Practice

Three-Chord Songs

The classic three-chord song — the fastest route from your first open chords to a tune you can actually play. Every one of these songs is public-domain or traditional and needs three chords, no more, from the first line to the last. Tap a card for the chart: chords over the lyrics, a diagram of every shape, the key, the tempo and where the song comes from.

Learn three chords — often G, C, and D, or C, F, and G7 — and most of the list below opens up. The charts open on guitar; other instruments keep the same chord names and finger them in their own shapes.

Songs you can play with three chords

Why these songs are free to play

Every entry is strictly public-domain or traditional, source-attributed, and charted as chords — so you can learn, play, and share without any copyright worry.