Chords + Lyrics | Steady, As She Goes
Intro
||: N.C :|| x4
||: Bm Bm/F# | A E :|| bass
||: Bm Bm/F# | A E :|| melody
||: Bm F# | A E :|| x3 chords
Verse 1
||: Bm F# | A E :||
Find yourself a girl and settle down.
Live a simple life in a quiet town.
Chorus 1
||: Bm F# | A E :||
Steady as she goes (steady as she goes).
Steady as she goes (steady as she goes). So steady as she goes.
Instrumental 1
||: Bm F# | A E :||
Verse 2
Your friends have a shown a kink in the single life.
You’ve had too much to think, now you need a wife.
Chorus 2
Steady as she goes (steady as she goes).
So steady as she goes (steady as she goes).
Bridge 1
| G | A | B | B |
Well, here we go again, you’ve found yourself a friend that knows you well.
| G | A | E | E |
But no matter what you do, you’ll always feel as though you tripped and fell. So steady as she goes.
Instrumental 2
||: Bm F# | A E :||
Verse 3
When you have completed what you thought you had to do.
And your blood’s depleted to the point of stable glue.
Then you’ll get along.
And then you’ll get along.
Instrumental 3
| Bm | Bsus2 Bsus4 |
Chorus 3
Steady as she goes (steady as she goes).
So steady as she goes (steady as she goes).
Bridge 2
Well, here we go again, you’ve found yourself a friend that knows you well.
But no matter what you do, you’ll always feel as though you tripped and fell. So steady as she goes.
Chorus 4
Steady as she goes.
Settle for a world, neither up or down (settle for a world, neither up or down).
Sell it to the crowd that is gathered ‘round (Sell it to the crowd that is gathered ‘round).
Settle for a girl, neither up or down (settle for a girl, neither up or down).
Sell it to the crowd that is gathered ‘round (sell it to the crowd that is gathered ‘round).
Instrumental 4
||: Bm Bm/F# | A E :|| melody
Chorus 5
So steady as she goes (steady as she goes).
Steady as she goes (steady as she goes).
Steady as she goes (steady as she goes).
So steady as she goes (steady as she goes).
||: Steady as she goes (are you steady now). :|| x5
| Bm | Bm |
Steady as she goes.
Steady, As He Goes Backing Track | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Steady, As He Goes. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Should you want to play along with the original recording instead, you need to tune your guitar sharp to 444Hz. In the backing track, I’ve done this job for you by detuning it to 440Hz.
Chord Progression – What’s Going On?
No key signature contains all the chords found in Steady, As She Goes. This means the harmony either steps outside the key temporarily or the key itself shifts.
When this happens, we look for the chord that feels like “home” and assign Roman numerals from there.
Play around with the chords above and you’ll quickly realise that Bm feels like home—this is Aeolian, chord VI.
With this as our reference point, we can align the other chords accordingly.
The main looped progression is Bm – F# – A – E. Using the SWS in the key of Bm, both F# and E should be minor chords.
Understanding the progression using Roman Numerals
In Roman numerals, the progression becomes VI – IIIx – V – IIx—an unusually bright take on what is traditionally a minor landscape.
When the next section enters, looping G – A, it feels far more familiar. This is a classic IV – V, #2 on my top 10 chord progressions list.
But just as it settles, along comes a B major chord instead of Bm. That’s a VIx, completing the set—the Raconteurs have now managed to replace all minor chords with major ones in the key of Bm.
To get TAB for how to play this as the only guitarist in the band, keep scrolling down this guitar lesson.
Once you’ve memorised the TAB, try playing the complete tune using only this chord chart.
Steady, As She Goes Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
Download my chord chart to keep track of the arrangement as a PDF or iReal Pro file:
Steady, As She Goes | TAB
Let’s go through all variations of how to play the chord riffs i this tune. The chords may largely remain the same but the fine detail change!
Bass line + Intro
It’s always a good idea to check what other instruments are playing so here’s the bass line.
I’ve written B/F# here even though there are no chords. Here’s the melody, notice how the 2nd string plays fret 3, that’s a Bm note (m3rd), not an F# note (5th). This also comes back later as instrumental 4.
Next, we play some chords, first on the beat, then with a different rhythm:
Verse
That second half of what you saw above is also the first verse:
Verse 2 is different:
Instrumental
The first and second instrumental vary this concept further.
The third instrumental is similar to the intro melody but not the same.
Chorus
The chorus uses open strings to enable you to switch chords. I like playing less strings on the second hit, like this:
Bridge
The bridge uses the same approach as the chorus but the chords are new:
When you can play all this TAB, play along with the backing tracks using only the chord chart.
Evolving Sound: Jack White’s Transition from The White Stripes to The Raconteurs
After six studio albums with The White Stripes, Jack White teamed up with his friend Brendan Benson to form The Raconteurs.
They had a history of working together, as Jack’s most popular song, Seven Nation Army, had a B-side in Good to Me, a song written by Brendan.
Jack had also sung backing vocals on some of Brendan’s recordings. With The Raconteurs, they co-wrote all songs.
Formed in 2005, the debut album was released the following year, with their most well-known song, Steady, As She Goes, as the lead single.
The song was an immediate success worldwide, perhaps not topping the charts but climbing high in many countries—or territories, to use record label speak.
Critical acclaim was high, with Rolling Stone magazine ranking it as the second-best song of the year, beaten only by Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy.
The following year, Steady, As She Goes was nominated for a Grammy, but it lost out to Dani California by The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Steady, As She Goes Chords | Related Pages
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