Chords for How To Play 2-4-6-8 Motorway
Tempo:
111.1 bpm
Chords used:
Eb
Ab
Db
G
F
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
I'm Tom Robinson.
I'm a presenter on Six Music, but also in another life was the leader of the modestly named Tom Robinson Band.
And in 1976, I formed the band without any members.
I went round to all the venues that I knew from the previous band I played with and said,
Will you give us a gig from the new band?
And [N] the next thing I had to do, once I got a load of gigs lined up, was find some musicians who would play for me at those gigs.
So I called up all the drummers I knew, all the bass players I knew, [E] and slotted them in for different nights to see who would play [Db] on which nights.
I'd had a band to turn up with.
And then I had to write some songs.
And at that point, it was important to write some songs with as few chords in them as possible,
so that you could learn them during the soundcheck.
And I've always felt that songs with the fewest chords in them possible are always the best songs.
[Ab] So this was one that I wrote in 1976, which only has three chords in it, effectively.
[Eb] And it doesn't change the sequence in which they come.
It just goes all the way through, always with the same [Ab] chords.
The chords are basically [Eb] A, [Db] E, and D.
But the thing is, with any [Db] really simple song, the thing that makes it individual and not just like something [Bb] really boring is the way [Eb] in which you play those three chords.
The main riff [Ab] started out going
Those little pushes on the beat, you go one, two, three, four, [G] one, two, [Abm] three.
Now being [Db] the bass player, I needed to make the song work around the bass line.
So the fundamentals of this song is the bass part, which [Ab] is just
[G]
[Eb] [Ab] And [F] then to spice it up, you have a little push.
[G]
[Ab]
[F] And then the guitar [Gb] part had to go on top of that.
So originally in the band, there'd be two people playing.
The guitarist would be doing all the fancy stuff, and [E] I'd just be plonking away there on the bass and singing on [Am] top of it.
So to try and play it for you now, I have to try [Ab] and do both lines.
So I use my thumb here to play the bass.
[Eb] [Fm]
[Eb] [Ab] [Bb] And in order to do that, I've got to play different inversions of [Db] A, E, [Ab] and D.
A is moved up to here.
It's like one of those, but just the inside fingers with the bass held on with the thumb.
[Eb] Instead of playing an E, [Eb] you play the E.
Sounds different, gives it a bit more interest.
And then move it down.
[Db] And then you can do a real E.
[Ab] Back to it.
[Eb] [Fm]
And then we need some [Ab] words.
So I made some up.
They don't really mean anything.
I don't know what a Fairlane Cruiser is, but I stuck [E] one in here, and here are the lyrics and the chords and the song all at once.
Drove my truck midway to the [Eb] motorway station.
[Ab] [Eb] Fairlane Cruiser coming up on [Ab] the left-hand side.
Headlight shining, driving [Eb] rain on the window frame.
[Fm] Little [Eb] young lady started [Ab] stitching them a ride.
Two, four, six, eight, never too late.
[Fm] Me and [Ab] my radio trucking on through the night.
Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine, on a double white line.
[Ab] [Eb] Motorway sound coming [Ab] in one line.
Whiskets sitting pretty on [Eb] a two [Gm]-wheel stallion.
[Db] This [Eb] old ten-tonne lorry [Ab] got a beat on you.
Ain't no use setting up with a white companion.
[Ab] Ain't nobody got a better view than you.
And it's two, four, six, eight, [Eb] never too late.
[Db] Me and my radio trucking [Ab] on through the night.
Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine, on a double white line.
[Ab] Motorway sound coming up with the morning light.
And then you have to have the kind of traditional guitar [Eb] solo here, where somebody else comes on [Fm] and does all the difficult [Eb] stuff.
[Ab]
Incidentally, [Eb] if you're singing backing vocals on this, the [G] important thing is don't try and put harmonies on it.
There's a backing vocal part which is just simply the root [Ab] note.
Two, four, six, [Eb] eight.
[F] And then three, five, seven, nine.
Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine.
[Db] [G] [Ab] And then just, [N] when you've done two verses, two choruses, and there's been a guitar solo, something else has to happen.
It's the law.
You have a middle eight or whatever, or a song just gets dead boring and it doesn't really stay with people.
So you need a bit of relief from all that.
So I didn't want to change the chords.
I didn't want to put anything difficult or complicated in there.
So we just had it go slow instead.
There ain't no route you could choose to [Eb]
lose, the two of us.
