America - guitar tab, notes, chords and lyrics
“America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)” is a patriotic song based on the English song “God Save the Queen”. Samuel Francis Smith wrote the lyrics to “America” in 1831, which was performed for the first time on July 4, 1831 in Boston.
The music transcriptions of the song with tabs and notes are available for download as PDFs. It's free for personal use only.
America (full accompaniment) - two versions
"America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)" for guitar with full accompaniment in two versions. The first version is a simple arrangement whereas the second include more quarter notes in the bass. Both can be downloaded free in pdf-files and listen to.
America guitar accompaniment version 1 | America guitar accompaniment version 2
America (only melody)
"America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)" tablature notation for guitar.
Tips on how to learn this song
For the melody of this song, you need to focus on two strings. The trickiest sequences are the positions shifts in the bars three and thirteen. Also notice that the presented version of the melody goes in the key of C and stays in that key for the whole song. If you are familiar with the C major scale in open position, it will make it easier to memorize the song.
Lyrics and chords
America chords in the key of C
Verse 1:
(C)My country, (G)'tis of thee,
(C)Sweet land (F)of (C)liberty,
(F)Of (G)thee I (C)sing;
(C)Land where my fathers died,
(G)Land of the pilgrims' pride,
(C)From (F)ev'ry (C)moun(G)tain(C) side
(F)Let (C)free(G)dom (C)ring!
Verse 2:
(C)My native (G)country, thee,
(C)Land of (F)the (C)noble free,
(F)Thy (G)name I (C)love;
(C)I love thy rocks and rills,
(G)Thy woods and templed hills;
(C)My (F)heart with (C)rap(G)ture (C)thrills,
(F)Like (C)that (G)a(C)bove.
Poetic and archaic words:
'tis = it is
thee = you
thy = your
In some versions, the G chord is played as a dominant instead of regular major (G7 instead of G). Notice that the version above only includes the three major chords in the key of C major: C, F and G. Besides the lyrics above, two additional verses is sometimes included when the song is performed.
There are possibilities to change to key by using a capo. These are the keys that the song would transpose in depending on which fret the capo is put:
- 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 “America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)” considering musical key, time signature, tuning and bpm.
Key
The presented version of “America” is played in the key of C.
Time signature
The song is played in 3/4 tempo (counted one, two, three for each measure).
Tuning
The song is normally played in standard tuning (EADGBE).
Tempo (BPM)
The tempo in beats per minute is 100 for the presented version. The tempo marking moderately can also be used.