The All Along The Watchtower chords are just three: A, Bm, and G. That’s it — one of rock’s most iconic songs built on a simple progression that loops the whole way through.
Bob Dylan wrote it, but Jimi Hendrix made it legendary. This lesson teaches the Hendrix version in the key of B minor, using bar chords. The progression goes: A – Bm – A – G, repeating throughout the verse and chorus.
All Along The Watchtower – Guitar Chords
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The Chord Shapes
Even though the song is in B minor, it doesn’t start on B minor — it starts on A. Here’s the bar chord approach:
- A major – bar chord at the 5th fret
- B minor – slide the A shape up two frets, take your second finger off
- A major – back down to the 5th fret
- G major – pass through A down to the 3rd fret
If bar chords aren’t your thing yet, you can substitute open chords to get started. You could also cheat with power chords — just play the root and fifth. It won’t sound as full, but it’ll get you through the song while you build up your bar chord strength.
The Timing
The rhythm has a bit of swing to it. Count it like: “one, two, three, four and one and two, three, four and one and two, three…”
There are a lot of different recordings of this song, and everyone interprets it a little differently. Don’t worry about matching Jimi note-for-note — just get those chord changes smooth and you’ll have the foundation.
A Note on Keys
You might notice some recordings sound a half-step higher. That’s because Jimi’s most famous studio version is actually in C# minor (or C minor if he was tuned down to Eb). The B minor version above is a common way to learn it — easier chord shapes, and it works great for playing on your own.
If you want to play along with the original Hendrix recording, just move everything up one fret: Bb, Cm, Bb, Ab. The good news: once you’ve got these changes down, they’re easy to slide up and down the neck.
The Hendrix Intro Riff
Once you’ve got the chords down, you might want to tackle that famous four-bar intro. This lesson teaches it in C minor — matching Jimi’s original key — so if you learned the chords in B minor above, you’ll need to bump everything up one fret to make them fit together.
Fair warning: getting this exactly like Jimi is nearly impossible. The man was improvising half the time, and he could play guitar upside down either way (sometimes restrung, sometimes not).
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What You’re Working With
The intro is based on the C minor pentatonic scale. It starts with a slide from the 10th fret up to the 12th, followed by some one-tone bends with vibrato — that’s where Jimi’s signature sound comes from.
The stretches in this riff are tricky. You’ll probably want to use your pinky for the highest notes with your other fingers stacked behind for support. Getting that bend-and-vibrato feel right takes practice — it’s one of those things that’s actually harder to play slowly than fast.
This lesson gets you close to the essential shape of the riff. Play it your way, make it your own — that’s what Jimi would have done.
