Three Chord Songs in D

This is a addendum to "3 Magic Chords, Part 3," which encourages you to learn switching back and forth among three chords: D, A7, and G.

This page will just be a list of popular 3-chord songs that can be played in D (which uses D, A7, and G). We make a point of not publishing copyrighted material in our pages, so we just have the titles.

Note: - Many of these songs can also be played in C, using C, G7 and F. That's not so easy on guitar, at first, but they work great on instruments like Autoharp (many of which make it hard to play in the key of D). Some that are too low to sing in C can be played in G using G, D7 and C (or C9).

Many of these songs were recorded in other keys, so you most likely won't be able to play along with the record. But they work in D for most singers.

If you have trouble working any of these out for yourself, you can always Google, say "La Bamba chords in D" and a dozen sites will come up. Most will be selling something and have aggravating popups, but that's not something I have any control over.

I may add more as I have time, but you'll probably recognize at least enough of these to practice without getting too bored. We've put a little chord chart up on the right for your reference.

• La Bamba
• First Cut is the Deepest
• Great Balls of Fire
• For What it's Worth ("Stop, Hey, What's that Sound?")
• Wimoweh ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight")
• Breakfast at Tiffany's
• Surfin' USA
• Wild Thing
• Margaritaville
• Lean on Me
• The Joker (Steve Miller)
• Breakfast at Tiffany's
• Bad Moon Rising
• Mellow Yellow
• Twist and Shout
• Cecilia
• The Middle
• Johnny B. Goode
• Free Fallin'
• Sloop John B
• Home on the Range
• You Are my Sunshine
• Down By the Riverside
• When the Saints Go Marching In
• The Crawdad Song

The only limit to playing any three-chord song in the key of D is that the melody might be too high or too low for you to sing comfortably. That's one reason we will teach you what you need to play three chord songs in G next. G is a favorite key of Folk and Country musicians, and the favorite key of Bluegrass banjo players.

Other Resources

• Meet Your Guitar - A brief introduction to the parts of the guitar and how to hold it.
• Three Magic Chords - A series of articles that get you started on basic chords you can use to play thousands of songs.
• What is a 3-Chord Song? - Explains "3-chorders," and how understanding them will help you learn or follow along on thousands of songs without sheet music or lead sheets.

Conclusion

Other resources will be listed as I get to them.

Sister Sites

Other sites we started to keep this site from getting too big to be useful include:

• CreekDontRise.com is a repository of articles about Folk music and the instruments on which it has been traditionally played.

  The "Acoustic" page includes a long list of articles including maintenance and playing tips on all sorts of traditional acoustic instruments.

• RiverboatMusic.com is a buyers' guide for acoustic and traditional instrument from a musician's point of view, focusing on the uses, reliability, and practicality of various instruments, and not just the marketing hype about the shape of the fret markers or whatever.

  For instruments like dulcimers that have mostly small manufacturers or cheap imports, we try to tell you what to look for, irrespective of brand.

• Momma Don't 'Low includes a free e-mail newsletter that discusses all of those topics above and more. We plan to include other features as time permits.

  Note - If you wish to sign up for our newsletter and ask a question at the same time, please click on the Momma Don't 'Low newsletter button to learn more and to get a link to our signup form.

• PaulRaceMusic.com is the "landing page" for Paul's own musical endeavors, plus many memoirs and blogs about music and the music business.

• ClassicTrainSongs.com describes railroad songs that every train lover should know. Or at least know about.

• SchoolOfTheRock.com has articles about Christian music, Christian music careers and performance, Christian living in general, and vintage saxophones, another of Paul's interests. This site has separate newsletters, etc., by the way - there isn't a lot of overlap with the Momma Don't 'Low(tm) newsletters.

For information about other music collections and projects, check the links at the bottom of this page.

Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you come away with some great ideas for "sharing the joy."

And please stay in touch!

    - Paul Race

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