I Wont Give Up chords

by Jason Mraz

Song Key: E Major

Key Signature: 4 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#)

Piano Chords: E, A/E, C#m7, F#m, B, Bsus4, Esus4, D, Amaj7

Time Signature: 6/8 (♩.)

Tempo: 46 bpm (Slowly in 2)

Vocal Range: B3 - G#5


Guitar Tuning: D A D G B e (Drop-D Tuning)

Skill Level: Intermediate

Guitar Chords in D Major: D, G/D, Bm7, Em, A, Asus4, Dsus4, C, Gmaj7, C#dim

Capo: 2nd fret (to play along with the video in E Major)

This is a snippet of the song featuring the TAB version of the first 9 bars leading into the song with Drop D tuning and Capo on 2.

Strings 1-6:   E-B-G-D-A-D

I Won't Give Up Tab - Intro

I Wont Give Up

Song Key is highlighted - Transpose to any other key
                   
             G/D    D    D     G/D    D    D      G/D   D    D    Asus4     A
Intro: 6/8 |-Riff|    -    | - Riff|     -    | - Riff|   -    | - Riff|        |     |

                     G/D  D                               G/D   D
1. When I look in-to your eyes    It's like watch-ing the night sky
                    G/D   D                            Asus4     A
   Or a beau-ti-ful sun - rise    There's so much they hold   |     |

                      G/D  D                          G/D     D
2. And just like them old  stars    I see that you've come so far
                     G/D  D                      Asus4     A 
   To be right where you  are    How old is your soul?  |     |

                     G     D                 Bm7       A
Chorus: I won't give up on us    Even if the skies get rough
                        G      D                         Asus4     A
        I'm giv-ing you all my love    I'm still looking up     |     |

                            G/D  D                    G/D   D
3. And when you're need-ing your space     To do some nav-i-gat-ing
                G           D                            Asus4     A 
   I'll be here pa-tient-ly wait-ing     To see what you find   |     |   

                        G          D                  Bm7         A
Chorus: 'Cause even the stars they burn    Some e-ven fall to the earth
                    G      D                        Asus4       A 
        We've got a lot to learn    God knows we're worth it |     |
                           Gmaj7     Em    Gmaj7     Em 
        No, I won't give | up...  -      |        -      |

                Em
Bridge: I don't wan-na be some-one who walks a-way so eas-i-ly
                                                        A
        I'm here to stay and make the dif-fer-ence that I can make
            Em
        Our dif-fer-en-ces they do a lot to teach us how to use
                                                  A          Asus4    A
        The tools and gifts we got yeah, we got a lot at stake     |      |
                   C
        And in the end, you're still my friend at least we did in-tend

        For us to work we did-n't break, we did-n't burn
   C#dim
        We had to learn how to bend with-out the world cav-ing in
       C                            C#dim                A           D    Dsus4   D
        I had to learn what I've got     And what I'm not and who I |am -       |   |

                     G     D                 Bm7       A
Chorus: I won't give up on us    Even if the skies get rough
                        G      D                         Asus4               A
        I'm giv-ing you all my love    I'm still looking up    Still looking up

                          G                  D
Chorus: Well I won't give up (no I'm not) on us (giving up)
                      Bm7                  A
        God knows I'm tough (I am tough) e-nough (I am loved)
                    G                    D    
        We've got a lot (we're alive) to learn (we are loved)
                        A                   Asus4       A
        God knows we're worth it (and we're worth it)|      | 

                     G     D                 Bm7       A
Chorus: I won't give up on us    Even if the skies get rough
                        G      D                         A
        I'm giv-ing you all my love    I'm still looking up... 
  • Fingers 1, 2, 3, 4: Notes played
  • Unmarked strings: Play open
  • x: Don't play string

