Get Ready | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: D riff | D riff G5 F5 | D riff | D riff G5 F5 :||
Verse 1
||: 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
| 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
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
||: F | Bb | G | C :||
And I’m bringing you a love that’s true so get ready, so get ready.
I’m gonna try to make you love me too so get ready, so get ready, here I come.
Chorus tag 1
| 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
||: D riff | D riff G5 F5 :||
| G A | G A | G A G | Bb A G |
Verse 3
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 (as chorus 2)
And I’m bringing you a love that’s true so get ready, so get ready.
I’m gonna try to make you love me too so get ready, so get ready, here I come.
Outro (as chorus tag)
||: 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).
Get Ready Chords: Learn the progressions
Let’s take a look at Get Ready‘s chords, they’re not diatonic which gives the blues riff an edge.
The verse riff is based around a D Minor Pentatonic which at the end gets a G and F chord to fatten up the last two notes.
If this was diatonic, those two chords would be Gm and F but that’s not what they play in the original recording, they play two major chords, G and F.
On the guitar, I’ve found that power chords work best (G5 and F5), so neither minor nor major. I leave the major triad to the keyboard player.
The chorus chords are almost diatonic to the relative major of Dm, the key of F. The movement is I – IV – IIx – V. Only the G is outside the key, again, it’s not a Gm but a G, like this:
||: F (I) | Bb (IV) | G (IIx) | C (V) :||
The balance between the blues riff, the diatonic chords, and the chords that go outside is what gives Get Ready its sound.
I find it difficult to pick a better tune to prove that chord progressions should be part of the writing credit, not just the lyrics and melody.
Here’s a chord chart I made for you.
Get Ready Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
In my book, a chord chart must be simple. You need to know the tune and use the chart to remind you, not as a perfect guide, you need a transcription for that.
In Get Ready, I’ve just put section A as the intro and verse, section B as the chorus, and section C as the solo.
It is perhaps the end of section C that you need to quickly glance at to remember what those chords for the stabs are.
There’s no rhythm indicating how to play these stabs, you need to know them by having listened to and practised the song in great depth.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Get Ready PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro, here’s a link to that file: Get Ready iReal Pro. You can change the key using this and the iRealPro app.
Below, you get a preview of how we learn to play Get Ready in the course. To begin with, we play that riff everywhere!
Get Ready TAB | Course Preview
Above you see a play–along TAB loop of how you could play this riff, below is that TAB as an image.
In the course, we look at many more ways to play this riff. We do this so you can play the riff anywhere on the neck, vary it, and in doing so make Get Ready’s riff come alive.
Only by practising the riff everywhere can we play it everywhere. Here’s the open-position example.
Notice how the chords G and F are power chords, with the root above the 5th!
You may feel this sounds strange now but after playing the riff in lots of different ways, this is a nice variation. Perhaps you’ll end up playing it once like this during the entire song.
In the course, to get the most from it, we also practise Get Ready’s chorus chords in all CAGED shapes so you can play them in an improvised way too, moving freely around the fretboard, decorated with Hendrix-esque fills.
For the solo, we copy what the strings and the sax play on the original recording.
Here’s a link to the 8 step-by-step guitar lessons: Get Ready – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
Get Ready was written for a dance craze!
Get Ready is a single written by Smokey Robinson, but performed by The Temptations.
Originally written for a dance craze, it quickly gained a life of its own, having all the right ingredients for a smash hit.
Motown 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.
Get Ready Chords | Related Pages
Get Ready | 8 Step-by-step Guitar Lessons + TAB
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. This will require us to work on our pull-off and hammer-on techniques.
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- Hard To Handle chords by Otis Redding
- Money (That’s What I Want) chords by Barett Strong
- Reach Out I’ll Be There chords by The Temptations
- Respect chords by Aretha Franklin
- Soul Man chords by Sam & Dave
The Funk Brothers tunes
Motown’s house band, The Funk Brothers was the most successful group of studio musicians of all time.
Their contributions can be heard on Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Dancing In The Street, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, My Girl, and My Guy.
The Funk Brothers on the web
Smokey Robinson tunes
Smokey Robinson was a huge part of Motown’s success with his band The Miracles but also wrote and produced a big part of Motown’s legendary catalogue.
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 tunes
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
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Get Ready chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.