Imagine chords

How to play Imagine

Imagine uses C, F, Am, Dm, G and E7 in this simplified C-major guitar arrangement. Play in standard tuning without a capo. Each harmonic change is expanded to four beats at a practice tempo of 68 BPM. The verse, link and refrain have different jobs, so learn their endings before following the complete teaching route. The displayed F is a full barre chord.

Keep the two writers separate from the recording artist

The official John Lennon release page credits John Lennon and Yoko Ono as the songwriters. Both are retained in this page’s composition data. John Lennon remains the artist named for the selected song; a composer credit does not automatically mean that person sang or played the guitar part you are learning.

Lauren Bateman’s own guitar chart provides the simplified harmony used here. Its intro is C–F–C–F, and the verse contains eight chord events: four C–F pairs. The piano recording has details beyond this six-chord accompaniment. Start with the displayed version before adding a colour chord from a different arrangement.

Follow the link into the refrain without skipping its last G

The link is F–Am–Dm–F–G–C–G. Its final G leads toward what comes next; do not stop at C merely because it sounds like home. The refrain uses F–G–C–E7 three times, then F–G–C. That last line settles on C without adding a fourth E7. Practise the two different endings until you can choose either without losing the count.

Our route is Intro, Verse, Link, Verse, Link, Refrain, Verse, Link, Refrain. These names distinguish the connecting section from the main refrain; the source calls them chorus and bridge. The route preserves that teaching chart’s section order, while our boxes lengthen its internal changes. It is not a claim that each chord occupies a full bar in the piano recording.

Change C to Cmaj7 by releasing a finger, not sliding

The open C shape x32010 becomes Cmaj7 x32000 when the B string’s first fret is released to the open string. That changes C to B on that string. A slide moves a fretted note along the neck; releasing to an open string is a different action. The other fingers can stay in place while you compare the two sounds slowly.

Cmaj7 is not required by the selected six-chord chart. Use that comparison as an optional listening exercise, then return to C when following this page. Similarly, Fmaj7 introduces E into F–A–C. It may suit another accompaniment, but it is not an identical replacement for F. A smaller F voicing such as xx3211 keeps the triad if you mute both bass strings, though it differs from the full diagram.

Prepare F and hear the G-sharp inside E7

For the displayed F, check the barre one string at a time before strumming. Move from C with a relaxed wrist and keep counting while the new shape settles. If the top string buzzes, isolate that contact rather than pressing every finger harder. This is why the page is marked intermediate despite having several familiar open chords.

E7 contains E, G#, B and D; Em would replace G# with G and change its colour. Here E7 returns to F at the next refrain line, so listen to G# moving toward A and E toward F instead of assuming every dominant seventh must immediately reach Am. Use four quiet downstrokes per box. The eight-cell grid marks eighth-note positions and does not reproduce the source’s alternating-bass pattern or the recording’s piano figure.