Give Me One Reason Chords & Guitar Lesson by Tracy Chapman
Welcome to my Give Me One Reason chord and strumming lesson by Tracy Chapman. This is such a great song especially if you love the 12 Bar Blues. Since I finished my Blues Guitar Course, my students asked me for some cool modern blues style songs and this one is a keeper for sure.
You can scroll down for a detailed video lesson on how to play Give Me One Reason on guitar which details the strumming patterns as well as the extra little spices I like to do when I’m performing live.
GIVE ME ONE REASON CHORDS FOR GUITAR:
You can use Barre or Power Chords for this song.
GIVE ME ONE REASON STRUMMING PATTERNS:
We do not distribute printable chord and lyrics charts. These charts are here only to support online learning. We highly recommend buying music from Hal Leonard or a reputable online sheet music store.
Chorus Strumming: With Shuffle Feel
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1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
B D B B DB
You could do all downs, but I like the spice of the bass note because that’s what Tracy is doing in the song.
Split Measure Strumming:
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
B DD B D D
Lauren’s Spicy Strum:
I show you this strum in the lesson video. I think adding a hammer from an open string add a cool spice to this song. Either way, this is how I like to play it. Not true to the record, but mmm mmm good.
GIVE ME ONE REASON CHORD PROGRESSION:
The great thing about this song is that is follow a 12 Bar Blues progression with some slight variations. So once you play through the entire chord progression, you just start back from the beginning.
F# |B C#| F F
B |B C#| F F
C# B F F
As a teaching moment, if this were played in a standard 12 Bar the progression would be:
F# F# F# F#
B B F# F#
C# B F# F#
So she changed both the 2nd and 6th measures to introduce both the IV and V chords (B and C#) intro the progression for a little more movement and a super smooth sound. I don’t know about you, but I love it.
This file is the author’s own work and represents his interpretation of this song. It’s intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.