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Lesson 8 of 11 · 12 min · Putting it together

Your first song on guitar: Amazing Grace

Everything you have learned comes together in one song. Amazing Grace uses five easy chords, changes slowly, and has a gentle three-beat rhythm, which makes it a perfect first song. Learn the chart and the strum, play the changes in the exercise, then sing along.

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Why Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace is a hymn with words written by John Newton, published in 1779, sung today to an American folk melody called New Britain. Both are in the public domain, and the song is known all over the world, so you can check by ear that you are playing it right. For a guitarist it has everything a first song needs: few chords, slow changes, and a waltz rhythm in three-four time, three beats per bar.

The five chords

You know four of them from lesson 4: G, C, D and Em. The new one, G7, is G with a touch of tension that pulls towards C: the note on the high E string drops from the 3rd fret to the 1st. The usual fingering moves the fingers around: ring finger on the 3rd fret of the low E, middle on the 2nd fret of A, index on the 1st fret of the high E. It lasts one bar, just before the C.

G chord: E string fret 3, A string fret 2, D string open, G string open, B string open, E string fret 3213GBDGBGG
G7 chord: E string fret 3, A string fret 2, D string open, G string open, B string open, E string fret 1321GBDGBFG7
C chord: E string not played, A string fret 3, D string fret 2, G string open, B string fret 1, E string open321CEGCEC
D chord: E string not played, A string not played, D string open, G string fret 2, B string fret 3, E string fret 2132DADF♯D
Em chord: E string open, A string fret 2, D string fret 2, G string open, B string open, E string open23EBEGBEEm
The five chords of Amazing Grace in G. G7 differs from G by a single note, on the high E string.

The chord chart

The song has sixteen bars, four per line of the verse. Each box is one bar, three beats long; the chord changes on the first beat. The song starts with a single sung note before the first bar, on the word "A-": start singing, and strum G on "-ma-".

GGCG

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

GGDD

That saved a wretch like me

GG7CG

I once was lost, but now am found

EmDGG

Was blind, but now I see

Amazing Grace, first verse (John Newton, 1779), in G: one chord per bar, three beats per bar.

The strum: a waltz

Count 1 and 2 and 3 and, a little louder on 1. The simplest strum is three down strokes per bar, one per beat. When that feels easy, use the waltz pattern of lesson 5: down on 1, down-up on 2, down-up on 3.

Waltz strumming pattern in three-four time: down on 1, down and up on 2, down and up on 3.1&2&3&
The waltz strum: down, down-up, down-up. Lean on the first beat of each bar.

For a softer, folk sound, try bass, strum, strum: on beat 1 pick only the lowest note of the chord, the root - the low E string for G and Em, the A string for C, the open D for D - then brush the higher strings on beats 2 and 3.

Playing the whole song

  • Start slow, around 80 beats per minute on the metronome set to 3 beats per bar.
  • Prepare the hard changes. G to G7 and G7 to C come close together in line 3, and Em to D in line 4: practise them on their own, with the anchor-finger tips of lesson 6.
  • Hum the melody while you strum. If you want to learn the tune note by note, the Amazing Grace sheet music plays it for you.
  • Repeat the verse two or three times without stopping, then end on a single strum of G, left to ring.

Too low or too high to sing? Use a capo

If the song sits too low or too high for your voice, a capo moves it without changing the shapes. The capo clamps all the strings at one fret, like a barre that stays in place, and you keep playing the same G, C, D and Em shapes above it. With the capo at the 2nd fret, the song sounds in A; at the 3rd fret, in B flat. Each fret raises everything by a half step. Try a few positions and keep the one where you can sing the lowest and the highest notes of the verse comfortably. Guitarists use this trick all the time, for their own songs and for others.

After the course

With G, C, D, Em and the barre shapes you can play a huge number of songs: look up the chords of the songs you love and check whether they fit. Keep the daily routine short: a few minutes of chord changes, a few minutes of strumming with the metronome, then a song. The online guitar is there to try a progression before you play it for real, and the chord chart for every new chord a song asks for.

