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14,015 TRANSITIONS ANALYZED#1 at 23%: Which Transition?The 100 most repeated chord transitions extracted from thousands of songs. Even the first 10 will transform your guitar practice routine.

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water Chords

DATA-DRIVENWhich Chord Comes Next?Learn the most likely chord transitions on guitar and start playing songs with confidence.
ChordsC, F, Bb, G, Am, C7, D, F#, A7, E7, G7, D7, Fm, E
Strumming↓-↓↑-↓↑-↓↑

Before you play, tune your guitar and use the tools below to set up your view and flow.

Whenyou’reCweary,FfeelingCsmall,
FWhenBbtearsFareCinyour Feyes,
IwillCdrythemFall.CF
CI’mGonAmyourside,GwhentimesFgetCrough
C7AndfriendsjustFcan’tDbeGfound,
C7LikeaFbridgeF#overCtroubledA7waterF
IwillE7laymeAmdown.
C7LikeaFbridgeF#overCtroubledA7waterA7F
IwillGlayG7meCdown.
Whenyou’reCdownandout,whenyou’reontheCstreet,F
WhenBbeveningCfallssoFhard.
I’llCcomfortFyou.CI’llFtakeCyourGpart.
WhendarknessCcomes,C7andpainsisFallDaround,
C7LikeaFbridgeF#overCtroubledA7waterA7F
IwillE7laymeAmdown.
C7LikeaFbridgeF#overCtroubledAmwaterF
IwillAmlayE7meAmdown.D7
FAmFFmCFCFCF
SailonCsilvergirl,FsailonCby.
FYourBbtimeFhasCcometoFshine.
AllyourCdreamsareontheirFway.CF
CSeeGhowAmtheyGshine.
IfyouCneedafriend,C7I’msailingFrightDbehind.
C7LikeaFbridgeoverDtroubledCwater.AmF
IwillEeaseE7yourAmmind.D
YourCmind…FFmC
SONG DATA3 Chords, 200 Chains, 1 BookDiscover the most-used three-chord combinations in songs and build real command on guitar.
14,015 TRANSITIONS ANALYZED#1 at 23%: Which Transition?Master guitar today with the most repeated high-impact chord transitions.
ArtistSimon & Garfunkel
AlbumBridge Over Troubled Water
GenresFolk, Folk Rock, Rock
Year1970
KeyC
DifficultyAdvanced

How to play Bridge Over Troubled Water on Guitar (Step-by-step)

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water on guitar requires 14 chords and 29 core chord transitions. You can find the full step-by-step guide below. Before you start, tune your instrument. The song uses the ↓-↓↑-↓↑-↓↑ pattern; practice it muted first, or simplify to downstrokes while you learn the changes.

Bridge Over Troubled Water uses these transitions most often: C → F (18), F → C (18), and C7 → F (8). These transitions may feel a little challenging at first, but with steady practice you can play this song quickly.When you are ready, begin with C - F chord transition.

1. C → F chord transition

Guitar C chord diagram Fingering: x-3-2-0-1-0Guitar C chord diagram
Guitar F chord diagram Fingering: 1-3-3-2-1-1 Barre at fret 1.Guitar F chord diagram

Here's how to move from C to F:

  1. Lift your index finger from B string fret 1 and place it on E string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from D string fret 2 to G string fret 2.
  3. Keep ring finger on A string fret 3.
  4. Place pinky on D string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse, played 18 times.

C to F

2. F → Bb chord transition

Guitar F chord diagram Fingering: 1-3-3-2-1-1 Barre at fret 1.Guitar F chord diagram
Guitar A# | B♭ chord diagram Fingering: x-1-3-3-3-1 Barre at fret 1.Guitar A# | B♭ chord diagram

To move from F to Bb:

  1. Lift your index finger from E string fret 1 and place it on A string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from G string fret 2 to D string fret 3.
  3. Lift your ring finger from A string fret 3 and place it on G string fret 3.
  4. Slide your pinky from D string fret 3 to B string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse, played 3 times.

F to Bb

3. C → G chord transition

Guitar C chord diagram Fingering: x-3-2-0-1-0Guitar C chord diagram
Guitar G chord diagram Fingering: 3-2-0-0-0-3Guitar G chord diagram

To move from C to G:

  1. Lift your index finger from B string fret 1 and place it on A string fret 2.
  2. Slide your middle finger from D string fret 2 to E string fret 3.
  3. Lift your ring finger from A string fret 3 and place it on E string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse, played 3 times.

