Jonny Diaz Song Chords

Jonny Diaz Song Chords

           

            One of my favorite pastimes is picking out songs on my acoustic guitar, so amidst the busyness of this past holiday season, I took some time to pick out eight songs by my favorite Christian music artist Jonny Diaz.  If you’ve been on my main blog Heart-chords (www.heartchords.blogspot.com), you may have noticed that I’ve recommended several of his songs before.

            Why is Jonny Diaz my favorite Christian music artist?  Well, I like his voice and style of music obviously, but it goes beyond that.  Jonny Diaz’s music has an innocence and simplicity to it.  The messages of its songs are pure and frank about the struggles we all face in our Christian walk, and no matter what season I find myself in, I can always find the point of my daily conflict addressed in one of his songs.  The messages are things that all Christian’s can relate to at some time or another.  You can tell a lot about a person by his music, and in his songs, his strong faith, genuine humility, and fun personality shine through.  He’s a down-to-earth kind of guy who took a giant step of blind faith and gave up a secure career as a future professional baseball player like his brother Matt to pursue the journey of becoming the contemporary Christian music artist that he felt God calling him to be.  It was something he knew nothing about at the time, other than playing music as a hobby growing up, and as of 2012, he’s only been at it for nine years now.  He’s just a young guy (28yrs) with a wife to provide for and trying to make a living using his talents for the Lord and walking in the path that he feels the Lord’s called him to walk.  He’s one of those people that you can just feel God’s smile shining down on.  It makes you feel good to buy his music, knowing that you’re supporting him.  I would love for an opportunity to meet him and his wife someday and to hear his songs played live.  So if you’ve never heard of his music before, check it out and be blessed.  Here’s also a link I’d like to share with you for an interview with Jonny that I found pretty interesting:http://www.thefishla.com/Music-Artist-Biographies/Jonny-Diaz-Bio-.  Enjoy!

            With that said, if you’re already familiar with his songs, below I’ve shared the eight songs of his that I picked out on my guitar.  I figured since I already did the work, why not spare you guys from doing it yourself?  J  These are beginner guitar chords so they only include five chords: G, E minor (Em), C, A minor (Am), and D.  These are songs that I picked out myself; they are not the actual chords that Jonny Diaz uses nor are they the chords you’d find if you looked for chords on the internet.  If you find the chords elsewhere, it’s purely coincidental.  I picked these out by my own ear for the song.  Here are the eight I have posted below:

 

Love Like You Loved

Waiting Room

More Beautiful You

Monotone

Small Enough

Irony

In You

Asleep In the Hay

           

A few notes about the music.  You may notice that I tell you to place your capo on a really high fret: 5, 6, or 7.  This is because I have a jumbo acoustic guitar with  a very deep pitch while I sing relatively high; therefore I have to put my capo way up on the fret-board.  Depending on your guitar and your voice pitch, you’ll have to play around with your capo placing to find the right fit for you.  Also, I don’t have many intros to the songs or transitions from verses to verses because I’m not very good at that.  But feel free to have fun and make up your own!  Or if you’re a more experienced guitar player than I am, you may even be able to play the actual introduction Jonny Diaz plays.  You can find more advanced chords/ tabs on free sheet music websites.  These songs sound great with either a basic down-strum or an up-down-strum.  I don’t know how to pick so I’m not sure how that sounds with them.  If you’re strumming up-down though, listen to the actual song and find the rhythm of the strum and then try to duplicate it.  It’s hard to explain, but each song has a different up-down strum rhythm, and you just have to hear it and feel it to understand what I’m talking about.  It’s all in your ear for music.

            Some words about the chords.  If you’re like me, maybe you can’t switch to a C chord from any other chord fast enough to play a song.  If that’s your problem, try playing a C barre chord instead.  When I first began playing guitar, I couldn’t play any songs because my transition to a C chord just wasn’t fast enough.  That’s when my best friend taught me the barre chord for it and to this day, I still don’t play a typical C; I always use the barre chord.  Not sure if it’s exactly what you call a barre chord actually, but just type into Google or Bing "one string C chord".  It's the second string from the bottom, the B string. 

