purely express music are untouched. His vocal phrasing and songwriting are second to none.
Stevie Wonder on the web
