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 Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning American Girl. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, horns, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Should you want to play along with the original recording instead, you need to tune your guitar sharp to 443Hz. In the backing tracks, I’ve done this job for you by tuning it to 440Hz.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
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 chords/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!
Chorus
The chorus introduces the VI chord, which adds a new flavour to American Girl’s chords.:
| 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 great 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 further down this guitar lesson, we focus on how to do it on one guitar.
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
Starting with the intro, I’ve had to complete change what is going down on the record!
To make it simple, I’ve stuck to the same lick repeatedly using an A shape for the D chord which constantly hits that b7.
To see what happens on the original, check the 2nd video in the playlist at teh top. The b7 – root is lower, the chord answering it is higher.
Verse
Here we play as little as possible and let the bass do the talking. By being this laid back, when we eventually come back to the 16th note stuff, it’ll have a bigger impact.
Chorus
The chorus stays with the same concept, just adding a few notes at the end of the first two bars. I can not tell you how many times I tried to add more notes to the verse and chorus, I spent hours adding then realising it’s better without.
If you don’t believe me, try adding more rhythms yourself, the end result will be a diminished impact of the fast riff, and, you’ll be stepping on the bass players toes too.
Breakdown
Possible the coolest part ever recorded we find in the breakdown section. I took the liberty to add some notes here… maybe it should just be bass notes!
Outro
The outro first has this very cool part that repeats, with the bass playing the verse chords underneath. If I considered all the chord notes here we would have Dmaj7 – E6 – Gmaj7 – A6.
The final part of the outro is that fast 16th note triplet lick which is a triad and sus4 using a G shape.
Learn all the TAB, then play along with Tom and his band using my backing tracks. Can you make it work on just one guitar using only the chord chart as a reminder?
The Tragic Story Tom Petty Said Never Happened
One of the most enduring stories connected to American Girl is also one of its biggest misconceptions. For decades, listeners have repeated the claim that Tom Petty wrote the song after a student tragically jumped from a dormitory at the University of Florida. According to the legend, the young woman fell after experiencing heartbreak, and the lyrics somehow captured her final moments.
The tale spread so widely that many fans accepted it as fact. Petty, who grew up in Gainesville, was frequently asked about the supposed inspiration and spent years denying any connection. He consistently explained that the story was entirely untrue and had nothing to do with the song’s origins.
Instead, Petty described a far more universal image. He imagined a young woman standing alone on a balcony, listening to the traffic from the nearby motorway and wondering what life might hold beyond her current world. It was an ordinary moment, yet one filled with possibility, uncertainty, and yearning.
That explanation reveals why American Girl has resonated with generations of listeners. The song is not tied to a single event or individual but to emotions almost everyone experiences at some point in life. It captures the restless desire to escape familiar surroundings, chase bigger dreams, and discover who we might become.
Perhaps that is why the myth persisted for so long. People often search for hidden meanings and dramatic backstories, yet the true power of American Girl lies in something much simpler: the timeless feeling of wanting more from life.
American Girl Chords: Continue Learning
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Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- Are You Gonna Be My Girl
- Brown Eyed Girl
- Dancing In The Moonlight (It’s Caught Me In It’s Spotlight)
- Last Nite
- Suspicious Minds
