Soul Man | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| G | F | Bb | C D |
Verse 1
||: G G7 G | G G7 G :||
Coming to you, on a dusty road, good loving, I got a truckload.
And when you get it, you got something. Don’t worry, ’cause I’m coming.
Chorus 1
| G7 | F | G7 | G7 |
I’m a soul man. I’m a soul man
| G | F | G | C D |
I’m a soul man. I’m a soul man, and that ain’t all.
Verse 2
Got what I got, the hard way, and I make it better, each and every day.
So, honey, no don’t you fret, ’cause you ain’t seen-a, nothing yet.
Chorus 2
I’m a soul man. I’m a soul man
I’m a soul man. I’m a soul man
Verse 3
I was brought up, on a side street, yes mam! I learned how to love, before I could eat.
I was educated, at Woodstock, when I start loving, oh I can’t stop.
Chorus 3
I’m a soul man. I’m a soul man
I’m a soul man. I’m a soul man
Middle 8
| Eb | Bb |
Look, grab the rope and I’ll pull you in.
| C | D7 |
Give you hope and be your only boyfriend.
| Eb11 |
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah!)
Instrumental
| Ab | Gb | B | Db Eb |
Outro
||: Ab Ab7 Ab :||
I’m talking about a soul man,
I’m a soul man, and you’re a soul man.
Soul man (oh lord), soul man.
(I’m a) soul man, (and you are) soul man.
(And you’re a) soul man.
Soul Man Chords: Learn the progressions
We start with D shapes for the intro, ignoring the 2nd string as we outline the chords, like this:
| G (I) | F (bVIIx) | Bb (bIIIx) | C (IV) D (V) |
Having gone outside the key of G with the bVIIx and bIIIx chords, the verse stays on a G chord which is a nice relief.
To be more accurate, we could notate this static G chord like this:
||: G G7 G | G G7 G :||
Or, we could aim to be extremely accurate and put Soul Man’s verse chords down like this:
||: G Gb7 G7 G C6/G G :||
But that will only make sense if you’ve read the TAB (see further down this page).
The chorus chords are similar but not the same as the intro, like this:
| G7 (I) | F (bVIIx) | G7 | G7 |
| G | F | G | C (IV) D (V) |
For the middle 8, we go to a new key (Ab) and start on the V chord, many bands fall apart here if they’re doing the gig without a rehearsal or communal charts.
| Eb (IV) | Bb (IIx) | C (IIIx) | D7 (IV) | Eb11 (V) |
It’s that final chord (Eb11) most bands rarely get right.
This is followed by a re–intro, but in the new key, like this:
| Ab (I) | Gb (bVIIx) | B (bIIIx) | Db (IV) Eb (V) |
This is followed by the genius move of playing the chorus and verse chords at the same time, the band plays the chorus, and the guitar sticks with the verse riff.
Here’s a chord chart I made for you.
Soul Man Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
The chart you see above turned out great, there’s space between each section and even though there are loads of chords in that verse, they will serve as a reminder of what that chord riff is (more about this below).
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Soul Man Chord Chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro, here’s a link to that file: Soul Man iReal Pro.
You can change the key using this and the iRealPro app, this may be a great idea as the Blues Brothers’ version is in the keys of E and F.
On a final note, if you’re playing the Blues Brothers version, the re-intro repeats!
Below, you’ll find out more about the verse riff in the course preview.
Soul Man TAB | Course Preview
Soul Man is a rare example of how you should stick to just a one-bar chord riff for a long time as if you’re playing funk, not Soul.
Funnily enough, when other people than Steve Cropper have played it with Sam & Dave, they changed this one-bar rhythm guitar riff, which is a complete mystery to me.
In the preview lesson above, I walk you through the original part by Sam & Dave as well as how Steve himself and other people changed it.
Here’s the TAB for the original part.
The Blues Brothers version is in a different key and therefore has been slightly altered, it looks like this:
Here’s another version with Sam & Dave again, this is how Steve plays it live in the keys of Ab and A.
In another gig, Steve isn’t part of the band, here’s what the new guitarist played!
Finally, here’s what Steve Cropper plays when left to his own devices.
In the course, we next go through the remaining sections of the tune, you get loops to practise along with and TAB for everything.
When the song changes the key towards the end from G to Ab, you get a great workout on how to see all those chords, all over the neck. It’s not easy, you must practise.
As if that wasn’t hard enough, should you play this song live, you might do so following the Blues Brothers version, which is in the keys of E and F.
Now you must take everything you know and transpose it – another challenge where you better know your D-shaped chords for the intro and key change!
In the course, I’ll give you plenty to work with to master that D shape. I’ll show you several different ways you could play each section of this legendary tune so you can perform it with a smile, not a panic attack.
Having many options, you can design your favourite way to play Soul Man when you perform it with the live band backing track in the final step.
Here’s a link to the 8 step-by-step guitar lessons: Soul Man – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
Soul Man was a hit, twice!
Soul Man is a song first made famous by Sam & Dave in 1967. Written by Isaac Hayes and backed by Stax legendary house band Booker T. & the M.G.’s, this is a proper classic.
In 1980, it reached the masses again as it featured in the unforgettable film The Blues Brothers. Amazingly, much of the band that played on the original recording was in the movie.
It wasn’t by chance that Blues Brothers picked Soul Man, the duo was famously modelled on Sam & Dave, when it comes to performing that is, Sam & Dave famously hated each other off stage.
Jake and Elwood didn’t hate each other, on the contrary, they were, as the title suggests, brothers, and if you’ve seen the movie you know they were also on a mission, from God.
Soul Man Chords | Related Pages
Soul Man | 8 Step-by-step Guitar Lessons + TAB
Soul Man is a rare example of how you should stick to just a one-bar riff for a long time, this is clearly what you should do when playing the verse.
Once we hit the chorus and the M8, things get much more intricate, can you put it all together in step 8?
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- Get Ready chords by Sam & Dave
- Hard To Handle chords by Otis Redding
- Hold On, I’m Comin’ chords by Sam & Dave
- In the Midnight Hour chords by Wilson Pickett
- Knock On Wood chords by Eddie Floyd
Blues Brothers tunes
The 1980 Musical Blues Brothers tells the story of a band “on a mission from God” to raise money for an orphanage.
Tunes include Gimme Some Lovin’, Rawhide, Shake A Tailfeather, Think, Minnie The Moocher, Soul Man, and Jailhouse Rock.
Blues Brothers on the web
Booker T. & The M.G.’s tunes
Led by piano and organ player Booker T. Jones, the Stax Records house band played behind numerous legendary artists.
Hits include Green Onions, Born Under A Bad Sign, Dock Of The Bay, Ain’t No Sunshine, Soul Man, Hold On I’m Comin’, Knock On Wood, and Respect.
Booker T. & The M.G.’s on the web
Sam & Dave tunes
Sam & Dave was a Soul duo that made their most successful recordings with Stax house band Booker T. and The M.G.’s.
When the film The Blues Brothers was released in the cinema, it gave their career one final boost. However, neither Sam nor Dave seemed happy about it.
Sam & Dave on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Soul Man chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.