I Heard It Through The Grapevine chords by Marvin Gaye

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I Heard It Through The Grapevine | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

||: Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6) | Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6 Fm7) :|| x5

Verse 1

| Ebm | Ebm | Bb Ab | Ab6 Ab |
I bet you’re wonderin’ how I knew, ’bout your plans to make me blue.
| Ebm | Ebm | Bb Ab | Ab7 |
With some other guy, you knew before, between the two of us guys you know I loved you more.

Bridge 1

| Cm | Ab5 |
It took me by surprise I must say (took me by surprise I must say).
| Ebm | Ab |
When I found out yesterday (when I found out yesterday).

Chorus 1

Verse 2

| Ebm | Ebm | Bb Ab | Ab6 Ab |
I know a man ain’t supposed to cry, but these tears I can’t hold inside.
| Ebm | Ebm | Bb Ab | Ab7 |
Losin’ you would end my life you see, ’cause you mean that much to me.

Bridge 2

| Cm | Ab |
You could have told me yourself (you could have told, me yourself).
| Ebm | Ab |
That you loved someone else (that you loved, someone else).

Chorus 2

Instrumental

||: Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6) | Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6 Fm7) :||

Verse 3

| Ebm | Ebm | Bb Ab | Ab6 Ab |
People say: Believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear.
| Ebm | Ebm | Bb Ab | Ab7 |
But I can’t help but be confused, if it’s true please tell me, dear.

Bridge 3

| Cm | Ab |
Do you plan to let me go (do you plan to let me go).
| Ebm | Ab |
For the other guy, you loved before? (For the other guy you loved before?)

Chorus 3

Outro

||: Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6) | Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6 Fm7) :||
(I heard it through the grapevine, not much longer would you be my baby yeah yeah yeah yeah).
Honey, honey I know that you let me go.
(I heard it through the grapevine, not much longer would you be my baby yeah yeah yeah yeah).
Said I hear it through the grapevine, Oh oh, I heard it through the grapevine.
(I heard it through the grapevine, not much longer would you be my baby).

I Heard It Through The Grapevine’s chords and progressions

I Heard It Through The Grapevine 8 step by step guitar lessons

During the verse, the Ebm feels like the home chord of a blues. Sure, the order and length of the chords are different from a standard blues, but the overall feel is there.

Here’s the chord progression for the verse:

| Ebm | Ebm | Bb Ab | Ab6 Ab |
| Ebm | Ebm | Bb Ab | Ab7 |

However, if you compare the feeling of these chords to Ain’t No Sunshine or The Thrill Is Gone, you’ll notice that they feel very different from I Heard It Through The Grapevine‘s chords.

The reason for this is that those two tunes are at home around chord VI, Aeolian.

In the case of I Heard It Through The Grapevine, it’s as if we’re playing a major blues, but chord I is minor.

There is also the feeling of a II – V (Ebm – Ab), making us feel as if we’re playing in Dorian, and that Bb is just a passing chord.

In the course, we practiced these three chords in lots of different ways, all over the neck.

By being thorough, we lay a foundation upon which you’ll be able to improvise your rhythm parts and licks, rather than memorize them.

Take this approach to play the guitar and you’ll be adjusting your parts to the band you’re playing with, rather than just playing your one memorized part (a great idea when playing in a rock band to achieve power, not so much in a Soul band).

Make this a habit and you’ll get great at writing parts for original songs as you’re always exploring the neck and therefore always finding new ideas.

The bridge is the genius section of this tune. Now we go to a Cm, which, had the Ebm been chord I would have made complete sense as Eb – Cm is a I – VI, the minor fall.

This change from Ebm to an imagined Eb creates an uplifting feel (minor to major), but also sad as going to chord VI is the ultimate sad movement, completely genius!

I genuinely mean this; To go from Ebm to Cm in this way is my favorite chord progression movement of all time.

You should learn how to play I Heard It Through The Grapevine because it’s “a standard” for the working Soul guitarist, but also just to experience soloing over these awesome changes.

In the course, we dive deep into all that this classic offers, including live band loops to practice along with. In step 8, you’ll play the complete song with the band.

Here’s a link to the complete lesson series (members only): I Heard It Through The Grapevine 8 step-by-step guitar lessons with TAB.

Become a member today and get unlimited access to all step-by-step guitar courses, TAB for the songbook, the Self-Eliminating Practice Routine, and the eBook Spytunes Method.

Barrett came up with I Heard It Through The Grapevine’s lyrics from overhearing people in the street!

I Heard It Through The Grapevine is a single by Marvin Gaye from 1968 although it had already been a hit for Gladys Knight & The Pips in 1966. The Miracles (Smokey Robinson) also released a version before Marvin.

Still, when Marvin dropped his version as the third single from the album In The Groove (1968), he made it his own and this is the one all bands refer to when it’s called on stage last minute for sure.

One more version deserves a mention and that’s the one by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Written by Barrett Strong and producer Norman Whitfield, it has become known as one of Motown’s signature songs.

The tune started with Barrett overhearing people use the expression “hearing it through the grapevine” as he was walking around the streets of Chicago. He thought that expression must have a song in it, so he teamed up with Norman and the rest is music history.

The lyrics are genuinely great and the chord progression (as discussed above) is genius. All that’s missing to complete the picture then is a great band (Funk Brothers) and a genuine vocal performance

In the playlist above, after my version, you’ll find the “original”, a backing track for you to play along with, as well as an isolated Marvin Gaye vocal.

Make sure you listen to the video of Marvin without the band, it is truly mindblowing.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine chords | Related pages

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Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye helped shape the Motown sound as a drummer, session singer, writer, lead singer, and producer in the 60s and 70s.

Marvin’s hits include I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Can I Get A Witness, and politically fueled What’s Going On.

Marvin Gaye on the web

Barrett Strong

Barrett Strong was the first artist on the Motown label to have a hit. The song was Money (That’s What I Want). Performed by Barrett, it was written by the president of the label and a sign of what was to come.

As well as his own solo career, Barrett also wrote many of Motown’s biggest hits.

Barrett Strong on the web

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