[Bbm] Ain't nobody know when you're acting [Eb] right or [Ab] wrong.
No one knows of a road we lead in nowhere.
I'm [F] gonna keep on driving home on the [Ab] road I'm on.
Two, four, six, [Eb] eight, never too late.
[F] In my radio talking on through [Ab] the night.
Three, five, seven, nine, [Eb] old double white line.
[F] Roadway sun coming up with the [Ab] morning light.
That same old roadway [Eb] sun coming up with the morning light.
Roadway sun coming up with the [Db] morning light.
And then you go back and have another guitar solo [Eb] there.
Just to give a little bit of variation.
[Db] [Ab] But if you're writing songs, [G] I'd recommend keep it to as few chords as you can.
Keep it dead simple and then other people can play them very easily.
And it kind of spreads its way out there.
Keep the chorus simple.
I nicked the idea actually off gay pride marches which I used to go on a lot of the time.
People used to go chanting, two, four, six, eight, gay is twice as good as straight.
Three, five, seven, nine, lesbians are mighty fine.
And I thought, well, if a thousand people can chant that all together, I should make a good chorus for a song.
I'm a presenter on Six Music, but also in another life was the leader of the modestly named Tom Robinson Band.
And in 1976, I formed the band without any members.
I went round to all the venues that I knew from the previous band I played with and said,
Will you give us a gig from the new band?
And [N] the next thing I had to do, once I got a load of gigs lined up, was find some musicians who would play for me at those gigs.
So I called up all the drummers I knew, all the bass players I knew, [E] and slotted them in for different nights to see who would play [Db] on which nights.
I'd had a band to turn up with.
And then I had to write some songs.
And at that point, it was important to write some songs with as few chords in them as possible,
so that you could learn them during the soundcheck.
And I've always felt that songs with the fewest chords in them possible are always the best songs.
[Ab] So this was one that I wrote in 1976, which only has three chords in it, effectively.
[Eb] And it doesn't change the sequence in which they come.
It just goes all the way through, always with the same [Ab] chords.
The chords are basically [Eb] A, [Db] E, and D.
But the thing is, with any [Db] really simple song, the thing that makes it individual and not just like something [Bb] really boring is the way [Eb] in which you play those three chords.
The main riff [Ab] started out going
Those little pushes on the beat, you go one, two, three, four, [G] one, two, [Abm] three.
Now being [Db] the bass player, I needed to make the song work around the bass line.
So the fundamentals of this song is the bass part, which [Ab] is just
[G]
[Eb] [Ab] And [F] then to spice it up, you have a little push.
[G]
[Ab]
[F] And then the guitar [Gb] part had to go on top of that.
So originally in the band, there'd be two people playing.
The guitarist would be doing all the fancy stuff, and [E] I'd just be plonking away there on the bass and singing on [Am] top of it.
So to try and play it for you now, I have to try [Ab] and do both lines.
So I use my thumb here to play the bass.
[Eb] [Fm]
[Eb] [Ab] [Bb] And in order to do that, I've got to play different inversions of [Db] A, E, [Ab] and D.
A is moved up to here.
It's like one of those, but just the inside fingers with the bass held on with the thumb.
[Eb] Instead of playing an E, [Eb] you play the E.
Sounds different, gives it a bit more interest.
And then move it down.
[Db] And then you can do a real E.
[Ab] Back to it.
[Eb] [Fm]
And then we need some [Ab] words.
So I made some up.
They don't really mean anything.
I don't know what a Fairlane Cruiser is, but I stuck [E] one in here, and here are the lyrics and the chords and the song all at once.
Drove my truck midway to the [Eb] motorway station.
[Ab] [Eb] Fairlane Cruiser coming up on [Ab] the left-hand side.
Headlight shining, driving [Eb] rain on the window frame.
[Fm] Little [Eb] young lady started [Ab] stitching them a ride.
Two, four, six, eight, never too late.
[Fm] Me and [Ab] my radio trucking on through the night.
Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine, on a double white line.
[Ab] [Eb] Motorway sound coming [Ab] in one line.
Whiskets sitting pretty on [Eb] a two [Gm]-wheel stallion.
[Db] This [Eb] old ten-tonne lorry [Ab] got a beat on you.
Ain't no use setting up with a white companion.
[Ab] Ain't nobody got a better view than you.
And it's two, four, six, eight, [Eb] never too late.
[Db] Me and my radio trucking [Ab] on through the night.
Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine, on a double white line.
