Master Blaster | Chords + Lyrics
Intro (0:00)
||: N.C :|| x6
||: Cm | Cm Bb | Ab | Ab G |
| F | F | Cm | Bb :|| x3
Verse 1 (0:57)
| Cm | Cm Bb | Ab | Ab G |
Everyone’s feeling pretty, it’s hotter than July.
| F | F | Cm | Bb |
Though the world’s full of problems, they couldn’t touch us even if they tried.
| Cm | Cm Bb | Ab | Ab G |
From the park I hear rhythms, Marley’s hot on the box.
| F | F | Cm | Bb |
Tonight there will be a party, on the corner at the end of the block.
Chorus 1 (1:26)
||: Cm | G | F | F :||
Didn’t know you, would be jammin’ until the break of dawn.
I said nobody ever told you that you, would be jammin’ until the break of dawn.
You would be jammin’ and jammin’ and jammin’, jam on.
Instrumental 1 (1:41)
||: Minor pentatonic riff 1 :||
Verse 2 (1:48)
| Cm | Cm Bb | Ab | Ab G |
They want us to join their fighting, but our answer today,
| F | F | Cm | Bb |
is to let all our worries, like the breeze through our fingers slip away.
| Cm | Cm Bb | Ab | Ab G |
Peace has come to Zimbabwe, third world’s right on the one,
| F | F | Cm | Bb |
now’s the time for celebration, ’cause we’ve only just begun.
Chorus 2 (2:17)
||: Cm | G | F | F :||
Didn’t know that you, would be jammin’ until the break of dawn.
Bet you nobody ever told you that you, would be jammin’ until the break of dawn.
I bet you nobody ever told you that you, would be jammin’ until the break of dawn.
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
I know nobody told you that you, would be jammin’ until the break of dawn.
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
We’re jammin’, jammin’, jammin’, jam on.
Instrumental 2 (2:47)
||: Minor pentatonic riff 2 :||
Solo (3:03)
| Cm | Cm Bb | Ab | Ab G |
| F | F | Cm | Bb |
Verse 3 (3:17)
| Cm | Cm Bb | Ab | Ab G |
You ask me am I happy, well as matter of fact,
| F | F | Cm | Bb |
I can say that I’m ecstatic, ’cause we all just made a pact.
| Cm | Cm Bb | Ab | Ab G |
We’ve agreed to get together, joined as children in Jah.
| F | F | Cm | Bb |
When you’re moving in the positive, your destination is the brightest star.
Chorus 3 (3:46)
||: Cm | G | F | F :||
You didn’t know that you, would be jammin’ until the break of dawn.
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
I bet you nobody ever told you that you, would be jammin’ until the break of dawn.
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
Oh, Oh, Oh… you, would be jammin’ until the break of dawn.
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
Don’t you stop the music, oh no…
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
Na, na na… Nobody told you…
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
Oh, Oh, Oh, you, would be jammin’ until the break of dawn.
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
I bet you if someone approached you yesterday to tell you that you would be jammin’ you would not believe it because you never thought that you would be jammin’.
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, jammin’, ’til the break of dawn.
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
Oh, Oh, You may as well believe what you are feeling because you feel your body jammin’.
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
Oh, Oh, you would be jammin’ until the break of dawn, oh, woo-hoo.
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
Baby, baby…
(We’re in the middle of the makin’s of the master blaster jammin’).
You can learn how to play Master Blaster!
Master Blaster (Jammin’) is a single from Stevie Wonder’s album Hotter Than July. Released in 1980 it is a tribute to Bob Marley. The two met at a benefit concert for the Jamaican Institute for the Blind in 1975. As well as sharing the bill, they sang I Shot The Sheriff and Superstition together.
The song spent seven weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard charts and has become a milestone to learn for musicians, mainly down to the two intricate minor pentatonic instrumental sections (video guitar lessons on how to play these are below)
In the step-by-step course, I’ll take you through how to play all Master Blaster’s chords, all over the neck.
