New Chord Charts Available

Hey Y’all,

I just posted about twenty new chord charts. You can check out all 270 songs by clicking here, or browse individual songs by clicking song titles below. Enjoy!

Beautiful by Christina Aguilera – I love it that I make a significant chunk of my living teaching Christina Aguilera songs to 5th graders.

Makin’ Whoopie by Louis Armstrong – I simplified a lot of the chords from quadrads to triads to make them more finger-friendly for the student who requested this hilarious jazz standard.

Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley – Leonard Cohen was had a great gift for songwriting, but his singing and recording skills didn’t do his songs justice. Buckley, on the other hand, nails this cover. A raw, wrenching performance.

Whippin’ Piccadilly by Gomez – This British rock band blew me away when I saw them play at Seattle’s Showbox a couple years ago. I love their blend of electronica and acoustica.

Killing Me by Graham Colton Band – Another G-Whiz song.

Babylon by David Gray – A simplified version.

Such Great Heights by Iron and Wine – Mr. Iron N. Wine turns this up-tempo Postal Service song into a whispery serenade. Simplified picking for beginning fingerstylists.

I Think It’s Going to Rain Today by Kaie Melua – A Randy Newman cover, recorded with a string orchestra.

Memories of East Texas by Michelle Shocked – A lovely Travis-style fingerpicking song. Played this around the campfire this past weekend. It sounded good, but I don’t think anyone present really for a minute believed that I learned to drive on those East Texas red clay backroads. I gotta get me a cowboy hat…

Alright by Pilate – This is one of the best songs Coldplay ever wrote. It’s a great song, with a super-catchy lead guitar part (which I haven’t tabbed out yet), but mysteriously familiar…

Shine a Light by the Rolling Stones – Rev’d Jagger speaks the truth.

Caring is Creepy by The Shins – One of my favorite bands, and by the look of all the traffic I get downloading other Shins songs, I’m in good company.

Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkle – It’s amazing how many bad chord charts there are out there of this classic song. Originally recorded on piano in Eb, way too many people transcribe the song for an standard-tuned guitar with no capo. Why torture yourself? This is Capo 3, in the finger-friendly key of G. We’ll call it “Bridge over Troubled Fingers”.

Windfall by Son Volt – I heard “Drown,” another song off Son Volt’s Trace album, on the radio shortly after I got out of college. I’ve still got that darn tape, and about 200 others, but, of course, no tape deck to play it. It was fun revisiting those songs (on iTunes) when my student recently requested Son Volt.

Maggie May by Rod Stewart – God I love that mandolin part at the end.

San Diego Serenade by Tom Waits – God I wish I could write love songs like Tom Waits. Do you have to be crazy and tortured to write songs like that, or does it just help?

Blue by Lucinda Williams – Williams is a master of the concise, poetic image. “Raven feathers shiny and black / A touch of blue glistening down her back.”

Comments 18

  3. Let’s see if I get this right: The members of Uncle Tupelo split–Jay Farrar formed Son Volt (now defunct), and Jeff Tweedy formed Wilco.

    I’m a huge Jeff Tweedy fan, but the Son Volt stuff is good too. I really like Windfall. I’d say Son Volt is more firmly in the Alt-Country genre, and Wilco is more experimental–weird instruments, some electronic music, and lots of studio shenanigans especially on their later recordings.

  6. 2 Kool 2 B 4-Gotten is also on my website–you can find all my chord charts by going to my homepage and clicking on “Free Lyrics, Chords, and Tablature”.

    Enjoy!

  10. Love the site and really appreciate your efforts. I am new to the guitar universe and find everything most helpful and entertaining.
    As a newbie I was wondering if you ever considered showing the chords finger placement that will be used for quick reference in the beginning of each song.
    Thanks!
    G

  11. Hey G,

    Most of the newer songs I post have what I call “nanocharts” at the top, which show finger placement. But the golden oldies I’ve been teaching for years are sketchy, I admit. Some day, when my ship comes in, I’m gonna hire a hundred secretaries to spruce ’em up. For now, I’m afraid you’ll have to use a chord book (check out the link to the online chord book at my links page).

    Thanks for your kind words,

    Rob

  12. Excellent
    At 51 and playing bass live for many years.Finding your site has inspired me to learn the guitar .Thansk for the charts.
    Regards
    Lenny
    A bird doesn’t sing because it;s happy
    It is happy because it sings…

  14. Your comment about Tom Waits (“God I wish I could write love songs like Tom Waits. Do you have to be crazy and tortured to write songs like that…?”), reminded me of a 1984 movie with Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson called ‘Songwriter’, where one says to the other, “Must a man be miserable all the time just to write a decent song once in a while?” Perhaps you do.

  16. WOW! My son is getting married in two weeks, and asked me to sing a special song for the party after the wedding….Voila..Makin Whoopie!! thanks a million! Rockinjohn

Leave a Reply