Heat Wave chords by Martha and the Vandellas

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Heat Wave | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

||: Bb Bb6 Bb Bb6 Bb :|| x3
| Bb N.C (Bb C Bb G) |
||: Fm (Gbm) | Gm (Bm) | Cm (Bm) | Cm :||
| Fm (Gbm) | Gm (G) | Ab (A) | Bb |
||: Eb Ab/C Eb Ab/C Eb :|| x3

Verse 1

Bridge 1

| Fm (Gbm) | Gm (G) | Ab (A) | Bb |
Could it be a devil in me or is this the way love’s supposed to be (ah, ah, ah, ah).

Chorus 1

||: Eb Ab/C Eb Ab/C Eb :|| x7
It’s like a heatwave, burning in my heart (like heat wave).
I can’t keep from cryin’ (heat wave), it’s tearing me apart.

Verse 2

Bridge 2

| Fm (Gbm) | Gm (G) | Ab (A) | Bb |
Has high blood pressure got a hold on me or is this the way love’s supposed to be? (Ah, ah, ah, ah).

Chorus 2

||: Eb Ab/C Eb Ab/C Eb :|| x7
It’s like a heat wave, burning in my heart (like a heat wave).
I can’t keep from crying (heat wave), It’s tearing me apart.

Chorus tag 1

| Eb N.C (Bb C Bb G) | Fm | Gm | Cm | Cm |
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh. Ooh, heat wave.
| Fm | Gm | Cm | Cm |
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh. Ooh, heat wave.
| Fm (Gbm) | Gm (G) | Ab (A) | Bb |
||: Eb Ab/C Eb Ab/C Eb :|| x7

Verse 3

Bridge 3

| Fm (Gbm) | Gm (G) | Ab (A) | Bb |
Now that funny feeling has me amazed, don’t know what to do, my head’s in a haze. (Ah, ah, ah, ah).

Chorus 3

||: Eb Ab/C Eb Ab/C Eb :|| x7
It’s like a heatwave (heat wave), burning in my heart (like heat wave).
I can’t keep from cryin’ (heat wave), it’s tearing me apart.

Chorus tag 2

Bridge 4

| Fm (Gbm) | Gm (G) | Ab (A) | Bb |
I feel it, burning (don’t pass up this chance), right here in my heart (it sounds like a true romance)

Chorus 4

||: Eb Ab/C Eb Ab/C Eb :||
Don’t you know it’s like a heat wave?

Heat Wave Chords: Learn the progressions

The intro is a Bb – Bb6 (chord V) for three bars, played in the same way as we’ll hear during the chorus later on, although then, it’s using different chords!

This is followed by the verse and bridge chords, the verse having sliding chords a semitone below. I’ve indicated this by putting the slid chord in brackets, like this:

||: Fm (Gbm) | Gm (Bm) | Cm (Bm) | Cm :||

The Roman Numerals here are II – III – VI, we know this because two minor chords a tone apart are always II and III.

Next, we play the bridge progression, very similar to the verse at first, just finished off with a IV – V, like this:

| Fm (Gbm) | Gm (G) | Ab (A) | Bb |

Finally, we play the chorus chords, but only for three bars. Later on, this chorus is played for seven bars.

||: Eb Ab/C Eb Ab/C Eb :|| x3

These slash chords remind me of Keith Richards, for example, Brown Sugar.

In a nutshell, Heat Wave is this pattern five times.

||: Fm (Gbm) | Gm (Bm) | Cm (Bm) | Cm :||
| Fm (Gbm) | Gm (G) | Ab (A) | Bb |
||: Eb Ab/C Eb Ab/C Eb :|| x7
| Eb N.C (Bb C Bb G) |

Heat Wave was Martha and the Vandellas’ first hit!

Also known as (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave, this was Martha and the Vandellas’ first hit.

Written by the main songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland, it peaked at #4 in the charts in 1963 and would come to be listed as #257 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.

The vocal group would go on to have more hits for Motown in Dancing In The Street, Nowhere To Run, and Jimmy Mack. Dancing In The Street is Motown’s signature song.

In total, Martha and her Vandellas released ten studio albums between 1963 and 1972.

Heat Wave is a popular choice for Motown/Soul bands, study the chords and lyrics above carefully to find out how this one was put together so you can play it too.

Also, check Linda Ronstadt’s version for ideas, it is included in the playlist at the top of this page.

Heat Wave Chords | Related Pages

Intermediate Electric

The intermediate electric tunes will help you with learning the CAGED system all over the fretboard, both for chords and pentatonic scales.

Learn these Motown/Soul classics, and you’ll not just improve dramatically but also gain yourself a repertoire.

Five similar tunes with chords and lyrics

When you can play Heat Wave's chords, try these five tunes from the songbook.

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

Martha and the Vandellas tunes

Martha and the Vandellas recorded Heat Wave.

Martha met her Vandellas as she was a secretary at Motown’s hit factory where her soon-to-be backing singers sang for Marvin Gaye.

Together they had seven years of hits including Jimmy Mack, Nowhere To Run, and perhaps Motown’s biggest hit of them all, Dancing In The Street.

Martha and The Vandellas on the web

Listen to Martha and The Vandellas on Spotify.

Motown & Soul

When you can play Heat Wave, check out these Motown and Soul tunes as well.

Motown & Soul is the best place to start if you want to get better at playing the electric guitar. The harmony is simple and there is room for improvisation.

Learn tunes by The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin, and many more.

About me | Dan Lundholm

Dan Lundholm wrote this guitar lesson on Heat Wave's chords.

This was a guitar lesson about Heat Wave chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.

Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.