Hit The Road Jack | TAB
Let’s start by playing the Ray Charles version all over the neck—this becomes challenging if you want to move around the fretboard in an improvised way.
Example 1
Individually, these shapes are easy—just make sure you can play them before attempting to move freely. We start with an Em shape, then go up to a C-shaped E, followed by an A-shaped D#7.
Example 2
Next, we repeat the exercise using strings 1–3. The second bar now has D shapes.
Example 3
Move up the neck and play a Cm shape first, then switch to A shapes in bar two.
Example 4
On strings 1–3, we start with a Dm shape, then move to A shapes again.
Example 5
Finally, start with an Am shape, then play E shapes in bar two.
If you follow this methodically for each shape, it may seem easy—but try playing along with the original while moving around the neck, and it becomes a much more challenging exercise!
Once you’ve mastered this, let’s move on to Helen Reddy’s version.
Hit The Road Jack | TAB ( Helen Reddy)
I can’t get enough of this incredible cover—it’s so clever!
Intro + Instrumental
Nothing immediately signals “Hit The Road Jack”, but that’s part of the fun!
The instrumental lick modulates up after two bars, like this:
Choruses
The chorus is where the magic happens. I’ve arranged it to combine the horn lines with the guitar part. Notice how she first plays it in half-time (two chords per bar) and then switches to four chords per bar—it’s brilliant!
This part is simple, starting with a horn stab. If you have a wah-wah pedal, add some in between the stabs—jam along with the recording for inspiration.
Verses
This part is really simple, just a horn stab at the beginning. If you have a wah-wah, do add some in between the stabs (jam along to recording to get inspiration)
The arrangement is different after the key change, like this:
Outro
Finally, the outro: notice how I move between Abm and Abm7, then for the Db9 I play the same inversion as in Kiss. The notes are almost identical—love it!
Hit The Road Jack Backing Tracks + TAB | Related Pages
Hit The Road Jack | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play Hit The Road Jack by Ray Charles + Helen Reddy using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| G#m F# | E7 D#7 |
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back…
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