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Lovely Day Chords | Bill Withers

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Lovely Day | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

Verse 1

Bridge 1

||: C/D | D/E | Am7 | Bm7 :||
Then I look at you, and the world’s alright with me.
Just one look at you, and I know it’s gonna be.

Chorus 1

Verse 2

When the day that lies ahead of me,
seems impossible to face.
When someone else instead of me,
always seems to know the way.

Bridge 2

Then I look at you, and the world’s alright with me.
Just one look at you, and I know it’s gonna be.

Chorus 2

Verse 3

When the day that lies ahead of me,
seems impossible to face.
And when someone else instead of me,
always seems to know the way.

Bridge 3

Then I look at you, and the world’s alright with me.
Just one look at you, and I know it’s gonna be.

Chorus 3

Chorus 4

A lovely day (lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)
(Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)
A lovely day (lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)
(Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)
A lovely day (lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)
(Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)
A lovely day (lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)
(Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)
(Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)
(Lovely day, lovely day, lovely day)

Lovely Day Chords: Master the Groove on Acoustic and Electric

You can play Lovely Day on just one acoustic guitar, but to make it work, you’ll need to focus on the rhythmic feel of the bass in the original recording.

From this foundation, you can shape the chordal arrangement to suit the singer. Once the bass groove is established, you can reference it and blend it with the chords in an improvised way.

I’ve created some TAB that, once worked through and absorbed, will naturally blend into your playing in an organic, improvised way. Here’s the lesson: Lovely Day – Guitar Lesson with TAB.

On electric guitar, playing Lovely Day is all about finding small, funky rhythm parts that complement the bass and keyboards in the band.

There’s TAB for this as well. The best way to fully grasp Lovely Day’s chords is to play them on both acoustic and electric guitar. Doing so will give you a broader perspective on the song’s arrangement.

For example, take a look at the bridge chords:

||: C/D | D/E | Am7 | Bm7 :||

Playing this on electric using small chord shapes, you’ll soon notice that C/D and Am7 are essentially the same, as are D/E and Bm7.

Since the full band carries the arrangement, highlighting these similarities can be effective. You might play the same part twice, while the rest of the band fills in the differences.

Having studied Lovely Day’s chords in depth—using chords, lyrics, the original recording, and my TAB—this chord chart is all you need for the gig.

Lovely Day Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro

Should you want to download my chart, here’s a PDF: Lovely Day chord chart PDF.

This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Lovely Day chord chart iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.

Soloing Techniques for Lovely Day: Mastering Modal Interchange

Lovely Day by Bill Withers uses the chordal technique of modal interchange, making it an excellent piece for practising modal improvisations. It’s also quite repetitive, which works to your advantage when developing soloing skills.

The verse chords—E (I), C#m7 (VI), and Amaj7 (IV)—are all derived from the key of E. This means the progression is “in major,” or Ionian. Nothing unusual here, but the magic happens in the last two chords.

In the final bar, we switch from E Ionian to E Aeolian, as the chords transition to Cmaj7 (IV) and Bm7 (III).

This shift gives you two options for soloing:

E major (Ionian) for three bars, and E minor (Aeolian) for one bar.

Or go full modal:

E Ionian – C# Aeolian – A Lydian – C Lydian – B Phrygian.

The challenge when improvising is to avoid sounding like you’re simply running through all those scales as quickly as possible. Focus on musicality and phrasing instead of speed.

The bridge is an extended version of this concept, where we settle in E Aeolian (or “E minor”), even though we never explicitly play Em.

The chords for Lovely Day‘s bridge are:

C/D (IV) – D/E (V) – Am7 (II) – Bm7 (III).

For soloing, you have these options:

E minor (Aeolian) as the primary scale.
C Lydian – D Mixolydian – A Dorian – B Phrygian.

In the playlist above, after Bill’s original version, you’ll find a couple of piano tutorials that break down how to play Lovely Day. Watch them to deepen your understanding and learn even more!

Lovely Day Chords: Continue Learning

Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Lovely Day (Bill Withers) Guitar Lesson with TAB.

Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy: