Diamonds and Rust chords

by Joan Baez

  • Diamonds and Rust was written, composed and performed by Joan Baez. It was written in November, 1974, recorded in January, 1975 and released in April, 1975 from the album of the same name.
  • Music: Key of Fm in 4/4 time at ~ 65 bpm (♩)
  • Easier in Em: all open chords except Bm7
  • Chords in Em: Em, Em(add9), Em/G, Em/A, Em*, Am(add9)/E, B7/D#, B7, C, G, D, Esus4, Am, Am7, Bm7, Fmaj7, Em/B, Am/B... charts below.
  • Please Note: Em* is an alternative voicing to the regular Em
Fingers 1, 2, 3, 4: Notes played
Unmarked strings: Play open 
x: Don't play string

      Em                Em(add9)              Em/G           Em/A
    e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|---|---|   e |---|---|    e |---|---|
    B |---|---|---|   B |---|---|---|---|   B |---|---|    B |---|---|
    G |---|---|---|   G |---|---|---|---|   G |---|---|    G |---|---|
    D |---|-2-|---|   D |---|---|---|-4-|   D |-1-|---|    D |-3-|---|
    A |---|-1-|---|   A |---|-1-|---|---|   A |---|---|x   A |---|---|x
    D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|---|   D |---|---|x   D |---|---|x
Frets   1   2   3         1   2   3   4         5   6          7   8

      Em*                   Am(add9)/E                C                 Esus4 
    e |---|---|-2-|---|   e |---|---|---|---|-4-|   e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|
    B |---|---|---|---|   B |---|---|---|---|---|   B |-1-|---|---|   B |---|---|
    G |---|---|---|-3-|   G |---|---|---|---|-3-|   G |---|---|---|   G |---|---|
    D |---|-1-|---|---|   D |---|-1-|---|---|---|   D |---|-2-|---|   D |-4-|---|
    A |---|---|---|---|x  A |---|---|---|---|---|x  A |---|---|-3-|   A |-3-|---|
    D |---|---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|
Frets   1   2   3   4         1   2   3   4   5         1   2   3         7   8

      B7/D#             B7                G                 D
    e |---|-4-|---|   e |---|-4-|---|   e |---|---|-4-|   e |---|-2-|---|
    B |---|---|---|   B |---|---|---|   B |---|---|---|   B |---|---|-3-|
    G |---|-3-|---|   G |---|-3-|---|   G |---|---|---|   G |---|-1-|---|
    D |-1-|---|---|   D |-1-|---|---|   D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|
    A |---|---|---|x  A |---|-2-|---|   A |---|-2-|---|   A |---|---|---|x
    D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|-3-|   D |---|---|---|x
Frets   1   2   3         1   2   3         1   2   3         1   2   3

      Am                Bm7                   Am7               Fmaj7
    e |---|---|---|   e |---|-1-|---|---|   e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|---|
    B |-1-|---|---|   B |---|-1-|-2-|---|   B |-1-|---|---|   B |-1-|---|---|
    G |---|-3-|---|   G |---|-1-|---|---|   G |---|---|---|   G |---|-2-|---|
    D |---|-2-|---|   D |---|-1-|---|-3-|   D |---|-2-|---|   D |---|---|-3-|
    A |---|---|---|   A |---|-1-|---|---|   A |---|---|---|   A |---|---|---|x
    D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|x
Frets   1   2   3         1   2   3   4         1   2   3         1   2   3 

      Em/B              Am/B
    e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|---|---|
    B |---|---|---|   B |-1-|---|---|---|
    G |---|---|---|   G |---|-4-|---|---|
    D |---|-3-|---|   D |---|-3-|---|---|
    A |---|-2-|---|   A |---|-2-|---|---|
    D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|---|x
Frets   1   2   3         1   2   3   4
Fingers 1, 2, 3, 4: Notes played
Unmarked strings: Play open 
x: Don't play string

    Em                Em(add9)              Em/G           Em/A
    e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|---|---|   e |---|---|    e |---|---|
    B |---|---|---|   B |---|---|---|---|   B |---|---|    B |---|---|
    G |---|---|---|   G |---|---|---|---|   G |---|---|    G |---|---|
    D |---|-2-|---|   D |-4-|---|---|---|   D |---|-1-|    D |---|-3-|
    A |---|-1-|---|   A |---|---|-1-|---|   A |---|---|x   A |---|---|x
    D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|---|   D |---|---|x   D |---|---|x
        3   2   1         4   3   2   1         6   5          8   7  Frets

      Em*                   Am(add9)/E                C                 Esus4 
    e |---|-2-|---|---|   e |-4-|---|---|---|---|   e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|
    B |---|---|---|---|   B |---|---|---|---|---|   B |---|---|-1-|   B |---|---|
    G |-3-|---|---|---|   G |-3-|---|---|---|---|   G |---|---|---|   G |---|---|
    D |---|---|-1-|---|   D |---|---|---|-1-|---|   D |---|-2-|---|   D |---|-4-|
    A |---|---|---|---|x  A |---|---|---|---|---|x  A |-3-|---|---|   A |---|-3-|
    D |---|---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|
        4   3   2   1         5   4   3   2   1         3   2   1         8   7  Frets

