Got To Be Real | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| (A C D F, A C D F) | (A C D F) D7#9 |
||: Ebmaj9 D7#5b9 D(#5) Gm7 | Gm7 F/G Gm7 F6 :||
Chorus 1
||: Ebmaj9 D7#5b9 D(#5) Gm7 | Gm7 F/G Gm7 F6 :||
What you find, ah.
What you feel, now.
What you know, ah.
To be real!
Chorus 2
What you find, ah (I think I love you, baby).
What you feel, now (I feel I need you, baby).
What you know, ah. (Oh, oh ah) to be real.
Verse 1
| Cm7 | Cm7 | Cm7b5 | Cm7b5 |
Ooh, your love’s for real, now.
| Dm7 Bb/D | Ebmaj7 |
You know that your love is my love, my love is your love.
| Eb/F | D(#5) |
Our love is here to stay.
Chorus 3
What you find, ah (I think I love you, baby).
What you feel, now (I feel I need you, baby).
What you know, ah. (Oh, oh, ah) to be real.
Verse 2
Ooh, your love’s for real, now.
You know that your love is my love, and my love is your love.
| Eb/F | D(#5) | N.C |
Our love is here to stay, yeah, yeah, hey, ho!
Chorus 4 (Key change)
||: Fmaj9 E7#5b9 E(#5) Am7 | Am7 G/A Am7 G6 :||
What you find, ah (I think I love you, baby).
What you feel, now (I feel I need you).
What you know, ah. (Oh, oh, ah) to be real.
Chorus 5
What you find, ah (I think I love you).
What you feel, now (I feel I need you).
What you know, ah (ah, yeah).
To be real (it’s got to be real).
To be real (it’s got to be real).
To be real. My my, no, no.
Outro (as chorus)
||: Soon, soon, soon. I got to have it, baby :|| x4
||: Well, I got to have it, baby. Well, I got to have it, baby. :|| x4
What you find, ah (Oh, ah, ah, what you feel, now).
What you feel, now (Oh, ah, what you know, now, ha).
What you know, ah (I tell you what).
To be real (ah, yeah, oh).
||: To be real (It’s got to be real, It’s got to be real) :|| x4
To be real (ah, real, real, real real)
To be real (real, real, real, real)
End
| (E G A C, E G A C) | (A C D F) A7#9 |
Got To Be Real Chords: Crafting the Perfect Guitar Part
From powerhouse Cheryl Lynn, we have Got To Be Real which contains, not just an incredible vocal performance, but also a very catchy tune and of course, great chords!
If you have a singer in your band who can pull this off, it sits perfectly amongst other Disco classics such as Somebody Else’s Guy and Best Of My Love.
The chords present a very common challenge facing guitar players that we can all learn a lot from. These are what I like to call “keyboard chords”, massive extensions that we as guitar players must find a part from, not try to play the full chord.
When working out a tune like this, I start with finding the full chords, with all extensions, I don’t worry about my part at this point.
Here are the chorus chords for Got To Be Real:
||: Ebmaj9 D7#5b9 D(#5) Gm7 | Gm7 F/G Gm7 F6 :||
The challenge is now to find a part, using some of the intervals in these chords.
It is easy to believe you must pick the most important intervals that define each chord but this is not true. Doing this would be to put theory before music.
You must remember that there is a keyboard player at the gig who will play the full chord. This makes it your job to find a musical part that uses whatever intervals from the chords can create a cool-sounding guitar part.
I’ve designed 8 pieces of TAB and an analysis of what I would pick. Start here, adopt this way of thinking and you could easily modify my part and more importantly, use this way of thinking for any tune in this style.
Here’s a link to that part of the lesson: Got To Be Real – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Got To Be Real Chords: Understanding the Verse and Key Change
Having studied the TAB, you then apply the same concept to the verse and since there are only two chord progressions in Got To Be Real, that’s pretty much all there is to it.
These are the verse chords:
| Cm7 | Cm7 | Cm7b5 | Cm7b5 |
| Dm7 Bb/D | Ebmaj7 | Eb/F | D(#5) |
Defining these chords as Roman Numerals is obvious if we disregard the min7b5. Only in one place do we have two minor chords a tone apart (II and III). Also, only in one place do we have a minor and major chord a semitone apart (III and IV).
This means that Cm7 has to be II, making Dm7 III and Ebmaj7 IV. D#5 is. a IIIx.
This leaves the Cm7b5 to define. Normally that’s the easiest one as it’s chord VII. However, nothing about Got To Be Real‘s chords says we are in the key of Db. I guess we have to call that Cm7b5 Jazz!
The intro and outro can’t be compromised, it has to be played with the correct rhythm and notes whereas the chorus and verse can be more experimental.
I’ve written these notes in two different ways, in brackets when with chords and lyrics, and as upper chords in the chart below.
The key change after the second verse is up a tone and stays with this loop until the end:
||: Fmaj9 E7#5b9 E(#5) Am7 | Am7 G/A Am7 G6 :||
Here’s the chord chart you could bring to the gig and share with bandmates.
Got To Be Real Backing Track | Chord Chart
(PDF + iReal Pro)
There are two backing tracks at the top of this page for you to practise playing Got To Be Real’s chords. I’ve used AI to extract the chords while keeping the drums, bass, and vocals intact. The second track has vocals.
Use the backing track to prepare for playing Got To Be Real with a band.
Should you want to download the chord chart you see in the video, here’s a PDF: Got To Be Real chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Got To Be Real chord chart Real iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Got To Be Real was written by a member of Toto!
The late ’70s and early ’80s were an incredible time for the band members of Los Angeles-based Toto.
Not only did they release their albums that did well thanks to tunes like Africa, Rosanna, and Hold The Line. They also worked with Michael Jackson and singers such as Cheryl Lynn.
In the case of Got To Be Real, it was the keyboard player from the band, David Paich who stepped up alongside another famous David, Foster (among other things he produced Whitney Houston‘s version of I Will Always Love You).
Together with Cheryl, they produced one of the best debut Disco singles ever in Got To Be Real.
Got To Be Real Chords: Continue Learning
Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Got To Be Real (Cheryl Lynn) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy: