Chris Isaak
Wicked Game chords
Wicked Game by Chris Isaak is an intermediate song in Bm, played with no capo. The whole sheet is 3 chords (Bm, A, E) across 4 sections: Intro Riff → Verse → Chorus → Outro. 2 of the 3 shapes are open chords. Shapes that use a barre: Bm. It sits at roughly 113 BPM.
By Chiye · Updated
Hardest change in the sheet: Bm → A, 8 times.
- Difficulty
- Intermediatebarre shape Bm
- Key
- Bmwith no capo
- Tempo
- 113BPM
- Tuning
- Standard (E A D G B E)low to high
- Chords
- 32 open, 1 with a barre
- Sections
- 4each with its own progression
Chords in Wicked Game
Frets read low E to high E, x means leave that string out.
Chord sheet
One chord per bar in this practice sheet. Follow the time signature shown beside each section; dots mark the remaining counts in the bar. Tap a bar to hear its chord, or loop the section to practise the changes.
Chord accompaniment only. Follow the section notes for this arrangement’s timing. Songs whose words are public domain →
Intro Riff4/4 · ♩=113
Verse4/4 · ♩=113
Chorus4/4 · ♩=113
Outro4/4 · ♩=113
Printable one-page chord chart
How to play Wicked Game
This chord arrangement keeps the accompaniment on Bm, A and E. Each cell above is one practice bar; the usual row is Bm, A, E, E, so E lasts two bars before the return to Bm. The intro heading marks the accompaniment beneath the opening lead part, rather than supplying a note-for-note riff.
Bm uses the fret-2 A-minor barre shape x-2-4-4-3-2. A and E can both be played open. If the Bm barre is tiring, practise the upper four strings x-x-4-4-3-2 first, then add the A-string root. Keep the low E muted for Bm and A; let it ring as the root of E.
E contains G#, which is outside B natural minor. That raised sixth gives the loop a brighter colour before it returns to Bm. The Bm chord also contains a sharp, F#, so E is not the only sharp-containing chord here.
Loop the four bars below the listed 113 BPM, keeping the last E as long as the first. Aim for a clean, on-time Bm return and use changes in volume to shape the repeated accompaniment.
How to practise Wicked Game
Four steps computed from this sheet: the order the shapes are easiest to learn in, the changes that really occur in the progressions above, where each chord turns up, and the tempo ladder up to the speed marked here.
Learn the shapes easiest first
A (x-0-2-2-2-0, beginner) → E (0-2-2-1-0-0, beginner) → Bm (x-2-4-4-3-2, intermediate, needs a barre)
2 of the 3 shapes are open chords, so start there and leave Bm until the others change cleanly.
Drill the changes this sheet actually uses
A → E8×Bm → A8×Bm → E1×E → Bm1×
These counts come from the progressions on this page, so they are the changes you will actually play, not a generic list of pairs to practise.
Know where each chord turns up
- Bmevery section
- Aevery section
- Eevery section
Climb the tempo ladder
Start at 68 BPM and move up only when a full pass is clean: 68 → 85 → 102 → 113 BPM. The tempo marked on this sheet is 113 BPM, and the last step is the one that always feels like a jump. Stay at 102 for longer than feels necessary.
Practise each section's chord changes slowly, then play the sheet through at a steady tempo without pausing between sections.
Playing Wicked Game with a capo
This sheet needs no capo. Each card shows what you would finger at that capo position so the song still sounds exactly as written. Useful when the shapes above are awkward, or when you want to sing it higher without learning new chords.
No capoas written
Bm A E
2 of 3 stay open
Fret 1
Bbm Ab Eb
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 2
Am G D
3 of 3 stay open
Fret 3
Abm F# C#
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 4
Gm F C
1 of 3 stay open
Fret 5
F#m E B
1 of 3 stay open
Fret 6
Fm Eb Bb
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 7
Em D A
3 of 3 stay open
Working out a different key? The capo calculatordoes the same arithmetic for any chord set.
More songs built on the same chords
If Wicked Game clicks, these use the closest set of shapes, so the chords you just learned keep working.
More intermediate songs to learn after this one: Father and Son, 500 Miles, Shallow, The One That Got Away.
These chords across the songbookHow often each chord in Wicked Game turns up across all 104 songs on this site, and what it most often moves to next. The counts come from the sheet library itself, not from theory.
84bars of this chord across the songbook
17songs use this shape
Most often followed by A, 13×.
134bars of this chord across the songbook
24songs use this shape
Most often followed by D, 19×.
69bars of this chord across the songbook
11songs use this shape
Most often followed by Eadd9, 6×.