Chords for Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" in Open F# Tuning: Part II | Reverb Learn to Play

_ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G#] _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ _ _ [C#] _ _ Hey friends, Joe here [G#] at Reverb.
Welcome back for part two of this Curtis Mayfield lesson.
Definitely check out part one if you haven't already
that talks about the open F [A] sharp tuning
[F#] that will be involved for this lesson.
So we [C] are in open F sharp and we're ready to go.
Let's dive in.
People Get Ready starts out in the key of C sharp [F] major,
which is gonna be [C#] on our seventh fret. _ _
_ On the [D#] record with the impressions,
_ it's played a little differently
with the horns taking the melody right on the top
and the guitar just kinda _ _ _ doing these chucks.
However, [E] live Curtis took the opening melody
[G#] and every guitar break then in the song [C#] as well. _ _
_ [F#] _ _ _ [G#] _ _ [F#] _ _
_ [C#] _ _ _ _ _ So the progression is one, _ _ [F#] _ _ six minor, _ _ four [C#] and one.
_ _ _ Wonderful progression. _
[G#] And the shapes here, grab this with your thumb _
[C#] _ _ _ and then your bar in here. _
_ _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ [A#m] _
_ _ It's these two notes here _ for the six minor [C#] tonality.
_ _ [F#] _ _
[A#] _ _ _ _ Single note line [D#] there.
_ [A#] _ [Em] The four chord shape is [F#] gonna be, _
_ _ it's a little weird, but it kinda falls into place.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _
And then landing there on _ those three notes for the root,
for the one rather.
_ [F#] _ _ _ _
_ [G#] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ [C#] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _
_ The way that he plays the [E] verse progression,
which is the same progression, just [C#] some different shapes.
_ Same for the one.
_ He reaches [D#] all the way down here and thumbs [C#] this note. _
_ _ _ _ [G#] _ _ _
[A#] It's all the way down there to get that,
the root of the six minor chord.
_ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ I know that that's quite a [B] stretch.
And if you're not used to [C#] playing with your thumb,
that can be _ pretty hard to get.
And so if you gotta go like that, no problem. _
_ _ _ _ But what's important is to get this one to six movement
in the bass.
_ [A#] _ _ _
_ [F#] And then _ _ _ _ just your regular _ triad here,
major triad for the four chord.
_ [C#] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ [C#] _ _ That does it three times.
And then on the fourth time it changes.
[G#] It goes from three minor to two minor [Fm] and then four to one.
_ _ _ [D#m] _
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ [C#] _
_ _ _ These minor shapes is just like [D#] your A minor shape.
Keep in mind here, these three, the D, [F#] G and B strings,
if we're in standard tuning, _ are the same.
They create that major triad.
Although it's in F sharp now instead of G.
So the shapes on your C sharp, F sharp and A sharp strings
are gonna be the same.
_ [B] _ [G#] _ _ [C#] _ _
[D#] _ _ _ _ All the same shapes there.
[Fm] _
_ _ [D#m] _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ [C#] _ _ That's the last line of the verse.
_ Live you hear him going like this.
_ _ [D#m] _
_ _ [Fm] So instead of playing the full triad here,
just grabbing the one and the three and doing that little.
_ _ [D#m] _ _ _ And that's when you hear some of Curtis's influence
coming off on [Fm] guys like Hendrix and _ [C] those little flutters
[Fm] outside of the chord.
_ [D#m] _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ _ _ [C#] _ So [N] that's the structure of the verse.
One, six, four, one, _ three times.
And then three minor, two minor, four, one
for the last [F] line, okay? _ _
_ [F#] _ _ [C#] _ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ [F] _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ _
Now let's get to [F] the variations for the main guitar hook.
First one and maybe the most famous. _
_ [F#] _ _ [C#] _ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ [F] _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Okay, [A#] then he goes back into the verse.
But the way that that, we're used to hearing this
one, six, four, [F] one, right?
And then to hear this, _ [A#m] _
[D#] okay, we're still hearing
one and six there. _ _
_ _ _ [F#] _ But _ instead of _ [C#] _ _ resolving [D#] to one,
he just lets these notes hang out and we don't feel resolved
until we hit the [F#] downbeat of the verse.
_ _ [A#] _
_ [C#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] So it's just really beautiful.
It's just wonderful phrasing and it's wonderful.
He just still [F] has us there.
He still has us and waits to resolve it
until the downbeat of the verse. _ _ _
[A#m] _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _
[A#m] _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ _ _
And then the other variation on that main guitar hook
is _ _ again, [F#] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [D#] _ _ [C#] _
_ _ _ _ waiting a little bit to resolve it,
not quite as long as that first variation.
_ [F#] _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [F#] And then kind of raking these a little bit more, _ _ _
hammering on there _ from seven to nine, _
_ _ _ _ [C#] _ _ [D#m] _
hitting [G#m] the two and [C#] then the one. _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ It's great.
It's just wonderful use of having a beautiful hook
[E] and then just these slight variations that just give it
a little bit of a different [D] color each time.
_ [Bm] _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
[C#] Right after that one, it modulates.
So it's gonna be, _ _ [G#] _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ [D#] _ _ [C#] _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
[B] and now we are in the key of D [D] major.
And then same thing.
_ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ [D] _ Okay, then it just goes through the whole progression.
Same thing, just up a half step in D major
rather than C sharp.
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ [Am] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [D#] Thanks so much for watching this video on People Get Ready
and a little bit about the open tuning of Curtis [B] Mayfield.
There's another Curtis lesson on the site.
[F#] Definitely check it out.
See you guys next time.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _