About Damn Time | TAB
Let’s look at some TAB as this is needed to understand how the chords work, here’s the verse:
As you can see, it’s just a Bbm triad, even though the chord says /Eb. You want to leave that Eb to the bass player.
For the Bb11, it’s just an Ab triad. Again, leave the Bb to the bass player. I could have described it as an Ab/Bb, same thing.
Back to the Bbm/Eb. Had it been a Bbm7/Eb, that too could have been an 11 chord.
On a final note, there is another guitar playing mutes, I felt it was cleaner and worked better in a live band to ignore those, rather than blend them into this part.
Here’s the bridge, this (too) is slightly modified.
Start with sliding into the Bmaj7, don’t hit the top string until beat 2. Quickly switch to Bbm7. These two chords reveal that the key must be Gb or F# (at least at this point), as a major chord and a minor chord a semitone apart must be IV – III.
The Abm7 is therefore chord II. The Gbmaj7 is chord I, and Bb11 takes us to the chorus which feels like it’s in Eb Dorian.
This means that we are in two keys here, Eb Dorian and Gb major, standard in the Disco, Funk, and Jazz world. It’s a modal interchange.
Here’s the chorus. Compare this to I Heard It Through The Grapevine. We’re flirting with a II – V from the Ionian key of Db, but Eb is home, it’s all Dorian, and it’s always what makes us wanna dance!
Notice the difference here between the verse and chorus, I’m playing further up the shape, Gbmaj7 is the same as Bbm7, and we don’t play the /Eb bass. Only a few more rhythms are added.
Ab and Bb11 are the same thing.
Playing in this style is all about minimalism, consistency, and slotting in with everyone else.
About Damn Time TAB | Related Pages
About Damn Time | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play About Damn Time by Lizzo using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Bbm | Bbm | (guitar only)
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Lizzo tunes
It would take several albums and singles before the world woke up and accepted Lizzo for who she was and her all-inclusive, body-positive message.
Her best tunes include Juice, About Damn Time, Truth Hurts, Boys, Tempo, as well as covers of Stayin’ Alive and A Change Is Gonna Come.
Lizzo on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm featuring TAB, covers About Damn Time. 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.