What's Up Piano and Singing Tutorial - Four Non Blondes

hot pink background with piano keyboard on the bottom. Text is in blue and yellow and reads "4 non blondes taught by a blonde" with a photo of Brenda Earle Stokes pointing to a photo of the band 4 Non Blondes.

Anyone who grew up in the 1990s knows this anthem. What’s Up was released by the San Francisco band 4 Non Blondes on their first record Semi-Charmed Life. Get ready for What's Up piano and singing tutorial Four Non Blondes!

Four Non Blondes' lead singer Linda Perry has (I think) one of the most unique rock voices of all time.

The great news about this song is that there are a grand total of 3 chords. Super easy to play with the classic “funky” style groove that graced nearly every dang song in the 1990s.

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 What's Up by Four Non Blondes

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.

Written lyrics for What's Up by Four Non Blondes Twenty-five years and my life is still Trying to get up that great big hill Of hope for a destination That the world was made up of this brotherhood Of man, for whatever that means [Pre-Chorus] And so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed Just to get it all out, what's in my head and I - I am feeling a little peculiar And so I wake in the morning and I step outside and I take a deep breath and I get real high and

Need to learn more chords?

Next step: Learn the groove of What's Up

What's Up has that Funky Piano groove that was super popular back in the 1990s. Practice tapping the written groove below along with the recording. When you are ready, apply it to the piano.

Music notation of the funky piano groove for What's Up by Four Non Blondes

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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