Fast Car | Chords + Lyrics (capo 2)
Intro
| Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 | Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 |
| Cmaj7 G5 | Em Esus4 Em D D sus4 D | Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 |
Verse 1
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :||
You got a fast car, I want a ticket to anywhere.
Maybe we make a deal, maybe together we can get somewhere.
Any place is better, starting from zero got nothing to lose.
Maybe we’ll make something but me myself I got nothing to prove.
Instrumental 1
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :||
Verse 2
You got a fast car, I got a plan to get us out of here.
Been working at the convenience store, managed to save just a little bit of money.
Won’t have to drive too far, just across the border and into the city.
You and I can both get jobs, and finally see what it means to be living.
Instrumental 2
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :||
Verse 3
See my old man’s got a problem, he lives with the bottle that’s the way it is.
He says his body’s too old for working, his body’s too young to look like his.
My mama went off and left him, she wanted more from life than he could give.
I said somebody’s got to take care of him, so I quit school and that’s what I did.
Instrumental 3
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :||
Verse 4
You got a fast car, is it fast enough so we can fly away?
We gotta make a decision, we leave tonight or live and die this way.
Instrumental 4
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :||
Chorus 1
| C | G |
So I remember when we were driving, driving in your car, speed so fast it felt like I was drunk.
| Em | D5 D5/A |
City lights lay out before us and your arm felt nice wrapped ’round my shoulder,
| C Em | D5 D5/A |
and I, I had a feeling that I belonged.
| C Em | D5 D5/A | C D5 |
And I, I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone.
Instrumental 5
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :||
Verse 5
You got a fast car, we go cruising to entertain ourselves.
You still ain’t got a job and I work in the market as a checkout girl.
I know things will get better, you’ll find work and I’ll get promoted.
We’ll move out of the shelter, buy a bigger house, and live in the suburbs.
Instrumental 6
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :||
Chorus 2
So I remember when we were driving, driving in your car, speed so fast it felt like I was drunk.
City lights lay out before us and your arm felt nice wrapped ’round my shoulder,
and I, I had a feeling that I belonged.
And I, I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone.
Instrumental 7
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :||
Verse 6
You got a fast car, I got a job that pays all our bills.
You stay out drinking till late at the bar, see more of your friends than you do your kids.
I’d always hoped for better but maybe together you and me’d find it.
If you got no plans and ain’t going nowhere, so take your fast car and keep on driving.
Instrumental 8
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :||
Chorus 3
So I remember when we were driving, driving in your car, speed so fast it felt like I was drunk.
City lights lay out before us and your arm felt nice wrapped ’round my shoulder,
and I, I had a feeling that I belonged.
And I, I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone.
Instrumental 9
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :||
Verse 7
You got a fast car but is it fast enough so you can fly away.
You gotta make a decision, you leave tonight or live and die this way.
Outro
||: Cmaj7 G5 | Em Dadd4 :|| x3
| Cmaj7 G5 |
Fast Car Chords: Learn the progressions
Tracy Chapman‘s iconic Fast Car has simple chords, using only IV – I – VI – V on a loop for the seemingly never-ending verse.
Using a capo on fret 2, thinking in the key of G, with some extensions, the verse/instrumental sections spell:
||: Cmaj7 (IV) G5 (I) | Em (VI) Dadd4 (V) :||
The chorus chords have fewer extensions, I like to add the A in the bass for the D chord to compensate for the lack of a bass player when played on just one acoustic guitar.
On the original, the bass doesn’t play an A for the D chord but it fattens up the chord nicely when we play on our own.
Here is how I think you should play Fast Car’s chorus chords if you’re without a band:
| C (IV) | G (I) | Em (VI) | D5 (V) D5/A |
| C Em | D5 D5/A |
| C Em | D5 D5/A | C D5 |
This is a chord chart I made for you.
Fast Car Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
The A section is the verse, and the B is the instrumental. You want to repeat this four times before playing the first chorus.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Fast Car Chord Chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro, here’s a link to that file: Fast Car iRealPro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
In the course, we look at TAB and play along to loops to learn Fast Car in more depth, the chords aren’t just played as simple open-position chords, it’s a riff, below is a preview.
Fast Car TAB | Course Preview
Just reading these chords you saw above, first with lyrics and then in a chord chart isn’t enough to get Fast Car right as it’s more of a chord riff.
What’s more, on the original recording, you have two guitars (members look at a transcription of this).
So what we have to do if we want to play Fast Car on our own, is develop Tracy’s original part. Here’s the TAB for the play-along video above.
This was one example of how you could play Fast Car’s chord riff, members look at many more.
Next, we look at the chorus which also can be played in several ways.
The verse and chorus are what we will work on in the first two lessons in the full lesson series of Fast Car.
For the remaining 5 steps, we use the CAGED system to identify Fast Car’s chords all over the neck and build a 2nd guitar.
In the final step, you, me, and the singer play Fast Car together, as an acoustic trio (you can hear what this sounds like at the top of this page, video 2 in the playlist).
Here’s a link to the 8 step-by-step guitar lessons: Fast Car – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
A Fast Car drove the acoustic guitar back into the charts!
Fast Car Chords | Related Pages
Fast Car | 8 Step-by-step Guitar Lessons + TAB
The epic Fast Car is a fingerstyle masterpiece by Tracy Chapman. The seemingly never-ending verse is actually sung over just two bars of music.
Once we’ve worked this out and developed it, we’ll look at the chorus as well as how we can design a 2nd guitar part to go with the original part.
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- Ain’t No Sunshine chords by Bill Withers
- Babylon chords by David Gray
- Blackbird chords by The Beatles
- Dream A Little Dream chords by Mama Cass
- Talking About A Revolution chords by Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman tunes
Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her sensational singles Fast Car, Talking About A Revolution, and Baby Can I Hold You from her self-titled debut album.
Amazingly, these three songs were on the debut’s A-side.
Tracy Chapman on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Fast Car 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.
