Simon & Garfunkel
The Boxer chords
The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel is an intermediate song in C, played with no capo. The whole sheet is 9 chords (C, Am, G, F, Em, C/G, C/E, G7, G6) across 4 sections: Verse → Chorus ("lie-la-lie") → Instrumental (verse loop) → Outro (final chorus). 8 of the 9 shapes are open chords. Shapes that use a barre: F. It sits at roughly 92 BPM.
By Chiye · Updated
Hardest change in the sheet: G → F, 3 times.
- Difficulty
- Intermediatebarre shape F
- Key
- Cwith no capo
- Tempo
- 92BPM
- Tuning
- Standard (E A D G B E)low to high
- Chords
- 98 open, 1 with a barre
- Sections
- 4each with its own progression
Chords in The Boxer
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 →
Verse4/4 · ♩=92
Chorus ("lie-la-lie")4/4 · ♩=92
Instrumental (verse loop)4/4 · ♩=92
Outro (final chorus)4/4 · ♩=92
Printable one-page chord chart
How to play The Boxer
This C-key arrangement starts its verse with C, Am, G and F, then adds a C, G7, G6 and C turnaround. Practise the four familiar shapes before adding the bass-note variations in the chorus and instrumental sections.
C to Am retains the index on the B string at fret 1 and the middle on D at fret 2. Only the ring finger moves, from A-string fret 3 to G-string fret 2; neither shape needs a little finger. Keep the low E muted and let the open high E remain clear.
C/G is 3-3-2-0-1-0, an open-position grip with G in the bass, not a fret-3 barre. C/E is 0-3-2-0-1-0, with the low E open. Pick the lowest note first when comparing C/G, C/E and plain C so the inversion is audible.
G7 and G6 keep the low G bass while changing upper notes. G6 releases G’s high E from fret 3 to open E; it does not create a descending bass line by itself. Give each cell its full bar, then connect the sections at a comfortable tempo.
How to practise The Boxer
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
C (x-3-2-0-1-0, beginner) → Am (x-0-2-2-1-0, beginner) → G (3-2-0-0-0-3, beginner) → Em (0-2-2-0-0-0, beginner) → C/G (3-3-2-0-1-0, beginner) → C/E (0-3-2-0-1-0, beginner) → G7 (3-2-0-0-0-1, beginner) → G6 (3-2-0-0-0-0, beginner) → F (1-3-3-2-1-1, intermediate, needs a barre)
8 of the 9 shapes are open chords, so start there and leave F until the others change cleanly.
Drill the changes this sheet actually uses
G → F3×Am → Em2×Am → F2×Am → G2×
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
- Cevery section
- Amevery section
- Gevery section
- Fevery section
- EmChorus ("lie-la-lie"), Outro (final chorus)
- C/GChorus ("lie-la-lie"), Instrumental (verse loop)
- C/EChorus ("lie-la-lie"), Instrumental (verse loop)
- G7Verse
- G6Verse
Climb the tempo ladder
Start at 55 BPM and move up only when a full pass is clean: 55 → 69 → 83 → 92 BPM. The tempo marked on this sheet is 92 BPM, and the last step is the one that always feels like a jump. Stay at 83 for longer than feels necessary.
Practise each section's chord changes slowly, then play the sheet through at a steady tempo without pausing between sections.
Playing The Boxer 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
C Am G F Em C/G C/E G7 G6
8 of 9 stay open
Fret 1
B Abm F# E Ebm B* B* F#7 F#6
1 of 9 stay open
Fret 2
Bb Gm F Eb Dm Bb* Bb* F7 F6
1 of 9 stay open
Fret 3
A F#m E D C#m A* A* E7 E6
7 of 9 stay open
Fret 4
Ab Fm Eb C# Cm Ab* Ab* Eb7 Eb6
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 5
G Em D C Bm G* G/B D7 D6
8 of 9 stay open
Fret 6
F# Ebm C# B Bbm F#* F#* C#7 C#6
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 7
F Dm C Bb Am F* F/A C7 C6
4 of 9 stay open
* this position has no separate fingering for a bass-note inversion in our chord library, so the parent chord is shown. Play that shape and the inversion note is an optional bass addition.
Working out a different key? The capo calculatordoes the same arithmetic for any chord set.
More songs built on the same chords
If The Boxer clicks, these use the closest set of shapes, so the chords you just learned keep working.
More intermediate songs to learn after this one: Father and Son, 500 Miles, Shallow, Treat You Better.
These chords across the songbookHow often each chord in The Boxer 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.
420bars of this chord across the songbook
70songs use this shape
Most often followed by G, 115×.
125bars of this chord across the songbook
35songs use this shape
Most often followed by F, 23×.
509bars of this chord across the songbook
77songs use this shape
Most often followed by D, 89×.
114bars of this chord across the songbook
29songs use this shape
Most often followed by C, 38×.
155bars of this chord across the songbook
43songs use this shape
Most often followed by C, 27×.
3bars of this chord across the songbook
2songs use this shape
Most often followed by Am, 1×.
6bars of this chord across the songbook
3songs use this shape
Most often followed by D7, 2×.
33bars of this chord across the songbook
13songs use this shape
Most often followed by C, 11×.
1bars of this chord across the songbook
1songs use this shape
Most often followed by C, 1×.