Joe, many years ago when I started out playing the guitar, I knew nothing about anything except how to strum a few chords on a guitar. I used to hear a song (usually a John Denver or Cat Stevens one) and want to play it on the guitar.

In those days there was no internet to find out chord and lyrics so I used to sit and write out all the lyrics by listening carefully and lifting the needle off the record (yes it was a long time ago) so I could write everything down. I would then turn off the record player and try and work out suitable chords, in my key, so I could sing the song.

My friend (Cuzzie) always used to say to me "Why are all your songs A D and E? Those are not the correct chords!". I used to play Father and Son with A, D and E. I used to play JT "Gone to Carolina" with A, D and E. I never knew why though. I became very self conscious about playing "the right chords". I didn't realize that there is no such thing as "the right chords" when you are just playing and singing a song with your guitar. There is only how you choose to play it.

Now I have become very lazy and inevitably use Ultimate Guitar to find chords instead of working them out myself.

LyricLab A.I assisted chords and lyric app. Export lyrics and import directly into Band-in-a-Box 2024.
https://lyriclab.net
Play-along with songs you know and love, download SGU files
https://playiit.com/