“Dear Mr Fantasy” by Traffic (Steve Winwood) is one of those songs that sounds impressive but only uses three main chords: A, G, and D. In this lesson, you’ll learn the verse progression, the F#m-G#m-A chorus, and a cool little bass riff you can throw in between chord changes. Great song for beginners who want something that actually sounds good at a jam.

Dear Mr Fantasy was originally done by Steve Winwood with Traffic, but it was also done by Big Sugar, among others. It is one of those easy guitar songs that are pretty simple, and yet sound great (and have a guitar riff that others will recognize) at the same time.

The main part of the song is three chords, A major, G major, D major, then A major.

There’s also a cool little bass riff that goes in there too, which is fun to play, and will give you a good way to practice throwing riffs in between chords.

The Dear Mr Fantasy chords also sound great (especially with the riff) with a generous application of the “talent button” ie crunch, so once you get the basic structure of the song down, have some fun with it!

The chorus is F#m, G#m, A major, three times. The fourth time do the F#m again, then to a G major, then an E major.

And there you have the chords for Dear Mr Fantasy. That’s pretty much the whole song!

If you enjoyed this lesson, you might also like Blue on Black or Bad Moon Rising — both fun songs with a similar vibe. Browse more in my easy guitar songs collection, or check out the full guitar song library for more classics.