The Way You Make Me Feel Michael Jackson Sing and play tutorial

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The Way You Make Me Feel was a hit from Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad. In this tutorial, I will teach you how to sing and play The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson.

Song learning protocol

For What's Up by Four Non Blondes, we are going to use our standard song learning protocol, which I outline in detail here.

Step #1: Learn the Chords

Step #2: Learn the groove

Step #3: Put it all together.

Let's Get Started!!

Lyrics and chords to The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson

To find the lyrics to any song, just do a Google search of the name of the song plus "lyrics and chords". You'll usually find a site like Ultimate Guitar, which will give you a chord chart like this one below.

Want to learn to reach a chord chart? Check out this lesson!

Below you'll find an excerpt of the lyrics and chords. The full chart is available to members only on The Versatile Musician membership site. Learn more.

Lyrics and chords of The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson F F F F Eb/F Hey pretty baby with the high heels on You give me fever like I've never, ever known You're just a product of loveliness I like the groove of your walk, your talk, your dress I feel your fever from miles around I'll pick you up in my car and we'll paint the town Just kiss me baby and tell me twice That you're the one for me

Need to learn more chords?

Next step: Learn the groove of The Way You Make Me Feel

The groove of The Way You Make Me Feel is a Shuffle. The pattern can be notated in 4/4 time, but it has a definitive 12/8 feel. The eighth notes of the bass line are swung like in jazz.

notated bass line of The Way You Make Me Feel - 8 eight notes

The right hand plays the Charleston Rhythm on the top like so:

Left hand pulsing bass line in eighth notes while the right hand plays the chords using the charleston rhythm.

Last step: Put it all together

Remember that you can (and should!) customize this song to fit your skill level. If the chord inversions are too challenging for you, then play them all in root position.

Try to avoid getting stuck in the little details! The goal is for you to learn to sing and play more songs - no drown in a pool of perfectionism! Have fun - it's only music!

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We skip the busy work from traditional piano classes and go right for the skills that will directly support your work as a singer, voice teacher, and choral conductor.

A Blast From the Past - The Way You Make Me Feel in the movies

This is an excerpt of the dance sequence at the end of the movie Center Stage. Anyone remember it?