            You’ll also notice that many of these songs include A minors.  Again, if you’re anything like me, you probably dread the sight of this chord.  My A minors used to always buzz on me.  It was really annoying.  One of the obvious reasons for this is because you aren’t pressing down on the strings hard enough.  This happens especially if your fingers are sore from playing, so if you find that happening, it may be time to give your fingers a little break before coming back to it.  But I learned, sometimes that just doesn’t help.  If that’s your problem, try the hair-tie rig on your capo that Jonny Diaz describes in the beginning of this instructional YouTube video: Click Here!  (FYI: you'll have to hear all about his new guitar at the beginning of the video first.)  He uses it to help prevent his capo from bending the strings out of tune, but I’ve adopted it and found it also works great to help keep your A minor from squeaking as well!  Hope it helps you some and takes the dread out of A minors like it has for me. 

            Any questions about the songs or chords?  Feel free to ask!  Also, these chords are not copyrighted since I picked them out myself.  Therefore, you’re welcome to copy them down for your use and to pass them along to friends and family.  Get creative with them- my cousin and I put on a little “concert” with them even- and have fun trying your hand at playing them.  Check back soon for the chords to another Jonny Diaz song I’m working on picking out now: Hold Me.

Love Like You Loved

By Jonny Diaz

 

Capo: 5 or 6

 

Chorus:

                  

                    G

Help me to love like You loved

        D

To serve like You served

        C                              G

To speak only words of truth

 

Help me to care like You cared

            D

For a world in despair

                    G

Help me to love like You

 

Verse 1:

 

    G

There’s a lot of different people

             D

From a lot of different places

     C                                     G

A lot of different points of view

 

   G

There’s a lot of debating

                          D

A lot of speculating

                       C                  G

But there can only be one truth

 

   G

Some would say You’re a leader

   D

Claim You’re a liar

                       C                                 G

Some would even say that You’re a fool

           G

But I know You’re a healer

          D

The perfect Messiah

              C                           G

And I wanna live life like You

 

(Chorus)

 

Verse 2:

 G

The philosophers ignored You

            D

The Pharisees abhorred You

              C                                   G

’Cause You didn’t follow their rules

                G

But the sinners were changed

                  D

And their lives rearranged

            C                               G

When they put their trust in You

   G                   D

Ohhhh…

 

(Chorus)

 

Waiting Room

By Jonny Diaz

 

Capo: 5 or 6

 

Verse 1:

  G                 Em       D

Here in this waiting room

     G              Em             C

Yearning for You to say go

    G                       Em             C                    D

Though I’m convinced that a yes would be best

  C                          Em          D

This time You’re telling me no

 

 G                   Em                   D

It’s not that I don’t have an answer

 G                     Em               C

It’s just not the one that I’d like

    G                         Em

’Cause through this time

              C                 Em

Lord, I must keep in mind

    C                   Em          D

You’re always wiser than I

 

Chorus:

     

              G    Em       C                  D

’Cause You have a much better purpose

          G    Em     C                D

And You have a far greater plan

         G    Em        C            D

And You have a bigger perspective

              C                      D                   G

’Cause You hold this world in Your hands

 

Verse 2:

 G                       Em                     D

The things that I see come from You

                  G                  Em                   C

Like the strong healing touch of Your hand

         G                  Em

But when You say no

                 C              Em

Help me trust even though

                   C        Em               D

There’s a reason I can’t understand

 

(Chorus)

 

Bridge:

                     C

When that miracle comes

                     Em

God, Your answer is yes

             G                                   D

I will praise You for all of my days

                               C

But when Your wisdom declares

          Em

That a no is what’s best

            G                            D

I will praise You just the same

 

(Chorus)

