When the Man Comes Around

by Johnny Cash • Lesson #159 • Jun 26, 2018

Video lesson

Print-Friendly Song Sheet 4 pages

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Editor’s notes

In this lesson I’ll show you how to play “The Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash, including a tutorial for the chords and strumming pattern. This is the first Cash song I fell in love with, back around 2003 on a jukebox in my favorite college bar. I hope you dig this lesson!

  • 0:00 Playthrough
  • 1:38 Greeting & agenda
  • 2:54 Chords needed
  • 5:39 Verse strumming: easy version
  • 7:48 Pre-chorus & chorus (strumming, etc)
  • 15:21 Verse strumming: advanced version

Lyrics and chords

See page 1 of my song sheet for all lyrics and chords, neatly formatted to fit while still being readable. Pages 2-4 give additional guidance on the chords, walk-ups & walk-downs, strumming patterns, and a step-by-step guide to learning the muted C strum used throughout the song.

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Hey there! My name is David Potsiadlo, and I'm the creator of the 400+ weekly lessons here at Song Notes, going back to 2013. Here’s my guitar story »

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