Anybody know the guitar chords in Purple Rain?

Bbsus2 Gm7

I never meant to cause you any sorrow

F Eb

I never meant to cause you any pain

Bbsus2 Gm7

I only wanted to one time see you laughing

F Bbsus2

I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain

Eb

Purple rain purple rain

Eb Bbsus2

Purple rain purple rain

Gm7 F

Purple rain purple rain

F Bbsus2

I only wanted to see you bathing in the purple rain

Or for the Acoustic version you can try

G Em

I never meant 2 cause you any sorrow

D C

I never meant 2 cause you any pain

G Em

I only wanted 2 one time see U laughing

D G

I only wanted 2 see you laughing in the Purple Rain

C

Purple Rain Purple Rain

G Em

Purple Rain Purple Rain

D

Purple Rain Purple Rain

G

I only wanted 2 see U bathing in the Purple Rain

MarcelS67 said:

Bbsus2 Gm7

I never meant to cause you any sorrow

F Eb

I never meant to cause you any pain

Bbsus2 Gm7

I only wanted to one time see you laughing

F Bbsus2

I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain

Eb

Purple rain purple rain

Eb Bbsus2

Purple rain purple rain

Gm7 F

Purple rain purple rain

F Bbsus2

I only wanted to see you bathing in the purple rain

Or for the Acoustic version you can try

G Em

I never meant 2 cause you any sorrow

D C

I never meant 2 cause you any pain

G Em

I only wanted 2 one time see U laughing

D G

I only wanted 2 see you laughing in the Purple Rain

C

Purple Rain Purple Rain

G Em

Purple Rain Purple Rain

D

Purple Rain Purple Rain

G

I only wanted 2 see U bathing in the Purple Rain

A bit better

MarcelS67, I assume you play guitar?

I play bass but thought it would be cool to know what the guitar chords were; thanks.

In Bbsus2, what does sus2 mean? sustained?

Gm7, does that = Gminor 7th chord?

Astasheiks said:

In Bbsus2, what does sus2 mean? sustained?

Gm7, does that = Gminor 7th chord?

Yes, it means add the 2nd note in the scale to the chord (or replace a note in the chord you're making with the 2nd note). So for Bb, that would be a "C" note. Bb is the 1, C is the 2, etc.

For the normal Bb guitar chord shape, the "D" note on the fourth (B) string is replaced with a "C" note.

And yes, Gm7 is G minor 7th.

Astasheiks said:

MarcelS67, I assume you play guitar?

I play bass but thought it would be cool to know what the guitar chords were; thanks.

The "proper" way to play it is using a Barre chord on the first fret, and a wicked stretch on the Eb chord. You can probably find YouTube videos on how to make those.

Here's the easy/acoustic way to play it. I'm going to show you how to do it in the key of A. If you want to play it in Bb, as it is on the record, the easiest thing is to put a capo on the first fret. or, you could tune each string up 1/2 step.

Asus2 is the opening chord, and it looks like this. I use my pinkie finger for the G string, and my ring finger for the D string. This makes the next chord easier to transition to.

e -0---

B -0---

G -2---

D -2---

A -0---

E -x---

The next chord is Asus2/F#, which is almost the exact same chord, but with the F# played instead of the A note. Keeping my pinkie and ring fingers in place, I just play the F# note on the E string with my middle finger. You could use your ring, middle and pointer fingers for this, too. Just use whatever is easiest for you.

e -0---

B -0---

G -2---

D -2---

A -x---

E -2---

The third chord is just a straight E chord:

e -0---

B -0---

G -1---

D -2---

A -2---

E -0---

Finally, the last chord is a D/E, which means add an "E" note to a D chord:

e -0---

B -3---

G -2---

D -0---

A -x---

E -x---

Have fun!

.

[Edited 12/10/12 13:03pm]

Do you play in a Band or teach music or both or its a hobby? Lawd, I didn't know u play!

I don't think the chords are placed in the correct places in the chart you made plus some of the chords are swapped. I'm doing this from me memory but it's more like this:

|Bsus2 | Gm7 .....................................|

I never meant to cause you any sorrow

|F...............................................| Eb (EBsus2) (Eb) ...|

I never meant to cause you any pain

|Bbsus2 |Gm7.................................|

I only wanted to one time see you laughing

|F | (hold F) Bb(on the 3 then STOP) |

I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain

(no chord)

Purple rain purple rain

|Eb (Ebsus2) (Eb) | Eb |

Purple rain purple rain

|Bbsus2 |Gm7 |

Purple rain purple rain

|F |F Bb(STOP)

I only wanted to see you bathing in the purple rain

Just to clarify the above..... the | symbols are meant to be 1 measure. So |F |F | means F is held for 2 measures.

