Guitar MX Blog

Amazing Grace is a popular Christian hymnal that many guitarists try to learn. Guitar MX takes a look at this song, and some of the ways it’s played on the guitar:

• The lyrics were written in 1772 by Englishman John Newton. Newton was a marginal Christian and slave ship captain who had a religious experience while at sea. The experience inspired him to write the lyrics of the song, which talks about divine grace. Newton later renounced slavery and became an ordained minister.
• The lyrics were first sung to various melodies, which was common in that era. It’s unknown how the song was originally sung, but one early version sounded like this. It was later put to the tune of “New Britain“, which is how it’s sung today. The lyrics have continued to be put to other melodies though. Here are the lyrics sung to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun”.

• There are many ways to play this song on guitar. It’s recommended that you find an arrangement that best fits your skill level. This video shows how to play 3 arrangements of the song, a beginning, intermediate and advanced version. You can download the music score for all three arrangements here.
• Here’s an amazing version of the song played by Tommy Emmanuel.
• This guy has transcribed the Tommy Emmanuel version. He has posted the tab to this version, along with an instructional video.
• Here’s another guitarist playing the Tommy Emmanuel arrangement.
• Speaking of masters, here’s a solo version on bass guitar played by Victor Wooten.
• Jeff Beck plays a beautiful version of the song on the Merry Axemas CD.
• Here’s an instructional video by Kirk Lorange of Guitar for Beginners and Beyond.

You can find out more about Amazing Grace here.