Blackbird | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| 3/4 G Am7 G/B | 4/4 G |
Verse 1
| 3/4 G Am7 G/B | 4/4 G |
Blackbird singing in the dead of night.
| C C#dim Dadd4 D#b5 | Em Eb |
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
| Dadd4 C#dim C | Cm G/B | A7 D7sus4 | 2/4 G | C G/B A7 | D7sus4 G |
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise.
Verse 2
| 3/4 G Am7 G/B | 4/4 G |
Blackbird singing in the dead of night.
| C C#dim Dadd4 D#b5 | Em Eb |
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see.
| Dadd4 C#dim C | Cm G/B | A7 D7sus4 | 2/4 G |
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free.
Chorus 1
| Fadd9 Em Dmadd4 C | Bb6 C |
Blackbird fly,
| Fadd9 Em Dmadd4 C | Bb6 A7 | 2/4 D7sus4 |
blackbird fly, into the light of the dark black night.
Instrumental 1
| 3/4 G Am7 G/B | 4/4 G |
| C C#dim Dadd4 D#b5 | Em Eb |
| Dadd4 C#dim C | Cm G/B | A7 D7sus4 | 2/4 G |
Chorus 2
| Fadd9 Em Dmadd4 C | Bb6 C |
Blackbird fly,
| Fadd9 Em Dmadd4 C | Bb6 A7 | 2/4 D7sus4 |
blackbird fly, into the light of the dark black night.
Instrumental 2
| 3/4 G Am7 G/B | 4/4 G | G | G | 5/4 G |
| G Am7 G/B C | G/B A7 D7sus4 |
Verse 3
| 3/4 G Am7 G/B | 4/4 G |
Blackbird singing in the dead of night.
| C C#dim Dadd4 D#b5 | Em Eb |
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
| Dadd4 C#dim C | Cm G/B | A7 D7sus4 |
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise.
| G C G/B | A7 D7sus4 |
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
| G C G/B | A7 D7sus4 | G |
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
Blackbird’s chords and progressions
There are a few things you need to focus on if you want to learn how to play Blackbird on the guitar.
- A constant open G string binds the chords together
- A unique index finger strumming technique
- Variations in the chord progression like IV – IVm
- A key change for the chorus
- Odd time signatures for a bar only
- Passing chords that seem to be dim7
There are seemingly two Am-shaped dim7 chords in Blackbird, although, upon closer inspection, only a fraction of a C#dim7 is used.
The second suspected dim7 chord, starting on a D# is not even minor, it’s a D#(b5), an altered chord.
Unique to Blackbird is the strange index finger strumming technique. This is a homemade technique I’ve never seen before or since, which is strange as it’s so brilliant!
Combining the thumb plucking and strumming strings using a downward motion, the index finger strums the upper part of the chord.
Paul learned how to play like this from Donovan, a Scottish folk artist who hung around The Beatles and Bob Dylan in the ’60s.
Speaking of Bob, the rhythm of Blackbird’s strumming is the same as that of Blowin’ In The Wind.
In the course, we learn how to play Blackbird using small sections of the tune spanning just a few bars each. By starting slowly and sticking with it, you’ll build great muscle memory.
Starting very slowly is essential to play Blackbird well at the correct tempo a few days from now.
In total, there are only seven loops to practice at different tempos so in between practicing these, we also have a few scale exercises in these lessons.
After sandwiching scale practice with Blackbird loops, we play the complete song before we finally build a 2nd guitar part.
Learn the 2nd guitar part and you, I, and the singer can play Blackbird together, like a folk trio! You’ll find a full performance on one acoustic guitar as well as that 2nd guitar in the playlist above.
Here’s a link to the complete lesson series (members only): Blackbird 8 step-by-step guitar lessons with TAB.
Become a member today and get unlimited access to all step-by-step guitar courses, TAB for the songbook, the Self-Eliminating Practice Routine, and the eBook Spytunes Method.
McCartney wrote Blackbird when The Beatles were at their peak!
Blackbird was written by Paul McCartney after he was woken up by a bird at six o’clock, in India.
Released on The White Album (used as slang, it was simply called The Beatles, printed on a white cover), in 1968, it instantly became yet another classic to add to their immense legacy.
As a follow-up to the legendary Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band a year earlier, and John Lennon claiming The Beatles to be “bigger than Jesus”, they had by now become the most discussed band in the world.
The White Album sold a staggering nineteen times platinum in the U.S. alone and charted at #1 in six countries.
The Beatles responded by making fun of everything. For example, they would give journalists new answers to the same questions, constantly pushing the boundaries of what they would print.
To this day, some of these stories have managed to stick.
At one point, in Wikipedia, Blackbird is said to be a song that Paul wrote after seeing racial tension escalate in America, he sang “Blackbird fly”, referring to the idea that black women should get out of there.
Lennon would have been in stitches if he knew!
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