[Ab] Motorway sound coming up with the morning light.
And then you have to have the kind of traditional guitar [Eb] solo here, where somebody else comes on [Fm] and does all the difficult [Eb] stuff.
[Ab]
Incidentally, [Eb] if you're singing backing vocals on this, the [G] important thing is don't try and put harmonies on it.
There's a backing vocal part which is just simply the root [Ab] note.
Two, four, six, [Eb] eight.
[F] And then three, five, seven, nine.
Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine.
[Db] [G] [Ab] And then just, [N] when you've done two verses, two choruses, and there's been a guitar solo, something else has to happen.
It's the law.
You have a middle eight or whatever, or a song just gets dead boring and it doesn't really stay with people.
So you need a bit of relief from all that.
So I didn't want to change the chords.
I didn't want to put anything difficult or complicated in there.
So we just had it go slow instead.
There ain't no route you could choose to [Eb]
lose, the two of us.
[Bbm] Ain't nobody know when you're acting [Eb] right or [Ab] wrong.
No one knows of a road we lead in nowhere.
I'm [F] gonna keep on driving home on the [Ab] road I'm on.
Two, four, six, [Eb] eight, never too late.
[F] In my radio talking on through [Ab] the night.
Three, five, seven, nine, [Eb] old double white line.
[F] Roadway sun coming up with the [Ab] morning light.
That same old roadway [Eb] sun coming up with the morning light.
Roadway sun coming up with the [Db] morning light.
And then you go back and have another guitar solo [Eb] there.
Just to give a little bit of variation.
[Db] [Ab] But if you're writing songs, [G] I'd recommend keep it to as few chords as you can.
Keep it dead simple and then other people can play them very easily.
And it kind of spreads its way out there.
Keep the chorus simple.
I nicked the idea actually off gay pride marches which I used to go on a lot of the time.
People used to go chanting, two, four, six, eight, gay is twice as good as straight.
Three, five, seven, nine, lesbians are mighty fine.
And I thought, well, if a thousand people can chant that all together, I should make a good chorus for a song.
Key:
Eb
Ab
Db
G
F
Eb
Ab
Db
_ _ I'm Tom Robinson.
I'm a presenter on Six Music, but also in another life was the leader of the modestly named Tom Robinson Band.
And in 1976, _ _ I formed the band without any members.
I went round to all the venues that I knew from the previous band I played with and said,
Will you give us a gig from the new band?
And [N] the next thing I had to do, once I got a load of gigs lined up, was find some musicians who would play for me at those gigs.
So I called up all the drummers I knew, all the bass players I knew, [E] and slotted them in for different nights to see who would play [Db] on which nights.
I'd had a band to turn up with.
And then I had to write some songs.
And at that point, it was important to write some songs with as few chords in them as possible,
so that you could learn them during the soundcheck.
And I've always felt that songs with the fewest chords in them possible are always the best songs.
[Ab] So _ this was one that I wrote in 1976, which only has three chords in it, effectively.
_ [Eb] And it doesn't change the sequence in which they come.
It just goes all the way through, always with the same [Ab] chords.
The chords are basically [Eb] A, [Db] E, and D. _
_ But the thing is, with any [Db] _ really simple song, the thing that makes it individual and not just like something [Bb] really boring is the way [Eb] in which you play those three chords.
The main riff [Ab] started out going_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Those little pushes on the beat, you go one, two, three, four, [G] one, two, [Abm] three.
Now being [Db] the bass player, I needed to make the song work around the bass line.
So the fundamentals of this song is the bass part, which [Ab] is just_
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ And [F] then to spice it up, you have a little push.
[G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
[F] _ _ And then the guitar [Gb] part had to go on top of that.
So originally in the band, there'd be two people playing.
The guitarist would be doing all the fancy stuff, and [E] I'd just be plonking away there on the bass and singing on [Am] top of it.
So to try and play it for you now, I have to try [Ab] and do both lines.
So I use my thumb here to play the bass.
_ [Eb] _ _ _ _ [Fm] _
_ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ [Bb] And in order to do that, I've got to play different inversions of [Db] A, E, [Ab] and D.
A is moved up to here.
It's like one of those, but just the inside fingers with the bass held on with the thumb. _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ Instead of playing an E, [Eb] you play the E.
_ Sounds different, gives it a bit more interest.
And then move it down.
[Db] _ _ And then you can do a real E. _
_ [Ab] Back to it. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ [Fm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ And then we need some [Ab] words.
