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Simply three chord songs

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(@fleaaaaaa)
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Joined: 21 years ago
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Topic starter  

Can you give me a list of three chord songs that can be done with just say E A D or G C D - trying to put together a list of songs for my students who only know a few basic chords. Ones with Em, Am, Dm would also work.

together we stand, divided we fall..........


   
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(@dogbite)
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Joined: 19 years ago
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Gloria...E D A
Why Do You Love me ( now that I can dance) any I IV V chords
Watchtower...Am G F

there are hundreds. these are off the top of my head.

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(@kent_eh)
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Wild thing
Louie Louie

both A, D, E in very slightly different order.

I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep


   
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(@sixstringmadness)
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Its 4 chords but all ones you listed- Knockin on Heavens Door G, D, Am and G, D, C

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(@dogbite)
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I remembered another good three chorder. LaBamba. C F G. it is a different style but it rocks.

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(@big-lar)
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Joined: 17 years ago
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Love Me Do - C G D
Margaritaville - D G A (ok, you can embellish with Dsus4, and D7, as well as A7, Asus2 and Asus4 as well)

So many more!


   
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(@rum-runner)
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Joined: 20 years ago
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"Ring of Fire" is G C D, mostly G and C
"Dead Flowers" is D G A
"Southern Cross" is A G D
So is "American Dream" (i.e., Jamaica in the Moonlight...)

Just a few from my repertiore. Of course there are many others. I got a friend who seems to specialize in three chord songs. His repertiore numbers well into the hundreds.

Regards,

Mike

"Growing Older But Not UP!"


   
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(@big-lar)
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I just had to add one more. "End of the Line" by the Traveling Wilburys is D A G except for the intro / outro, which is still easy for beginners to get. Fun song.


   
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(@minotaur)
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Werewolves of London, D C G.

It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.


   
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(@chris-c)
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Dylan's done plenty. Another that springs to mind - mainly because the sheet music happens to be on the desk next to me - is Last NIght by the Traveling Wiburys. CFCG, CFCG, CFCG, a lot... change the order slightly, then throw in an Am later for light relief. You can play a cut down version of the F chord if the full catastrophe is too tricky.

The other option is to re-arrange a song into a easier version. Change the key and drop out some of the fancier harmony. A vast range of popular songs can be reduced to three or four chords if you're stuck.

G C D Am and Em gives you the I, IV, V, ii and vi in the key of G. We could write posts to this thread all day and never run out of songs you could do using I, IV, V, ii and vi.

Good luck with it. :)

Chris


   
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(@djanvk)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 34
 

Someone should create a sticky post with a listing of all the 3 chord songs we can think of, not the tabs just a nice list.


   
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(@stompk)
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Joined: 13 years ago
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house of the rising sun is simple, but is 4 chords, but there are a bunch of books on amazon with the title of "3 chord songs". if you look at their amazon page, you can see the list of songs that are in the book. maybe that will help.


   
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(@jwmartin)
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You ever see a post you would swear you replied to, but see that you didn't? :D

stompk, House of the Rising Sun is 5 chords, at least the way I've always heard it (Am C D F E), but it's still an easy one.

Bad Moon Rising - (D A G D)
Ball & Chain by Social Distortion (a lot of their stuff is 3/4 chords) - (D A G D) repeat through the whole song
Won't Back Down by Tom Petty is 4 chords (Em D G C)

Bass player for Undercover


   
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(@simple-steve)
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What I like about you E A D A.


   
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 guy1
(@guy1)
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knocking on heaven's door - only G D AM

basically there are tons of songs with only two-three-four chords :-)

Music is what life sounds like.
~Eric Olson

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