Abide with Me is a classic hymn with lyrics by Henry Francis Lyte and music composed by William Henry Monk. In this lesson, you’ll learn the guitar chords, sheet music for the melody with tabs, and a fingerstyle arrangement to bring this timeless piece to life. Grab your guitar, and let’s get started!
How to read the guitar chord charts
To clarify how to read the chord charts in the next section, the top horizontal line represents the high E string and the bottom horizontal line represents the low E string. The vertical lines separate each fret. The numbers in the blue dots tell you which fingers to use on the fretting hand.
For example, on the C Major chord, you use the:
- 1st finger on the 2nd string, 1st fret
- 2nd finger on the 4th string, 2nd fret
- 3rd finger on the 5th string, 3rd fret
- Circles represent open strings
- X means to avoid the string
You can check this link for more on how to read guitar notation symbols.
Abide with Me guitar chords
The chords we’ll be using for this song are C Major, F Major, D minor, D Major, G Major, C/E, A 7, F Major 7, D minor 7, and C/G. You can click on the chords with links to learn different ways of playing that chord.
Try the following chords one at a time until you feel comfortable switching between them. These chords will be written above the melody in the next section.
By the way, you can get all the PDFs of this song below.
Here are some other resources on chords:
- What are the first chords you should learn on guitar?
- 6 tips to get better at switching between chords on guitar
- How to play barre chords and 5 tips to get better at playing them!
- How to play chord inversions on the guitar
Abide with Me guitar tabs and chords
This section shows you the melody of the song with guitar tabs and the chords written above the staff. Keep in mind that the melody and chords are meant to be played as separate parts. We’ll look at how to connect these parts later in the arrangement section of this lesson.
When playing the chords part, continue playing the same chord when switching to a measure that doesn’t show one. For example, you would play C Major for the first two measures.
You can refer to this simple guide to understanding music symbols if needed.
You can learn a finger-style guitar arrangement of this song after the lyrics below.
Abide with Me lyrics
Verse 1:
Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Verse 2:
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away.
Change and decay in all around I see.
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
Verse 3:
I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like Thyself my guide and strength can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.
Verse 4:
I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless,
ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, Thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Verse 5:
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes.
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks and earth’s vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
Reference: Abide with Me. hymnary.org
Abide with Me guitar arrangement
In this section, we are essentially connecting the melody and chords together using a finger-style method of playing. The numbers next to some notes on the top staff indicate which fingers to use on the fretting hand.
Some of the chords in this guitar arrangement have been modified with chord inversions and using 7th chords. If needed, check out this lesson to learn how to finger pick on guitar.
If you like this style of playing, you can check out this lesson to learn how to connect a melody and chords on guitar.
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Want to learn more songs? Check out the sheet music with guitar tabs resource on this site.
Reference: Abide with Me. wikipedia.org
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