All I Wanna E is to have some E, I got a C chord I'm not the D one…

Haha, you up for singing chords with me? :) All I Wanna Do by Sheryl Crow is a classic tune that gets everyone singing. It's easy to play, and you'll learn a nice little cheat so you can play the whole song with open chords. If you're up for some fancy stuff, we'll also explore the original slide guitar and riffs.

I remember playing this Sheryl Crow classic thousands of times in the days of The Tuesday Night Music Club. That used to be a huge thing in bars!

Let's get that groove on. Grab your acoustic, and let's have some fun!

How To Play "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow on Guitar

Chord Progression

The chords are simple for most of this Sheryl Crow classic. The most frequent progression in All I Wanna Do is E, E, C, and D - check out my Beginner's Course for detailed lessons on these chords.

Things get interesting in the pre-chorus: the rhythm guitar plays A Major for one and a half bars, then B♭ Major for half a bar. This repeats three times, but we don't switch to B♭ in the final bar.

B♭ is usually a barre chord, but there’s a cheat! :) If you slide the open A grip up one fret, you get a B♭. Easy! The only caveat is that you need to mute string 1 when you fret B♭ - it sounds horrible!

The chorus goes E, E, C and D too, but instead of switching to D on the second rep, we switch to B7.

💡 Slash Swaps: In All I Wanna Do, I always play a C/G slash chord instead of a regular C chord - it's not necessary, but adding that slash chord sounds wicked. Give it a try!

Rhythm Guitar

You can play most of All I Wanna Do with the Old Faithful strumming pattern. But the pattern itself the main concern here.

What's most awesome about Sheryl Crow's music is the groove. All I Wanna Do is no different - it’s super relaxed, and you need to mimic it. One of the best ways to absorb the groove is by playing along with the original record with muted strings. Strum along and pretend you’re in the band.

🤔 Relax When Singing? I try to sustain the relaxed groove when I sing, but I notice I lose it when I have to pay attention to my singing. Ideally, you want to be playing and singing effortlessly. That’s the best way to nail the groove!

All I Wanna Do by Sheryl Crow – Further Exploration

Slide Guitar

This is a great tune for exploring slide guitar - this was one of the songs I used to learn slide. As usual, we’ll retune the guitar to make things easier. Tune the thinnest string down one tone to a D so that you can play any Major shape by laying the slide across the top four strings on any fret.

How do you know which Major chord you're playing? How do you fret a C chord? There are two ways to know, both based on the A Major barre chord shape.

🚨 Know Your Triads: It really helps if you realise that, in standard tuning, three notes at the same fret on strings 2, 3, and 4 form a Major triad. Retuning the E string to D means the note on string 1 at the same fret is also part of the chord, so we can play a four-note Major chord at one fret. This is the secret to slide guitar.

The first way is to use the root note on string 3. For example, the note C is at fret 5 of string 3, so if we lay the slide across the top four strings at fret 5, we're playing a C Major chord.

The second way is to use the root note on string 5, which is always two frets behind the Major shape. This is the note that your first finger plays in the A-shape Major barre chord.

For example, the note E is at fret 7 on string 5, so if we barre the top four strings at fret 9 (two frets above fret 7), we’re barring an E chord (remembering we’ve retuned string 1).

In any case, we barre at fret 9 for E, fret 5 for C, and fret 7 for D. This lets you jam along with the chorus and verses, so have a play around and see what sounds good!

Lead-Guitar Parts

You can also try to figure out the lead line. We won’t cover it here, but here's a hint: it’s in open position on the thicker strings.

🔥 Why Transcribe? Guitar teachers don't tell you to transcribe music because they're evil! You know how crucial this skill is, right? Transcribing is the best way of becoming a better guitarist.

The funky intro riff is based around F#m and Gm triads (they’re functioning as A6 and B♭6 chords, but they look like minor grips!). There’s also a slide, and the rhythm is cool!

As always, I suggest you try working it out by ear before checking out the video tutorial.

If you don’t want to add it in, just play the A to B♭ sequence. As I said, these mini grips are functioning as A6 and B♭6, which are extensions of A and B♭, so you can easily go for the basic Major grips instead.

Want to Sing All I Wanna Do by Sheryl Crow?

The phrasing on All I Wanna Do is tricky. Sheryl Crow speaks the lyrics, which makes this song awkward to play and sing. If you struggle, I recommend you make the guitar part as automatic as possible so that you can focus on the singing! Believe me - it'll make a huge difference.

🎶 Want More Info? Check out my 10-Step Method for Playing and Singing.

A great way to check if your guitar is automated is to try playing while thinking about something else or describing this morning's breakfast. If this makes it tricky to make the changes and keep in time, you'll struggle to sing it well. More practice required!

Have tons of fun with All I Wanna Do!

💙 Get full tabs, chords, and lyrics for hundreds of songs at JustinGuitarTabs.