Helplessness Blues Chords

KeyE CapoNone TuningStandard Difficulty Plays508

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes is a moderately challenging guitar song played in the key of E. It uses the chords E, A, B, Aadd9, A6 and Asus4. Use the transpose and diagram tools on this page to change the key, see each shape, or simplify the chords.

Transpose
E
Text
16
Speed
  			 
Verse 1: 

E 
I was raised up believing 
      A 
I was somehow unique 
       B 
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes 
   A                       E 
Unique in each way you can see 

Verse 2: 
E 
And now after some thinking 
    A 
I'd say I'd rather be 
  B 
A functioning cog in some great machinery 
 A                       E 
Serving something beyond me 

 

E                                        A 
But I don't, I don't know what that will be 
         E                       A         E 
I'll get back to you someday soon you will see 


Verse 3: 

E 
What's my name, what's my station 
        A 
Oh just tell me what I should do 
        B 
I don't need to be kind to the armies of night 
           A                    E 
That would do such injustice to you 

Verse 4:  
E 
Or bow down and be grateful 
         A 
And say "Sure take all that you see" 
       B 
To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls 
       A                    E 
And determine my future for me 

 
E                                     A 
And I don't, I don't know who to believe 
         E                     A           E 
I'll get back to you someday soon you will see 

Verse 6:  

E 
If I know only one thing 
          A 
It's that every thing that I see 
       B 
Of the world outside is so inconceivable 
A                  E 
Often I barely can speak 

Yeah I'm tongue tied and dizzy 
      A                     
And I can't keep it to myself 
      B                              
What good is it to sing helplessness blues? 
           A                 E 
Why should I wait for anyone else? 


E                                          A 
And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf 
          E                    A       E 
I'll come back to you someday soon myself 

Short Instrumental: E 

Choral Section: 

E           A 
If I had an orchard 
    E             A    (Aadd9) 
I'd work till I'm raw 
A6          E 
If i had an orchard 
                  A      Asus4   A 
I'd work till I'm sore 

    E              A 
And you would wait tables 
    E            A    Asus4   A 
And soon run the store 

E                 A 
Gold hair in the sunlight 
   E            A    (Aadd9) 
My light in the dawn 
A6          E 
If I had an orchard 
                  A    Asus4    A 
I'd work till I'm sore 

   E       A 
If I had an orchard 
   E              A    Asus4   A 
I'd work till I'm sore 

Harmony Verse - follow same chord pattern as before... 

   E         A 
Someday I'll be 
        E               A 
Like the man on the screen 

A - Asus4 - A - E 
    	

Chord diagrams

Guitar tuner

--
Start the tuner and play a string

Reference tones

Standard tuning, lowest to highest. Click a string to play it; the string the mic hears is highlighted.

Click Start tuner and allow microphone access. The needle centers and turns green when a string is in tune (within 5 cents).
No microphone? You can still tap any string above to hear its exact reference pitch.

Metronome

100 BPM Andante