Have a Little Faith in Me
by John Hiatt • Lesson #554 • Jun 14, 2024
In today’s lesson I’ll explain Have a Little Faith In Me, John Hiatt’s hit song from 1987. While Hiatt originally recorded this on the piano, he sometimes plays a guitar version at his live concerts — which I’ll teach in my video.
While his piano version is played in the Key of F, this guitar lesson uses capo 5th fret, which lets us use the Key of C chord family — making things much easier for us. I’ll talk about the chords, adding flourish while strumming, and explain how the ending key change works as well.
- 0:00 Lesson Summary
- 1:08 Intro & Verse
- 2:39 Strumming
- 5:36 Chord Flourish
- 7:35 Chorus
- 10:23 Key Change & Ending
Lesson Discussion
Practice Notes 2 pages
Quick Links
A few handy links I’ve gathered for this song, from elsewhere on the web.
- Lyrics with chords (Key of C, capo 5) (recommended)
- Lyrics with chords (Key of F, no capo)
- Piano Score (from John Hiatt Archives)
- Wikipedia page
- Official YouTube Video
Bonus - Playthrough of Each Section
Here’s a zoomed-in video of me playing through the verse, chorus, and ending chorus sections — without talking, with chords & rhythm notes shown on screen. This is meant for you to reference and follow along with, if you please. Note, after the second time I play the chorus, I’ll transition into the ending chorus section (with the key change).
Live Performances
Piano version (Key of F):
Guitar version (capo 5):
Another guitar version (capo 5):
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