Chords + Lyrics | Great Balls Of Fire
Verse 1
| N.C (G A B) | C N.C | N.C (C D E) |
You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain.
| F N.C | N.C (E F F#) |
Too much love drives a man insane.
| G N.C (G G F#) | F N.C (G A B) |
You broke my will, but what a thrill.
| C N.C | N.C Cm |
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire.
Verse 2
| C (chord riff) | C (chord riff) |
I laughed at love ’cause I thought it was funny.
| F9 | F9 |
You came along and you moved me honey.
| G7 | F9 |
I’ve changed my mind, this love is fine.
| C5 N.C | N.C |
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire.
Bridge 1
| F6 | F6 | C6 | C6 |
Kiss me, baby, ooh, feels good.
| F6 | F6 |
Hold me, baby.
| G7 N.C | N.C G |
Well, I’ll still love you like a lover should.
| G N.C G7 | G7 N.C G7 |
You’re fine, so kind.
| G7 N.C | G7 |
Got to tell this world that you’re mine, mine, mine, mine.
Verse 3 (as verse 2)
I chew my nails and then I twiddle my thumbs.
I’m real nervous, but it sure is fun.
Come on, baby, you drive me crazy.
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire.
Solo
||: C6 | C6 | F6 | F6 |
| G6 | F6 | C6 | C6 :||
Bridge 2
Well kiss me, baby, ooh, feels good.
Hold me, baby.
Well, I’ll still love you like a lover should.
You’re fine, so kind.
Got to tell this world that you’re mine, mine, mine, mine.
Verse 4
| C6 | C6 |
I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs.
| F6 | F6 |
Real nervous, but it sure is fun.
| G6 | F6 |
Come on, baby, drive me crazy.
| C5 N.C | N.C |
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire.
Solo (guitar)
||: C6 | C6 | F6 | F6 |
| G6 | F6 | C6 | C6 :||
Solo (piano, bridge)
| F6 | F6 | C6 | C6 |
| F6 | F6 | G7 N.C | N.C G |
| G N.C G7 | G7 N.C G7 |
| G7 N.C | G7 |
End
| C6 | C6 | F6 | F6 |
| G6 | F6 | C5 N.C | N.C C | C5 N.C |
Great Balls of Fire Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Great Balls of Fire. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, horns, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Should you want to play along with the original recording instead, you need to tune your guitar sharp to 442Hz. In the backing tracks, I’ve done this job for you by tuning it to 440Hz.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
There are an enormous number of chords in Jerry Lee Lewis’s classic Great Balls of Fire.
First, the lower part of the piano plays the honky-tonk pattern we know from Chuck Berry, moving between C5 and C6.
Meanwhile, the guitar follows a similar pattern—not in the Chuck Berry style, but more like a bass player, incorporating the 3rd.
On top of this, the piano adds all kinds of extra chords. If you don’t have a piano player at the gig, you may want to include these in your guitar part. Over the C chord, you need to play:
||: C F/C Cm C F/C Cm :||
In the chord chart below, I’ve written out these variations, but in the chords and lyrics section, I’ve simply described them as C (chord riff).
For the F chord, an F9 works best, while the G should be a G7. Notice how, when the G chord stops, we alternate between G7, G, and back to G7.
All of this is best understood using TAB, which I’ve designed for your enjoyment. Find it further down this guitar lesson.
Once you’ve gone through the TAB and played along with Jerry, this chord chart will serve as a handy reminder for your gig.
Great Balls Of Fire Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Great Balls Of Fire chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Great Balls Of Fire iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Great Balls Of Fire | TAB
I’m going to give you some TAB for how you could play Great Balls Of Fire’s chords on the guitar. Work your way through these ideas, then decide for yourself which parts you want to use. Most of them work across all sections.
Let’s start with the first verse, which we could also call the intro.
The climb up to C is diatonic, and so is the one to F. Going to G, we play chromatically. To move down to F, we repeat a G and then move chromatically.
For the chords after the bass line, just play triads as shown in the TAB. If this is too difficult, simply play the root notes.
Here’s the next part, adapting the piano’s right-hand part to the guitar. If there is a piano player at the gig, don’t play this for the verses!
The bridge could also be played using these kinds of chords, although let’s instead look at playing the bass line. It looks like this:
This bass line approach is also what you should do for the verse if there is a piano player present!
Here are some 6 chords as an alternative to the bass line idea, shown below for the solo progression. Just like before, you can adapt any of these ideas to any section of the song.
Jerry Lee’s balls really were on fire
The controversial Jerry Lee Lewis made no secret of his pursuit of women—or, let’s be honest, girls.
Most infamously, he married his cousin, claiming she was 15. In the ‘50s, this was almost acceptable, but when it was revealed she was actually 13, the world turned against him.
After his career took a nosedive, he mostly released covers, including Money (1961), Roll Over Beethoven (1970), Me and Bobby McGee (1971), Georgia on My Mind (1977), and Over the Rainbow (1980).
Even as late as 2007, he released Honky Tonk Woman, proving there was still some fire left in those balls!
Great Balls Of Fire Chords: Continue Learning
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