Every acoustic guitarist wants this song, and a lot of them give up on it. It is harder than it looks, mainly because of the strum, so do not worry if it takes a while. If the chord changes are still rough, play a few songs from Your First Real Songs first and come back. Wonderwall will still be here.
Read the full guide
A longer write-up with every detail, drill, and common pitfall.
The chords (with a capo on the 2nd fret)
Put a capo on the 2nd fret. Now every shape below is counted from the capo, so fret 3 means the third fret above it.
Here is the secret that makes this song possible: your third and fourth fingers never move. Put them on the 3rd fret of the B string and the 3rd fret of the high E string, and leave them there for the whole song. Then:
- Em7: add your first and second fingers on the 2nd fret of the A and D strings. Strum all six.
- G: first finger on the 2nd fret of the A string, second finger on the 3rd fret of the low E string. Strum all six. (The G diagram above shows the plain open version; here, keep your two anchored fingers down instead.)
- Dsus4: just your first finger, on the 2nd fret of the G string. Strum from the D string down.
- A7sus4: just your first finger, on the 2nd fret of the D string. Strum from the A string down.
- Cadd9: first finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, second finger on the 3rd fret of the A string. Strum from the A string down.
The strum
Down-down-up-up-down-up. Constant. Don't stop strumming, even between chord changes; let buzzy chords ring while you find the next shape.Wonderwall sits around 88 BPM. Drill the chord changes at this tempo with the strum pattern.
Sing along
This one is unkillable. Even half-buzzed it sounds like Wonderwall. Sing if you want; that's half the fun.Next: fingerpicking. The technique that takes acoustic from "strummed chords" to "music."