How to play Khe Sahn by Cold Chisel

Song Guides
Written By Michelle Nelson

1970s Oz Rock classic Khe Sahn by Cold Chisel is an excellent rhythm guitar chart for developing steel-string players. Originally released in 1978 Khe Sahn has grown steadily more popular in the time since. It regularly features amongst the top 10 in Top 100 Song surveys in Australia and is one of Cold Chisel’s most enduring hits. Perfect for learning how to put chords together with a straight-ahead Rock strumming pattern.

Chords: Em C G D D4 Am F

Pick or Fingers? Pick - you need the strong tone the pick creates to give Khe Sahn the energy of the original.

Acoustic or Electric? Works well on all electric guitars, or steel-string acoustics. Less satisfying on nylon strings but if that is what you are currently learning on its still worth giving Khe Sahn a go ; it’s a great chord/rhythm development song.

Do I have to play the F ??? Yep, sorry! F is problem chord for most learner guitarists and there is no easy way to play it. If you are still fairly new to the instrument try to get the basic F going but take care to not include the open 6th string. If you can’t get the 1st string to sound clearly, but strings 5 to 2 are clear you have enough of the chord for it to work. Play the bar-chord F if you are able to (it sounds best) but not if you’re still learning the basic open-position chords; your fingers need to strengthen more before bar-chords will work for you.

How does the timing work? Basic crotchet and quaver strumming pattern that creates the basic ‘70s Rock pattern: “1 2 3-and 4-and” . . .

Relevant pages in Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 : To learn more about the chords and rhythm techniques used in Khe Sahn go to pages 5, 8, 10, 12-14, 19-21, 24 and 34

Need a bit of help?

Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 is the perfect companion for our song guides. It will teach you how to read the rhythm slash notation used in our charts (and in professional theatre and studio charts) and is specially designed to help beginners speed up their chord changes, master strumming patterns, and many other techniques.

 
 
Michelle Nelson

Michelle Nelson is a professional guitarist, composer, and educator with decades of experience across classical and electric styles. A fully accredited VMTA teacher, she has performed in rock bands, classical ensembles, and plucked string orchestras, and currently composes for the Birrarung Trio and Concordia ensemble. Michelle specialises in Classical (Classical era to Modern), Rock, and Blues guitar, and draws inspiration from artists like Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Wes Montgomery, and Mauro Giuliani.

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