I Need Thee Every Hour is a popular Christian hymn written by Annie S. Hawks and Robert Lowry (chorus) to his tune “Need”. In this lesson, we cover the guitar chords you can use for this song, sheet music for the melody including tabs, and also a finger style guitar arrangement. Grab your guitar and let’s get started!
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.
I Need Thee Every Hour guitar chords
The chords you can use for this song are C Major, F Major, G Major, D 7, F/C, E 7, A minor, D minor 7, and C/G.
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 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
- 13 ways to play an F chord on guitar.
- How to play the essential 7th chords on guitar
- How to play chord inversions on guitar
I Need Thee Every Hour – melody with tabs and chords
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 lesson.
When playing the chords part above the staff, 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.
By the way, you can get all the PDFs of this song below.
You can also learn the finger-style arrangement of this song after the lyrics below.
I Need Thee Every Hour lyrics
Verse 1:
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
Most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford.
Chorus:
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Ev’ry hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
Verse 2:
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
Stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their pow’r
When Thou art nigh. [Refrain]
Verse 3:
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
In joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide,
Or life is vain. [Refrain]
Verse 4:
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
Teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises
In me fulfill. [Refrain]
Reference: I Need Thee Every Hour. hymnary.org
I Need Thee Every Hour – guitar arrangement
In this section, we are essentially connecting the melody and chords together using a finger picking method of playing.
The numbers next to some notes on the top staff indicate which fingers to use on the fretting hand. 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.
📘 Get the free guitar practice guide here!
Want to learn more songs? Check out the sheet music with guitar tabs resource on this site.
All the best,
JG Music Lessons
