After taking guitar lessons for a few months at some point in my teens, I never did practice enough to be any good at all. Half a lifetime later – a few months ago – I finally started taking the time, and I’ve now attained the competence of a bad guitar player, which is a huge step forward from where I was before.
So I’ve been collecting chords for songs I know in a little book, using the compact notation pioneered by Rise Up Singing. This puts the chords for a given section of a song (verse, chorus, bridge, or whatever) all on one line, with slashes indicating the division between one line of the song and the next. Repeated chords are indicated with -s so you know how many bars they take up; repeated lines are shown by / / – two slashes with nothing between them. When you have two chords squeezed together in a bar, they’re written with no space between them. So / GE7 A7D7 G – / means half a bar each of G, E7, A7, then D7, followed by two bars of G.
The chords here are taken from various sources. Ultimate Guitar is incredibly useful, currently my favourite general chord site. Some of the chords are taken from Rise Up Singing, mentioned above, and a few from Gunther Anderson’s site, ‘V’.
Rasputin
Boney M
Verse: Am – Dm Am / E – – Am / Am – Dm Am / E – – Am / Am – – – / Dm – E – / Am – – – /Dm E Am – /
Chorus: A C D A / G D A -/ x2
So Long, Marianne
Leonard Cohen
Verse: A – Bm – / D – A – / G – D – / F#m – EEsus4 EE7 /
Chorus: A – F#m – / EEsus4 EE7 EEsus4 EE7 / A – Asus4 / /
Ballantines
Aimee Mann
Verse: C Em G – / D – C – / C Em G – / D – C – /
Chorus: C Em Am – / C Em Am – / G D Em – / C – – – /
Bridge: F – C – / / / Bb – Am – /
Solo: C Em Am – / / / F – D – /
Coda: C – Am – / / G D Em – / G D – G/
Joe Hill
A A7 / D A / D A / E – / E7 A /
House of the Rising Sun
Am C D F / Am C E7 – / Am C D F / Am E Am E7
I Want You
Verse: C Em / Am G / F G / Am G /
Chorus: C Em / Am G / C – /
Bridge: Em Am / Em FG / G – /
Son of a Preacher Man
Verse: E – / A E / – – / B7 – / / / /
Chorus: E – / A E / – – / A E / – B7 / A – /
Bridge: D – / A – / / B7 – / / E7 – / /
Chorus2:A – / D A / A – / D A / – E / D7 – /
Coda?: A – / D A /
Leaving on a Jet Plane
G C G C / C Em Am D /
Ruby Tuesday
Verse: Am – F G / C – Csus4 – / Am – F G / C – Csus4 – / Am D7 G – / / C Csus4 G Gsus4 /
Chorus: C G F G / / C G Bb F / C G F C /
Woman’s Realm
Verse: C – / F C / F – / C F /
Bridge: Am / F / D / G /
Wrapped up in Books
G – Em – / C G – D / A – F – / G – G4 G /
Many Rivers to Cross
G Bm / C Bm / C D / G – /
C – G – / / C – G Em / C – D – /
Lesson Too Late
G C G – / CG D G – /:
D – C G / C F D D7 / G C G – / D D7 G – /
Village Green Preservation Society
C F7 F G / C G7 F C / :
C G7 F C / C G7 F G7 / F C?
Awkward Annie
C – Am7 G / – Fadd9 C – /
Fadd9 C Fadd9 C / Fadd9 C G – /
Am7 Fadd9 C G / Fadd9 G C – /
The Lark
G D C G / Em D C G / G D C G / C G D G
Em D C G / C G C D / Em D C G / C G D G / /
Mexico
C G Am G //
F – G – / C – – – / F – G – / C Am F – / C (?)
Circle be Unbroken
C C7 / F C / C C7 / FG C /
Katie Cruel
Dm – Am – / Dm – C – / Dm – Dm7 – / G – – –
Dm – – – / F A7 Dm FA7 / Dm – Am – /
Hide Your Love Away
G D C G / C – F C / G D C G / C – F C / D Dsus4 D Dsus2 /:
G – C – / D Dsus4 D Dsus2 /
Rock Me Mama
G D Em C / G D C – /
Benson, Arizona
C – / – G / – – / – C / – F / – – / G – / F C /
F – / C Am / D – / G – / F – / C Am / D – / G C /
Spanish Lady
G Em C D7 / / G D7 G D7 /
G Em C D7 / / /
Blackleg Miner
Dm C / Dm Am / Dm C / DmC Dm /
Country Roads
Verse: G Em D CG / G Em D CG /
Chorus: G D Em C / G D C G /
Bridge: Em D G – / C – D – / Em D C DD7
Dark as a Dungeon
Verse: G – C D / G Em C D / :
Chorus: D – C G / / G – C D / G Em C D /
San Francisco Bay Blues
A D A – / D – A – / D – A7G#7 G7F#7 / B7 – E7 – /
A D A – / D – C#7 – / D7 -A7G#7 G7F#7 / B7 E7 A – /
Scarborough Fair
Am – G Am / C Am D Am / F C – G / Am G – Am – /
Sing If You’re Glad to be Gay
Am – / Dm E7 / Am – / Dm E7 / Dm – /
– E7 / Dm – / – E7Am /
Am Dm / G CE7 / Am Dm / Dm – /
Star of the County Down
Em – G D / Em C D – / Em – G D / Em C D Am /