C to G

4. G → Am chord transition

Guitar G chord diagram Fingering: 3-2-0-0-0-3Guitar G chord diagram
Guitar Am chord diagram Fingering: x-0-2-2-1-0Guitar Am chord diagram

Here's how to move from G to Am:

  1. Lift your index finger from A string fret 2 and place it on B string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from E string fret 3 to D string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from E string fret 3 and place it on G string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse, played 3 times.

G to Am

5. G → F chord transition

To move from G to F:

  1. Lift your index finger from A string fret 2 and place it on E string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from E string fret 3 to G string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from E string fret 3 and place it on A string fret 3.
  4. Place pinky on D string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse.

6. C → C7 chord transition

To move from C to C7:

  1. Keep index finger on B string fret 1.
  2. Keep middle finger on D string fret 2.
  3. Keep ring finger on A string fret 3.
  4. Place pinky on G string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse, played 3 times.

7. C7 → F chord transition

To move from C7 to F:

  1. Lift your index finger from B string fret 1 and place it on E string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from D string fret 2 to G string fret 2.
  3. Keep ring finger on A string fret 3.
  4. Lift your pinky from G string fret 3 and place it on D string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse, played 8 times.

8. F → D chord transition

To move from F to D:

  1. While playing F, lift your pinky from D string fret 3.
  2. Lift your index finger from E string fret 1 and place it on G string fret 2.
  3. Slide your middle finger from G string fret 2 to E string fret 2.
  4. Lift your ring finger from A string fret 3 and place it on B string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse, played 4 times.

9. D → G chord transition

Switching from D to G:

  1. Lift your index finger from G string fret 2 and place it on A string fret 2.
  2. Slide your middle finger from E string fret 2 to E string fret 3.
  3. Lift your ring finger from B string fret 3 and place it on E string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse, played 3 times.

10. G → C7 chord transition

Switching from G to C7:

  1. Lift your index finger from A string fret 2 and place it on B string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from E string fret 3 to D string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from E string fret 3 and place it on A string fret 3.
  4. Place pinky on G string fret 3.

This transition appears in the chorus, played 3 times.

11. F → F# chord transition

Switching from F to F#:

  1. Slide your index finger on E string from fret 1 to fret 2.
  2. Slide your middle finger on G string from fret 2 to fret 3.
  3. Slide your ring finger on A string from fret 3 to fret 4.
  4. Slide your pinky on D string from fret 3 to fret 4.

This transition appears in the chorus, played 4 times.

12. F# → C chord transition

Switching from F# to C:

  1. While playing F#, lift your pinky from D string fret 4.
  2. Lift your index finger from E string fret 2 and place it on B string fret 1.
  3. Slide your middle finger from G string fret 3 to D string fret 2.
  4. Slide your ring finger on A string from fret 4 to fret 3.

This transition appears in the chorus, played 4 times.

13. C → A7 chord transition

Switching from C to A7:

  1. While playing C, lift your ring finger from A string fret 3.
  2. Lift your index finger from B string fret 1 and place it on D string fret 2.
  3. Slide your middle finger from D string fret 2 to B string fret 2.

This transition appears in the chorus, played 3 times.

14. A7 → F chord transition

Switching from A7 to F:

  1. Lift your index finger from D string fret 2 and place it on E string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from B string fret 2 to G string fret 2.
  3. Place ring finger on A string fret 3.
  4. Place pinky on D string fret 3.

This transition appears in the chorus, played 3 times.

15. F → E7 chord transition

Here's how to move from F to E7:

  1. While playing F, first lift your ring finger and pinky.
  2. Lift your index finger from E string fret 1 and place it on G string fret 1.
  3. Slide your middle finger from G string fret 2 to A string fret 2.

This transition appears in the chorus, played 2 times.

16. E7 → Am chord transition

Here's how to move from E7 to Am:

  1. Lift your index finger from G string fret 1 and place it on B string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from A string fret 2 to D string fret 2.
  3. Place ring finger on G string fret 2.

This transition appears in the chorus, played 4 times.

17. Am → C7 chord transition

To move from Am to C7:

  1. Keep index finger on B string fret 1.
  2. Keep middle finger on D string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from G string fret 2 and place it on A string fret 3.
  4. Place pinky on G string fret 3.

