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6.11.9
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" Chords: E Minor?

The chords to 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine', recorded in the key of E minor, can be interpreted as belonging to either of two keys.

The chord map below (Figure 99) shows the two possible interpretations. Marvin Gaye's orginal recording is in Eminor, but to play it easily on guitar, put the capo on the third fret and play the chords with C minor shapes, as though it's in the key of C minor.

Now for the two interpretations:

  1. The song is in they key of C major (E major on the recording), but uses the tonic of the parallel minor key (Cm) as a variant chord. All three of the other chords are normal for the C major key, except that the chord F is replaced with F7, a common variant.
  2. The song is in the key of C minor (E minor on the recording), but uses a seventh variant containing a major third (F7) in place of the default minor subdominant chord (Fm, which has a minor third). In this interpretation, the progression also uses a chromatic chord (Am).

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