I Heard It Through The Grapevine | Guitar Lesson – Step 2 (FREE)

I Heard It Through The Grapevine Guitar Lesson - S2

In this step, we look at 5 examples of how to play the verse. Use the TAB, loops and video lesson to guide you!

I Heard It Through The Grapevine TAB | Verse

In the verse, Ebm functions as the I chord, much like in a blues progression. Although the structure doesn’t follow a traditional 12-bar format, the overall feel is similar—just with a minor tonic chord, the Im.

To craft engaging rhythm guitar parts for this section, I followed a few simple guidelines:

Use two-note voicings taken from chord shapes
Whenever possible, emphasise beats 2 and 4
Build licks using pentatonic scales and chord tones

Here’s a loop to practise all these examples. Use it after you worked on the TAB loops in the playlist above.

Example 1

Here’s what Example 1 looks like in TAB. The Ebm uses a Dm shape, the Bb uses an A shape, and the Ab is played using an E shape.

Example 2

In this example, we’ve moved up to an Am shape for the Ebm chord. The Bb is played using an E shape, while the Ab starts with an E shape and then shifts to a D shape.

Over the Ab chord, I incorporate both the major pentatonic scale and the b7th interval.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine chords and TAB, verse example 2.

Example 3

In this example, we’re still using the Am shape for the Ebm chord, but now it’s played on strings 3 and 4.

The Bb remains in an E shape, while the Ab is played only in a D shape. The variation is an Ab7 chord the second time around.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine chords and TAB, verse example 3.

Example 4

In this example, the Ebm is played using a Gm shape. The Bb uses a C shape, and the same goes for the Ab chord.

Example 5

You could say this is still a Gm shape for the Ebm, although it’s probably easier to think of it as an Em shape.

Both the Bb and Ab use D shapes and echo the Soul Man intro we played recently.

The final Ab7 is played using an A shape.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine chords and TAB, verse example 5.

🎯 Spend some time practising each example thoroughly, and feel free to modify them to suit your own style.

Next time, we’ll look at the bridge section.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine | Related Pages

Intermediate Electric Course

When playing Motown & Soul tunes, we must know all CAGED barre chords and pentatonic scales to build rhythm parts, incorporate licks and play solos.

Complete the Intermediate Electric Course and you will map out the fretboard, as well as gain an understanding of how to create a guitar part that works in a band.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine | 8 Step-by-step guitar lessons

When playing I Heard It Through The Grapevine, we get a great chance to vary our guitar parts in subtle ways.

For the instrumental section, we improvise by finding different chord shapes and adding licks using the minor pentatonic.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine | Chords + Lyrics

Learn how to play I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Marvin Gaye using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, a backing track, the original recoridng, and video guitar lessons.

Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics

When you can play I Heard It Through The Grapevine's chords, try these five tunes from the songbook.