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 – Where words become music https://www.lyriclab.net/