Lean On Me | TAB
Here’s how the piano plays, if translated to the guitar. Start playing this along to the entire tune (ignore the bridge for now).
It’s important that you do this for the complete song, not just for a bit, you need to get into it.
Play it on your own and it’ll soon be obvious that this won’t work if you’re the only guitarist. Try this instead:
As you can see, some of the chords have changed, it doesn’t matter. That Dsus4 is just moving us from C to Em, the D5 doesn’t have to be the full triad, again, it’s just taking us from one chord to another.
What you saw above is a good way to start the tune but soon you need to increase the intensity, try this:
It’s important to gradually build it as you saw above, and then you need a full-on version as well, try this:
This may have sounded the most exciting, but you can’t just play this straight away, build up to it, and then down from it.
Practice all three ideas, and you’ll soon be able to stop staring at the TAB and improvise a part that feels natural with a singer.
Lastly, here’s the bridge.
Lean On Me TAB | Related Pages
Lean On Me | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn to play Lean On Me by Bill Withers using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| C Dm Em F | F Em Dm C | C Dm Em | Em Dm |
Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Bill Withers tunes
Bill Withers was an American singer-songwriter who performed and recorded from the late 60s until the mid-80s.
Some of his best-known songs include Ain’t No Sunshine, Use Me, Lovely Day, Lean on Me, Grandma’s Hands, and Just The Two Of Us.
Bill Withers on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm features TAB and covers Lean On Me. 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.