So I made some up.
They don't really mean anything.
I don't know what a Fairlane Cruiser is, but I stuck [E] one in here, and here are the lyrics and the chords and the song all at once. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Drove my truck midway to the [Eb] motorway station.
_ [Ab] _ [Eb] Fairlane Cruiser coming up on [Ab] the left-hand side.
_ Headlight shining, driving [Eb] rain on the window frame.
_ [Fm] Little [Eb] young lady started [Ab] stitching them a ride.
_ Two, four, six, eight, never too late.
[Fm] Me and [Ab] my radio trucking on through the night.
_ Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine, on a double white line.
[Ab] _ [Eb] Motorway sound coming [Ab] in one line. _
_ _ Whiskets sitting pretty on [Eb] a two [Gm]-wheel stallion.
[Db] This [Eb] old ten-tonne lorry [Ab] got a beat on you.
_ Ain't no use setting up with a white companion. _
_ [Ab] Ain't nobody got a better view than you.
And it's two, four, six, eight, [Eb] never too late.
[Db] Me and my radio trucking [Ab] on through the night.
_ Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine, on a double white line.
[Ab] _ Motorway sound coming up with the morning light.
And then you have to have the kind of traditional guitar [Eb] solo here, where somebody else comes on [Fm] and does all the difficult [Eb] stuff.
_ [Ab] _ _
Incidentally, [Eb] if you're singing backing vocals on this, the [G] important thing is don't try and put harmonies on it.
There's a backing vocal part which is just simply the root [Ab] note.
Two, four, six, [Eb] eight. _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ And then three, five, seven, nine.
Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine. _
_ [Db] _ _ [G] _ _ [Ab] _ And then just, [N] when you've done two verses, two choruses, and there's been a guitar solo, something else has to happen.
_ It's the law.
You have a middle eight or whatever, or a song just gets dead boring and it doesn't really stay with people.
So you need a bit of relief from all that.
So I didn't want to change the chords.
I didn't want to put anything difficult or complicated in there.
So we just had it go slow instead.
_ There ain't no route you could choose to [Eb]
lose, the two of us.
[Bbm] Ain't nobody know when you're acting [Eb] right or [Ab] wrong.
_ No one knows of a road we lead in nowhere.
I'm [F] gonna keep on driving home on the [Ab] road I'm on.
Two, four, six, [Eb] eight, never too late.
[F] In my radio talking on through [Ab] the night.
_ Three, five, seven, nine, [Eb] old double white line.
[F] Roadway sun coming up with the [Ab] morning light.
That same old roadway [Eb] sun coming up with the morning light.
_ _ Roadway sun coming up with the [Db] morning _ light.
_ _ _ And then you go back and have another guitar solo [Eb] there.
Just to give a little bit of variation.
[Db] _ [Ab] But if you're writing songs, [G] I'd recommend keep it to as few chords as you can.
Keep it dead simple and then other people can play them very easily.
And it kind of spreads its way out there.
Keep the chorus simple.
I nicked the idea actually off gay pride marches which I used to go on a lot of the time.
People used to go chanting, two, four, six, eight, gay is twice as good as straight.
Three, five, seven, nine, lesbians are mighty fine.
And I thought, well, if a thousand people can chant that all together, I should make a good chorus for a song. _ _ _ _ _
I'm a presenter on Six Music, but also in another life was the leader of the modestly named Tom Robinson Band.
And in 1976, _ _ I formed the band without any members.
I went round to all the venues that I knew from the previous band I played with and said,
Will you give us a gig from the new band?
And [N] the next thing I had to do, once I got a load of gigs lined up, was find some musicians who would play for me at those gigs.
So I called up all the drummers I knew, all the bass players I knew, [E] and slotted them in for different nights to see who would play [Db] on which nights.
I'd had a band to turn up with.
And then I had to write some songs.
And at that point, it was important to write some songs with as few chords in them as possible,
so that you could learn them during the soundcheck.
And I've always felt that songs with the fewest chords in them possible are always the best songs.
[Ab] So _ this was one that I wrote in 1976, which only has three chords in it, effectively.
_ [Eb] And it doesn't change the sequence in which they come.
It just goes all the way through, always with the same [Ab] chords.
The chords are basically [Eb] A, [Db] E, and D. _
_ But the thing is, with any [Db] _ really simple song, the thing that makes it individual and not just like something [Bb] really boring is the way [Eb] in which you play those three chords.
