Amazing Grace is one of the most popular Christian hymns written by John Newton. We’ll first look at the guitar chords you can use for this song, sheet music for the melody including tabs, and finally look at a finger style guitar arrangement.
How to read the guitar chord charts
To clarify how to read the chord charts, 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.
Amazing Grace chords
In this post, the guitar chords for Amazing Grace are C Major, F Major, A minor, D Major, and G Major. 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.
Here are some related resources on chords:
- What are the first chords you should learn on guitar?
- 6 tips to get better at switching between chords on guitar
- 13 ways to play an F chord on guitar.
Amazing Grace melody with guitar tabs
For the sheet music below, keep in mind that the chords and melody are meant to be played as separate parts. We’ll look at how to connect these parts later in the arrangement section of this post.
If needed, refer to this simple guide to understanding music symbols.
Amazing Grace lyrics
Verse 1:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
was blind, but now I see.
Verse 2:
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed.
Verse 3:
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
Verse 4:
The Lord has promised good to me,
his word my hope secures;
he will my shield and portion be,
as long as life endures.
Verse 5:
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
a life of joy and peace.
Verse 6:
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
bright shining as the sun,
we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
than when we first begun.
Reference: Amazing grace. HymnSite.com
Amazing Grace guitar chords (variation)
Here are some 7th chords you can use to enhance the chord progression to Amazing Grace. These chords will be shown in the following lead sheet with the melody.
You can check out this post to learn the essential 7th chords on guitar.
Amazing Grace guitar tabs with chord variations
Here is the sheet music for this song including the chord variations we looked at in the previous section.
Amazing Grace guitar arrangement
In this section, we essentially connecting the melody and chords together using a finger picking method of playing. If needed, check out this post to learn how to finger pick on guitar.
The numbers next to some notes on the top staff indicate which fingers to use on the fretting hand.
To learn more about this style of playing, check out this post on how to connect a melody and chords on guitar.
Get the free guitar practice guide here!
Want to learn more songs? Check out the sheet music with guitar tabs resource on this site. Here are some popular song suggestions below.
All the best,
JG
