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Chord Guide for Wildflowers and If I Had A Boat

Lesson #413 • Jan 27, 2022

Video lesson

Instructional PDF 1 page

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Follow along with the print-friendly PDF!

It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Editor’s notes

As part of me relisting my song sheets for Wildflowers and If I Had a Boat, I wanted to make the following instructional PDF to help y’all get a handle on the chord shapes used in each of these songs.

Specifically, I want to call out how the chords each of these songs use allow you to keep some of your left-hand fingers on the same note the entire time. This is crucially important to recognize, as it makes learning the chords a bit easier – and likewise, makes juggling the chord changes easier as well.

While I do call this out in each individual full-song lesson for Wildflowers and If I Had a Boat, I wanted to make this new PDF to shine a singular, specific light on the topic. The PDF linked below won’t teach you these full songs, but it will provide a deep dive into the chord shapes needed for each song. Check it out!

Back in lesson #334 I tackled this same topic, looking at the different ways you can position your left-hand fingers to play the G-major chord. For instance, should you play the G chord’s low-E string with your left-middle finger, or left-ring finger? The answer: it depends! It’s all about the other chords you’re playing. You’ll simply want to use a G-major voicing that sets you up for easier chord changes later in the song. See my full lesson for details, including a link to the Instructional PDF.



Song lessons this references

Wildflowers by Tom Petty

Lesson #232. View my full lesson notes and get the song sheet »

If I Had a Boat by Lyle Lovett

Lesson #229. View my full lesson notes and get the song sheet »

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