Johnny Cash
Folsom Prison Blues chords
Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash is a beginner song in E, played with no capo. The whole sheet is 5 chords (E, A, A7, B7, E7) across 3 sections: Intro → Verse → Break. Every shape is an open chord, so nothing here needs barre strength.
By Chiye · Updated
Hardest change in the sheet: A → A7, 4 times.
- Difficulty
- Beginnerno barre needed
- Key
- Ewith no capo
- Tuning
- Standard (E A D G B E)low to high
- Chords
- 5all open shapes
- Sections
- 3each with its own progression
Chords in Folsom Prison Blues
Frets read low E to high E, x means leave that string out.
Chord sheet
One chord per bar in this practice sheet. Follow the time signature shown beside each section; dots mark the remaining counts in the bar. Tap a bar to hear its chord, or loop the section to practise the changes.
Chord accompaniment only. Follow the section notes for this arrangement’s timing. Songs whose words are public domain →
Intro4/4 · ♩=90
Verse4/4 · ♩=90
Break4/4 · ♩=90
Printable one-page chord chart
How to play Folsom Prison Blues
The chart uses E, A and B7, with E7 and A7 added in the final section. This sheet uses E shapes without a capo. Keep the fingering names and the sounding key aligned by following the setup shown above.
For the country accompaniment, practise a bass note followed by a short chord stroke. Start E from the low E string, A from the A string and B7 from the A-string fret 2. Keep the upper strings light so the bass pulse remains clear.
E to E7 releases the D string at fret 2, leaving an open D. Keep the G string at fret 1: lifting that finger instead makes the chord minor. A to A7 releases the G string at fret 2, leaving open G; lifting the B-string finger would make Asus2.
Loop E and B7 at a slow practice tempo, then include A. Use the ending’s seventh chords once the main changes are automatic, and listen for B7 resolving back to E rather than treating it as another tonic grip.
How to practise Folsom Prison Blues
Four steps computed from this sheet: the order the shapes are easiest to learn in, the changes that really occur in the progressions above, where each chord turns up, and the tempo ladder up to the speed marked here.
Learn the shapes easiest first
E (0-2-2-1-0-0, beginner) → A (x-0-2-2-2-0, beginner) → A7 (x-0-2-0-2-0, beginner) → B7 (x-2-1-2-0-2, beginner) → E7 (0-2-0-1-0-0, beginner)
5 of the 5 shapes are open chords, so nothing here needs barre strength yet.
Drill the changes this sheet actually uses
A → A74×E → A2×E → E72×A → E1×
These counts come from the progressions on this page, so they are the changes you will actually play, not a generic list of pairs to practise.
Know where each chord turns up
- Eevery section
- Aevery section
- A7Intro, Break
- B7Intro, Verse
- E7Break
Climb the tempo ladder
This sheet does not list a tempo, so pick one where every change is clean and use the metronome to move up in 4 BPM steps.
Practise each section's chord changes slowly, then play the sheet through at a steady tempo without pausing between sections.
Playing Folsom Prison Blues with a capo
This sheet needs no capo. Each card shows what you would finger at that capo position so the song still sounds exactly as written. Useful when the shapes above are awkward, or when you want to sing it higher without learning new chords.
No capoas written
E A A7 B7 E7
5 of 5 stay open
Fret 1
Eb Ab Ab7 Bb7 Eb7
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 2
D G G7 A7 D7
5 of 5 stay open
Fret 3
C# F# F#7 Ab7 C#7
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 4
C F F7 G7 C7
3 of 5 stay open
Fret 5
B E E7 F#7 B7
3 of 5 stay open
Fret 6
Bb Eb Eb7 F7 Bb7
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 7
A D D7 E7 A7
5 of 5 stay open
Working out a different key? The capo calculatordoes the same arithmetic for any chord set.
More songs built on the same chords
If Folsom Prison Blues clicks, these use the closest set of shapes, so the chords you just learned keep working.
More beginner songs to learn after this one: Sweater Weather, Payphone, The Scientist, 505.
These chords across the songbookHow often each chord in Folsom Prison Blues turns up across all 104 songs on this site, and what it most often moves to next. The counts come from the sheet library itself, not from theory.
69bars of this chord across the songbook
11songs use this shape
Most often followed by Eadd9, 6×.
134bars of this chord across the songbook
24songs use this shape
Most often followed by D, 19×.
49bars of this chord across the songbook
15songs use this shape
Most often followed by Dm7, 10×.
10bars of this chord across the songbook
5songs use this shape
Most often followed by E, 3×.
31bars of this chord across the songbook
10songs use this shape
Most often followed by A7, 4×.