Get Ready | Chords + Lyrics
Intro (0:00)
||: D riff | D riff G5 F5 | D riff | D riff G5 F5 :||
Verse 1 (0:11)
||: D riff | D riff G5 F5 | D riff | D riff G5 F5 :||
I never met a girl who makes me feel the way that you do (you’re alright).
Whenever I’m asked who makes my dreams real I say that you do (you’re outta sight).
So fee di fi, fo di dum. Look out baby ’cause here I come.
Chorus 1 (0:33)
| F5 | Bb | G5 | C |
And I’m bringing you a love that’s true so get ready, so get ready.
| F | Bb7omit3 | Gm | C |
I’m gonna try to make you love me too so get ready, so get ready, here I come.
| D | D G5 F5 | D | D G5 F5 |
(Get ready ’cause here I come) I’m on my way (Get ready ’cause here I come).
Verse 2 (0:44)
||: D riff | D riff G5 F5 :||
If you wanna play hide and seek with love let me remind you (It’s alright).
The loving you’re gonna miss and the time it takes to find you (It’s outta sight).
So twiddle-dee-dee twiddle dee dum. Look out baby ’cause here I come.
Chorus 2 (1:17)
| F | Bb | G | C |
And I’m bringing you a love that’s true so get ready, so get ready.
| F | Bb | G | C |
I’m gonna try to make you love me too so get ready, so get ready, here I come.
| D | D G5 F5 | D | D G5 F5 |
(Get ready ’cause here I come) I’m on my way (Get ready ’cause here I come).
Solo (1:39)
||: D riff | D riff G5 F5 :||
| G A | G A | G A G | Bb A G |
Verse 3 (1:53)
||: D riff | D riff G5 F5 :||
All of my friends shouldn’t want you to, I understand it (Be alright).
I hope I’ll get to you before they do, the way I planned it (Be outta sight).
So twiddle-dee twiddle-dee dum. Look out baby ’cause here I come.
Chorus 3 (2:15)
| F | Bb | G | C |
And I’m bringing you a love that’s true so get ready, so get ready.
| F | Bb | G | C |
I’m gonna try to make you love me too so get ready, so get ready, here I come.
Outro (2:30)
||: D riff | D riff G5 F5 :||
(Get ready ’cause here I come, now) I’m on my way.
(Get ready ’cause here I come, now) Thinking of staying.
(Get ready ’cause here I come, now).
You can learn how to play Get Ready!
Get Ready is a single written by Smokey Robinson, but performed by The Temptations. The song was originally written for a dance craze, but quickly gained a life of its own, having all the right ingredients for a smash hit.
Motown actually had a second hit with the song for their band Rare Earth in 1970, Ella Fitzgerald covered it very well too.
Since the original release in 1966, plenty of TV ads have been synced with the song and few Motown/Soul weekend warrior bands leave this one off the setlist.
If you want to jam with or join a soul band, Get Ready is a must to have on the repertoire.
To get the most from this, first learn Get Ready’s chords in all CAGED shapes so you can play them in an improvised way, moving freely around the fretboard.
The same goes for the minor pentatonic riff, keep moving it around the fretboard. Below, there’s a guitar lesson taken from the course where we do just that, play the riff all over the fretboard, enjoy!
Get Ready guitar lesson | The main riff
In order to play Get Ready in an improvised way, moving around the fretboard without planning, you must first play the riff in all positions.
Here’s the first area that can be used, it’s the open position, so a Dm shape.
Here’s the next area, a Cm shape, my favorite. For some gigs, I just play it here all the way through.
In this example, I’ve added a flourish that the horns and strings sometimes play. I love this lick and tend to put it in too much when I play it live.
It’s possible to play the riff further down the Am shape, although I didn’t like it so instead I play the G5 and F5 in two different ways. I like both of them and use them all the time.
To me, the Gm shape is the most difficult area to play the riff in. I was ready to dismiss it before I even tried. Turns out it’s awesome! The double-stop Hendrix-like bends work so well!
Finally, the Em shape. Perhaps the easiest shape to play this riff in. The only downside is that it is an octave up from where it sounds at its best. Perhaps use this towards the end of the song or during the chorus tag.
In the course, we next play the chorus all over the neck. This is followed by a few technical exercises and the sax/strings solo adapted for the guitar. Finally, we play the complete song with the band.
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Get Ready’s chord progression and solo
The verse is a riff using the D Minor Pentatonic scale as described above.
Most of the chords are 5 chords, should you want to play the full triad, they would be D, G, and F. Not Dm, Fm, and Gm which would be easy to assume as the riffs are from a minor scale. It is this blend of minor and major that gives Get Ready its bluesy feel.
The chorus is very simple, it’s just a: I – IV – II – V in the key of F, that’s F – Bb – Gm – C. The chorus tag is the same as the verse.
The solo is a written part, starting with sax and then followed by a fast string line.
Instead of improvising a solo, I decided to work out what the sax and strings actually did, then find a way to play that on the guitar.
The sax uses a glissando technique, which is impossible to perfectly emulate, but by using fast pull-offs, we can get close.
The strings are fast legato lines using 16th notes played over three notes per string. This can be difficult as it’s easy to slip into playing triplets.
Because these are two unusual techniques, I wrote exercises for them that when practiced slowly will get you to a point where you can play this at tempo.
Learning to play solos by other instruments than the guitar is a great way to widen your horizons. Another example of this is found later on in the course when we play the sax solo for Respect.
Get Ready chords | Related pages
Get Ready – 8 guitar lessons
To get the most from playing Get Ready, we move that verse riff around the fretboard and vary it in execution.
For the solo, we copy what the strings and the sax play on the original recording.
Intermediate Electric Songs
Learn all these Motown/Soul songs and you will have gained yourself a repertoire so you can jam or even join a working band.
Study these songs in-depth and you will map out the fretboard, master the CAGED system, and learn how to design a rhythm guitar part that works in a band.
Get Ready – 5 similar tunes
- Hard To Handle chords
- Money (That’s What I Want) chords
- Reach Out I’ll Be There chords
- Respect chords
- Soul Man chords
Smokey Robinson
Smokey was a huge part of Motown’s success with his band The Miracles, but he also wrote and produced a big part of Motown’s legendary catalog.
Robinson’s hits include Shop Around, You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me, The Tears of a Clown, My Guy, My Girl, and Get Ready.
Smokey Robinson on the web
The Temptations
The Temptations are a five-piece vocal group that has been active since 1960. After the original five members, another nineteen singers have come and gone.
Early hits like My Girl was produced by Smokey Robinson, later they ventured into a more psychedelic soul sound with Papa Was A Rolling Stone.
The Temptations on the web
