3-4 Chord Songs

Song Lesson	Artist/Band	Chords/Lyrics
A Horse With No Name	America	Em D6
As It Was	Harry Styles	D Bm E A
Back In Black	AC/DC	E D A
Bad Moon Rising	CCR	A D G
Best Day of My Life	American Authors	G D
Blue Moon	Marcels/Billie Holiday	G Em C D
Brown Eyed Girl	Van Morrison	G D C Em
Counting Stars	OneRepublic	Am C G F
Demons	Imagine Dragons	C G Am F
Down on the Corner	CCR	C G F
Falling Slowly	G. Hansard, M. Irglova	C F Am G
Fast Car	Tracy Chapman	C G Em D
Folsom Prison Blues	Johnny Cash	E A B7
Free Falling	Tom Petty	D Dsus4 Asus4
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)	Green Day	G C D Em
Have I Told You Lately	Van Morrison/Rod Stewart	C Em F G
Have You Ever Seen The Rain	CCR	C G F Am
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)	The Proclaimers	D G A
I'm Yours	Jason Mraz	G D Em C
In Spite of Ourselves	John Prine	C F G
It's A Big Old Goofy World	John Prine	G C D
I Won't Back Down	Tom Petty	Em D G C
Johnny B. Goode	Chuck Berry	E5 A5 D5 (Pwr Chords)
Jumpin' Jack Flash	The Rolling Stones	E G D A
King of the Road	Roger Miller/Proclaimers	A D E
Knockin' On Heaven's Door	Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses	G D C Am
La Bamba	Ritchie Valens	C F G
Leaving on a Jet Plane	John Denver	G C D
Let It Be	The Beatles	C G Am F
Margaritaville	Jimmy Buffet	D G A D7
Me and Bobby McGee	Janis Joplin	G G7 C D7
No Woman No Cry	Bob Marley	C Am F
Peaceful Easy Feeling	Eagles	G C D Am
People Are Strange	The Doors	Em Am B7 G
Perfect	Ed Sheeran	G Cadd9 D Em
Puff the Magic Dragon	Peter Paul & Mary	G D C A
Radioactive	Imagine Dragons	Am C G D
Ring of Fire	Johnny Cash	G C D
Riptide	Vance Joy	Am G C
Rocky Raccoon	The Beatles	Am7 D7 G7 C
Rumble	Link Wray	D E A B7
Satisfaction (I Can't Get No)	The Rolling Stones	E A B7 D
Seven Bridges Road	Eagles	D C G
Stand By Me	Ben E. King	G Em C D
Stitches	Shawn Mendes	Am G C F
Sweet Caroline	Neil Diamond	A D E
Sweet Child O' Mine	Guns N' Roses	D C G A
Sweet Home Alabama	Lynyrd Skynyrd	D C G
The Dance	Garth Brooks	G D C Em
The First Cut Is the Deepest	Sheryl Crow/Cat Stevens	D A G
The Weight	The Band	G Bm C D
Three Little Birds	Bob Marley	A D E
Tracks of My Tears	Smokey Robinson	G C D Em
Wagon Wheel	Darius Rucker/Old Crowe	G D Em C
When You Say Nothing At All	Alison Krauss	G D C
Wild Thing	The Troggs	A D E
Wonderful Tonight	Eric Clapton	G D C Em
You Are My Sunshine	Johnny Cash	A D E

3 and 4 chord songs are a lot more prevelant than you may think. And just because they don’t have many chords makes them no less sophisticated. Truth is, some of the greatest tunes ever written require just 3-4 chords. Of course learning how to strum these songs is not necessarily easy and where some of the difficulty can arise. Fear not, however, because most songs can be played in a simple stripped-down way, meaning both the chords and strumming patterns are relatively easy.

Start Simple

So if you’re having difficuly learning to play these songs comprising only a few chords, start off with a simple single down-stroke strum for each chord. Then gradually add more strums per chord (or bar) until you reach the level of the actual strum patter required. Yes, this can take time, effort and patience, but rest assurred you’ll eventually get there. Among the most common chord progressions are: G C D, C F G, D C G, D A G and G A D.

Truth be told, some of the greatest songs ever written require no more than three or four chords. On the surface one might think that songs with very few chords are also easy to play. This, unfortunately, is not always the case because the rhythms may be somewhat complicated and require your having to learn challenging strums.