A Favorite Song With the Most Chords?

[alnico5]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

I have an old Presbyterian Hymnal with an arrangement of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" that has a different chord change for almost every syllable. It's pretty fun to rip through it at bluegrass tempo, although you may have to be careful who you play it for.

When listening to hymns in church I try to analyze the music as it goes by. Yes, many times the chord changes with each melody note.

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

pronounces Kankakee right -- it's like Yankee with a stutter.

Here in Chicagoland we say it kankuh-KEE.

[catdaddy]

The song with the most chords in my repertoire is one of my own called You Were The One which has 20:

C#m, Amaj7sus2, Dmaj7, Dmaj7(No.3), A7sus, A7, Bm11, E7, E13, A13sus, D, F#m, Am11, D9, G, A9, E, Dmaj13(#5, No.3), D6(No.3), Adim, A6sus

If you want to play along, you can find it here: https://waltleuzinger.bandcamp.com/t...u-were-the-one

[Jerry D]

"Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out".

Clapton used to play it, but I learned it before I ever heard Eric play it from an old Josh White album when I was probably 18 years old. Mr. Clapton probably did, too.

[Goat Mick]

If a song has more than 5 chords I usually pass on it because it won’t fit my vocal and playing style. However I do play Hotel California occasionally and some of my songs have quite a few changes. I have a good friend that is a very skilled guitarist (basically tell him the key and he’ll fall right in even if he’s never heard the song) and after he took a gig playing lead for me at a festival he said “dang your songs have a lot of chords”. LOL

[Kyle76]

Of what I play, probably “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road).” A lot of chords, but many are the same shape moving up the fretboard. Not that hard to play, but hard to remember unless I play it regularly.

[Petespix]

Russian Lullaby by Irving Berlin via Jerry Garcia and Garcia/Grisman.

[kentwinterton]

I do a version of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend" that keeps my fingers cruising. Maybe not as many chords as some others you've mentioned but with all the "fill-in" stuff it's a burner.

[Ray175]

Many jazz standards have a large number of chords, but in pop music a song "Something" has a vezry large number of chords.

[guitargeak99]

Originally Posted by macmanmatty

My version of "O C come All Ye Faithful". It has C ,CMaj7, Dm, D7th, D, D11th, E7th, Em, F , FMaj7, G, Am, Am7, A7th, A11th.
,

Do you have a video of this posted on line?
I would love to learn it.

[guitargeak99]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

......."A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"......It's pretty fun to rip through it at bluegrass tempo, although you may have to be careful who you play it for.

A little of topic:
That comment is funny. I love those old hymns, but some folks regard them with a lot of sanctity. I was once at a Christian retreat and the acoustic guitar players started playing Amazing Grace to other song melodies:
*Ghost Riders in the Sky, Gilligan’s Island theme song, Brady Bunch theme song, and House of the Rising Sun.

It was awesome and worked perfect. Try singing that song to all that I listed.

Anyway, back on topic......
I would love to hear your version of “A Mighty Fortress is our God”.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by guitargeak99

Anyway, back on topic......
I would love to hear your version of “A Mighty Fortress is our God”.

Been a while, so re-figuring out the chords and then knocking out a non-ghastly recording may take a day or two. But time is something I have right now, so stay tuned. :-)

[jwhelan56]

Mine is South City Midnight Lady by the Doobie Brothers. It's in Open G and quite a few chords, albeit some of them are the same fingerings moved up and down the neck. Long time favorite of mine!!

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

Here in Chicagoland we say it kankuh-KEE.

Yeah, that's correct. My quibble was more with Arlo and Willie doing a "Can" on the first syllable when it needs to be more of a "Cang."

Speaking of which, how many wrong ways are there to pronounce "New Orleans?" Goodman got it right, but Gary US Bonds rhymed it with "queen" and Johnny Horton rhymed it with "beans." And there's that football announcer, forget his name, who always said "Or-lee-unz," which nobody on Earth ever did before he singlehandedly invented it.

[patrickgm60]

Originally Posted by Ray175

Many jazz standards have a large number of chords...

Yes, true; I typically tackle those on piano. As for guitar, to answer OP's question, it's probably "How About You?" I haven't counted, but certainly more than 20 chords. "Aint Misbehavin" also comes to mind.