      B7/D#             B7                G                 D
    e |---|-4-|---|   e |---|-4-|---|   e |-4-|---|---|   e |---|-2-|---|
    B |---|---|---|   B |---|---|---|   B |---|---|---|   B |-3-|---|---|
    G |---|-3-|---|   G |---|-3-|---|   G |---|---|---|   G |---|-1-|---|
      |---|---|-1-|   D |---|---|-1-|   D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|
    A |---|---|---|x  A |---|-2-|---|   A |---|-2-|---|   A |---|---|---|x
    D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|x  D |-3-|---|---|   D |---|---|---|x
        3   2   1         3   2   1         3   2   1         3   2   1  Frets
        
      Am                Bm7                   Am7               Fmaj7
    e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|-1-|---|   e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|---|
    B |---|---|-1-|   B |---|-2-|-1-|---|   B |---|---|-1-|   B |---|---|-1-|
    G |---|-3-|---|   G |---|---|-1-|---|   G |---|---|---|   G |---|-2-|---|
    D |---|-2-|---|   D |-3-|---|-1-|---|   D |---|-2-|---|   D |-3-|---|---|
    A |---|---|---|   A |---|---|-1-|---|   A |---|---|---|   A |---|---|---|x
    D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|x
        3   2   1         4   3   2   1         3   2   1         3   2   1  Frets
        
      Em/B              Am/B
    e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|---|---|
    B |---|---|---|   B |---|---|---|-1-|
    G |---|---|---|   G |---|---|-4-|---|
    D |---|-3-|---|   D |---|---|-3-|---|
    A |---|-2-|---|   A |---|---|-2-|---|
    D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|---|x
        3   2   1         4   3   2   1  Frets

Diamonds and Rust

Capo on 1 if playing with the video 
Intro: 4/4
| Em       | Em(add9) - Em | Em     | Em(add9) - Em |
| Em/G     | Em/A          | Em*    | Am(add9)/E    |                           
| Em*      | B7/D#         | B7     | Em            |
| Em(add9) - Em            | Em     | Em(add9) - Em |

        Em            Em(add9) - Em                 C
1. Well I'll be damned           Here comes your    ghost a-gain
                     G                                 D
   But that's not un-u-su-al        It's just that the moon is full
                        Em   | Em(add9) - Em | 
   And you hap-pened to call  
       Em        Em(add9) -  Em             C
   And here I sit            Hand    on the te-le-phone 
              G                              D
   Hear-ing a voice I'd known   A cou-ple of light years a-go
                         | Em  |  Em(add9) - Em  | Em  |  Em(add9) - Em |
   Head-ing straight for a fall

      Em                Em(add9)  -   Em          C
3. As I re-mem-ber your eyes     Were blu-er than ro-bin's eggs
                   G                              D
   My po-e-try was lou-sy you said  Where are you cal-ling from?
                  Em      | Em(add9) - Em |
   A booth in the mid-west
 Em            Em(add9) - Em              C
   Ten years a-go       I bought you some cuff-links   
                  G                              D
   You brought me some-thing   We both know what me-mo-ries can bring
                          | Em   | Em(add9) - Em  |
   They bring dia-monds and rust


Instr:| Em       | Esus4         | Em*    | Am            |
      | Em*      | B7/D#         | B7     | Em            |
      | Em(add9) - Em            | Em     | Em(add9) - Em |

        Em               Em(add9)  -   Em       C
4. Well you burst on the scene      Al-rea-dy a le-gend 
                 G                                  D
   The un-washed phe-no-me-non      The o-ri-gi-nal va-ga-bond
                        Em      | Em(add9) - Em |
   You strayed in-to my arms
       Em              Em(add9)  -   Em       C
   And there you stayed       Temp-o-ra-ri-ly lost at sea
          G                                               D
   The Ma-don-na was yours for free   Yes the girl on the half-shell
                   | Em   | Em(add9) - Em  | Em   | Em(add9) - Em |
   Would keep you un-harmed

              Bm7 
Bridge: Now I see you stand-ing with brown leaves fal-ling a-round
                         Am7
        And snow in your hair
                   Bm7 
        Now you're smi-ling out the win-dow of that crum-my hotel
                          Am7 
        Over Wash-ing-ton Square
            C                                                        G
        Our breath comes out white clouds  Min-gles and hangs in the air  
                  Fmaj7                                             G   | G  |  B7 |
        Speak-ing stric-tly for me we both could have died then and there

Instr: | Em/B     | Am/B          | Em/B    | Am            |  B7 |
       | Em       | Em(add9) - Em | Em      | Em(add9) - Em |

       Em               Em(add9) -  Em             C
7. Now you're tel-ling me           You're not nos-tal-gic
                          G                            D
   Then give me a-no-ther word for it   You who are so good with words
                          Em      | Em(add9) - Em |
   And at keep-ing things vague
           Em                            Em(add9)   -   Em            C
   Because I need some of that vague-ness now  It's all come back too clear-ly
                   G                                    D
   Yes I loved you dear-ly  And if you're off-e-ring me dia-monds and rust
               𝄆 Em   | Em(add9) - Em  𝄇... repeat to fade
   I've al-ready paid...
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A seasoned performer joyfully playing the guitar