Shake A Tail Feather | TAB
In my opinion, it’s much better for your development to transcribe other instruments for the guitar than to transcribe just guitar stuff. With that in mind, here’s the keyboard intro of Shake A Tailfeather, for guitar!

For the verse, I got a bit excited and did three verses even though there were only two in the tune!
Here’s verse 1, you could play this should you have lost/fired your keyboard player on the way to the gig, or if you want to play this on an acoustic.
Notice how the 6 chords are on the 2 and 3+ in this example. The Bm is followed by a Bm7, and the E is followed by an E7. The A chord takes us to verse 2.

Here’s verse 2, now the band has joined in and we need a smaller guitar part or we won’t cut through the mix. The G chord is now an E shape.
The Bm7 is followed by a Bm, not the other way around. It is also almost identical to the D – D6. The E is followed by an E7. The A chord is the beginning of the pre-chorus.

Next, here’s another way to play the verse. The Bm is now followed by a Bm7 again, same goes for the E – E7. The A chord is the first of the pre-chorus.

Let’s look at a way we could build the intensity for that pre-chorus using TAB.
Notice how the top part of the chord moves root – 3rd – 5th – b7 – lick.

Finally, here’s Shake A Tail Feather’s chorus chords in TAB.

The honky tonk is now different from what we played in the verse, the 6 chord is on the 2 and 4, not the 3+. The final G – D chords are played without honky tonk, giving the arrangement more space.
To get better at this kind of rhythm guitar playing, play along with the original recording above as well as compare how these kinds of 6 chord parts are played in other tunes like I Can’t Stand The Rain, Son Of A Preacher Man, You Never Can Tell, Nutbush City Limits, and perhaps most famously, Johnny B. Goode.
Shake A Tail Feather TAB | Related Pages
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You can learn how to play Shake A Tail Feather by Ray Charles using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, and the original recording.
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The 1980 Musical Blues Brothers tells the story of a band “on a mission from God” to raise money for an orphanage.
Tunes include Gimme Some Lovin’, Rawhide, Shake A Tail Feather, Think, Minnie The Moocher, Soul Man, and Jailhouse Rock.
Blues Brothers on the web
Ray Charles tunes
Ray Charles, nicknamed The Genius, sang songs he wrote himself, songs other people wrote for him as well as covers.
Best known for Mess Around, I Got A Woman, Georgia On My Mind, Hit The Road Jack, and You Don’t Know Me.
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Tina Turner tunes
Tina Turner was discovered by Ike, joined his band, and even married him. Together they achieved great success with many hits.
Off stage, Ike was an abusive husband, when they divorced Tina would embark on a remarkable solo career and Ike would end up the most hated man in America.
Tina Turner on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm features TAB and covers Shake A Tail Feather. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar by playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.