How to Play Wagon Wheel! Chords & Lyrics!
Wagon Wheel is a popular song by Old Crow Medicine show and is a great beginner country song for guitar. It’s a personal favorite of mine, and I’m excited to be teaching you how to play Wagon Wheel on guitar!
Wagon Wheel is a cool song because it is co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor. The original 1973 recording from Bob Dylan only included a chorus, and Ketch added verses to the songs years later. Old Crow Medicine Show released the song in 2013, and the song was an instant hit. It was covered by Darius Rucker too, and Rucker’s version reached #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. If you’d like a little more information on the song, check out it’s Wikipedia page!
The Chords
The chords to Wagon Wheel follow a I-V-VI-IV (1-5-6-4) chord progression in the key of A. This chord progression is extremely popular in music from country to rock n roll. Make sure you remember those numbers! In any key, the 1-5-6-4 progression is going to keep coming back in your musical journey. The faster you remember this, the more songs you’re going to be able to play!
First, I want you to think about the A-major scale. The first note of the a-major scale is an A, the fifth note of the A-major scale is an E, the sixth note of the A-major scale is an F#, and the fourth note of the A-major scale is a D. So to play a 1-5-6-4 chord progression in the key of A, you will need to know how to play an A, E, F#m, and D chord! Let’s check out some chord diagrams and get strumming.
Is that Bar-Chord too Hard?
If you’re struggling with the bar chord and you have a capo, then I have good news for you! You can also play Wagon Wheel by placing your capo on the guitar’s 2nd fret. However, you have to remember that the A shape from above, is no longer an A chord with a capo at the 2nd fret. Now it’s a B chord. Uh oh!
Never fear, for there’s always a solution. The play an A chord with the guitar capo at the 2nd fret, you need to remember your open G chord shape. In the key of G, a 1-5-6-4 chord progression requires an open G chord, open D chord, open Em chord, and open C chord. If you use these chord shapes at the 2nd fret, viola! You’re now playing in the key of A! Check out the chord diagrams below!
Strumming
Strumming Wagon Wheel is very simple. To get the most authentic sound, you want to first play your root note (or the lowest note of each chord). After you play the low note note, you will strum down, up, down, up. This will occur for every chord we play, so when playing A, you play the open A note, then strum down, up, down, up. Then you play an open E, and strum the E chord down, up, down, up. Then you will play the F#m note, and strum the F#m chord down, up, down, up. And finally, you will play the open D string, and strum your D chord down, up, down, up.
The Chord Progression
Wagon Wheel only uses these 4 chords, and there are two progressions we need to learn. The first 4 measures go A, E, F#m, D. The next 4 measures go A, E, D, D. The song continues alternating back and forth between these two progressions. Check out the video below! I’ll walk you through how to play each of the open chords, how to strum the song, and finally, we’ll put the pieces together and sing a verse and a chorus!
Now that you can strum a verse and a chorus, let’s put the lyrics and chords together so you can begin practicing the entire song!
The Lyrics
Bringing it Together
The lyrics to Wagon Wheel follow the story of a hitchhiker trying to make it home to Raleigh to reunite with his lover. Along the way, he picks her a bouquet of flowers, thumbs a ride with a trucker, and he has reflections on his old life. It’s a great song that describes the longing and loneliness that a lot of people feel and celebrates the special feeling of having someone who loves you close by.
Verse 1
Chorus
Verse 2
Chorus
Verse 3
Chorus
That’s It!
You’re ready to rock! Awesome! Now that you know how to play Wagon Wheel it’s time to get practicing so you can debut the song at your next house party. Wagon Wheel is a great sing-along song, and you and your friends will have a blast singing along!
Similar Beginner Songs
If you like Wagon Wheel, odds are you also like Willin’ by Little Feat. How would I know this? Well, both songs follow the same 1-5-6-4 chord progression! Sweet! Now you can play two songs using 1-5-6-4! Willin’ is in the key of G, so it will be a new challenge, but you are building on something you just learned! Plus, if you found singing Wagon Wheel was a little too high for your voice, you can use the chords from the key of G and sing Wagon Wheel a whole step down! That’s what makes the Nashville numbering system so cool! Once you know a chord progression in one key, you can play any song in that key!
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Send me an email if you’re struggling and let me know what I can do to help! I’d love to hear what you are struggling with, and I’d be happy to help you! Other players like you struggled with the same thing, so don’t be afraid to ask! I’m happy to set up a one on one video lesson with you to review how to read guitar chord diagrams.
