I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing | TAB
I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing may be a power ballad with the biggest orchestra known to man, but after trying it out, it works well on just one acoustic guitar, this is often what happens when you have a perfectly crafted tune!
The chords and progressions are truly genius, let’s start with the intro.
Bm7 – A/C# – E is a II – I/3 – V in the key of A. We know this as the string melody at the end of the E chord uses Mixolydian notes.
Here’s the TAB for how I think you should play I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’s intro chords on one acoustic guitar.
When the verse starts on a D chord, our brain thinks this is chord IV (Lydian), giving us a feeling of moving on.
What’s genius is that we have actually changed the key to D. The verse progression is I – V/3 – VI, followed by IV – I/3 – II, like this:
| D A/C# | Bm7 | G D6/F# | Em |
Another massive tune that uses these two diatonic descending chord progressions is American Pie, do compare them!
After repeating this, we ascend using chords III – IV – V, like this:
| F#m G | A7sus4 |
Here’s the TAB for how I think you should play I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’s verse chords on one acoustic guitar.
Another genius move is how the second verse removes the fourth line and goes straight for the build.
By playing the D chord as a C shape, which is similar to how the piano voices the chords, we get the opportunity to change to an open D chord once we hit the chorus.
Here are I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’s chorus chords, and also the outro:
||: D A/C# | Em7 | G A :||
This is (again) clever. Only three bars long, we get a sense of urgency and want to loop it forever, it never feels finished, like a four-bar progression starting on chord I, finishing on chord V does.
Three variations happen to the chorus:
- Chorus 1, ends on D – A/C# – Bm7 – B7sus4 |
- Chorus 2, ends on a 2/4 bar of D.
- Chorus 3, after four times change from D to Bm7, like this: Bm7 – A/C# – Em7
Finally, the middle 8 has two key changes, first to C using chords I and V. Then the same movement in F, then back to C, finish on Dm7 – A. Dm7 is chord II in C, A is VIx in C, but also V in the key of D which is what the last chorus is in.
Did I mention I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’s chords are completely genius?
I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing TAB | Related Pages
I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn to play I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| D A/C# | Bm7 |
I could stay awake just to hear you breathing…
Five Similar Tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Aerosmith tunes
Formed in Boston in 1970, Aerosmith had many ups and downs over its career, eventually becoming America’s best-selling hard rock band.
Their best tunes include Dream On, Walk This Way, Sweet Emotion, Love In An Elevator, Pink, and I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.
Aerosmith on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm featuring TAB covers I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. 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.