Chords
Fingerpicking — full song TAB
You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
Any place is better
Startin' from zero, got nothin' to lose
Maybe we'll make somethin'
Me, myself, I got nothin' to prove
You got a fast car
I got a plan to get us outta here
And work another convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
Won't have to drive too far
Just across the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
Finally see what it means to be livin'
See, my old man's got a problem
He live in the bottle, that's the way it is
He said: his body's too old for workin'
His body's too young to look like his
So mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said: Somebody's gotta take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did
You got a fast car
Is it fast enough so we can fly away?
You gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way
I had a feelin' that I belonged
I had a feelin' I could be someone
Be someone, be someone
You got a fast car
We go cruisin', entertain ourselves
Still ain't got a job
Now work in the market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
And we'll move out of the shelter
Buy a bigger house and live in the suburbs
You got a fast car
I got a job these all our bills
Is stay out drinkin' late at the bar
See more of your friends
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together
I got no plans, I ain't goin' nowhere
Take your fast car and keep on drivin'
You got a fast car
Is it fast enough so we can fly away?
Still gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way
Coach tips
- ✦The iconic Fast Car intro riff uses a hammer-on on the B string (0h1) for the C chord — keep your index finger ready to hammer onto fret 1 cleanly without muting the open G string below it.
- ✦The D4 chord (Dsus4: xx0233) is used throughout instead of a plain D — keep your ring and pinky fingers on fret 3 of strings B and e, and add your middle finger on fret 2 of string G only when the progression calls for a standard D voicing.
- ✦The slide up to fret 8 on the B string (/8) in the intro riff represents the G chord's melodic peak — practice this slide from fret 5 or 6 to build momentum into the note rather than starting the slide at fret 8.
- ✦The four-chord loop C–G–Em–D4 repeats almost without exception through every verse of Fast Car — once you internalize this loop at 100 BPM the entire song falls into place, so focus your practice on smooth C-to-G and Em-to-D4 transitions.