           G/D            G/D (alt)             D                Bm7
    e |---|---|-3-|   e |-1-|---|---|   e |---|-2-|---|   e |-1-|---|---|
    B |---|---|---|   B |-1-|---|---|   B |---|---|-3-|   B |-1-|-2-|---|
    G |---|---|---|   G |---|-2-|---|   G |---|-1-|---|   G |-1-|---|---|
    D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|-3-|   D |---|---|---|   D |-1-|---|-3-|
    A |---|-1-|---|   A |---|---|---|x  A |---|---|---|   A |-1-|---|---|
    D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|
Frets   1   2   3         3   4   5         1   2   3         2   3   4 

            C                Em               Asus4               A 
    e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|---|   e |---|---|---|
    B |-1-|---|---|   B |---|---|---|   B |---|---|-4-|   B |---|-3-|---|
    G |---|---|---|   G |---|---|---|   G |---|-2-|---|   G |---|-2-|---|
    D |---|-2-|---|   D |---|-3-|---|   D |---|-1-|---|   D |---|-1-|---|
    A |---|---|-3-|   A |---|-2-|---|   A |---|---|---|   A |---|---|---|
    D |---|---|---|x  D |---|-1-|---|   D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|x
Frets   1   2   3         1   2   3         1   2   3         1   2   3 

          Dsus4             C#dim             Gmaj7          Gmaj7 (alt) 
    e |---|---|-4-|   e |---|---|---|   e |---|-3-|---|   e |-1-|---|---|---|
    B |---|---|-3-|   B |-1-|---|---|   B |---|---|---|   B |---|-1-|---|---|
    G |---|-1-|---|   G |---|---|---|   G |---|---|---|   G |---|---|-1-|---|
    D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|-1-|
    A |---|---|---|   A |---|---|-3-|   A |---|-2-|---|   A |---|---|---|---|x
    D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|x  D |---|---|---|   D |---|---|---|---|
Frets   1   2   3         2   3   4         1   2   3         2   3   4   5
  • Fingers 1, 2, 3, 4: Notes played
  • Unmarked strings: Play open
  • x: Don't play string
          G/D            G/D (alt)             D                Bm7
    |-3-|---|---| e   |---|---|-1-| e   |---|-2-|---| e   |---|---|-1-| e
    |---|---|---| B   |---|---|-1-| B   |-3-|---|---| B   |---|-2-|-1-| B
    |---|---|---| G   |---|-1-|---| G   |---|-1-|---| G   |---|---|-1-| G
    |---|---|---| D   |-1-|---|---| D   |---|---|---| D   |-3-|---|-1-| D
    |---|-1-|---| A  x|---|---|---| A   |---|---|---| A   |---|---|-1-| A
    |---|---|---| D   |---|---|---| D  x|---|---|---| D   |---|---|---| D
      3   2   1         5   4   3         3   2   1         4   3   2   Frets
      
          C                Em               Asus4               A
    |---|---|---| e   |---|---|---| e   |---|---|---| e   |---|---|---| e
    |---|---|-1-| B   |---|---|---| B   |-3-|---|---| B   |---|-3-|---| B
    |---|---|---| G   |---|---|---| G   |---|-2-|---| G   |---|-2-|---| G
    |---|-1-|---| D   |---|-3-|---| D   |---|-1-|---| D   |---|-1-|---| D
    |-1-|---|---| A   |---|-2-|---| A   |---|---|---| A   |---|---|---| A
   x|---|---|---| D   |---|-1-|---| D  x|---|---|---| D  x|---|---|---| D
      3   2   1         3   2   1         3   2   1         3   2   1   Frets
      
        Dsus4             C#dim             Gmaj7          Gmaj7 (alt)
    |-4-|---|---| e   |---|---|---| e   |---|-3-|---| e   |---|---|---|-1-| e
    |-3-|---|---| B   |---|---|-1-| B   |---|---|---| B   |---|---|-2-|---| B
    |---|-1-|---| G   |---|---|---| G   |---|---|---| G   |---|-3-|---|---| G
    |---|---|---| D  x|---|---|---| D   |---|---|---| D   |-4-|---|---|---| D
    |---|---|---| A   |-3-|---|---| A   |---|-2-|---| A  x|---|---|---|---| A
    |---|---|---| D  x|---|---|---| D   |---|---|---| D   |---|---|---|---| D
      3   2   1         4   3   2         3   2   1         5   4   3   2   Frets

