Chords + Lyrics | American Girl
Intro
| D | D |
||: D7 :|| x6 (band)
||: D7/F# | D7/E | D | D7/E :|| (bass)
Verse 1
| D | E7 | G | A |
Well, she was an American girl, raised on promises.
| D | E7 | G | A |
She couldn’t help thinkin’ that there was a little more to life, somewhere else.
| A | D (E F#) | G (F#) | E |
After all, it was a great big world, with lots of places to run to.
| A | A | A | A (E F#) |
Yeah, and if she had to die, tryin’ she, had one little promise she was gonna keep.
Chorus 1
| G | A |
Oh yeah, alright.
| D | Bm |
Take it easy baby, make it last all night (make it last all night).
| G | A |
She was, an American girl.
Instrumental
| D7 | D7 |
Verse 2
Well, it was kind of cold that night, she stood alone on her balcony.
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by out on 441, like waves crashin’ on the beach.
And for one desperate moment there, he crept back in her memory.
God, it’s so painful, when something that is so close, and still so far out of reach
Chorus 2
Oh yeah, alright.
Take it easy baby, make it last all night (make it last all night).
She was, an American girl.
Outro
| D7 | D7 |
||: G5 (G#) | A5 D5 (A C D) :|| x3
| G5 (G#) | A5 |
||: D7 | D7 :||
(Aah)
||: D7 | D7/E | D7/G | D7/A :||
Ah, ha, ha (Aah).
||: D | E7 | G | A :|| x6 to fade
Ah, ha, ha. Oh yeah.
American Girl Chords: Breaking Down the Structure of Tom Petty’s Anthem
Tom Petty’s legendary American Girl wasn’t an immediate hit when it first appeared on his debut album. However, over time, it became a fan favourite as Tom and his Heartbreakers continued releasing records.
Let’s dive into the chords to understand how this tune was put together.
Intro
The song begins with a D chord, there are two guitars, one omits the 3rd but adds a b7, we could call this a D7omit3. The other plays a straight D chord further up the neck.
Putting these two chords together, we get a D7, as the only guitarist in the band, combining these two guitars is the challenge.
The chord lick of guitar 1 goes from b7 to root and continues as the bass enters, adding movement with a line that plays the 3rd – 2nd – root – 2nd, creating this pattern:
||: D7/F# | D7/E | D | D7/E :||
Again, we must decide what to play here that captures the spirit but isn’t necessarily either of the original parts.
For the outro, in a brilliant twist, the bass plays the verse notes over the same riff, as follows:
||: D7 | D7/E | D/G | D7/A :||
Verse
The verse chords break away from the key, thanks to a surprising IIx chord. The first progression is:
||: D (I) | E7 (IIx) | G (IV) | A (V) :||
This is followed by a V – I – IV – IIx – V progression, with a touch of bass movement:
| A | D (E F#) | G (F#) | E |
| A | A | A | A (E F#) |
Again, two guitars must be combined into one that captures what they play but isn’t what either of them actually do – very counterintuitive.
Chorus
The chorus introduces the VI chord, which adds a fresh dynamic:
| G (IV) | A (V) | D (I) |
| Bm (VI) | G (IV) | A (V) |
As mentioned several times by now, the real challenge here is to work out a part for just one guitar. Tom and Mike really are the best at creating two guitar parts that blend well.
In the playlist above, you find a YouTuber called DonkeyKong6000 who recorded both guitars, there’s TAB in the video for each as well.
In my TAB lesson, we focus on how to do it on one guitar, you can access it here: American Girl – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Having digested all that TAB, this simple chord chart will make complete sense.
American Girl Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
You can download my chart as a static PDF, or in the iReal Pro format. I can’t see you ever having to change the key with this one but maybe you use the app to organise your charts.
American Girl TAB | Course Preview
As mentioned, in the course, we look at TAB for how to play this awesome Tom Petty tune on one guitar in a band, rather than copy what Mike and Tom does.
As a preview, here’s the fast outro triplet lick, this is transcribed note for note as it’s such a big part. Can you see how it’s G shapes playing the triad and a sus4?
Playing along with the original recording
If you try playing along with the original recording of American Girl, you’ll notice it sounds slightly off. This is because the song is tuned sharp, likely due to tape speed or a sharp piano during recording.
To match the recording, you can use my online guitar tuner set to 446 Hz to help get in tune with the band.
Or, you could use a software like Serato to lower the original track by 0.8%.
American Girl Chords: Continue Learning
Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: American Girl (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy:
