Lady Marmalade (LaBelle) Guitar Lesson with TAB

Lady Marmalade Guitar Lesson + TAB
In this guitar lesson, you'll find a full analysis with lots of TAB, including how to play the horn parts for the instrumental section!


Lady Marmalade | TAB


Let’s use TAB to decipher how to best play Lady Marmalade. The chords pretty much only go between Gm7 and C9, that’s the II – V chord progression by the way.

Here’s an idea where the bass line is being combined with the chords. The bass line uses the G Minor Pentatonic.

Lady Marmalade TAB, idea 1.

The bass line is played using the Em shape, the first C9 is a C shape, and the second a G shape, this should really be called a Csus2. For the Cm7 we use an Em shape, then go down to an Am shape for the Dm7.

Here’s another way you could play this:

Lady Marmalade TAB, idea 2.

Now we’re using the Dm shape for the bass line. I’ve also included some slides, different each time to provide variation.

Over the C9 I’m playing licks, the first is a guitar lick from the original recording, and the second is a keyboard lick from it.

For the last two chords, I’m using ascending Am shapes.



Here’s a third idea for how you could play Lady Marmalade, now I’m including the bridge as well.

Lady Marmalade TAB, idea 3.

As you can see, I start low (Em shape and C shapes) then move up to a Cm shape and G shape. The Cm7 and Dm7 are Em shapes.

As the bridge comes in, I stay in the same place but start to vary the rhythm. The final two bars are that descending riff, do play this in all positions/areas you can think of.

Let’s take a look at the instrumental section, here’s idea 1.

Lady Marmalade TAB, instrumental idea 1.

In this first example, I’m using strings 1-3 for the chords, then playing the melody. Should you have a sax player or ambitious keys player on the gig, you may want to play the chords only.



Here’s idea 2, without the melody.

Lady Marmalade TAB, instrumental idea 2.

Now the chords are played on strings 2-4 and I’m avoiding the melody.

Play along with the original recording, trying all these ideas out, when you feel confident, start coming up with variations.



Lady Marmalade TAB | Related Pages


Lady Marmalade | Chords + Lyrics

Lady Marmalade chords lesson.

You can learn to play Lady Marmalade by LaBelle using chords, lyrics, chord analysis a chord chart, and the original recording.

| Gm7 | C9 | Gm7 | C9 | Gm7 | C9 |
Hey Sister, go sister, soul sister, go sister.


Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics

When you can play the TAb for Lady Marmalade, try these five tunes from the songbook.


Christina Aguilera tunes

Christina Aguilera sang Lady Marmalade.

Starting alongside Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake on the legendary TV show The Mickey Mouse Club, Christina Aguilera has reached worldwide fame.

Her biggest tunes include Beautiful, Genie In A Bottle, Candyman, What A Girl Wants, Moves Like Jagger, At Last, Car Wash, and Fever.


Christina Aguilera on the web

Listen to Christina Aguilera on Spotify.


LaBelle tunes

LaBelle wrote Lady Marmalade.

Starting out as The Bluebelles in 1962, LaBelle changed their name after one of the members left to join The Supremes.

Their best tunes include Lady Marmalade and covers of Wild Horses and Over The Rainbow.


Labelle on the web

Listen to LaBelle on Spotify.


About me | Dan Lundholm

Dan Lundholm wrote this guitar lesson and TAB for Lady Marmalade.

This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm features TAB and covers Lady Marmalade. 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.


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