Hey everybody. I've been teaching guitar around Atlanta for more than 50 years, and chords are where every one of my students started. On this page you'll find two things. First, chord charts with lyrics for good songs, the kind you can strum and sing tonight. Second, a chord library that shows each chord several ways, from the open shape up the neck, so you're never stuck with just one way to play a G.
Songs with Chords and Lyrics
Every song here is a complete chord chart with lyrics, chord diagrams and a few tips on how I'd play it. These are old songs in the public domain, which means they belong to all of us now.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
The Harold Arlen classic from The Wizard of Oz, in the friendly key of G.
House of the Rising Sun
The old New Orleans folk song everybody wants to learn. Five chords and a rolling 6/8 feel.
Amazing Grace
The best-known hymn there is, in 3/4 time with simple open chords.
Scarborough Fair
The old English ballad. A minor chords and a gentle 3/4 lilt.
Danny Boy
The beloved Irish air, set to the Londonderry Air melody.
Greensleeves
The Renaissance classic in 6/8. Same melody as What Child Is This.
Wayfaring Stranger
The haunting American spiritual. Minor chords with a slow, lonesome pulse.
The Water Is Wide
The gentle Scottish folk song. One of the prettiest melodies in the folk tradition.
Red River Valley
The classic cowboy waltz. Three chords and an easy strum.
When the Saints Go Marching In
The New Orleans standard. A great first song for strumming and singing.
Wildwood Flower
The Carter Family picking standard every flatpicker and fingerpicker learns.
Star of the County Down
The great Irish ballad. I teach my full fingerstyle arrangement of this one free.
The Chord Library
Pick a chord and you'll get every practical way to play it: the open position, plus the moveable shapes up the neck that folks call the CAGED system. Each voicing comes with a diagram and finger-by-finger instructions.