You Are My Sunshine

How to play You Are My Sunshine by Jimmie Davis on guitar

These are the sounding chords. With a capo on fret 3 you play D, G, A, the shapes the player above shows.

You Are My Sunshine is a great beginner song because it uses a small set of chords and a steady, familiar feel. At about 98 BPM, you can focus on clean changes and a relaxed groove instead of speed. It is a good choice when you want something simple that still sounds complete.

You will use mostly open shapes for F and C, with A# as the harder barre shape. The main thing to watch is the move into A# and back out again, since that is where your hand will need the most control. The opening cycle is F - A# - F - A#.

Start by looping just that opening progression slowly until the shapes feel natural. Then add the rest of the song’s repeating chords and keep your changes even. Once you can switch cleanly at a slow pace, bring the tempo up little by little until it feels smooth.

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.