 

  C                     D                     G

You hold this world in Your hands

 

(Repeat 2x)

 

 

More Beautiful You

By Jonny Diaz

 

Capo: 6

 

Verse 1:

 Em

Little girl fourteen

     G

Flipping through a magazine

 Am                                       D

Says she wants to look that way

             Em

But her hair isn’t straight

         G

Her body isn’t fake

                   Am                    D

And she’s always felt overweight

 

          Em

Well, little girl fourteen

    G

I wish that you could see

         Am                             D

The beauty is within your heart

            Em

’Cause you were made with such care

           G

Your skin, your body, and your hair

         Am                                 D

Are perfect just the way they are

 

Chorus:

                           G                  Em      D

There can never be a more beautiful you

                        G                            Em                               D

Don’t buy the lies, disguises, and hoops they make you jump through

                   G                    Em

You were made to fill a purpose

         Am                  Em

That only you could do

                               C                   D        G

So there can never be a more beautiful you

 

Verse 2:

 Em

Little girl twenty-one

          G

The things that you’ve already done

    Am                   D

Anything to get ahead

               Em

And you say you’ve got a man

               G

But he’s got another plan

                 Am

And only wants

                             D

What you’ll do instead

 

 Em

Little girl twenty-one

          G

You never thought this would come

          Am                                    D

You starve yourself to play the part

     Em

But I can promise you

                 G

There’s a man whose love is true

                 Am                                       D

And he’ll treat you like the jewel you are

 

(Chorus)

 

Bridge:

       C

So turn around

             D

You’re not too far

      Am

To back away

      Em

Be who you are

          G

To change your path

          C

Go another way

       D

It’s not too late

        Em

You can be saved

            C

If you feel depressed

           D

With past regrets

           Am

The shameful nights

        Em

Hope to forget

                 G

They can disappear

                C                      D

They can all be washed away

             C

By the One whose strong

         D

Can right your wrongs

         Am

Can mend your fears

       Em

Dry all your tears

            G

And change the way

          C                       D

You look at this big world

               C                         D

He will take your dark, distorted view

                Am                        Em

And with His light, He will show you truth

           G

And again you’ll see

                       C                   D

Through the eyes of a little girl

 

(Chorus)

 

                           C                   D        G

There can never be a more beautiful you

 

 

Monotone

By Jonny Diaz

 

Capo: 6

 

Verse 1:

Em    G               C

I can see a little boy

   Em        G                           C

Always looking towards the sky

 Em                     G                    C

With hopes of reaching all the stars

 Em                          G                    D

And dreams that someday he will fly

 

 Em          G                                C

Now the years have taught me much

Em           G                             C

I see the world in black and white

Em                                               G        C

I’ve learned the limits of this common man

Em          G               D

But the vision isn’t right

 

Chorus:

       Em         D               Am   Em

Oh, why are my dreams monotone

     G              D               C

They’re no longer big enough

  Em       D             Am      Em

If I can reach them on my own

      G       D               Am

It never forces me to trust

      G

In You

 

Verse 2:

 Em               G                      C

You have showed me time again

Em            G                 C

So I have only me to blame

 Em                                              G                             C

Lord, help me see beyond what this world says is possible

Em          G                      D

Just as I did in younger days

 

Chorus 2:

       Em         D               Am   Em

Oh, why are my dreams monotone

     G              D               C

They’re no longer big enough

  Em       D             Am      Em

If I can reach them on my own

      G       D               Am

It never forces me to trust

      G       D               Am

It never forces me to trust

 

In

 

Bridge:

 Em                        D

You can make it possible

   Am                          Em

Despite what science says

      G                         D

If You can heal the leper

      G                          D

If You can raise the dead

        Am                    G                      D

Oh, surely You can help me dream again

 

Chorus 3:

Em         D               Am   Em

Oh, why are my dreams monotone

     G              D               C

They’re no longer big enough

  Em       D             Am      Em

If I can reach them on my own

      G       D               Am

It never forces me to trust

 