The main riff [Ab] started out going_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Those little pushes on the beat, you go one, two, three, four, [G] one, two, [Abm] three.
Now being [Db] the bass player, I needed to make the song work around the bass line.
So the fundamentals of this song is the bass part, which [Ab] is just_
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ And [F] then to spice it up, you have a little push.
[G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
[F] _ _ And then the guitar [Gb] part had to go on top of that.
So originally in the band, there'd be two people playing.
The guitarist would be doing all the fancy stuff, and [E] I'd just be plonking away there on the bass and singing on [Am] top of it.
So to try and play it for you now, I have to try [Ab] and do both lines.
So I use my thumb here to play the bass.
_ [Eb] _ _ _ _ [Fm] _
_ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ [Bb] And in order to do that, I've got to play different inversions of [Db] A, E, [Ab] and D.
A is moved up to here.
It's like one of those, but just the inside fingers with the bass held on with the thumb. _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ Instead of playing an E, [Eb] you play the E.
_ Sounds different, gives it a bit more interest.
And then move it down.
[Db] _ _ And then you can do a real E. _
_ [Ab] Back to it. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ [Fm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ And then we need some [Ab] words.
So I made some up.
They don't really mean anything.
I don't know what a Fairlane Cruiser is, but I stuck [E] one in here, and here are the lyrics and the chords and the song all at once. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Drove my truck midway to the [Eb] motorway station.
_ [Ab] _ [Eb] Fairlane Cruiser coming up on [Ab] the left-hand side.
_ Headlight shining, driving [Eb] rain on the window frame.
_ [Fm] Little [Eb] young lady started [Ab] stitching them a ride.
_ Two, four, six, eight, never too late.
[Fm] Me and [Ab] my radio trucking on through the night.
_ Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine, on a double white line.
[Ab] _ [Eb] Motorway sound coming [Ab] in one line. _
_ _ Whiskets sitting pretty on [Eb] a two [Gm]-wheel stallion.
[Db] This [Eb] old ten-tonne lorry [Ab] got a beat on you.
_ Ain't no use setting up with a white companion. _
_ [Ab] Ain't nobody got a better view than you.
And it's two, four, six, eight, [Eb] never too late.
[Db] Me and my radio trucking [Ab] on through the night.
_ Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine, on a double white line.
[Ab] _ Motorway sound coming up with the morning light.
And then you have to have the kind of traditional guitar [Eb] solo here, where somebody else comes on [Fm] and does all the difficult [Eb] stuff.
_ [Ab] _ _
Incidentally, [Eb] if you're singing backing vocals on this, the [G] important thing is don't try and put harmonies on it.
There's a backing vocal part which is just simply the root [Ab] note.
Two, four, six, [Eb] eight. _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ And then three, five, seven, nine.
Three, five, seven, [Eb] nine. _
_ [Db] _ _ [G] _ _ [Ab] _ And then just, [N] when you've done two verses, two choruses, and there's been a guitar solo, something else has to happen.
_ It's the law.
You have a middle eight or whatever, or a song just gets dead boring and it doesn't really stay with people.
So you need a bit of relief from all that.
So I didn't want to change the chords.
I didn't want to put anything difficult or complicated in there.
So we just had it go slow instead.
_ There ain't no route you could choose to [Eb]
lose, the two of us.
[Bbm] Ain't nobody know when you're acting [Eb] right or [Ab] wrong.
_ No one knows of a road we lead in nowhere.
I'm [F] gonna keep on driving home on the [Ab] road I'm on.
Two, four, six, [Eb] eight, never too late.
[F] In my radio talking on through [Ab] the night.
_ Three, five, seven, nine, [Eb] old double white line.
[F] Roadway sun coming up with the [Ab] morning light.
That same old roadway [Eb] sun coming up with the morning light.
_ _ Roadway sun coming up with the [Db] morning _ light.
_ _ _ And then you go back and have another guitar solo [Eb] there.
Just to give a little bit of variation.
[Db] _ [Ab] But if you're writing songs, [G] I'd recommend keep it to as few chords as you can.
Keep it dead simple and then other people can play them very easily.
And it kind of spreads its way out there.
Keep the chorus simple.
I nicked the idea actually off gay pride marches which I used to go on a lot of the time.
People used to go chanting, two, four, six, eight, gay is twice as good as straight.
Three, five, seven, nine, lesbians are mighty fine.
And I thought, well, if a thousand people can chant that all together, I should make a good chorus for a song. _ _ _ _ _