Chords + Lyrics | Honky Tonk Women
Intro
||: N.C | N.C :||
||: G | G :||
Verse 1
| G | G | C F/A | C |
I met a gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis.
| G | A (Asus4) | D G/B | D |
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride.
| G | G | C F/A | C |
She had to heave me right across shoulder.
| G | D | G | G |
‘Cause I just can’t seem to drink you off my mind.
Chorus 1
||: G | D | G | G :||
It’s the honky tonk women.
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.
Verse 2
I laid a divorcée in New York City.
I had to put up some kind of a fight.
The lady then she covered me with roses.
She blew my nose and then she blew my mind.
Chorus 2
It’s the honky tonk women.
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.
Solo (as verse)
| G | G | C F/A | C |
| G | A (Asus4) | D G/B | D |
| G | G | C F/A | C |
| G | D | G | G |
Chorus 3 (double)
It’s the honky tonk women.
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.
It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.
Honky Tonk Women Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Honky Tonk Women. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, 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 453Hz. In the backing tracks, I’ve done this job for you by tuning it to 440Hz.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
What you see above, using chords and lyrics, is a simplified version of Honky Tonk Women. Accurately naming every chord in the song would quickly get out of hand, so it’s better to keep things straightforward.
Over a G chord, Keith plays major pentatonic licks blended with slash chords a fourth above each chord.
The F/A leading to C is essential, as is the D – G/B – D movement, along with the Asus4. Here are all the chords for the verse of Honky Tonk Women:
| G | G | C F/A | C |
| G | A (Asus4) | D G/B | D |
| G | G | C F/A | C |
| G | D | G | G |
To get this sounding authentic, I’ve developed some TAB that works for a single guitarist in a band using standard tuning, rather than the open G tuning Keith Richards uses. You’ll find it furthe down this guitar lesson.
In the chorus, you’ll want to add a honky-tonk feel using the same slash-chord concept. Simplified, the chorus is just this:
||: G | D | G | G :||
Honky Tonk Women remains a staple for indie rock cover bands worldwide. It fits perfectly alongside other Rolling Stones classics like Brown Sugar and Satisfaction, as well as Beatles tunes like Back in the U.S.S.R., Get Back, and I Saw Her Standing There.
Remarkably, Honky Tonk Women also sits comfortably next to more modern tracks like Last Nite and Are You Gonna Be My Girl. For me, it’s a perfect tune to add to any indie rock or 60s rock ’n’ roll repertoire.
Here’s a chord chart!
Honky Tonk Women Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
This chord chart can be downloaded as a PDF, or in the industry standard iReal Pro format:
Honky Tonk Women | TAB
Let’s work out how to play this classic using just one guitar in standard tuning.
Intro
Here’s the intro. Notice how we use the G major pentatonic throughout to outline the groove.
Verse
For the verse, we use slash chords based on each underlying chord, with an added chord a fourth above — essentially the IV chord, if you like. This is a classic Keith Richards trick.
- C gets the F/A variation, which sounds best using just two strings, almost like a Csus4
- G gets a C/G and G7
- A has a quick sus4, or D/F#
- D gets a G/B
- The final lick is similar to playing G – C6/G – G (compare this with Soul Man)
As a final note, check out the three variations on the low G major pentatonic lick in bars 8, 10, and 13.
Chorus
The chorus can be played in a very simple way that really grounds the groove and makes it sound big, like this:
Alternatively, you can incorporate licks from the original recording. In bars three and four, I’ve taken a chord riff from the original version and dropped it down an octave. The final lick is recycled from the intro.
Once you can play all of this TAB, play along with The Stones using my backing track and chord chart. The more you play this, the more you’ll start to vary the ideas, ultimately developing the confidence to improvise your own part.
Inspired by Brazilian strippers
This Rolling Stones classic was released in 1969 as a single and later included on the album Let It Bleed.
Famous cover versions include those by Tina Turner, Humble Pie, Elton John, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Joe Cocker.
Inspired by Brazilian lap dancers Mick and Keith encountered while on holiday, Honky Tonk Women reached the top five in the charts in fifteen countries and has become one of the band’s best-known songs.
Famously, it was the last song Brian Jones recorded with the band during the demo stage, before being replaced by Mick Taylor for the official recording. Strangely, it was released the day after Brian’s mysterious death.
Honky Tonk Women Chords: Continue Learning
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