Nooo…

 

G       D               Am

It never forces me to trust

      G

In You

 

 

Small Enough

By Jonny Diaz

 

Capo: 7

 

Verse 1:

 G                                    Em

Oh, God Who holds the stars

         C                             Em

And tells them where to shine

         G                    Am

Can You be small enough to hear

             D           Em

Me whispering tonight

 

           G                           Em

You made the mountains high

           C                      Em

And filled the oceans deep

         G                    Am

Can You be small enough to feel

         D                 Em

The pain inside of me

 

Chorus:

        G                         D

Sometimes I need a Master

           Em                     C

With power and with might

        G                      C

But right now all I need is You

       D                             Em

To hold me through the night

 

Verse 2:

 G                                   Em

Oh, God Who heals the blind

          C                 Em

And raises up the dead

G                    Am

I just need to know You know

         D                    Em

The hairs upon my head

           G                              Em

You shake the night with thunder

           C                        Em

As lightning breaks the sky

         G                    Am

Can You be small enough to hold me

D               Em

If I start to cry

 

(Chorus)

 

Chorus 2:

        G                         D

Sometimes I need a Maker

 Em                               C

One Who controls the seas

        G                      C

But right now all I need is You

        D                        Em

To calm the storms in me

        G                      C

But right now all I need is You

        D                         G

To calm the storms in me

 

 

Irony

By Jonny Diaz

 

Capo: 7

 

Verse 1:

G

I always like the grass to be green

          C

But I just can’t take the rain it seems

       D

Sometimes

 

          G

And that’s how it is with You and me

    C

I hate the very things I need

       D

Sometimes

 

Chorus:

                     G

It’s like a thousand pounds of irony

               D

Come crashing down on top of me

       Em

The day I learned

                                  C

What it means to be free

 

      G

A heart that is enslaved to You

          D

Two feet that remain chained to You

          Em

And follow You

                                  C

Wherever You may lead

 

               D               C

Oh, and then you’ll see

     Em              C

A heart that’s free

 

Verse 2:

         G

Well, it might just be stupidity

            C

But I know my pride can swallow me

       D

Sometimes

 

            G

And I know You know much more than me

            C

But I forget that fact so easily

       D

Sometimes

 

               G      C

Oh, but now I see

          Em         D

Your plans for me

                G        C

Oh, and now I know

         Em       D

The grand scheme

 

(Chorus)

 

Bridge:

 G 

Just ’cause I want it

    D

Doesn’t mean I need it

     G        Em                             C         Em

’Cause I know You’ve got the best for me

 

G

I may not know what

D

I may not see it

        G         Em                            C   D

But help me see You through the irony

   D

Yeah, yeah

 

(Chorus)

Ending:

  G

Lord, give to me

 D

Oh, a heart that’s free

  Em                       C

Chain me now to You

 

  G

Lord, give to me

 D

Oh, a heart that free

    Em                     C

Enslaved to Your truth

 

D, G

 

 

In You

By Jonny Diaz

 

Capo: 5

 

Intro: G, Am, Em, D  (Repeat 2x)

 

Verse 1:

           G                     C

Little boy stepped forward

           Em                           D

And brought his lunch to You

              G                    C

Five thousand men to feed

           Em                         D

Their wives and children too

            G                        C

The disciples were embarrassed

                      Em                 D

’Cause they didn’t see the truth

     G               C

It will be inappropriate

            Em              D

Till multiplied by You

 

Chorus:

              G             C

What I give is insufficient

            Em                     D

But abundant in Your hands

       G                    C

My life that’s insignificant

              Em                     D

Finds meaning in Your plans

                     G               C

Feeling desperately inadequate

        Em                 D

You tell me that I can

      G

In You

 

G, C, Em, D

 

      G

In You

 

G, C, Em, D

 

Verse 2:

