Chords + Lyrics | Sweet Home Alabama
Intro
||: D5 Csus2 | G (fill) :|| (guitar)
One, two, three. Turn it up.
||: D5 Csus2 | G (fill) :|| (band)
Verse 1
||: D5 Csus2 | G (fill) :||
Big wheels keep on turnin’.
Carry me home to see my kin.
Singin’ songs about the south-land.
I miss Alabamy once again and I think it’s a sin, yes.
Instrumental 1
||: D/F# C/E | G/B :||
Verse 2
Well, I heard Mister Young sing about her.
Well, I heard ol’ Neil put her down.
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember.
A southern man don’t need him around anyhow.
Chorus 1
||: D5 Csus2 | G (fill) :||
Sweet home Alabama.
Where the skies are so blue.
Sweet home Alabama.
Lord, I’m comin’ home to you.
Solo 1
||: D5 Csus2 | G (fill) :||
Verse 3
| D5 Csus2 | G5 F C/E |
In Birmingham, they love the governor (boo-hoo-hoo).
||: D5 Csus2 | G (fill) :||
Now we all did what we could do.
Now Watergate does not bother me.
Does your conscience bother you? Tell the truth.
Chorus 2
Sweet home Alabama.
Where the skies are blue.
Sweet home Alabama (oh yeah).
Lord, I’m comin’ home to you. Here I come, Alabama.
Solo 2
||: D5 Csus2 | G (fill) :|| x8
Instrumental 2
||: D/F# C/E | G/B :||
Verse 4
Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers.
And they’ve been known to pick a song or two (yes they do).
Lord, they get me off so much.
They pick me up when I’m feelin’ blue, now how about you?
Chorus 3
Sweet home Alabama.
Where the skies are so blue.
Sweet home Alabama.
| D5 Csus2 | G F C/E |
Lord, I’m comin’ home to you.
Chorus 4
Sweet home Alabama (oh, sweet home).
Where the skies are so blue.
And the governor’s true.
Sweet home Alabama (lordy).
Lord, I’m comin’ home to you, yeah, yeah.
Solo 3 (piano)
||: D5 Csus2 | G (fill) :|| to fade
Montgomery’s got the answer.
Sweet Home Alabama Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Sweet Home Alabama. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama is every covers band’s secret weapon – the go-to song when nothing else works!
Let’s break down the key, chords, progressions, and a few iconic licks you absolutely need to know to play this classic.
This song is in the key of G. The D is the V chord, C is the IV, and G is the I. Over the G chord, you’ll play G major blues licks, which consist of the major pentatonic scale with a m3rd added.
Verse + Chorus
The chords themselves are simple. We follow the V – IV – I progression in G, like this:
||: D5 (V) Csus2 (IV) | G (I) :||
Instrumental
There’s also an instrumental section where the 3rd of each chord is played in the bass, like this:
||: D/F# (V/3) C/E (IV/3) | G/B (I/3) :||
Verse 3
Additionally, the F chord (bVIIx) appears twice—first at the start of verse 3 and then at the end of chorus 3, like this:
| D5 (V) Csus2 (IV) | G5 (I) F (bVIIx) C/E (IV/3) |
But as you likely know, you can’t just strum these chords. You need to play the legendary chord riff, which requires TAB to really capture it. There’s simply no way around it. Find my suggestions further down this guitar lesson.
To keep it exciting, don’t forget to add some improvisation. I’m still experimenting with my Sweet Home Alabama licks, even decades after first playing it. Lately, I’ve even started looking forward to performing it again!
Here’s a chord chart for Sweet Home Alabama, which will help you remember the chords and, more importantly, the structure.
Sweet Home Alabama Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
If you’d like to download the chord chart, here’s a PDF: Sweet Home Alabama chord chart PDF.
This chart was created using iReal Pro, and you can access the file here: Sweet Home Alabama iReal Pro.
With iRealPro, you can change the key, but in the case of Sweet Home Alabama, that would be a terrible idea!
Sweet Home Alabama | TAB
To keep Sweet Home Alabama fun to play for years to come (which it surely will—this tune escapes no one!), it’s best to keep things improvised rather than memorised.
With that in mind, here’s the main riff. It’s not an exact transcription but rather a guide to how it can be played. Learn this version, then explore variations on the theme.
If you play this along with the original recording, you’ll notice that bar 6 should actually match bar 2. That’s the kind of detail you’ll pick up naturally by playing along.
As mentioned, try to mix it up—otherwise, you’ll end up resenting playing this classic. Keep finding fresh ways to vary it over time.
Here’s the instrumental riff. Unlike the verse and chorus, this part is more fixed and doesn’t lend itself to as much variation.
Finally, here are the extra chords that appear just twice in Sweet Home Alabama—first at the beginning of verse 3, then again at the end of chorus 3.
Sweet Home Alabama Chords: Continue Learning
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