Sir Duke | TAB
Let’s look at some TAB for what the horns play on the recording since you will have to play it if there are no horns on the gig!
In the chords lesson, I’ve called the G#m a G#m(add9addb5), looking at the intervals, can you see why?
The verse is the same but just a straight G#m, so what are the Roman Numerals? Well… the first two chords are I – VI, and the final chord is a V.
This leaves us with the G chord which is a chromatic chord that works because it’s between chords VI and V. Usually, this would be a dim7 but Stevie just uses a straight major triad.
Speaking of chromatic, next, Sir Duke’s bridge chords are packed with them, like this:
| E9 Eb9 D9 Db9 | D9 Eb9 E9 |
You could go all tritone substitution here with the explanation, claiming that this is a cycle of 4th where every other chord is tritone substituted, so E9 – A7 – D9 – G7, which would be common, is now Eb9 and Db9 instead.
However, this wouldn’t explain the ascending movement of D9 – Eb9 – E9. So just like with the G in the verse, let’s just accept that this is chromatic and it sounds great!
You don’t need TAB for this section as it’s just the standard 9 chord, still, here it is:
The chorus is the craziest, looks like this:
||: B | Fm7 | Emaj7 B/D# | C#m7 F#7 F#7sus4 :||
If we ignore the Fm7 for now, then B is chord I, Emaj7 is IV, C#m7 is II, F#7 is V. All very common.
So, what about that Fm7? You could, again, say this is a tritone substitution, making the I chord lead to chord IV but that shouldn’t have been a minor chord.
So what Stevie has done here is just gone: I prefer this note! Consequentially, we just have to accept that in the world of Stevie Wonder, anything is possible.
We have to learn from Sir Duke, not try to fit it into our preconceived ideas of what music must be theoretically, because clearly, Stevie is right, always!
One day, I will record this and make 8 step by step lessons for it, until then I will leave you to figure out a way to play the chorus of Sir Duke, using the chords you saw above.
Let’s move on to the instrumental section. This uses the B major blues scale, which is a Major Pentatonic with a minor 3rd.
I used to think that it’s good to think of this as a G#m Blues Scale but thinking about it for many years, I don’t believe so anymore, instead, I now believe you should see Sir Duke as an excellent opportunity for you to learn the major blues scale.
Again, this will be covered in future in-depth 8-step lessons. For now, here’s the best area in which to play Sir Duke’s instrumental section.
Sir Duke TAB | Related Pages
Sir Duke | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| B | G#m | G | F#7 |
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand.
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Stevie Wonder is the legend whom most practising musicians come across and who has a life-changing impact on them.
Stevie’s natural groove and ability to purely express music are untouched. His vocal phrasing and songwriting are second to none.
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About me | Dan Lundholm
This guitar lesson by Dan Lundholm features TAB and covers Sir Duke. 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.