The River Chords

KeyC CapoNone TuningStandard Difficulty Plays681

The River by Sarah McLachlan is a moderately challenging guitar song played in the key of C. It uses the chords C, Am, G, F, Dm and Dm7. Use the transpose and diagram tools on this page to change the key, see each shape, or simplify the chords.

Transpose
C
Text
16
Speed
  			
Intro: C  Am  G 

     F         C                 F            C 
It's coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees 
         F              C 
They're putting up reindeer  
            F       C 
And singing songs of joy and peace  
      Am                         G 
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on 
  
    F        C             F            C 
But it don't snow here, it stays pretty green 
             F             C 
I'm going to make a lot of money  
                  F               C 
Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene  
      Am                         G 
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on  

  F                     G 
I wish I had a river so long  
        C                 Am Dm   Dm7 
I would teach my feet to fl………y     
     C                  G               Am 
Ohhh I wish I had a river   I could skate away on  
  F             C     Am  G 
I made my baby cry 

   F             C                F            C 
He tried hard to help me, you know, he put me at ease  
        F           C 
And he loved me so naughty  
        F           C 
Made me weak in the knees  
      Am                         G 
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on  

    F          C           F               C 
I'm so hard to handle, I'm selfish and I'm sad 
          F                 C 
Now I've gone and lost the best baby  
     F      C 
That I ever had  
      Am                         G 
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on  

  F barre               G 
I wish I had a river so long  
        C                Am Dm   Dm7 
I would teach my feet to fly       wooh . . 
  C                    G               Am 
I wish I had a river I could skate away on  
     F            C           Am   G 
Ya I made my baby say goodby 

     F         C                   F            C 
It's coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees  
         F          C                  F        C 
They're putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace  
      Am                            G 
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate aw………ay on 
    	

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