This transition appears in the chorus, played 2 times.

18. G → G7 chord transition

Here's how to move from G to G7:

  1. Keep index finger on A string fret 2.
  2. Keep middle finger on E string fret 3.
  3. Slide your ring finger on E string from fret 3 to fret 1.

This transition appears in the chorus.

19. G7 → C chord transition

Switching from G7 to C:

  1. Lift your index finger from A string fret 2 and place it on B string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from E string fret 3 to D string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from E string fret 1 and place it on A string fret 3.

This transition appears in the chorus.

20. C → Am chord transition

Switching from C to Am:

  1. Keep index finger on B string fret 1.
  2. Keep middle finger on D string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from A string fret 3 and place it on G string fret 2.

This transition appears in the chorus, played 2 times.

21. Am → F chord transition

Switching from Am to F:

  1. Lift your index finger from B string fret 1 and place it on E string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from D string fret 2 to G string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from G string fret 2 and place it on A string fret 3.
  4. Place pinky on D string fret 3.

This transition appears in the chorus, played 3 times.

22. Am → D7 chord transition

Switching from Am to D7:

  1. Keep index finger on B string fret 1.
  2. Lift your middle finger from D string fret 2 and place it on G string fret 2.
  3. Slide your ring finger from G string fret 2 to E string fret 2.

This transition appears in the chorus.

23. D7 → F chord transition

Switching from D7 to F:

  1. Lift your index finger from B string fret 1 and place it on E string fret 1.
  2. Keep middle finger on G string fret 2.
  3. Slide your ring finger from E string fret 2 to A string fret 3.
  4. Place pinky on D string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse.

24. F → Fm chord transition

To move from F to Fm:

  1. While playing F, lift your middle finger from G string fret 2.
  2. Keep index finger on E string fret 1.
  3. Keep ring finger on A string fret 3.
  4. Keep pinky on D string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse, played 2 times.

25. Fm → C chord transition

To move from Fm to C:

  1. While playing Fm, lift your pinky from D string fret 3.
  2. Lift your index finger from E string fret 1 and place it on B string fret 1.
  3. Keep ring finger on A string fret 3.
  4. Place middle finger on D string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse, played 2 times.

26. D → C chord transition

To move from D to C:

  1. Lift your index finger from G string fret 2 and place it on B string fret 1.
  2. Slide your middle finger from E string fret 2 to D string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from B string fret 3 and place it on A string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse, played 2 times.

27. F → E chord transition

Switching from F to E:

  1. While playing F, lift your pinky from D string fret 3.
  2. Lift your index finger from E string fret 1 and place it on G string fret 1.
  3. Slide your middle finger from G string fret 2 to A string fret 2.
  4. Lift your ring finger from A string fret 3 and place it on D string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse.

28. E → E7 chord transition

Switching from E to E7:

  1. While playing E, lift your ring finger from D string fret 2.
  2. Keep index finger on G string fret 1.
  3. Keep middle finger on A string fret 2.

This transition appears in the verse.

29. Am → D chord transition

Here's how to move from Am to D:

  1. Lift your index finger from B string fret 1 and place it on G string fret 2.
  2. Slide your middle finger from D string fret 2 to E string fret 2.
  3. Lift your ring finger from G string fret 2 and place it on B string fret 3.

This transition appears in the verse.

Bridge Over Troubled Water chord transition analysis

A short, data-driven summary of the chord flow in Bridge Over Troubled Water.

  • Bridge Over Troubled Water includes 119 chord transitions, 29 of them unique.
  • These transitions represent 0.03% of all chord transitions in Chordier.
  • Bridge Over Troubled Water contains 7 of the top 10 transitions across Chordier.
  • These transition patterns show how Bridge Over Troubled Water connects to the rest of Chordier. Mastering them helps you move to similar songs faster.
    After F, the most likely next chords across Chordier are C (40%), G (21%), and Am (11%).
    • F → C: 40%
    • F → G: 21%
    After C, the most likely next chords across Chordier are G (35%), F (16%), and D (11%).
    • C → G: 35%
    • C → F: 16%
SONG DATA3 Chords, 200 Chains, 1 BookThe 200 most popular three-chord chains from real songs. See which songs use each chain and expand your repertoire with patterns that actually matter.