We Shall Overcome - guitar tab, notes, chords and lyrics
"We Shall Overcome" is mostly associated with the protest song from the late 1950s. The song is, however, originally a spiritual that became a hymn before, in 1945, a union song. The origin is uncertain though. It's sometimes credited to the American Methodist minister and music composer Charles Albert Tindley who composed the gospel song "I'll Overcome Someday", which has been seen as a model for the later protest song. This version was first published 1901, but the song may have another background. The song was first published with the title "We Shall Overcome" in 1947.
The music transcriptions of the song with tabs and notes are available for download as PDFs. It's free for personal use only.
Melody & full accompaniment
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We Shall Overcome guitar tab and notes (pdf)
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We Shall Overcome instrumental guitar (mp3)
We Shall Overcome (full accompaniment)
"We Shall Overcome" for guitar with full accompaniment. Free download in pdf-file and audio.
We Shall Overcome guitar accompaniment
We Shall Overcome (only melody)
"We Shall Overcome" tablature notation for guitar.
Tips on how to learn this song
Notice the AABA structure. The 1-4, 5-8 and 13-16 measures are identical. From this the 9-12 measures deviates and this part of the song is characterized by ascending (measure 9) and descending movements (measure 10, 12 and 13).
We Shall Overcome (Drop D)
"We Shall Overcome" in Drop D tuning (DADGBE). Free download in pdf-file.
We Shall Overcome (Drop D)
Lyrics and chords
We Shall Overcome chords in the key of C
Verse 1:
(C)We shall (F)over(C)come, we shall (F)over(C)come
We shall (G7)over(Am)come (D)some(G)day
Chorus:
Oh, (F)deep in my (C)heart, (F)I (C)do be(Am)lieve
(C)We shall (F)over(C)come (G)some(C)day
Verse 2:
(C)We'll walk (F)hand in (C)hand, we'll walk (F)hand in (C)hand
We'll walk (G7)hand in (Am)hand (D)some(G)day
Chorus:
Oh, (F)deep in my (C)heart, (F)I (C)do be(Am)lieve
(C)We shall (F)over(C)come (G)some(C)day
Download this song in pdf with chord charts, included in 60 Traditional songs e-book.
The song includes many changes, but the amount of chords are limited. Especially, there are many I to IV and I to V(7) changes. Notice the D major and not the exepcted D minor in the key of C.
There are possibilities to change to key further by using a capo:
- Capo 1: C# / Db major
- Capo 2: D major
- Capo 3: D# / Eb major
- Capo 4: E major
- Capo 5: F major
Key, time, tuning and tempo
Information about "We Shall Overcome" considering musical key, time signature, tuning and bpm.
Key
The presented version of We Shall Overcome is played in the key of G.
Time signature
The song is played in 4/4 tempo (counted one, two, three, four for each measure).
Tuning
The song is normally played in standard tuning (EADGBE).
Tempo (BPM)
The tempo in beats per minute is 180 for the presented version.