Get Lucky | TAB
Playing Nile Rogers‘s guitar parts can quickly feel intimidating as he varies them so much. A good idea is to transcribe a few bars, repeat them and then start making variations.
An even better idea is to restrict yourself to what feels like the main rhythm and explore the entire fretboard using the CAGED system and TAB. That way, you get a great exercise, you’ll never get bored on the gig and you create a great platform to play like Nile, not just copy him.
When playing Get Lucky, we only have four chords so let’s find the main rhythm and make sure we can play it on three strings, all over the fretboard, here’s the first and most obvious area.
You could play the entire tune here, starting with the Em shape, here’s some TAB displaying how this could be done.
There are a few important points here:
- The 8th notes are played like a 16th note. There is a small dot above the stem to indicate this. We do this as it’s easier to read 8th notes
- We’re looking for the closest possible shape
- We play only on strings 4, 3, and 2
- The rhythm is identical
Here’s the next area, the Gm shape is our starting point, two shapes overlap with the previous example. Notice how the rhythm is identical throughout.
That initial Gm shape may feel like a box-ticking exercise but if you stick with it, you’ll soon appreciate this unusual shape.
Next, we keep moving down the neck to find out Am shape, which looks like this.
All shapes are new here, one of them has changed the chord, it’s the E which has become an E5. This has happened because:
- We’re sticking with the rules of using only strings 4, 3, and 2
- We don’t want to move down to an open E, it’s just not funky enough
Let’s move up the fretboard to where we start with a Dm shape.
Now, the Bm has become a B5 for the same reasons the E became an E5 earlier.
The E chord is the same as in the first example although we now think of it as a G shape, not an A shape. We also play it with a different finger, the index, not the ring finger.
Lastly, the Cm shape looks like this:
Perhaps we are a little bit too high up here, especially that final E chord.
Remember, this is an exercise, we do this to create a platform from which you can improvise a part when playing Get Lucky.
Having gotten this organised, moving around the fretboard between the shapes is easy. Your next move should be to incorporate the top string, still not playing more than three strings in a part.
You could also experiment with varying the rhythm.
Get Lucky TAB | Related Pages
Get Lucky | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn to play Get Lucky by Daft Punk using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Bm | D | F#m | E |
Like the legend of the Phoenix, huh. All ends with beginnings…
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Chic tunes
Nile Rodgers’ Chic has many well-known Disco hits, but it’s perhaps his work as a producer and writer that he is best known for.
Producing Madonna, Sister Sledge, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Daft Punk, Duran Duran, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Nile is a legend in the business.
Chic on the web
Daft Punk tunes
French Dance duo Daft Punk formed in 1992 under the name Darlin’. They started to wear helmets after they had their first hits to gain anonymity.
Tunes include Get Lucky, Around The World, Da Funk, One More Time, and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.
Daft Punk on the web
Pharrell Williams tunes
As Kelis, Nsync, Justin Timberlake, Nelly, CeeLo Green, and Snoop Dog’s producer and co-writer, Pharrell Williams is a big deal in the
business.
In 2013 he released three of the most well-known songs of our time, Get Lucky, Happy, and Blurred Lines.
Pharrell Williams on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm featuring TAB covers Get Lucky. 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.