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
| Ebm | Ebm Ebm7 | Ab7 | Ab Ab7 |
Don’t you know that I heard it through the grapevine, not much longer would you be mine.
| Ebm | Ebm Ebm7 | Ab7 | Ab Ab7 |
Oh I heard it through the grapevine, oh I’m just about to lose my mind.
| Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6) | Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6 Fm7) | Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6) | Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6 Fm7) |
Honey, honey bell (I heard it through the grapevine not much longer would you be my baby).
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
| Ebm | Ebm Ebm7 | Ab7 | Ab Ab7 |
Instead, I heard it through the grapevine, not much longer would you be mine.
| Ebm | Ebm Ebm7 | Ab7 | Ab Ab7 |
Oh, I heard it through the grapevine, and I’m just about to lose my mind.
| Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6) | Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6 Fm7) | Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6) | Ebm7 (Ebm Gb6 Fm7) |
Honey, honey bell (I heard it through the grapevine not much longer would you be my baby).
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
| Ebm | Ebm Ebm7 | Ab7 | Ab Ab7 |
Don’t you know I heard it through the grapevine, not much longer would you be mine.
| Ebm | Ebm Ebm7 | Ab7 | Ab Ab7 |
Baby, I heard it through the grapevine, oh, just about to lose my mind. Honey, honey heh.
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).
You can learn how to play I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Marvin Gaye!
Heard It Through The Grapevine is a song made famous by Marvin Gaye in 1968. Written by Barrett Strong and producer Norman Whitfield, it has become known as one of Motown’s signature songs.
Below, you find a preview of a guitar lesson from the course about I Heard It Through The Grapevine’s verse chords. Here, I’ll take you through how to create rhythm guitar parts all over the neck.
By being this 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.
I Heard It Through The Grapevine’s verse chords and TAB
During the verse, the Ebm feels like the I chord of a blues. Sure, the order and length of the chords are different from a standard blues, but the overall feel is there. It’s just that the I chord is now a Im chord.
The rules for creating these parts were.
- Play two strings from a chord shape
- Whenever possible, play on beats 2 and 4
- Create licks using relevant pentatonic and chord notes
Here’s what example 1 looks like in TAB. The Ebm is a Dm shape, and the Bb is an A shape. The Ab is an E shape.
Here’s example 2. We’ve now moved up to an Am shape for the Ebm chord. The Bb is an E shape, the Ab uses first an E shape, then a D shape.
Over the Ab chord, I add both the Major Pentatonic and the b7 interval.
In example 3, stay with the Am shape for the Ebm chord, although we’re now on strings 3 and 4 instead.
The Bb is still an E shape, the Ab is only in a D shape. The variation is an Ab7 the second time.
Here’s example 4. In this example, the Ebm uses a Gm shape. The Bb gets a C shape, and so does the Ab chord.
Here’s example 5.
You could say this is still a Gm shape for the Ebm, although it’s probably easier to think of it as an Em shape.
The Bb and Ab both use D shapes and echo the Soul Man intro. The last Ab7 uses an A shape.
I Heard It Through The Grapevine’s 8 guitar lessons in the course
When playing I Heard It Through The Grapevine with a band, we get a great chance to vary our guitar parts.
For the instrumental section, we improvise. For the verse, we can play in all areas of the neck, the bridge has a modal interchange with a great target note we should find all over the neck.
In total, there are 8 step-by-step lessons for I Heard It Through The Grapevine available. Here are links to each lesson in the course (members only):
- Step 1 – Bars & Beats
- Step 2 – Verse
- Step 3 – Bridge
- Step 4 – Chorus
- Step 5 – Intro, tag, instrumental & outro
- Step 6 – Improvise
- Step 7 – The complete song with TAB
- Step 8 – Live band backing track
I Heard It Through The Grapevine chords | Related pages
Five similar tunes
- Ain’t No Mountain High Enough chords
- Ain’t No Sunshine chords
- Jimmy Mack chords
- Son Of A Preacher man chords
- Take Me To Th River chords
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye helped to 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
Motown & Soul
Learn all these Motown/Soul songs and you will have gained yourself a repertoire so you can jam or even join a working band.
Study these songs in-depth and you will map out the fretboard, master the CAGED system, and learn how to design a rhythm guitar part that works in a band.