Notes:

  • Level Of Ease: Moderate depending on how you play it. Jason uses a capo on the 2nd fret and uses Drop D tuning on the 6th string.
  • Drop-D Tuning simply means you tune the bottom E string (fattest string) down a whole tone (2 semitones) to D. The tuning from the lowest string to the highest string is D - A - D - G - B - E.
  • Because our bottom string is now D, it will alter the way we play certain chords with the inclusion of the 6th string - as the note 'D' is in the chord structure.
  • Both D and Dsus4 include all 6 strings with Bm7 using the open D on the 6th string.
  • Notice the Em chord - 1st finger on the 2nd fret making the leading note an E, as D is not in the chord structure (D + 2 frets = E).
  • We have kept the song as simple as possible so that most of you can play along. G/D means a G chord leading with a D Bass Note. If you are using Drop D tuning on your 6th string, make sure you don't finger the 3rd fret, 6th string(G) if you are playing a normal G chord, as you will play an F which will sound very ordinary. Simply leave the string open as it is a D note which is part of a G chord (5th). I have added an alternative chord position for G which Jason uses (see charts).
  • The same applies to other chords which don't have a D note in their chord structure. If you are playing Bm as a barre chord, don't hit the bottom string. If you listen carefully, you can hear chords that don't sound right.
  • If you don't use drop D tuning on the 6th string just play the all the chords as you normally would with G/D played as a normal G chord.
  • Key Signature: E Major... 4 sharps - (F# C# G# D#)
  • Key Signature with capo: D Major... 2 sharps - (F# C#)
  • Time Signature: 6/8 - This means there are 6 eighth-note beats per bar. This can also be counted as | 1&& 2&& | , | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | or | 1& 2& 3& 4& 5& 6& |
  • The metronome is set at 46 bpm (Slowly in 2).  With the time signature of 6/8 (♩.), the metronome beats on every dotted quarter-note | 1&& 2&& | . 
  • A dotted eighth-note rest at the start of the song is equivalent to 1 + 1/2 eighth-note rest, or 1 eighth-note + 1 sixteenth-note rest. So, if you count the bar as | 1& 2& 3& 4& 5& 6& | (6 eighth-notes OR 12 sixteenth-notes), the 1& is an eighth-note rest, and the 2 is a sixteenth-note rest... you come in on the & after the 2.
  • The notes leading up to the first full bar of music is called an anacrusis.
  • In the Intro wherever you see 'riff', you can continue to play the D chord if you don't want to play the riff.
  • The hyphen between 2 chords in a bar means the chords share equal beat counts in that bar, which in this case is 3 beats per chord (6/8 time), e.g., | Gmaj7 - Em | means 3 beat counts on Gmaj7 and 3 beat counts on Em. (This is not to be confused with the metronome beat which sounds on every 3rd beat, in which case each chord will sound on one metronome beat.)
  • Use the Chord Transposer above if you want to play in any other key... you will need to re-tune the bottom string back to E if you do this.

C#dim chord is an easy chord to play ... see charts.

What are the notes for a C#dim chord?

  • Firstly you need to look at the notes in the C# Major Scale:
    C# D# E# F# G# A# B# (all sharps)
  • Then you need to look at the chord formula for a diminished chord:
    1 - b3 - b5 (root, minor third, diminished fifth)
  • Take the notes out of the scale required for the chord ( 1-3-5 ): C# E# G#
  • Apply the formula (1 - b3 - b5): C#- E - G

Once you become familiar with the process and remember your formulas, you can go from step 1 to step 4 in no time at all.

  • In the charts above, C#dim is shown as x4x020 leading with the tonic - C#.
  • You can also play it as xx2020 (E-G-C#-E) which is like playing an A7 chord without the bottom A string.
  • Even though you are not leading with the tonic - C# (inversion), it still sounds good and much easier to play.
  • If you are strumming, it is very difficult to avoid strings 4 and 6 which is required for the x4x020 version of the chord.
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