This involves building rhythm parts for the verse and the chorus. Using these examples as a starting point, you will soon be able to play Master Blaster in an improvised way, or as the title suggests – by Jammin’!
The most challenging part of playing Master Blaster is the second instrumental section. This part has become so famous among musicians that it is by many seen as a benchmark of your ability.
To learn it, you must first play the Minor Pentatonic in sequences, meaning moving up three notes, and back one. In the course, we do this in all shapes, followed by the opposite direction of three notes down, one up.
Below, you find step 5 from the lessons about how to play Master Blaster, this one deals with playing that instrumental section, all over the neck, enjoy!
Master Blaster guitar lesson | Instrumental sections
Let’s learn those scary instrumental sections. Plenty of stuff to work on, put those TAB loops in the playlist above on repeat!
Here’s example 1, practice this by picking all notes as well as hammering on and pulling off. The Em shape looks like this.
Move this to an Am shape and it becomes much more difficult. Practice it and you’ll get better at playing it in the Em shape!
Next up we try the Cm shape, which has open strings in it, very difficult…
How about the Gm shape, is that really hard as well? The only way to find out is by trying it.
Finally, the Dm shape. I don’t mind picking all these notes, it’s relatively easy. When it comes to hammering on and pulling off, it’s almost a bit silly.
The question is, how much will you improve by practicing this? The answer is a lot.
The easiest position to play instrumental section 2 in is the first one displayed below, the Em shape. Because of this, you’ll probably end up playing it here when you play it with the full band.
I’m not gonna lie, the Cm shape and its open strings are very difficult. The question is, how much will you improve by practicing this? Not; will you play this in a real, live situation, because you most likely won’t.
Next up, we ignore the Am shape and instead play a combination of Cm and Am shapes.
Perhaps a bit easier than just the Cm shape, but still very difficult though…. How much better will you become by practicing this? Only one way to find out: By actually doing it.
Finally, let’s play all this in a Dm shape. The upper part of this shape is not too difficult, the lower part is slightly confusing.
In the course, we next play a scale I named Conspirian, this is followed by playing the complete song. Remember, this was step 5 of the course, before practicing Master Blaster’s instrumental section, we played the verse and chorus as well.
We also practiced the minor pentatonic in sequences. For the complete experience, sign up here.
Master Blaster’s chords and progressions
The chord progressions of Master Blaster (Jammin’) break all sorts of harmonic rules.
The descending verse chords only have the home chord as a minor, the rest are major chords. This makes it very difficult to determine if the home is chord VI or II.
The ambiguity of, are we in Dorian or Aeolian, is a huge part of Master Blaster’s sound.
Usually, we look to the vocal melody for clues but the entire melody, just like the instrumental sections, is just using the C Minor Pentatonic.
Here are Master Blaster’s verse chords. Cm is chord VI, but it’s also chord II. To spice things up, try extending the chords to, for example, Csus4, Cm7, Bb6, Ab6, G7, and F7.
||: Cm | Cm Bb | Ab | Ab G |
| F | F | Cm | Bb :||
The chorus chords remind us of a blues-style progression, with the home chord being minor. Compare this with I Heard It Through The Grapevine.
||: Cm | G | F | F :||
The last two chords of the chorus could have F6 or F7 chords. The G could also be a G7 – Experiment by jammin’!
Master Blaster chords | Related pages
Master Blaster – 8 guitar lessons
The final series of lessons are done around Stevie Wonder’s masterpiece Master Blaster (Jammin’). As the title suggests, this is all about improvisation.
As a bonus, you’ll know that when you can lay the instrumental sections, you know your Minor Pentatonic well enough.
Master Blaster (Jammin’) – 8 guitar lessons.
Intermediate Electric Songs
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.
Master Blaster – 5 similar tunes
- Could You Be Loved chords
- I Shot The Sheriff chords
- I Wish chords
- Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) chords
- Sir Duke chords
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder is the legend whom most practicing musicians come across that has a life-changing impact on them.
Stevie’s natural groove and ability to purely express music are untouched. His vocal phrasing and songwriting are second to none.
Stevie Wonder on the web