          G                           C

You said to pour some water

        Em                      D

Into pots that stood outside

              G                        C

When what they really wanted

         Em                    D

Was more wedding wine

                  G          C

But they chose to obey

            Em           D

Your unusual command

        G                        C

And all the guests enjoyed

                Em                      D

The best wine they’d ever had

 

(Chorus)

 

Bridge:

           G                      C

Lord, help me not to focus

       Em                   D

On what I give to You

           G                          C

But instead seeing the power

            Em                  D

Of the One that I give to

 

(Chorus)

 

      G

In You

 

(Repeat 2x)

 

 

Asleep In the Hay

By Jonny Diaz

 

Capo: 5 or 6

 

Verse 1:

   G                           C                 D

Many a man have sought to be God

        G                 C                 D

Destroying the world on his way

        G             C               D               Em

But only one God ever thought to be man

               G               C          D

He was born on Christmas Day

 

   G                             C                    D

Many a pauper has reached for the stars

       G               C                       D

Dreaming of wealth he would own

                G          C                 D        Em

But the richest of all gave everything up

             G                C                D

As the star led the way to His home

 

Chorus:

         Em                                 D

The world unaware that the Baby was born

 Em                                         C                       D

None seemed to care on that first Christmas morn

               G

Only shepherds came running

           C          Em

From hills far away

                    G              Em

To see the King of all kings

        C           D

To bow and obey

        Em       C               G

The Baby asleep in the hay

 

Verse 2:

          G                                         C                D

The magi wore crowns as they carried their gifts

             G             C                 D

To the foot of an old manger bed

             G             C                         D                      Em

That cradled the King Who would rule the whole world

               G             C                  D

With a crown of thorns on His head

 

(Chorus)

 

Bridge:

     G               D              C             Em

Majesty, sovereignty, power, and might

            G             D            C                      Em

In the skin of a Baby that first Christmas night

             G           D                 C                Em

No triumphant entry as He came to this world

         G              C               D

Just born of a scared little girl

 

(Chorus)

 

        Em       C               G

The Baby asleep in the hay

 

 

               

Interested in picking out songs on your own?  Here’re two tips I always keep in mind.  First, make sure your capo is on the right fret for the pitch you’re singing in, otherwise, no matter what chords you play, nothing will sound right.  It’s very frustrating; trust me, I know.  And secondly, separate the chords into a high category and a low category.  I put G and E minor in my high category and C and D in my low category.  From highest to lowest, I arrange them like so: E minor, G, C, and D.  Those are the chords I try to stick with, and only if none of those four chords have the sound I need, then I try A minor.  It’s like my last resort, odd-ball sounding chord.  It’s kind of close to a C though so don’t put it directly before or after a C chord. 

When I think I have the song picked out, as a final test, I always try playing it all the way through with different strum patterns (basic down-strum or up-down-strum in other words).  Also, make sure you keep some water or juice close by because your voice gets really sore and hoarse from singing the song over and over while you’re picking it out.  A few hours at it will make your fingers hurt really bad too, no matter if you thought you already had strong callouses on your fingers.  You may not feel it at first, but beware!  You will afterwards, so push yourself but don’t overdo it too much.  And if the chords just aren’t falling into place and nothing sounds right but you’re sure you’re on the right capo, take my mom’s advice to me: take a break and come back to it.  Sometimes you just need to come back to it fresh.  Play it for others as well and have them listen for any notes that sound off with your singing.  Make sure you’re singing the song right though or the test will be pointless! 

I’ve found all of Jonny Diaz’s songs to be relatively easy to pick out, but some artists’ songs aren’t so easy, like those from my favorite country singer Keith Urban.  Learn from my lesson: make sure the artist is actually playing a guitar in the song you’re trying to pick out.  I unsuccessfully tried finding the chords for a song by Keith Urban called God’s Been Good to Me only to later learn that he plays a banjo in the song instead!  Lesson learned on my part.  J