Gospel Song Chords

Marv's Gospel Sing now a 10-year tradition

When Gerrit Wilford takes the stage at Saturday’s 10th annual Marv’s Appreciation Gospel Sing, it’s probable he’ll have a few butterflies in his stomach.

But Wilford says that’s a good thing. Because the 2012 Brandon Valley High School senior is confident that with every note he sings, God will direct him.

“I really enjoy doing it (singing), even though I’m always a little bit nervous, but that’s good,” he said. “I channel that emotion, let it all go and rely on God when I’m singing.”

Wilford, the grandson of Marv and Lee Veldkamp, the concert’s sponsors, is one of five musical acts that will perform Saturday on the Brandon Valley Performing Arts Center stage. Also performing are the Master’s Voice, One-Way Quartet, Red Roots and The Allen Family.

The PAC stage is familiar territory to Wilford, who is involved in choir, band and theatre arts at Brandon Valley High School. So last year, when his grandfather asked him to sing a number, he gladly obliged.

“I loved it and it was received well by the audience,” he said.

“We’re proud to have him sing and feel he is qualified to do it,” Marv Veldkamp said. “But he didn’t get his singing (talent) from his grandpa, that’s for sure.”

Instead, Marv believes his wife’s musical talents rubbed off on their grandson.
“She can sing nice,” he said.

The Veldkamps, who operate Marv’s Sanitary Service in Brandon, began hosting the gospel sings as a way to say “thanks” to their customers.

“We want people to come out and have a great day,” Veldkamp said. “We’d love to see everybody there. It’s a day we can all come together, whether you’re our customers or not. And anybody who comes will be blessed by something we enjoy doing.”

By phone from Denver, Colo., Wilford said he hasn’t defined on his song list just yet. But he’s keeping his vocal chords in tune during a two-week tour with the New Way Singers, a 90-member choir of high school students based out of Nebraska Christian College in Papillion, Neb. During the group’s June 9-19 tour, the New Way Singers performed 10 concerts in South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas communities.

“All of our voices are a kind of sore, but this is a great experience,” he said.

Music has been a big part of Wilford’s life since he was in elementary school.
“Ever since I was little in music class, I’ve just loved to sing along,” he said.

Gospel Songs For Guitar | Online Guitar Lessons

“he is got the Whole World In His Hands” (two chord song) – is just one of the many gospel songs for guitar using easy chords.

Common keys for Gospel Songs are:

Key of C

Key of G

Key of D

Key of A

Key of E

Of course many gospel songs are played in keys such as the key of F, Bb, Eb etc

Many of the flat keys are difficult to play on the guitar, particularly if you’re a new player. The solution is to use a capo with easy chord shapes you already know and enjoy.

Let’s say you know the 3 main chords in the key of G

They would be G C & D by placing a capo behind the first fret you would produce the following chords without having to learn any new shapes.

Capo 1st fret, produces the following chords:

G = G#/Ab

C = C#/Db

D = D#/Eb

Here’s a short list of 3 chord gospel songs for guitar.

Amazing Grace

Faith Of Our Fathers

Farther Along

Gloryland Way

I Saw The Light

I will Fly Away

In The Garden

Jesus Loves Me

Just a Closer way With Thee

Nearer My God To Thee

Old Rugged Cross

Softly And Tenderly

That Old Time Religion

Where Could I Go (But To The Lord)

Will The Circle Be Unbroken

It is possible to add additional chords to any of the songs listed here, however the idea is to here the basic chords and learn to “hear” where the chord progression is going before using chord substitution.

I sincerely hope you enjoy learning these gospel chords for guitar, as they’ll be very helpful in developing your overall musicianship.

Mike Hayes is a teacher, author, speaker and consultant. Get his tips and tested strategies proven to boost your guitar playing his membership site at http://www.guitarcoaching.com today.

Hello there, What you describe is called playing by ear. That means they hear the notes and can recognize what is being played. That takes some skill, a perfect sense of pitch and practice. I don’t have perfect pitch and have some trouble doing that. But, friends that can play that way, still learned the chords. They were able to determine what chord was being played just by hearing it. Then they knew with chords to play for a chord. Self taught doesn’t mean you don’t have to learn the chords, scales and modes. It just means you learned those without formal lessons. Furthermore, nearly every self taught player I’ve known has had some guidance. Other players discussing how to play or showing them techniques. That was more common back in the 50s and 60s than it’s now. Back then rock guitar teachers weren’t common. So, if you wanted to play rock you learned it on your own (no formal teacher). Most of us started by what friends who played showed us. We learned their good skills and their bad habits. It’s the bad habits that a teacher will help you avoid (among other things). We didn’t have tabs back then. Don't recall when tabs became popular. I used to sit an play stuff, just experiment with different things trying to find new (to me) things that sounded good. I learned a few basic chords from my buddies. Enough to play a few songs. Now, I got a chord book to learn more chords. It’s one thing to hear a chord played and identify it as a G major chord. It’s something else to know there those notes are on the fretboard so you can play that chord. The same goes for scales and modes. You may hear someone playing and identify that he’s playing mixolydian. But you still have to know what a mixolydian scale is and where those notes for that key are on the fretboard.

101 Three-Chord Hymns and Gospel Songs: For Guitar, Banjo, and Uke

You need only minimal playing skills and three chords; G, C and D7 to accompany the beautiful songs of faith in this innovative book.

Old Time Gospel Songbook

The book includes a historical survey of the roots of gospel music--shape-note hymns, religious folk songs, camp meeting spirituals, and sentimental religious ...

Encyclopedia of American gospel music

Such nondominant major- minor seventh chords are the result of a heterophony — a horizontal rather than a vertical approach to music — and again speak to ...

The Bluegrass Gospel Songbook

The chords will be shown above the lines of music in the book. The good news is that only three chords will be needed to play most gospel songs. ...

World's Greatest Gospel Songs

... Lyrics and Guitar Chords Selected and Arranged by JERRY RAY World's Greatest Gospel Songs contains some of the most uplifting, powerful and emotion ...