Knockin' On Heaven's Door was written by the great pioneering singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in 1973. The song was written for the soundtrack of the film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
This is one of Dylan's best-known and most successful songs, and in this lesson we're going to be learning a reasonably simple fingerstyle arrangement of it.
Knockin' On Heaven's Door is an incredibly easy song to play, perfect for beginners that want to learn basic open chords. Having said that, this being an instrumental arrangement inevitably brings a few challenges but I've purposely tried to keep things simple to show you that fingerstyle arrangements don't always have to be highly complicated.
Alright, let's start learning Knockin' On Heaven's Door, hope you enjoy!
Song Details:
- Key - G major
- Tuning - standard
- Tempo - 69 bpm
- Difficulty - intermediate
Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Performance)
As you learn to play this fingerstyle arrangement of Knockin' On Heaven's Door, be sure to frequently return to the performance as a good reference point and guide.
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The Intro Lesson for Knockin' On Heaven's Door
In this lesson we learn how to play the intro to Knockin' On Heaven's Door. The chord progression that you learn here is used throughout the entire song from start to finish. This really helps to make things straightforward, just 4 very basic open chords played at a slow tempo repeated over and over.
If you're after just the chords and the lyrics for Knockin' On Heaven's Door then you can find them here.
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How to Play the Verse
The verse is certainly no harder than the intro, all you really need to do is add the vocal melody over the chord progression that you've already learnt.
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Chorus Lesson for Knockin' On Heaven's Door
There's just the chorus to learn now, and again it's no harder than any other section of the song. Learn this part and you've learnt all the individual parts of Knockin' On Heaven's Door.
Structure of Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Outro (same as intro)
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Want to learn more fingerstyle arrangements of famous songs?: Can't Help Falling In Love (Elvis Presley), Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver), Don't Look Back In Anger (Oasis), Ticket to Ride (The Beatles), Have You Ever Seen The Rain (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Here Comes The Sun (The Beatles), You're My Best Friend (Queen).
Alternatively you can browse the whole song catalogue: Song Lesson Library
Let me know what you thought of the lesson in the comments section below. Say what you found hard/easy, what level you're at and what your fingerpicking goals are.
Hey Chris – very nice composition.
Loving your 101 exercises and lessons Have improved dramatically in the past year thanks to your instruction
Keep up the great work
Cheers
Thanks a lot Robert, really glad that you like it. Keep up the practice!