“No Woman, No Cry” is Bob Marley & The Wailers’ 1974 classic. It’s a song of
comfort and reassurance that has become one of reggae’s most beloved
recordings. For guitarists it’s about as approachable as a legendary song
gets: four open chords, and a single progression that repeats from the first
bar to the last.
That progression is C → G → Am → F, and once you have it under your fingers
you can play the whole song. The real work here isn’t the chord changes — it’s
the feel. Reggae lives in the space between the beats. Let’s dive in!
The Chords You’ll Need
Chord Chart
Chorus 1 C G Am F No, woman, no cry; C F C G No, woman, no cry; C G Am F No, woman, no cry; C F C G No, woman, no cry. Verse 1 C G Am F 'Cause - 'cause - 'cause I remember when a we used to sit C G Am F In a government yard in Trenchtown, C G Am F Oba - obaserving the 'ypocrites - yeah! - C G Am F Mingle with the good people we meet, yeah! C G Am F Good friends we have, oh, good friends we have lost C G Am F Along the way, yeah! In this great future, you can't forget your past; So dry your tears, I seh. Yeah! Chorus 2 No, woman, no cry; No, woman, no cry. Eh, yeah! A little darlin', don't shed no tears: No, woman, no cry. Eh! Verse 2 Said - said - said I remember when we used to sit In the government yard in Trenchtown, yeah! And then Georgie would make the fire lights, I seh, logwood burnin' through the nights, yeah! Then we would cook cornmeal porridge, say, Of which I'll share with you, yeah! My feet is my only carriage And so I've got to push on through. Oh, while I'm gone, Everything's gonna be all right! Everything's gonna be all right! Everything's gonna be all right, yeah! Everything's gonna be all right! Everything's gonna be all right-a! Everything's gonna be all right! Everything's gonna be all right, yeah! Everything's gonna be all right! Chorus 3 C G Am F No, woman, no cry; C F C G No, woman, no cry; C G Am F No, woman, no cry; C F C G No, woman, no cry. (x2)
The loop runs the whole song
Chorus 1 and Verse 1 show the chords written out; later sections show lyrics
only. That’s not an oversight — C → G → Am → F cycles unchanged from the first
bar to the last. Once you have the loop, sing any verse over it and the chords
land where they should.
Practice Tips
- Drill C → G → Am → F as a loop on its own. That’s the entire song — no bridge, no key change, no surprises.
- That progression is I – V – vi – IV, a super common progression in all of popular music. Learning it here gives you a shape you’ll recognize in hundreds of other songs.
- Reggae puts its emphasis on the offbeats — the “and” between the counted beats. Try muting the strings lightly and chopping short upstrokes on those offbeats instead of strumming straight through. That skank rhythm is what makes this sound like Marley rather than a folk song.
- Keep it unhurried. This is a song about reassurance, and the tempo should feel like someone telling you it’s going to be okay.