← Six String Strummin’ · Song Studio

BrightNote Song Studio

The song library

Chord charts built to be read while you play — on a stand, on an iPad, or printed. Every chart transposes, takes a capo, switches to Nashville numbers, and prints exactly as it looks on screen.

36 chartsTranspose & capoNashville numbersPrintable PDFDark mode

🎸 Repertoire — 300 songs Pick your next class song. Filter 300 titles by the chords your group already plays, by era, by style — and listen to any of them. →

Charts

Tap a song to open its chart. Use the toolbar at the top of any chart to change the key, add a capo, switch layouts, or print. Draft means nobody has played that chart against the record yet.

A Horse with No Name

EmBeginner2 chordsdraft

Two chords for the entire song. The best first song there is for an adult beginner who wants to play something real tonight.

Ain't No Sunshine

AmBeginner3 chordsdraft

Three minor chords and a whole lot of space. Teaches an adult class to play less.

Amazing Grace

John Newton (1779) · arr. BrightNote

GBeginner5 chordsdraft

The one song a church band never has to rehearse. In G with a capo it fits almost any voice in the room.

Bad Moon Rising

Creedence Clearwater Revival

DBeginner3 chordsdraft

Three chords, fast and cheerful, about the end of the world. Adult classes love it.

Brown Eyed Girl

GBeginner4 chordsdraft

The one that gets the whole room singing 'sha la la'. Bright, quick, and forgiving.

Folsom Prison Blues

EBeginner+3 chordsdraft

A twelve-bar blues in country clothes. Learn the form here and you can play half the blues canon.

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

GBeginner+4 chordsdraft

Three shapes and the picking pattern that teaches a whole class to fingerpick in one evening.

Heart of Gold

EmBeginner4 chordsdraft

Four chords, a harmonica hook, and one of the great sing-in-a-circle songs.

House of the Rising Sun

Traditional · arr. BrightNote

AmBeginner+5 chordsdraft

The song every guitarist learns the year they get serious. Five chords, one hypnotic 6/8 arpeggio, and a story that carries itself.

Jolene

AmBeginner3 chordsdraft

Four chords, one riff, and the most covered song in country music. Works in any room.

Knockin' on Heaven's Door

GBeginner4 chordsdraft

Two lines of chords, the whole song. The first thing to hand a brand-new adult class that still sounds like a record.

La Bamba

CBeginner3 chordsdraft

One three-chord loop, start to finish. Fast, joyful, and impossible to get wrong.

Lean on Me

CBeginner4 chordsdraft

A walk up the scale and back down. The friendliest song in the book to sing in parts.

Let It Be

CBeginner4 chordsdraft

The four chords behind a thousand songs, in their most famous order.

Margaritaville

DBeginner3 chordsdraft

The house anthem. Three chords, and everyone in the room already knows every word.

Me and Bobby McGee

GBeginner4 chordsdraft

Four chords and a story. Starts as a folk song and ends as a full-band shout.

No Woman, No Cry

CBeginner4 chordsdraft

Four chords in a loop that never stops. The slowest, warmest singalong in the set.

Peaceful Easy Feeling

EBeginner3 chordsdraft

Three chords, country strum, and harmonies that make a room sound like a band.

Ring of Fire

GBeginner3 chordsdraft

Three chords and a mariachi horn line everyone hums anyway. A great first boom-chick song.

Riptide

C#Capo 1Beginner4 chordsdraft

Three chords for the verse, one more for the chorus, and a rhythm that carries itself.

Simple Man

CBeginner+3 chordsdraft

Three chords in 6/8, arpeggiated. The song that teaches an adult class to pick instead of strum.

Stand by Me

ABeginner4 chordsdraft

The '50s progression in its most famous form. Learn this and you can hear it in a hundred other songs.

Sweet Caroline

BCapo 4Beginner3 chordsdraft

Capo 4 turns the record's key into three easy shapes. The 'BAH BAH BAH' is not optional.

Sweet Home Alabama

GBeginner+3 chordsdraft

Three chords in a loop that never changes. The riff sits on top of it — learn the loop first and the riff comes free.

Take It Easy

GBeginner+5 chordsdraft

Five chords, bright tempo, and a chorus built for harmony. The campfire standard.

Take Me Home, Country Roads

GBeginner4 chordsdraft

The most reliable singalong in the book. Four chords, everyone knows the words, nobody sits it out.

The Weight

ACapo 2Beginner+6 chordsdraft

The great American campfire song. Capo 2 and it is four open shapes — no barre chords anywhere.

Three Little Birds

ABeginner3 chordsdraft

Three chords and the best message in music. The easiest reggae strum to teach an adult class.

Twist and Shout

DBeginner3 chordsdraft

Three chords going up, over and over. The loudest four minutes a beginner class will ever have.

Wagon Wheel

Old Crow Medicine Show / Bob Dylan

GBeginner4 chordsdraft

Four chords, one of the biggest singalongs in the room. The Six String Strummin' campfire staple.

What's Up?

GBeginner3 chordsdraft

Three chords, one loop, and a chorus the whole room screams. Nothing else to learn.

Wild Thing

ABeginner3 chordsdraft

Three chords, four bars, maximum payoff. The fastest a new class ever sounds like a band.

Wildwood Flower

Traditional · arr. BrightNote

CBeginner3 chordsdraft

The first song most flatpickers ever learn. Three chords, a melody that sits under the fingers, and the Carter scratch that built country guitar.

Wish You Were Here

GIntermediate6 chordsdraft

The intro riff is worth the whole lesson, and the chords underneath are five friendly shapes.

Wonderwall

F#mCapo 2Beginner+6 chordsdraft

The one people ask for. Capo 2 and it becomes four friendly shapes.

Zombie

The Cranberries

EmBeginner4 chordsdraft

Four minor chords, huge dynamics, and one of the biggest singalongs of the '90s.

🎼 Lesson songs from the BrightNote method The play-along songs built into the guitar and piano courses — with notation, audio and the Practice Studio.