Lesson 3
Swing low, sweet chariot.
In this tune the last chord of C in the first line has been delayed for 1 beat so that it coincides with the 30 rather than having to put a 32 in the C chord.
When faced with an awkward situation like this it is ok to either delay the chord or bring it forward by a beat. If however we are strumming and singing without playing the melody then the chords must always come on the beat.
Swing low, sweet chariot. www.playguitarsbynumbers.com
C F C
10 21 - - 21 21 - 21 32 30
Swing low, sweet cha - ri - ot
C G
21 21 21 21 10 13 10 13 - -
Coming for to carry me home.
C F C
15 13 10 - - 21 21 - - 21 32 30
Swing low, sweet cha - ri - ot
C G C
21 21 21 23 10 20 23 21 - -
Coming for to carry me home.
C F C
30 21 21 21 21 21 30 21 21 21 32 30
I looked ov-er Jordan and what did I see?
C G
21 21 21 21 10 13 10 13 - -
Coming for to carry me home.
Am' F C
13 13 13 15 13 10 23 21 21 21 21 21 32 30
I see a band of an - gels coming after me.
Am F G C
21 21 21 23 10 20 23 21 - -
Coming for to carry me home.
Chords
C = 21 42 53 F = 21 32 43 G = 52 63 13
Am = 21 42 32 Am’= 45 35 25 15
The F chord shown here is known as the, "Easy F." Technically it is an F Major Seventh but it is easier to play than the basic F.
You will see that there are two versions of Am or A minor to give it its full name. This is because there are three different places on the guitar to play each chord. We call these chord inversions. As the chord of Am is made of three different notes, a,c & e, any one of them could be the highest.
There are about 200 chords in all but do not despair a lot of them share about 15 common shapes which are then played on different frets to give different chords.
Johnguitars
To hear this style in action visit
Johnguitars and listen to samples of, "The Year Album," and ,"Guitar Parts."