Exercise

Play the chord changes of Amazing Grace

Every chord change of the song, in order, from the chart in this lesson: G, C, G, D, then G, G7, C, G, Em, D and back home to G. Choose each chord above the neck, or with its number key; G7 is Shift + 2.

Practise it: Online guitar → Amazing Grace melody →

Questions

Frequently asked

What are the chords of Amazing Grace on guitar?

In G: G, G7, C, D and Em. The verse is sixteen bars of three beats: G G C G, G G D D, G G7 C G, Em D G G, one chord per bar.

What is an easy first song on guitar?

A song with three to five open chords that change slowly, such as Amazing Grace, which uses G, C, D, Em and G7 in a gentle waltz rhythm. Folk songs and many pop songs use the same G, C, D and Em.

How do you strum a song in 3/4 time?

Count three beats per bar and put the accent on the first. Start with three down strokes per bar, then use down on 1, down-up on 2 and down-up on 3.

Is Amazing Grace in the public domain?

Yes. The words were written by John Newton and published in 1779, and the usual melody, New Britain, is an American folk tune from the early 19th century. Many modern arrangements are protected, but the song itself is free.

What should I learn after my first song?

More songs with the same chords, then new chords as songs need them, using the barre shapes of lesson 7. Keep practising chord changes and strumming with a metronome a few minutes every day.

Learn guitar course

All the lessons

  1. A risograph poster of a whole acoustic guitar with its six strings in six colors, map pins pointing at the headstock, neck, sound hole and bridge Guitar parts and string names Headstock, neck, frets and body, the six strings E A D G B E, and how to sit with the guitar. 8 min
  2. A risograph poster of a yellow guitar tuning peg turning on its gear, its string sending out pink sound waves, beside a clip-on tuner with the needle in the center How to tune a guitar Standard tuning, a tuner in the browser, the fifth-fret method by ear, and why strings drift. 9 min
  3. A risograph poster of a guitar chord diagram with six strings, finger dots and open-string circles, beside a six-line tab with yellow dots Reading chord diagrams and tabs Chord boxes and tablature, the two pictures every guitar book uses, and your first melody in tab. 10 min
  4. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard near the nut where pink, cyan and yellow fingertip dots press three strings for an open chord Your first guitar chords Em, Am, C, G, D and E: the six open chords behind thousands of songs, and how to make them ring. 10 min
  5. A risograph poster of a pink pick sweeping across the strings over a guitar sound hole under a row of down and up strumming arrows Strumming patterns Down on the beat, up on the "and": four strumming patterns from the simplest to the classic. 10 min
  6. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard where curved yellow arrows carry a pink chord shape over to a cyan one Changing chords smoothly Anchor fingers, moving all fingers together and the one-minute change drill. 10 min
  7. A risograph poster of a bar of yellow light pressed across all six strings of a guitar fretboard, pink and cyan finger dots beyond it Barre chords One finger across all six strings: F, Bm and the two shapes that give you every chord. 12 min
  8. A risograph poster of an acoustic guitar resting against a log by a campfire, an open songbook at its feet and notes rising with the sparks Your first song on guitar Amazing Grace in G: four chords, a waltz strum and the whole song from start to finish. 12 min
  9. A risograph poster of a pink electric guitar plugged into an amplifier that blasts yellow lightning bolts and rings of sound Power chords Two fingers, one movable shape: the rock chord on the low E and A strings, and a first riff. 10 min
  10. A risograph poster of an acoustic guitar with six colored strings, four glowing fingertips plucking them over the sound hole and ripples of notes Fingerpicking for beginners Thumb on the bass, fingers on G, B and E: three patterns from an arpeggio to Travis picking. 12 min
  11. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard under a stage spotlight, a box of pink and cyan scale dots and notes streaming out of it Your first guitar solo The minor pentatonic at fret 5, bends and slurs, a first lick and how to improvise over a chord. 12 min
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