Three Chord Songs

There are tons of 3 chord songs to learn, many are Pop tunes, Country, Blues and Rock songs too. Easy guitar songs seem to be more popular than fully orchestrated tunes.

“You Can't always Get What You Want” is a classic Rolling Stones song. This is a good beginner guitar song although you may have to work on the F barre chord if your new to guitar. Just play the 1st 4 strings of the F chord if you can't get it yet.

The 1st position is tough for barre chords because the string don't have a lot of give this close to the nut

Another three chord song by the Rolling Stones is “Dead Flowers”. This song is on the “Sticky Fingers” album and also the “Stripped” album, the latter is a live version.

3 Chord Songs have probably produced more hits than any other chord progression combo then even the 4 chord Doo Wop era progressions.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's song Sweet Home Alabama is another one.

You Can't Always Get What You Want
3 Chord Songs

This is another one of the Rolling Stones three chord songs that has stood the test of time. Another one is (I Can't Get No)Satisfaction.

Here are the Basic Chords

Here are the lyrics with chords for you to learn the song. You should have a copy of the recording so you can hear the chord changes. If you do it from memory it might not be exactly right. Take your time and listen for the chord changes. Try to sing it after you have the chords down good enough.

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards - The Rolling Stones - 3 Chord Songs

Boys Choir in Beginning

C to F  4x French Horn Intro

Verse 1

  C                       F
I saw her to-day at the re-cep-tion
C                      F
a glass of wine in her hand
  C                                F
I knew she was gon-na meet her con-nec-tion,
       C                    F
at her feet was a foot-loose man

Chorus 1

    C                          F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
    C                          F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
    C                          F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
           D                        F 
but if you try some-times you might find 
                 C      F
you get what you need
C                 F
Chords Only

Verse 2

       C                  F
I went down to the de-mon-stra-tion 
   C                      F
to get my fair share of a-buse
        C                           F
Singing we're gon-na vent our frus-tra-tion
      C                                F
if we don't we're gon-na blow a 50 amp fuse"

Chorus 2

    C                          F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
    C                          F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
    C                          F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
           D                        F 
but if you try some-times you might find 
                 C      F
you get what you need
C                     F
Ah  Baby

Verse 3

       C                    F
I went down to the Chel-sea Drug Store
   C                       F
to get your pre-scrip-tion fil-led
      C                          F
I was stand-ing in line with Mr Jim-my
    C                        F
and man did he look pret-ty ill
      C                      F
We de-cid-ed we would have a so-da
   C                        F
my fav-rit fla-vor cher-ry red
  C                   F
I sung my song to Mr Jim-my
        C                               F
and he said one word to me and that was dead
F
I said to him

Chorus 3

    C                          F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
C                              F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
C                              F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
           D                        F 
but if you try some-times you might find 
                 C      F
you get what you need

Short Break with guitar/choir with Mick singing “Ah Yeah”

Verse 4

C                       F
I saw her to-day at the re-cep-tion
C                            F
in her glass was a bleed-ing man
        C                           F
She was prac-ticed at the art of de-cep-tion
        C                          F
I could tell by her blood-stain'd hands

Repeat about 3 times

Chorus's 4-5-6

C                              F
You can't al-ways get what you want No
C                              F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
C                              F
You can't al-ways get what you want 
           D                        F 
but if you try some-times you might find 
                 C      F
you get what you need
C                 F

Repeat Chorus and end however you like it's "your" song now. When you learn a song you will add your own playing style. Try and do something unique to the song.

Dead Flowers
3 Chord Songs

This song is the version from the “Sticky Fingers” album

Dead Flowers Chords
More Three Chord Songs

There are 4 chords but the 1st one lasts 1 beat and it's one note different than the D chord. It's the chord in the very beginning. We'll still consider it one of the 3 chord songs.

The reason for this is the song doesn't start on beat one. It starts on beat 4, the other 3 beats are at the end of the song. You count it as 4&. You play two eighth note beats with chord one.

These are called pick up notes. You will see these in sheet music as the first bar in the music. These rest of the notes to make a full bar are in the last measure of the song. This is actually where you start counting the first measure.

It actually sounds like you missed some of the song when it starts.

This is a very easy song to play. This progression is popular in Country music.

Dead Flowers - Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

 Intro

Play Chords One Time
Dsus2 D      A       G       D
4&    ////   ////    ////    ////  

Verse 1
D	                 A	        G	           D
Well when you're sit-ting there in your silk up-hol-stered chair

D	         A	            G	    D
Talk-ing to some rich folk that you know	

D	                  A	   G	          D
Well I hope you won't see me in my rag-ged com-pa-ny

D	                A	     G    D
Cause you know I could 	nev-er be a-lone	

Chorus 1

D 	A	                     D
Take me down lit-tle Sus-ie, take me down
A	                                        D
I know you think you're the queen of the un-der	ground
D           G                           
And you can 
G                           D
Send me dead flow-ers ev-ry morn-ing
G	                    D
Send me dead flow-ers by the mail
G	                    D
Send me dead flow-ers to my wed-ding
D	A	             G	            D
And I 	won't for-get to put ros-es on your grave	

Verse 2
Same Chords as Verse 1

Chorus 2
Same as Chorus 1

Song Lead Guitar Break
Guitar Lead - Play one verse section

Final Chorus
Same as Chorus 1 except Drag Out Last Line

D     A	                   G	          D
No, I won't for-get to put ros-es on your grave	

I couldn't find a separate sheet music for this song but it's most likely in one of their books.

Sweet Home Alabama
3 Chord Songs

Here are the Chords for this 3 chord song

There is a 4th chord that gets played once in the Boo Hoo Hoo line so we'll still consider it one of the 3 chord songs. It's the F chord, the same one in “You Can't Always Get What You Want” above.

Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd - 3 Chord Songs

Words and music written by Ed King, Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant

Intro
D     C    G Play 4x

Verse 1
D	C          G
Big wheels keep on turn-ing
D	  C	         G
Car-ry me home to see my kin.
D	C	          G
Sing-ing songs a-bout the south-land
D	   C	       G
I miss ole bam-y once a-gain and I think it's a sin
D	   C	     G  play 2x

Verse 2
Same Chords as Verse 1

Chorus 1
D     C    G
Sweet Home Al-bam-a
D         C            G
Where the skies are so blue
D     C    G
Sweet Home Alabama
D        C               G
Lord I'm com-ing home to you
D	   C	     G  play 2x

Verse 3
D 	    C                 G         F    C	  D
In Birm-ing-ham they love the Gov-nor   Boo  hoo  hoo
D          C                 G
Now we all did what we could do
D          C                   G
Now Wat-er-gate does not both-er me
D          C                 G
Does your con-science bother you tell the truth

Chorus 2
Same as Chorus 1

Verse and chorus vocal break
Verse 4
Same Chords as Verse 1

Chorus 3 - Repeat 3 times
Same as Chorus 1
End when you want to

Thank You for Visiting our 3 Chord Songs page. There are many more 3 chord songs you can learn.