American Girls

How to play American Girls by Harry Styles on guitar

These are the sounding chords. With a capo on fret 1 you play F, C, G, Dm, the shapes the player above shows.

This song is a good beginner pick because it stays on a small loop and moves at a steady, upbeat pace. You get a clean, repetitive feel that helps you lock in rhythm without having to memorize a lot of changes. It is the kind of track that rewards relaxed, even playing.

The shapes here are all barre shapes, so the main challenge is getting each chord to sound clear without buzzing. Since the progression keeps returning to F# and C#, the change to watch is the quick back-and-forth between those two. Keep your fretting hand close to the neck and make each shift economical.

Start by practicing the chord loop slowly and cleanly, then repeat just the first two changes until they feel automatic. After that, add the full cycle and keep your strums steady through every switch. Once the movement feels smooth, bring the tempo up little by little until you can stay with the song.

Use the play-along above to follow each chord change in time with the music, or learn the shapes first with the chord diagrams below.