Mr. Tambourine Man | Chords + Lyrics (capo 3, drop D)
Intro
| D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) | D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) |
Chorus 1
| G/B A | D G/B |
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
| D G/B | A (Asus4) |
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to.
| G/B A | D G/B |
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
| D G/B |2/4 A | 6/4 D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) |
In the jingle jangle morning, I’ll come following you.
Verse 1
|4/4 G/B A | D G/B |
Though I know that evening’s empire has returned into sand.
| D G/B |
Vanished from my hand.
| D G/B Em | A (Asus4) |
Left me blindly here to stand, but still not sleeping.
| G/B A | D G/B |
My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet.
| D G/B |
I have no one to meet.
| D G/B Em | A (Asus4) |
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.
Chorus 2
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to.
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
| D G/B |2/4 A |4/4 D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) | D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) |
In the jingle jangle morning, I’ll come following you.
Verse 2
| G/B A | D G/B |
Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship
| D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
My senses have been stripped. My hands can’t feel to grip. My toes too numb to step.
| D Em | A (Asus4) |
Wait only for my boot heels to be wandering.
| G/B A | D G/B |
I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade.
| D G/B |
Into my own parade.
|5/4 D G/B Em |4/4 A (Asus4) |
Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it.
Chorus 3 (as chorus 2)
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to.
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
In the jingle jangle morning, I’ll come following you.
Verse 3
| G/B A | D G/B |
Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly across the sun.
| D G/B | D G/B |
It’s not aimed at anyone. It’s just escaping on the run.
| D G/B Em | A (Asus4) |
And but for the sky, there are no fences facing.
| G/B A | D G/B |
And if you hear vague traces of skipping reels of rhyme.
| D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
To your tambourine in time. It’s just a ragged clown behind. I wouldn’t pay it any mind.
| D G/B Em | A (Asus4) |
It’s just a shadow you’re seeing that he’s chasing.
Chorus 4
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to.
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
| D G/B |2/4 A |4/4 D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) |
In the jingle jangle morning, I’ll come following you.
Solo
| G/B A | D G/B |
| D G/B | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
| D Em | A (Asus4) |
| G/B A | D G/B |
| D G/B | D G/B |
| D Em |2/4 A |4/4 D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) | D (Dsus4) |
Verse 4
| G/B A | D G/B |
And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind.
| D G/B | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
Down the foggy ruins of time. Far past the frozen leaves. The haunted frightened trees. Out to the windy beach.
| D G/B Em | A (Asus4) |
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
| G/B A | D G/B |
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free.
| D G/B | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
Silhouetted by the sea. Circled by the circus sands. With all memory and fate. Driven deep beneath the waves.
| D Em | A (Asus4) |
Let me forget about today until tomorrow
Chorus 5
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to.
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me.
| D G/B |2/4 A |4/4 D (Dsus4) |
In the jingle jangle morning, I’ll come following you.
Outro
| G/B A | D G/B |
| D G/B | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
| D G/B | to fade
Mr. Tambourine Man Chords: Navigating the Time Signatures and Movements
Bob Dylan‘s Mr. Tambourine Man is full of unique variations in bar lengths and even different time signatures. These elements all serve one purpose: to follow the lyrics and complement the song’s feel.
The basic chord progression moves from G/B (IV/3) to A (V), then alternates between D (I) and G/B (IV/3). This movement is repeated in different ways throughout the song.
For the chorus, we always repeat the progression twice before returning to an A (V) chord, like this:
| G/B (IV/3) | A (V) | D (I) | G/B (IV/3) |
| D | G/B | A (Asus4) |
The second half of the chorus is more complex and harder to memorise due to slight variations. Here’s how it looks:
| G/B | A |
| D | G/B |
| D | G/B | 2/4 A | 6/4 D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) |
You might be wondering why the bars are written as 2/4 and 6/4. The A chord is always played in 2/4, but what follows varies, like so:
Chorus 1:
| 2/4 A | 6/4 D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) |
Chorus 2:
| 2/4 A | 4/4 D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) | D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) |
Chorus 3:
| 2/4 A | 4/4 D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) | D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) |
Chorus 4:
| 2/4 A | 4/4 D (Dsus4) (Dsus2) |
Chorus 5:
| 2/4 A | 4/4 D (Dsus4) |
I’ve designed a TAB lesson that details how to strum all of this. Here’s a link to that part of the lesson: Mr. Tambourine Man – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Mr. Tambourine Man Chords (continued): Exploration of the Verse Progressions
The verse progression also changes, but this time it’s the number of times we repeat the D – G/B movement. This is somewhat easier to follow, though it’s still essential to know the lyrics!
