I'm trying to learn the song "Sweet Thing" by Rufus & Chaka Khan (later covered by Mary J Blige) for a singer who wants me to accompany her on piano.

I'm still kinda new at playing by ear.... and according to Colony Music in NY it doesn't exist in sheet music.

I'm hoping someone on here can help me.

All I have so far is what I think are the 2 main chords in the intro and the verse:

Amaj9 going to somehting like a Bm7/E (or it might be D/E). I'm not even sure these are right....

But once it goes into the part "wooooaawooo, Sweet Thing" I get lost.

I know it moves up half a step in the bridge and the final choruses...

Any help is appreicated.

I have both the live version and album version and could share it if that would help.

Thanks
[Edited 8/20/05 15:05pm]

Anybody?? Blackguitarist?

Please help

I had to learn the thing one time for a band that I played with. The changes on the chorus just stayed on the one the whole time, while you play that little run that moves up the keys.

No, I don't know the notes, I'm sorry. There's three sets of keys on that song - stepping all over each other, so it's very hard to separate who's playing what, and playing it all together on one piano has GOTTA be hard.

Good luck!

Thanks. So I guess it is a hard song to learn by ear

IF anyone knows any more please let me know. Like I said I think the song is in some kind of Amaj9 for the first part.....but I know there are some changes going on during the "SweeT thing" part.

I reall want to learn this song

GaryMF said:

Prince played it in A on the Musicology TV special. I think the chords were A and Dmaj7. The notes when he sang "Oh you are my" were A-B-D-A and the chords for "sweet thing" were G ("sweet") and A ("thing"). Prince added an A note on the G chord and a B note on the A chord, both notes played on the little E string.

If you need the opening riff, let me know.

RodeoSchro said:

I've been trying to learn that myself. If you could post the opening riff, that would be awesome. Thank you

JimmyNothing said:

top 3 strings (g,b,e)

|-5--5--4--5--x--x--x--x--x--x--5--x----|
|-5--5--5--5--5-/7--5--5-/7--5--5--7----|
|-x--x--x--x--4-/6--4--4-/6--4--x--6----|

daf1999 said:

Could you please translate that into chords or notes? I play keys and can't understand guitar tabs.

Is that just a melody you're doing over the Amaj9 chord or are there actual chord changes going on in the riff

daf1999 said:

Cheers mate!

I need to record a new version of this one with the right chords. The last one I did in 2002 was country.

GaryMF said:

The top line is the E string, and 0 would be the open string (the E note). 1 would be the first fret, or F; 2 is the second fret or F#, etc. 5 is an A note.

The second line is the B string, so 5 is an E note.

The third line is the G string (maybe the most popular string EVER, LOL). 4 is a B; 6 is a C#.

For future reference, if you ever want to figure out the notes on a tab, there's usually six lines of numbers, with each line representing a string on the guitar. The strings are numbered from bottom to top as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6.

You already know what 4, 5, and 6 are. 1 is the low E string; 2 is the A string; and 3 is the D string. You can figure out any guitar tab's notes.

When you see something like the "5/7" above, that means the guitarist is sliding from the 5th fret to the 7th fret. You'll have to improvise that on a piano.

Good luck!

BTW, I thnk Prince played the opening riff a little higher on the neck than has been listed. The notes I play that sound right are (higher note listed first, and frets listed for high E and B string):

C#/A (9/10)
C#/A (9/10)
B/G# (7/9)
C#/A (9/10)

A/F# (5/7)
A/E (5/5)
A/F# (5/7)
A/E (5/5)
E/C# (5th fret on B string; 6th fret on G string)

Dmaj7 chord (D/A/C#/F#)

this is how i seem to play it but havent looked at the chord fingerings yet, if ne 1 has would be good

intro, pluck a A string then

bottom E B strings like this
E --9---9---7---7---9
B -10--10---9---9---10

then
B --5/7\5---5---5/7-- (this bit is tricky and a bit quick)
G --4/6\4---4---4/6--

then quick
E --5--
B --5--

then (note just 1 slide up no return)

B --5/7--
G --4/6--

then using thumb over barr strum an A chord with some vibrato on the A and D strings with your 3rd and pinky

then this little run

D-----5-----
A---5h7-----0--
E-----

let the open A ring over the the intro as at start

then repeat from intro but iam not sure og the fingering on the chords for the verse

hope this helps
does ne 1 els like this? its my firdt go at a sort of tab i so want to play it as on musicology special

regards
[Edited 8/31/05 4:10am]
[Edited 8/31/05 4:14am]