Chords + Lyrics | Shotgun
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 with a capo, thinking in the key of G.
The chords he plays are:
||: G5 (I) | Cadd9 (IV) | Em7 (VI) | D (V) :||
He plays this on a baritone guitar tuned B – E – A – D – F# – B, with the capo on fret 3. What we hear, however, is:
||: F5 (I) | Bbadd9 (IV) | Dm7 (VI) | C (V) :||
Compare these chords to those in Talking About a Revolution and Wonderwall.
You might be wondering: Why haven’t I written those chords above with the lyrics?
The reason is that the other instruments play an F, not an F5, and a Bb, not a Bbadd9. What George plays is very low in the mix.
If you’re playing Shotgun in a band, you’ll need to add a part that doesn’t interfere with the main instrument, the bass. Since there are only four chords, you can come up with something using these:
||: F (I) | Bb (IV) | Dm7 (VI) | C (V) :||
Try not to get in the way of the bass line!
If you’re playing Shotgun on your own with just an acoustic guitar, you’ll need to take inspiration from what the bass is doing, both rhythmically and harmonically.
Earlier, you saw Shotgun‘s chords as if in the key of D, indicating that you should place a capo on fret 3 to reach F.
This way, you can replicate George’s power chord for chord I and include the bass rhythm and extensions. There’s TAB for such a part—here’s the link: Shotgun – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Armed with the knowledge from the TAB, this simple chord chart is all you need when playing Shotgun live.
Shotgun Chad Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
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 TAB | Course Preview
In the course, we ignore George’s original baritone guitar part and instead focus on the bass line, which carries the song’s main groove.
Using its rhythm and implied chords, we build a guitar part that works perfectly in a band setting.
As a preview, here’s a simplified version of the bass line that outlines the core rhythm — this is your starting point for creating a guitar part.
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 eight countries.
Given that it was released in 2018, sales figures are no longer a reliable measure of a song’s success. Streaming numbers provide a much better indication of a tune’s popularity.
With that in mind, Shotgun has had 78 million views on YouTube (it’s a great video!) and has been streamed 889 million times on Spotify as of 2024.
Ezra is far from a one-hit wonder; his 2013 single Budapest has been even more successful than Shotgun, although it’s not played as frequently by bands and solo performers. Other big tunes from Ezra include Paradise and Green Green Grass.
For U.K.-based party bands or solo performers, Shotgun is an easy win as it consistently resonates well with the crowd.
One of the main reasons bands pick it up so often is its simplicity—there are only four chords, making it incredibly easy to add to any repertoire.
Shotgun Chords: Continue Learning
Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Shotgun (George Ezra) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy:
