Huge Chord Chart Update

I’m happy to announce the biggest chord chart update ever—over eighty new songs added, plus about thirty revisions. Almost all have strum pattern recommendations. I know how valuable those are to many of you.

At the end of this list, you’ll also find simplified songs for kids and total beginners.

Enjoy the music!

All American Rejects – It Ends Tonight
Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem – Roses
Avett Brothers – Paranoia in B Major
Avett Brothers – Slight Figure of Speech
The Beatles – Drive My Car
The Beatles – Hey Jude
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust
Carla Bruni – You Belong to Me
Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah (written by Leonard Cohen)
Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth
Bush – Glycerine
Cake – Love You Madly
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Long As I Can See the Light
Judy Collins – Someday Soon
Shawn Colvin – Sunny Came Home
Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water
John Denver – Leaving on a Jet Plane in G
Dire Straits – Romeo and Juliet in C
Bob Dylan – I Shall Be Released
Bob Dylan – If You See Her, Say Hello
Bob Dylan – Simple Twist of Fate
Foo Fighters – Times Like These
Ben Gibbard – You Remind Me Of Home
John Gorka – Branching Out
Grand Funk Railroad – We’re An American Band
Green Day – Basket Case
Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Green Day – Wake Me Up When September Ends
Green Day – Welcome to Paradise
High School Musical – What I’ve Been Looking For
Islands – Creeper
Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole – Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Michael Jackson – Beat It
Diana Jones – A Hold on Me
Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
Ronan Keating – When You Say Nothing At All
The Kooks – She Moves in He Own Way
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – Killing the Blues
Lady Gaga – Paparazzi
John Lennon – Happy Xmas (War is Over)
MGMT – Kids
Ingrid Michaelson – Maybe
Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning
Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl
Alexi Murdoch – Orange Sky
Willie Nelson – Seven Spanish Angels
Old Cow Medicine Show – I Hear Them All
Owl City – Fireflies
Paramore – Misery Business
Pedro the Lion – Arizona
Pedro the Lion – I Am Always The One Who Calls
Tom Petty – Free Falling
The Presidents of the United States of America – Naked and Famous
Joe Purdy – Brand New Set of Wings
Bonnie Raitt – Love Has No Pride
Bonnie Raitt – Wild for You Baby
Rihanna – Disturbia
Simon and Garfunkel – Only Living Boy in New York
Smash Mouth – All Star
Smashing Pumpkins – Tonight, Tonight
Steve Miller Band – The Joker
Cat Stevens – Father and Son
Sufjan Stevens – The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!
Survivor – Eye of the Tiger
Taylor Swift – Love Story
Talking Heads – Psycho Killer
U2 – Red Hill Mining Town
Townes Van Zandt – Pancho and Lefty
Weezer – Beverly Hills
Wilco – Jesus Etc
Pete Yorn – Crystal Village

Bass Lines for Total Beginners or Kids

These are simplified versions of songs played on just the 6th string. It’s the easiest way to play these songs on guitar—perfect for beginners or kids who want to sing and play at the same time.

Note that several of my young students have…shall we say…non-standard tastes. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend some of these songs to kids, but if they request them, here they are.

Bush – Glycerine
Johnny Cash – Wide Open Road
Bob Dylan – I Threw It All Away
Robbie Fulks – Godfrey
Green Day – Good Riddance
Green Day – Holiday
Merle Haggard – Mama Tried
Lady Gaga – Paparazzi
Iggy Pop – The Passenger
Bruce Springsteen – Chicken Lips and Lizard Hips
Neil Young – Needle and the Damage Done

Comments 34

  2. Rob,
    This is quite a resource-you are to be commended. I know you’ve spent a lot of time on this and I appreciate it! Very glad I discovered you and your web site(and your book!)
    Take care-Bob D. from Florida

  4. Rob,
    thanks a lot…..i am really looking forward to playing a lot of these new songs. you are working real hard and it is appreciated……..that’s for sure.

  6. Rob, I’ve been trying to figure out Shawn Colvin’s ‘Sunny Came Home’ forever! All the chords I had previously found did not work out for me. Thaks for all of your great work and especially for sharing it with us!! 🙂

  7. Rob, Your wisdom and charts are such a tremendous and user friendly resource for me!!! I can always find something I want to play and can play. Looking forward to your lessons…thank you! 🙂

  13. Your posting of the Israel Kamakawiwo version of Somewhere over the rainbow is great! I appreciate the Ukulele chords! I just recently picked up the ukulele and in the learning curve and would love to see a song chord section for ukulele if you can?

    Thanks so much!

    1. Glad you’re digging the Iz song, Dwayne. I mostly teach guitar songs, and my young students who play uke are too young to read chord charts. But I expect I’ll slowly accumulate some uke charts, and when I do I’ll be sure to post them!

  14. Hello Rob,

    It is always a pleasure to receive your e-mails and they have such great and easy to understand information. I love have the strum patterns,they have really worked wonders. Thank you so much. Be well.
    The Dawg

  15. Rob,
    Thanks soooo much for putting these cord charts out there. It makes it much easier to learn songs. I would definetely be interested in your online cours in the fall.
    Thanks again,
    David
    Kansas City

  17. Thanks a lot Rob, your a great inspiration. I’ve been making my way through some of the music charts. There’s some great stuff in there. more thanks

    1. TabDiv looks very cool. At first glance I think it’s quicker to create the tab in GuitarPro, export to .pdf, and create an image file of the tablature. But I’ll keep it in mind for when I start creating my beginner’s guitar course this fall.

      Rob

  20. The way is works i think, is you dont need to make images. You put it on your website and you only need to edit your site to change the tabs. Maybe if you make a mistake in the tab, you dont need to go back to guitar pro, you just change the language on your page.

    But I love your blog!

  26. This is a fantastic resource and I will definately point my students here for some much needed practice. Well done. Just an idea, your readers may benefit from using flash cards like my site offers to help memorize all the chords used in these songs.

  27. Hey Rob, I wish I lived close enough to get on your lesson waiting list. Would it be possible for you to combine all of your charts into a zip file. I’ve been trying to go through a few at a time but it is taking forever. Great stuff!

  30. As a fellow guitar teacher, I appreciate your ideas and what you’re doing. I like how you have your own tab style and are focused on using simplified versions of songs for kids. It’s very important for kids and I will most likely adapt some of these to my own style in my instruction. Keep up the good guitar teaching, Rob!

    Perhaps someday we’ll meet in Seattle or Nashville or somewhere.

    Best,

    ~ Zac Sullivan ~

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