Chords + Lyrics | Uptown Funk
Intro
| N.C | N.C |
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh.
| N.C | N.C |
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh.
| Dm7 | G7 |
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh.
| Dm7 | G7 |
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh da (Aaaaaaow!)
Verse 1
||: N.C | N.C :||
This hit that ice-cold Michelle Pfeiffer that white gold.
This one, for them hood girls, them good girls, straight masterpieces.
Stylin’, wilin’, livin’ it up in the city.
Got Chucks on with Saint Laurent, gotta kiss myself I’m so pretty.
Bridge 1
||: Dm7 (C) | G7 :||
I’m too hot (hot damn). Called a police and a fireman.
I’m too hot (hot damn). Make a dragon wanna retire, man.
I’m too hot (hot damn). Say my name, you know who I am.
I’m too hot (hot damn). And my band ’bout that money, break it down.
Pre-chorus 1
| N.C | N.C |
Girls, hit your hallelujah (ooh). Girls, hit your hallelujah (ooh).
| N.C | N.C |
Girls, hit your hallelujah (ooh). ‘Cause uptown funk gon’ give it to you.
| (D D# E F) | (F# G G# A) |
‘Cause uptown funk gon’ give it to you. ‘Cause uptown funk gon’ give it to you.
| (Bb B C C#) | (D) N.C |
Saturday night and we in the spot. Don’t believe me, just watch, come on!
Chorus 1
||: Dm7 | G7 (G9) :||
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh.
Doh (ha!). Doh doh doh (don’t believe me just watch, uh!). Doh doh doh, doh.
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh.
Doh (ha!). Doh doh doh (don’t believe me just watch, uh!). Doh do.
Chorus tag 1
| N.C Dm7 | N.C Dm7 |
Don’t believe me just watch. Don’t believe me just watch.
| N.C Dm7 | N.C |
Don’t believe me just watch. Hey, hey, hey, oh!
Verse 2
Stop, wait a minute, fill my cup put some liquor in it.
Take a sip, sign a check. Julio, get the stretch!
Ride to Harlem, Hollywood, Jackson, Mississippi.
If we show up, we gon’ show out, smoother than a fresh jar of Skippy (uh).
Bridge 2
I’m too hot (hot damn). Called a police and a fireman.
I’m too hot (hot damn). Make a dragon wanna retire, man.
I’m too hot (too hot, hot damn, hot damn). Bitch, say my name you know who I am.
I’m too hot (hot damn). And my band ’bout that money, break it down.
Pre-chorus 2
Girls, hit your hallelujah (ooh). Girls, hit your hallelujah (ooh).
Girls, hit your hallelujah (ooh). ‘Cause uptown funk gon’ give it to you.
‘Cause uptown funk gon’ give it to you. ‘Cause uptown funk gon’ give it to you.
Saturday night and we in the spot. Don’t believe me just watch, come on!
Chorus 2
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh.
Doh (ha!). Doh doh doh (don’t believe me just watch, uh!). Doh do.
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh.
Doh (ha!). Doh doh doh (don’t believe me just watch, uh!). Doh do.
Chorus tag 2
Don’t believe me just watch (uh). Don’t believe me just watch.
Don’t believe me just watch. Hey, hey, hey, oh!
Breakdown
||: N.C | N.C :||
(Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh) Before we leave.
(Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh) Lemme tell y’all a lil’ something.
(Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh) Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up.
(Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh) Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up, uh.
(Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh) I said, uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up.
(Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, da da) Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up.
||: Dm7 | G7 (G9) :||
(Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh) Come on, dance, jump on it, if you sexy, then flaunt it.
(Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh) If you freaky, then own it, don’t brag about it, come show me.
(Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh) Come on, dance, jump on it, if you sexy then flaunt it.
| Dm7 | N.C |
(Doh) Well it’s Saturday night and we in the spot. Don’t believe me just watch, come on!
Chorus 3
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh.
Doh (ha!). Doh doh doh (don’t believe me just watch, uh!), doh do.
Doh. Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh.
Doh (ha!). Doh doh doh (don’t believe me just watch, uh!), doh do.
Chorus tag 3
Don’t believe me just watch, uh. Don’t believe me just watch, hey.