Here’s the chord progression for Verse 1:
||: G/B A | D G/B | D G/B |
| D G/B Em | A (Asus4) :||
The Em is the II chord, and the rest of the progression is the same as the chorus. The D – G/B is repeated once.
In Verse 2, things get a bit tricky. Here’s the progression:
| G/B A | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
| D Em | A (Asus4) |
| G/B A | D G/B | D G/B |
| 5/4 D G/B Em | A (Asus4) |
The only way to get this right is by listening to the lyrics! The D – G/B is repeated four times, then only twice. The last 5/4 bar is quite unusual! Again, using the TAB will help you master this (follow the link above).
For Verse 3, the number of times we repeat D – G/B changes again. First, it’s three times, then two. There is no 5/4 bar in this section. As before, following the lyrics is key!
Here’s the chord progression for Verse 3:
| G/B A | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
| D G/B Em | A (Asus4) |
| G/B A | D G/B |
| D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
| D G/B Em | A (Asus4) |
Finally, in Verse 4, we repeat D – G/B five times. Here’s the progression:
| G/B A | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
| D G/B Em | A (Asus4) |
| G/B A | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B | D G/B |
| D Em | A (Asus4) |
In this section, we repeat D – G/B five times, which is quite a challenge!
Mr. Tambourine Man Chords: Conclusion and Tuning Insights
What Bob does here is fit the music to the lyrics. Back in the day, blues and folk musicians did this all the time—they’d drop a beat or repeat chords if that’s what the lyrics required.
Can you imagine trying to do that today on some guy’s laptop while he stares at the screen? It would likely blow his tiny mind!
Another interesting thing they did in the ’60s was tune to a nearby piano, meaning we’re rarely at a perfect 440Hz. In the case of Mr. Tambourine Man, Bob is tuned to 434Hz, just two cents away from the magical frequency of the universe, 432Hz.
To match Bob’s tuning, you can use my online tuner set to 434Hz. It’ll feel great playing along with Bob using the recording in the playlist at the top of this page.
I’ve also created a chord chart for you. It took me two days to work out how to get this to a place I felt happy about!
Mr. Tambourine Man Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Getting Mr. Tambourine Man’s chords into a compact, usable format proved quite a challenge. There was no way to fit them all on a single page!
If you’d like to download the chart, here are the links to the PDFs:
The chart was created using iReal Pro, and you can access the iReal Pro file here:
With the iReal Pro app, you can change the key, but I’d suggest sticking with the original. The unique sound of Mr. Tambourine Man really shines in its specific chord shapes, and altering the key would change that.
Mr. Tambourine Man: A Pivotal Moment in Music History and Dylan’s Electric Transition
Bob Dylan’s original Mr. Tambourine Man was released in 1965 on the album Bringing It All Back Home. Although it wasn’t a single, the track has grown in popularity over the years and became a staple in Dylan’s live performances, especially in the early stages of his career.
Over the years, numerous covers of Mr. Tambourine Man have been recorded. The most famous version is by The Byrds, who recorded their rendition using a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar without a capo, placing the song in the key of D. They released it just one month after Dylan’s original, likely due to the fact that both artists were signed to the same label, Columbia Records.
The Byrds went on to name their album after the song and released it as a single, which reached #1 in Ireland, South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. Some even claim that Dylan’s decision to switch to electric later that year—when he recorded Like a Rolling Stone—was partly inspired by The Byrds’ electric take on his song, much to the dismay of his folk audience.
Mr. Tambourine Man could be seen as a pivotal moment in music history, where serious lyrics were fused with pop bands, shaping the future of rock music.
There are other notable covers as well, including Stevie Wonder‘s version from 1966, and my personal favourite, Helios Sequence’s rendition from 2010.
I’ve included all these versions in the playlist at the top of this page.
Mr. Tambourine Man Chords: Continue Learning
Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Mr. Tambourine Man (Bob Dylan) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy: