A Horse With No Name | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: Em | D6/9/F# :||
Verse 1
||: Em | D6/9/F# :||
On the first part of the journey.
I was looking at all the life.
There were plants and birds and rocks and things.
There was sand and hills and rings.
Verse 2
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz.
And the sky with no clouds.
The heat was hot and the ground was dry.
But the air was full of sound.
Chorus 1
||: Em | D6/9/F# :||
I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name.
It felt good to be out of the rain.
In the desert, you can’t remember your name.
‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain.
Chorus tag 1
||: Em | D6/9/F# :||
La la la la la la…
Verse 3
After two days in the desert sun.
My skin began to turn red.
After three days in the desert fun.
I was looking at a riverbed.
And the story it told of a river that flowed,
made me sad to think it was dead.
Chorus 2
You see, I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name.
It felt good to be out of the rain.
In the desert, you can’t remember your name.
‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain.
Chorus tag 2
La la la la la la…
Solo
||: Em | D6/9/F# :||
Verse 4
After nine days I let the horse run free.
‘Cause the desert had turned to sea.
There were plants and birds and rocks and things.
There was sand and hills and rings.
Verse 5
The ocean is a desert with its life underground.
And a perfect disguise above.
Under the cities, lies a heart made of ground.
But the humans will give no love.
Chorus 3
You see I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name.
It felt good to be out of the rain.
In the desert, you can’t remember your name.
‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain.
Outro (chorus tag 3)
||: La la la la la la… :|| to fade
A Horse With No Name Chords: Learn the progressions
You could argue that since there are only two chords, A Horse With No Name makes a great beginner song.
One of these two chords may sound complicated (I’m thinking of D6/9/F#) but they are both easy to fret.
What the exact strumming is could be simplified or even dumbed down to be expressed as simple up-and-down strokes. An endless number of beginner guitar teachers have, after all, done just this.
However, as you listen closely to the original recording, you’ll find several guitars layered, way beyond your average beginner’s capability.
What this means is that should you want to play A Horse With No Name’s chords well, it’s not simple at all anymore.
What you have to do to get it right is find a way to combine these parts into one acoustic guitar part, and to do that, you need TAB, demonstrating how to break up the strumming.
In general, the process of learning how to do this is essential as almost all recordings have more than one guitar so when playing live, you always encounter some kind of arrangement challenge.
To help you on this journey, I’ve made two TAB examples for you which if you move between, will create the illusion of several guitars, here’s a link: A Horse With No Name – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Once you can play this, if you’re not singing, a simple chord chart, reminding you of the chords and extensions will be enough.
Here’s a chord chart I made for you.
A Horse With No Name Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
This is an unusual way for me to write a chord chart. Since all sections of the song use the same chords, writing a chart detailing if you’re playing a verse, chorus, tag or solo seems pointless.
Instead, I put down the two different strumming ideas as chord extensions and then listed the form below as sections: In (intro), A (verse), B (chorus), C (tag), and D (solo).
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: A Horse With No Name Chord Chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro, here’s a link to that file: A Horse With No Name iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
The secret behind A Horse With No Name’s success!
Released as the first single before the self-titled debut album America (1971), A Horse With No Name would become the band’s greatest success.
Charting in the top 5 in 8 countries, it eventually sold an impressive 1 million copies in the U.S. alone.
Since its release and initial success, it has stayed relevant for two main reasons; firstly as it “only has two chords” it is seen as a great beginner song for budding guitar players.
Secondly, the joke about the lyrics that you should know the horse’s name by now if you’ve been through the desert seems to never want to go away.
Apparently, there’s a theory that horse is slang for heroin and the lyrics are essentially referring to a bad trip. This is what Nile Rodgers calls the DHM (deeper hidden meaning) and claims to be the secret behind his own success.
Perhaps the secret to A Horse With No Name’s success is all these elements put together!
A Horse With No Name Chords | Related Pages
A Horse With No Name | Guitar Lesson + TAB
In this guitar lesson, the chords may seem simple and repetitive but you’ll need TAB to make A Horse With No Name work on just one acoustic guitar.
| Em | D6/9/F# |
On the first part of the journey…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- Mr. Tambourine Man chords by Bob Dylan
- One More Cup Of Coffee chords by Bob Dylan
- Talking About A Revolution chords by Tracy Chapman
- This Is chords by Aslan
- Ventura Highway chords by America
America tunes
Named America so people wouldn’t think they put on a fake accent, the band formed in London during the late 60s.
Their most popular tunes include A Horse With No Name, Ventura Highway, and Sister Golden Hair.
America on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about A Horse With No Name chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