Don’t believe me just watch. Hey, hey, hey, oh!
Outro Chorus
(Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up). Say What?
(Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up). Come on!
(Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up). Say What?
(Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up). Come on!
(Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up). Say What?
(Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up). Come on!
(Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up). Say What?
Uptown Funk Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Uptown Funk. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, horns, 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 441Hz. In the backing tracks, I’ve done this job for you by tuning it to 440Hz.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
One of Bruno Mars’ biggest hits, Uptown Funk is built around a simple II–V (Dm7 to G7) progression on repeat, with a G9 occasionally thrown in. Often, though, less is more—the magic lies in the space between notes.
The track’s groove is reminiscent of Blurred Lines, relying on careful restraint to make the rhythm feel alive. Use the Em shape for Dm7 and the A shape for G7.
Pre-Chorus
The pre-chorus builds chromatically, and you should lock in with the bass and keys. For extra polish, learn the horn lines from the recording—they add huge impact.
For TAB examples of all sections, look further down this guitar lesson.
Here’s a chord chart to help make sense of the arrangement.
Uptown Funk Chord Chart | PDF iReal Pro Download
Download my chord chart to help you keep track of the arrangement. Choose the PDF if you’re happy with it as is, or opt for the iReal Pro file if you’d like to make adjustments.
Uptown Funk | TAB
There is so much to learn from this seemingly simple and spacious modern classic. Let’s start with the intro.
Intro
The Dm7 is an Em shape, with the b7 on top. The pre-stroke is just a Dm, but we don’t need to show this as a chord.
To get to the G7 in an A shape, we move down one fret to get from the b7 to the 3rd of the new chord.
Pay special attention to the 8th note in bar 2 +; the little dot means to “play short.” I find it easier to read it like this. There will be more of this later on.
For the verse, we play nothing, so the next section is the bridge.
Bridge
Here we go from the b7 to the root. All 8th notes are played short; it’s easier to read this than as 16th notes with lots of rests. With chords and lyrics, I wrote this as Dm7 with a C in brackets to indicate the note we mainly play.
Over the G7, we again play nothing. It’s very important to leave this much space, as that’s the point of the arrangement.
Pre-Chorus
Next, we have a pre–chorus where we start by playing nothing for four bars before a chromatic line appears. Experiment with starting this line on string 5, fret 5.
Chorus
The chorus can be played in many ways. Let’s start with the guitar part, repeat it three times, and then join in with the horn part.
As an alternative, you could play the horn line, or at least a version of it. Here’s what I came up with—make sure you get the vibrato in and return to the guitar part in bar 4.
If you want to impress other musos, you could start moving this line around the Dorian mode, like this:
Again, the 8th note in bar 2, beat 4+ is “played short”.
Chorus tag
This chorus tag is the same as you already played in chorus example 1 above. Just repeat it three times and then play nothing.
Breakdown
Finally, we have the breakdown, which is played by several guitars on the original recording and is varied more than I’ve put below.
When you feel confident with all the TAB, scroll back up and use the chord chart and backing tracks to prepare yourself playing this modern classic with a band.
The II-V Progression and the Art of Borrowing: Keeping Your Audience Dancing and Songwriting Smart
As #4 on my top 10 chord progression list, the II–V is a progression you’ll want to use when your audience is ready to move, and with Uptown Funk, nothing proves this better.
By never resolving to chord I, the II–V progression keeps building energy throughout the song. You can hear this in tracks like I Wish, Le Freak, Good Times, Lady Marmalade, Thriller, and even Superstition.
By the way, when the creators wrote Uptown Funk’s chords, I suspect they’d heard Le Freak more than once! Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson, with Ronson’s DJ background, are no strangers to “borrowing” ideas. For example, if you compare Tears Dry On Their Own (Amy Winehouse) to Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, you’ll find a near rewrite.
For Bruno, this borrowing approach extends to other tracks too—Treasure borrowed from Baby I’m Yours. But it goes both ways, as Miley allegedly wrote Flowers based on When I Was Your Man.
I’ve said this many times before: amateurs wait for inspiration, while pros go to work. If you want to work, knowing how to play Uptown Funk’s chords is essential.
Uptown Funk Chords: Continue Learning
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