Chords for Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver Free Guitar Lesson

[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Eb] Hey, I'm in the mood to do some kind of [Ab] country folk songs and [D] stuff today, so we're gonna take [Ab] a quick look at _
John Denver's [G] Take Me Home Country Roads
_ [Bb]
Again, one [Ab] of the first songs I remember strumming [A] and singing and playing [Abm] and stuff like that
I've been playing for a few years by the time this came out, which I think [Fm] was 1968
But I could be [G] wrong on that.
[Eb] It might have been 67.
_ Anyway, [B] uh
_ [D] This is a song you could [G] play in any key doesn't matter [B] what this is
This is like the perfect campfire [Ab] song so [E] all you got to do is keep your strum
I'm gonna do it the key of G
Which is [G] gonna put some of the notes a little too high for me
[Abm] So I'm not sure if I'm a singer [G] or not
But G is a great key [D] for this and all we got to [G] do is start it starts on one and is the almost heaven line
_ almost
_ Now [D] what I'm using there for the strumming pattern is hitting a bass note on the first [G] beat
_ And a down on the second beat hitting a second the same
Bass note on the second on third beat and then maybe an up down up or down up either this _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Gm] Or maybe this _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
As long as you get the bass notes on the first and third beats and [Eb] make the first bass note
Louder than the second one which is on the third beat and then [G] get a good strong down [Gm] on two _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The [F] rest of it doesn't even matter as long as I keep moving see you couldn't tell what I was doing there
I was just keeping [B] going lightly across the [Bb] strings, but what you heard was [Gb] bomb
_ That's what you [Eb] need in to just [Ab] make this song roll right along chords are really simple
[Dm] It does have [E] one bar chord coming up in the bridge when we get to the third the [Cm] third section
[Gb] But [G] the verse very simple
_ G.
_ [C] Oh this also be a great song by the way
[Gb] I should have brought this up because usually when I teach this to students
I like to have them all work on alternating bass notes now this makes it [F] a little bit more [Gb] difficult
But a great [G] technique to get down _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
Alternating back and forth between the sixth and fourth strings [Cm] for G and E minor [Bb] I'm going to D now
alternating [D] between the fourth and the fifth
_ So C [C] for the fifth and the fourth
_ [G] _ _ So there was the first eight measures [Gb] of the verse the next eight measures of [G] the sentence _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ [G] Now we're into the chorus _
_ _ G to D _
[D] _ _ To E minor
_ [Em] _
_ _ To the C _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ G
_ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] D _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] So _ _
_ _ _ [D] Song has three sections, and I [C] love this is a great song when I'm trying [G] to explain the difference between
[C]
Sections in a song [Gb] the three most [Cm] common parts to songs are a verse a chorus and [Gb] possibly a bridge
This song has verses which are the almost [A] heaven line and later on the all my memories gather around her
That's the second verse [Bb] it has a chorus country roads.
Take me home to the place.
I belong etc
[Gm] And the difference between those again [D] is a verse has always the [Dm] same
_ same [Eb] chords melody
[C] But different lyrics the [G] core as each [D] other now the chorus has [Cm] always the same
Chords [C] and [Em] lyrics [Eb] and melody so [E] each [Gb] chorus is identical the [Bb] part that you repeat in a song would normally [Gb] be the chorus a
Bridge is a third section [Eb] that ordinarily would only happen once has a completely different chord progression different [Cm] melody and different words in
Country [Bb] roads, it's the it starts on E minor
[Em] I hear [D] her voice _
Etc
[G] _ _ See _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ Now here it throws in a chord not in the key, this is a [Dm] great _ _
[Ab] little melodic [Em] twist harmonic twist E minor step
_ [F] _ _ Now so you really got to get that F [E] in there
So you've got to be able to play F chords if you're gonna play a lot of campfire [Gb] songs you got to be on top
of bar chords [C] then to C [G] to G and
The last line the last four measures of the [D] bridge are D and
_ _ These is really our dominant chord here [F] so throwing in a [D] d7 at the end
_ Sets us up really nicely to get [G] back to country roads back to the chorus take [D] me home
_ _ E minor [Em]
place
_ See I [C] belong
_ _ _ [G] West Virginia _ _
_ _ [D] Momma _ _ _ _
Take [C] me home _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Anyway, I [Eb] love to have [A] people work on country roads
[D] it's a great just strumming singing [C] song good song for working [B] on hitting the hitting bass notes [A] and keeping them going and stuff like that and _
_ The reason you're looking at it today or the reason I'm shooting it today is [Ab] it's a great
Campfire song and that's [Gm] really what we're [Ab] what we're talking about here is songs that you can learn pretty quickly
_ [F] Learn the words or have [Ab] them in a book have a bunch of you can [Gb] hand out to your friends and sit around [Ab] the campfire
maybe [Gb] the fireplace if it's a little cold and
And sing so country roads John Denver