Uptown Funk (Bruno Mars + Mark Ronson) Guitar Lesson with Backing Tracks + TAB

In this guitar lesson, we explore how to play Uptown Funk using TAB. We start with the guitar parts but soon incorporate the horn parts - Try it all with Backing Tracks!

Uptown Funk | TAB

There is so much to learn from this seemingly simple and spacious modern classic. Let’s start with the intro.

Intro

The Dm7 is an Em shape, with the b7 on top. The pre-stroke is just a Dm, but we don’t need to show this as a chord.

To get to the G7 in an A shape, we move down one fret to get from the b7 to the 3rd of the new chord.

Pay special attention to the 8th note in bar 2 +; the little dot means to “play short.” I find it easier to read it like this. There will be more of this later on.

For the verse, we play nothing, so the next section is the bridge.

Bridge

Here we go from the b7 to the root. All 8th notes are played short; it’s easier to read this than as 16th notes with lots of rests. With chords and lyrics, I wrote this as Dm7 with a C in brackets to indicate the note we mainly play.

Over the G7, we again play nothing. It’s very important to leave this much space, as that’s the point of the arrangement.

Pre-Chorus

Next, we have a pre–chorus where we start by playing nothing for four bars before a chromatic line appears. Experiment with starting this line on string 5, fret 5.

Chorus

The chorus can be played in many ways. Let’s start with the guitar part, repeat it three times, and then join in with the horn part.

As an alternative, you could play the horn line, or at least a version of it. Here’s what I came up with—make sure you get the vibrato in and return to the guitar part in bar 4.