Oh! Susanna Guitar Chords
Key of G 4/4 112 BPM 3 chords: G D C Beginner
The 3 chords of Oh! Susanna
Oh! Susanna needs only three chords, G, C and D, and it is so bouncy that it makes even slow chord changes sound fine. The verse sits on G and only moves to D at the end of each line; the chorus starts on C, the moment everybody sings along: "Oh! Susanna, oh don't you cry for me". This chord sheet has two verses and the chorus with every chord above the word where it changes, plus the progression bar by bar. Strum it fast and light, the way it was played on the banjo, and press Play along to hear how it should sound before you try.
Strings from the low E (left) to the high E (right), numbers are fingers. Tap a chord for every other way to play it.
Oh! Susanna chords and lyrics
Each chord sits over the word where it changes. Keep strumming the same chord until the next one. Song credits: Stephen Foster (1848).
Verse 1
I Gcome from Alabama with a banjo on my Dknee
I'm Ggoing to Louisiana, my true love Dfor to Gsee
It Grained all night the day I left, the weather it was Ddry
How to strum Oh! Susanna
The song is in 4/4: 4 beats in every bar. Count them aloud, and strum down on the numbers and up on the "and".
Easy
Full
Four beats per bar, bright and quick: down, down-up, up-down-up. Or simply down-up on every beat, like a banjo roll.
Tips for Oh! Susanna on guitar
The chords
Three open chords: G, C and D. If C is new to you, practise the change C to G slowly: the ring finger moves from the A string to the low E string.
The tricky part
At the end of each line the chord changes twice in one bar, G then D, before landing back on G. Change on beat three and keep strumming through it.
Change the key
To sing higher, keep the same shapes and put a capo on fret 2, which raises the song a whole step, or on fret 4 for two whole steps. The chords on this page and the guitar above stay the same; only the pitch changes.
The story of Oh! Susanna
Stephen Foster, often called the father of American music, published Oh! Susanna in 1848, when he was 21. Within a year it was the unofficial anthem of the California Gold Rush, sung by the "forty-niners" on their way west, with new words about gold and wagons.
The nonsense lines of the first verse - it rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry - are part of the joke. The song has been a staple of folk, country and bluegrass ever since.
Source: Stephen Foster, Oh! Susanna (1848), public domain; chords in G by GOONS Studio.
Frequently asked
What chords do I need for Oh! Susanna?
Only G, C and D, in the key of G. The verse uses G and D; the chorus starts on C.
Who wrote Oh! Susanna?
Stephen Foster, in 1848. It became the song of the California Gold Rush and one of the best-known American songs of the 19th century.
Can I play Oh! Susanna with a capo?
Yes. Keep the G, C and D shapes and put a capo on fret 2 to play it in A, or on fret 3 to play it in B flat, wherever it suits your voice.
Record your own Oh! Susanna
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