Give Me One Reason- Tracy Chapman- 23 May 24

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GIVE ME ONE REASON - Tracy Chapman

Came across this great tune while searching a long list for some new Blues tunes to learn; expecting to pick ones of the ilk of a King, a T-Bone W Walker etc, ( and I did), but added this one also.
I didn’t recall it at first, but after playing the original I remembered it, and was hooked. Such a cool groove to this song. The way the 1-4-5 movement is ‘incorporated’ into the 1 chord section; the 4-5 movement as the 4 chord, is something a bit different, and works well.
The first thing that struck me was that its in the key of F#. I thought “ I’ll fix that. I’ll just try G or F etc , and go from there.” But, I ran into some problems. Part of the driving bass line uses the open E and A strings, and it just didn’t sound nearly as cool, or in some cases, didn’t work at all really, when switching keys.
And then I discovered, ( not solely on my own) why Tracy Chapman likely chose F#. ( shows how theory can really help).
The 3 chords in the song are;
F# - B - C#

Open E = b7 of the I Chord - F#
Open A = b7 of the IV Chord - B

  • fretted B = b7 of the V chord - C#
    ( b7 of V always = root of IV chord)

So the open strings play an important role in the song, made possible by using F# as the key. Very clever by Chapman. Anyway, enough musing about theory. It just works very well, it sounds very cool, and importantly, I learnt some new information.

Anyway, here’s my go at it. Not my greatest work, but will be looking to perfect this one.
The backing track is the original with all guitar parts removed via Moises. So drums, bass, vocals - thought I’d let Tracy do the vocals :nerd_face:. To be honest, I found it too hard anyway to play all the guitar parts and try to sing as well.

A few flubs here and there…possibly too much reverb, but that’s where I’m at. A great tune, and alot can be taken away from it.
Comments, tips, etc always welcome.

Cheers, Shane

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Wow - love this. Not heard that song before, love the guitar work on this Shane, real smooth. I’m going to give this one a go myself right now!

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That was great Shane! :clap:
I love Tracy Chapman, really enjoyed this :star_struck:
Thanks for the background theory too :sunflower:

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Yeah, go for it Paul. A lot of fun, and you’ll pick it up pretty quickly.
Just a bit tricky playin the rythm and lead together ( for me at least). Im gonna keep workin on it till its nailed. Plenty of opportunity for improv too over a tune like this…

Cheers, Shane

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:clap: :clap: :clap: great work Shano, I like Tracy Chapman and this was a great job IMO.

Great timing I thought and I don’t think there was too much reverb, for me anyway. I might have liked a bit more body, possibly bottom end, I’m not really up there enough to identify it, but still loved it mate :+1:

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Cheers Shane, your cover is a great inspiration - singing over that rhythm is hard too, so laid back! I’ve transcribed the first couple of licks - love the second one, very simple but really nice.

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What a great song Shane and what super lead and rhythm play from you. I enjoyed that. You’ve really found your niche with your blues studies. Well done mate.
I liked your techie explanation of the F# key. Clever people these song writers!

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Thanks for the listen Gordon, and the kind words. Hope all is well in your world mate.

Cheers, Shane

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G’day, mate! :smiley:
I was expecting a version of Boy Clayworth’s Karma Chameleon as your next offering (or perhaps even a bluesy Taylor Swift :rofl:), but I see you gone back to the Delta…
Sounding sweet :sunglasses:
I’ll have to go back to Theory 101 to get to grips with all the chord function stuff, but made some sense here and there…
Just curious- was the full track incl. guitar in your cans? Can’t really think how you could time it otherwise to get Tracey to join you 35 sec in… :thinking:

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That was sweet Shane. I was a big fan of Tracy Chapman back in the day. Haven’t heard this one in a while so thank you for bringing this one back! :sunglasses:

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Bravo Shane ! This sounds great ! Love it ! Thanks for sharing :pray: :pray: :pray:

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That was good, clean fun @sclay! Now polish up your falsetto and add the vocals!

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Wow, yeah, that sounds great mate. I’ve never heard the song before but it’s a good 'un! The fills have a certain feeling about them which you captured very nicely. Nice one!

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Shane

Really good groove to your playing: you’ve nailed the chords and the timing so the musicality is outstanding. Well done.

Brian

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Hey Brian, Thanks for the listen. ‘Boy Clayworth’ :rofl: …Karma Chameleon is coming - actually a great song to play. Not sure about singing it though. Will have to work something out. Im trying to get my daughter to sing a song or two - she has a sublime voice.

I had the same track in my ears that’s in the video. I suppose by listening to
and playing over the full track over and over, you get a feel for when sections begin/end etc down to the beat.

Cheers, Shane

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Excellent Shane!

You really picked a cool song to cover there. I’ve always liked it from my first listen to it a long time ago.
Ya covered it real good.
A real enjoyable listen for sure.
Thanks for the share and the theory in your opening comment.

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One of my favorite songs ever. I love singing along with it. Her style inspires me. You are the first person on here I’ve heard play this. Great job on it. I really enjoyed your performance.

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Hi Shane,

you always give me more than one reason to listen to your renditions. :smiley: That’s one of my favourites out of Tracy’s collection of great songs and you did it justice. :clap: Great groove going on and you captured it so well. The tone was lovely, perfect fit. Was there also some chorus involved?

Don’t mind the few flubs. There’s quite some movement along the fretboard and I’m sure in no time they will be gone the more often you play it. :slight_smile: It seems to be really challenging just from watching and it always is when you have to condense all guitar layers in just one. So very well done on that.

Thanks a lot for the little “theory” lesson on why it had to be F#-major. A perfect example why studying theory is a true benefit for a musician! And also something to learn and take home. :smiley:

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Ooh … Very nice, Shane … Lovely tone :ok_hand:

My week is over for the Bank Holiday weekend now, so was just enjoying a Jim Beam listening to that… Fit the mood perfectly :+1:

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Really enjoyed that, Shane, nicely played and great song choice. Excellent work incorporating rhythm and lead on one guitar. I hadn’t heard that song for awhile so after listening to you I went to look for a live Tracy Chapman version on YouTube. I found a live version from 1999 that she does with Eric Clapton! That was completely unexpected! It looks like lots of artists have covered this song but I’m not going to check out any more. I’ll leave it at my favorites being you, and Clapton. :slightly_smiling_face:

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