The overall progression without the lyrics is like this:

VERSE:

|Bbsus2 |Gm7 |F |Eb* |

|Bbsus2 |Gm7 |F | Bb (hit this on the stop)|

CHORUS: (after the "puprle rain... purple rain which is sung over no music)

|Eb* | |Bbsus2 |Gm7 |

|F | | | Bb (on the stop)

*on keyboard I play Eb to Ebsus2 to Eb with the top note going from G to A back to G.... it's a little extra nuance.

** This F chord gets held different amounts of measures I think based on each instance....basically the F his played and held while the guitar or piano does riffs and the vocals change in length a bit but you hold on the off until it resovles on the Bb which is a "stop" in that the music all hits the same beat and pauses for a second as it turns around back into the verse/chorus.

Dont forget to play the D string open in the Bbsus2. Strum the chord from the D string so that it is the bass note.

Interesting

I just re-read my posts above and wherever I wrote Ebsus2 that should say Ebsus4.

The idea is that the top note you hear changing is G-Ab-G, and since the Ab is the 4th note of Eb chord, the technical term for that chord would be Ebsus4. (I might have also written A when I mean Ab.... sorry!)

And "sus" means "suspended" which I always interpreted to mean that you "suspend" the "3" of the chord (i.e. don't play it) and instead you substitute the 2nd note (for sus2, like in the opening chord Bbsus2 you play a C instead of a D), or the 4th note (like in this Ebsus4 you play Ab instead of G).

So Bbsus2 has these notes: Bb, C F (order depends on what inversion you want). On piano I play it like that in stadard voiceing.

Ebsus4 has these notes: Eb Ab Bb. On piano I usually play it the "2nd inversion" so the note that changes when you play Eb-Ebsus4-Eb is on top: Bb-Eb-G to Bb-Eb-Ab back to Bb-Eb-G.

I don't play guitar so not sure how this all translated to that.

GaryMF said:

I just re-read my posts above and wherever I wrote Ebsus2 that should say Ebsus4.

The idea is that the top note you hear changing is G-Ab-G, and since the Ab is the 4th note of Eb chord, the technical term for that chord would be Ebsus4. (I might have also written A when I mean Ab.... sorry!)

And "sus" means "suspended" which I always interpreted to mean that you "suspend" the "3" of the chord (i.e. don't play it) and instead you substitute the 2nd note (for sus2, like in the opening chord Bbsus2 you play a C instead of a D), or the 4th note (like in this Ebsus4 you play Ab instead of G).

So Bbsus2 has these notes: Bb, C F (order depends on what inversion you want). On piano I play it like that in stadard voiceing.

Ebsus4 has these notes: Eb Ab Bb. On piano I usually play it the "2nd inversion" so the note that changes when you play Eb-Ebsus4-Eb is on top: Bb-Eb-G to Bb-Eb-Ab back to Bb-Eb-G.

I don't play guitar so not sure how this all translated to that.

To, me it sounds better and closer to the recorded version to leave the 3rds in all the chords and add the 2nd which is the sus note. So the Bbsus2 is actually a Bb and add a C....Gm7 with a C...F...Eb7 with a D. This way all the notes are covered, like the W&L tape and Prince's subsequent piano part in the movie. IIRC this is also the way the chords are also written in the Hits 1 and 2 songbook.

Adisa said:

GaryMF said:

I just re-read my posts above and wherever I wrote Ebsus2 that should say Ebsus4.

The idea is that the top note you hear changing is G-Ab-G, and since the Ab is the 4th note of Eb chord, the technical term for that chord would be Ebsus4. (I might have also written A when I mean Ab.... sorry!)

And "sus" means "suspended" which I always interpreted to mean that you "suspend" the "3" of the chord (i.e. don't play it) and instead you substitute the 2nd note (for sus2, like in the opening chord Bbsus2 you play a C instead of a D), or the 4th note (like in this Ebsus4 you play Ab instead of G).

So Bbsus2 has these notes: Bb, C F (order depends on what inversion you want). On piano I play it like that in stadard voiceing.

Ebsus4 has these notes: Eb Ab Bb. On piano I usually play it the "2nd inversion" so the note that changes when you play Eb-Ebsus4-Eb is on top: Bb-Eb-G to Bb-Eb-Ab back to Bb-Eb-G.

I don't play guitar so not sure how this all translated to that.

To, me it sounds better and closer to the recorded version to leave the 3rds in all the chords and add the 2nd which is the sus note. So the Bbsus2 is actually a Bb and add a C....Gm7 with a C...F...Eb7 with a D. This way all the notes are covered, like the W&L tape and Prince's subsequent piano part in the movie. IIRC this is also the way the chords are also written in the Hits 1 and 2 songbook.

Yeah this is right. ^^ I remember now what Wendy was saying in the special features of the PR DVD: the chords are not really suspended 2th or 4th, but they added the respectives notes to round out the chords. and support the melody.