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Melody, with Chords: "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen

Lesson #594 • Jul 10, 2025

About This Lesson

In today’s lesson I’ll do a melody deep-dive for Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, showing you a way to play the melody notes and chords at the same time. This makes for an incredibly satisfying way to play any of your favorite songs, as it allows you to capture the recognizable melody line in a way that sounds bigger & more full thanks to the strummed chords. I’ll be in the Key of C, which works quite well in open position. Let’s get into it!

  • 0:00 Lesson Overview
  • 2:09 Line 1 of 5
  • 5:35 Line 2 of 5
  • 8:34 Line 3 of 5
  • 9:58 Line 4 of 5
  • 11:04 Line 5 of 5
  • 12:28 Full Playthrough

Instructional PDF 3 pages

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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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.

To download the PDF, upgrade to premium or log in.

Lesson Discussion

Jump in the conversation with other members of the Song Notes community! Post a comment about this lesson, ask a question, or even upload a video of your progress. All skill levels welcome!

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Bonus Videos

The following videos are available to members of Song Notes Premium. If you’re not a member, learn more about the many perks of Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those of you who are members — thanks for your support! It makes these lessons possible.

Slow Playthrough

Here’s a slow, zoomed-in playthrough (with tabs on screen) with no talking, no singing, and no jam track in the background. I zoomed in extra close on both hands so you can carefully see what I’m playing.

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Play-Along Practice Track

Play along with a looped practice track, which cycles through the 26 measure chord progression for ~5 minutes. This includes bass, drums, and organ — created by me in GarageBand. Chord changes are shown on screen. You can use this to practice the melody, chords, strumming, or anything else!

Download an audio version of this practice track: Mid-tempo (82bpm) or Slow (70bpm)

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Want to Strum and Sing Hallelujah?

A link to my original tutorial teaching this song can be found below. It includes a link to my licensed song sheet (available for purchase), which includes all of Leonard Cohen’s lyrics.

"Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen

$ Song Sheet Available

From a technique standpoint, here’s a few lessons that’ll help out. I mention all of these during my main video tutorial above:

F Chord, Made Easy: 7 Alternatives to the Barred Version

★ Instructional PDF

Struming Patterns in 6/8 Time

★ Instructional PDF

Major Key Cheat Sheets! Must-Know Chords, Scales, and Fretboard Diagrams

★ Instructional PDF

Why Are Scales Worth Learning?

Intersted in additional melody deep-dives? Here’s a few others I’ve made, which are quite similar:

Melody, with Chords: "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond

★ Instructional PDF

Melody, with Chords: "You Are My Sunshine"

★ Instructional PDF

Melody, with Chords: "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley

★ Instructional PDF

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