Hey Jude chords

How to play Hey Jude

Hey Jude uses F, C, C7, Bb, F7, Gm and Eb in this no-capo F-major guitar study. Work at 72 BPM, giving each displayed change four beats. Learn the verse, refrain and short link separately, then join them along the teaching route. The closing F–Eb–Bb–F cycle is a different section, so save its Eb chord for that part of the practice.

Read the F-key adaptation consistently

Lauren Bateman’s teaching chart uses D, A, A7, G, D7, Em and C shapes. This study moves that entire harmony upward three semitones to F, C, C7, Bb, F7, Gm and Eb, without a capo. If you keep the source’s D shapes instead and place a capo at fret 3, the same sounding keys correspond. Do not mix the two sets midway through a verse.

Jon MacLennan’s F-key lesson includes additional bass inversions and both Gm and Gm7. We keep the simpler harmony from the selected D-shape chart. Gm7 adds F to Gm’s G, Bb and D; it is a legitimate different colour, not a reason to relabel every Gm automatically. Compare the actual notes before borrowing a grip from another arrangement.

Separate the refrain from its short link

The verse ends its second line Bb–F–C–F. The refrain instead starts F7–Bb–Gm–C7–F and runs through that five-change group twice. Its short link is F7–C7–C7. The repeated C7 is a second counted box in the exercise, so keep time through it even though the fretting hand stays put. A repeated symbol does not mean an extra change of chord quality.

The route follows the source’s two verses, refrain and link, another verse, refrain and link, then a final verse and outro. All boxes deliberately extend each change to four beats. This lengthens shared-bar changes and leaves out the final verse’s vocal build-up; use the source when restoring sung entrances. The route locates the harmony, rather than timing every phrase of the recording.

Let F7 point toward Bb

F major contains F, A and C. Adding Eb makes F7, whose pull toward Bb gives the refrain a clear direction. In a full F grip, listen to the changed inner note when moving to F7 instead of squeezing the whole hand harder. Prepare Bb separately and aim for an even attack on its fretted notes, with the sixth string kept silent in the displayed fifth-string-root grip.

There are several barre demands here, including Gm and Eb; F is not the only hurdle. If you practise a reduced F as xx3211, keep both lower strings silent. That upper-string voicing is useful on its own, but it does not remove the other grips from the song. Rehearse F7–Bb and Bb–Gm in short pairs before linking the full refrain.

Agree on the outro ending before adding voices

The outro is F–Eb–Bb–F. Eb major contains Eb, G and Bb, while F7 contains F, A, C and Eb: sharing one note does not make them interchangeable. Hear the complete Eb chord before moving to Bb, then arrive together on F. Keep the change count audible as the singers repeat the cycle.

The teaching source marks a repeat without fixing its number. Play the displayed cycle once for study, then agree on a repeat count and a clear final signal for performance. There is no six-cycle instruction here and no attempt to encode the entire fade-out. The Beatles’ official song page credits Lennon–McCartney; John Lennon and Paul McCartney are listed as writers separately from the performing group.