Hallelujah Chords

Easy tutorial for beginners with some explanations, the tab, the lyrics and the chords to play the song Hallelujah chords by Leonard Cohen on guitar.

Hallelujah with chords

The four verses of the song are played on the same way.

So we will look only at verse 1 and chorus.

Chords of Hallelujah

Here are the chords you will need to master to play the whole song Hallelujah from Leonard Cohen :

hallelujah chords

When this chords are mastered, you can continue by following the next explanations.

Verse 1 of the song from Leonard Cohen

To play the first verse, you can have a look at the following tab with the help of the previous chords :

Remember that the chords are written above the lyrics so that you can play them at the right time. Therefore, it’s better to play while singing. Chords that are to the right of a phrase (not above a word) are played between the two phrases.

hallelujah guitar
Tab text
C Am
Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
C Am
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
F G C G
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
C F G
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
Am F
The minor fall, the major lift
G E7 Am
The baffled King composing Hallelujah

Verses 2, 3 and 4 are played exactly the same way as this verse. Just follow the lyrics of Hallelujah.

If you have trouble with the bar chords on guitar, you should know that the previous chords have easier positions to play. You can find them in our book all guitar chords in pdf.

Chorus of the Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley

The chorus of this music also sung by Jeff Bluckey is repeated four times during the song, after each verse.

The chords do not change and you can have a look at the following tab to play this chorus:

hallelujah lyrics
Tab text
F Am
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
F C G C G
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You can try to improvise with the pentatonic of the C guitar scale.

Hallelujah video with tab

Hallelujah lyrics

The song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley is composed of four verses and a chorus.

The structure of the lyrics is like that:

Verse 1 – Chorus – Verse 2 – Chorus – Verse 3 – Chorus – Verse 4 – Chorus

Verse 1

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled King composing Hallelujah

Chorus

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Verse 2

Your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Chorus

Verse 3

You say I took the name in vain
I don’t even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what’s it to you?
There’s a blaze of light in every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Chorus

Verse 4

I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Chorus

Try your hand at other styles and play the jazz music Just the two of us chords, for example.

PDF easy score to play Hallelujah on guitar

The following score is a “home-made” easy PDF score for beginners that we created according to the above frameworks and explanations.

Summarizes everything we just covered. You can download it for free to play the song Hallelujah chords from Leonard Cohen and by Jeff Buckley on guitar.