Shotgun | Chords + Lyrics (no capo)
Intro
| F | Bb | Dm7 | C |
Verse 1
||: F | Bb | Dm7 | C :||
Homegrown alligator, see you later gotta hit the road, gotta hit the road.
Something changed in the atmosphere architecture unfamiliar, I could get used to this.
Bridge 1
| F | Bb | Dm7 | C |
Time flies by in the yellow and green stick around and you’ll see what I mean.
| F | Bb | Dm7 | C N.C |
There’s a mountaintop that I’m dreaming of, if you need me you know where I’ll be.
Chorus 1
||: F (F6) | Bb (Bbadd9) | Dm7 (Dmadd9) | C :||
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone (someone).
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone.
Verse 2
We’re south of the Equator, navigator, gotta hit the road, gotta hit the road.
Deep sea diving ’round the clock, bikini bottoms, lager tops, I could get used to this.
Bridge 2
Time flies by in the yellow and green stick around and you’ll see what I mean.
There’s a mountaintop that I’m dreaming of, if you need me you know where I’ll be.
Chorus 2
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone (someone).
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone.
Middle 8
| F (F6) | Bb |
We got two in the front (hey). Two in the back (hey).
| Dm7 (Dmadd9) | C |
Sailing along and we don’t look back (back, back).
Instrumental
| F | Bb | Dm7 | C |
Bridge 3 (acapella)
||: N.C | N.C | N.C | N.C :||
Time flies by in the yellow and green, stick around and you’ll see what I mean.
There’s a mountaintop that I’m dreaming of, if you need me you know where I’ll be.
Chorus 3
||: F | Bb | Dm7 | C :||
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone (someone).
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone.
||: F (F6) | Bb (Bbadd9) | Dm7 (Dmadd9) | C :||
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone (someone).
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone, a someone, a someone, someone.
Outro
||: F (F6) | Bb (Bbadd9) | Dm7 (Dmadd9) | C :|| to fade
Shotgun | Chords + Lyrics (capo 3)
Intro
| D5 | G | Bm7 | A |
Verse 1
||: D5 | G | Bm7 | A :||
Homegrown alligator, see you later gotta hit the road, gotta hit the road.
Something changed in the atmosphere architecture unfamiliar, I could get used to this.
Bridge 1
| D5 | G | Bm7 | A |
Time flies by in the yellow and green stick around and you’ll see what I mean.
| D5 | G | Bm7 | A N.C |
There’s a mountaintop that I’m dreaming of, if you need me you know where I’ll be.
Chorus 1
||: D (D6) | G (Gadd9) | Bm7 (Bmadd9) | A :||
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone (someone).
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone.
Verse 2
We’re south of the Equator, navigator, gotta hit the road, gotta hit the road.
Deep sea diving ’round the clock, bikini bottoms, lager tops, I could get used to this.
Bridge 2
Time flies by in the yellow and green stick around and you’ll see what I mean.
There’s a mountaintop that I’m dreaming of, if you need me you know where I’ll be.
Chorus 2
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone (someone).
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone.
Middle 8
| D (D6) | G |
We got two in the front (hey). Two in the back (hey).
| Bm7 (Bmadd9) | A |
Sailing along and we don’t look back (back, back).
Instrumental
| D5 | G | Bm7 | A |
Bridge 3 (acapella)
||: N.C | N.C | N.C | N.C :||
Time flies by in the yellow and green, stick around and you’ll see what I mean.
There’s a mountaintop that I’m dreaming of, if you need me you know where I’ll be.
Chorus 3
||: D5 | G | Bm7 | A :||
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone (someone).
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone.
||: D (D6) | G (Gadd9) | Bm7 (Bmadd9) | A :||
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone (someone).
I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun, feeling like a someone, a someone, a someone, someone.
Outro
||: D (D6) | G (Gadd9) | Bm7 (Bmadd9) | A :|| to fade
Shotgun Chords: Learn the progressions
In the music video at the top of this page, you can clearly see how Ezra plays a baritone guitar, using a capo, thinking in the key of G.
The chords he plays are:
||: G5 (I) | Cadd9 (IV) | Em7 (VI) | D (V) :||
He does this on a baritone guitar tuned B – E – A – D – F# – B, fitting a capo on fret 3, what we hear is:
||: F5 (I) | Bbadd9 (IV) | Dm7 (VI) | C (V) :||
Compare these chords to Talking About A Revolution and Wonderwall’s chords.
You may now be thinking: Why haven’t you written those chords above with the lyrics?
The answer is that the other instruments play an F, not an F5, a Bb, not a Bbadd9 and what George plays is very low in the mix.
If you’re playing Shotgun in a band, you need to add a part that doesn’t get in the way of the main instrument, the bass. As there are only four chords, I’m sure you can come up with something using these chords:
||: F (I) | Bb (IV) | Dm7 (VI) | C (V) :||
Try not to get in the way of the bass line!
If you play Shotgun on your own using just an acoustic guitar, you need to take inspiration from what the bass is doing, rhythmically, and harmonically!
Above you saw Shotgun’s chords as if in the key of D as well, indicating that you should put a capo on fret 3 to get to F.
This way, you can get back to George’s power chord for chord I, and include the bass rhythm and extensions, there’s TAB for such a part, here’s a link: Shotgun – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Armed with the knowledge of the TAB, this simple chord chart is all you need when you play this in a gig.

Shotgun Chad Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Shotgun Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Shotgun iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key, which will be useful for the reasons discussed above!
Shotgun’s success and legacy
Shotgun is a single from George Ezra’s second album, Staying at Tamara’s. It was an international success, reaching #1 in 8 countries.
As it was released in 2018, we are past sales figures having any real meaning; instead, streaming numbers are a better indication of a tune’s popularity.
With that in mind, we can see how, 6 years later, the video has had 78 million views on YouTube (it’s a great video!), and on Spotify, it’s been played 889 million times.
Ezra is no one-hit-wonder; his 2013 single Budapest has done even better than Shotgun, although it isn’t played by bands and solo performers as much. Other big tunes from Ezra include Paradise and Green Green Grass.
If you’re in a U.K.-based party band or a solo performer, Shotgun is an easy win as it always seems to go down well with the crowd.
One of the main reasons bands pick it up so often may be down to the fact that, as there are only four chords, it’s really easy to add to the repertoire!
Shotgun Chords | Related Pages
Shotgun | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play Shotgun by George Ezra using TAB and chord analysis.
| F | Bb | Dm7 | C |
Homegrown alligator, see you later gotta hit the road, gotta hit the road…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
George Ezra tunes
George Ezra went to music college in 2011 to study songwriting, by 2013 he had signed to Columbia and started releasing his singles.
His best tunes include Shotgun, Budapest, Blame It On Me, Green Green Grass, and Hold My Girl.
George Ezra on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Shotgun’s 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 by practising scales or studying theory in isolation.