Jam Track With No Guitar

Jam Track With No Guitar or Vocals

If you’ve been working on your bar chords and want a real song to sink your teeth into, this is one of the best. “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing” by Jack Johnson is a bar chord powerhouse. It’s got great strumming, muted strums, and a handful of seventh chord moves that give it that signature bluesy Jack Johnson feel.

Let’s break it down.

The Key and Chords

The song is in C major (or A minor, depending on how you look at it). Here’s the basic key breakdown: C is your one chord, D minor is two, E minor is three, F major is four, G major is five, A minor is six, and B diminished is seven.

Most of the song uses bar chords with the E shape. The main chords you’ll need are A minor, G major, F major, and C — all as bar chords. One of the cool things Jack Johnson does throughout this song is play a regular power chord or major chord, then lift his pinky to turn it into a seventh chord. So A minor becomes A minor 7, G becomes G7, F becomes F7, and C becomes C dominant 7. That one small move gives the song a lot of its mood and character.

In the chorus, things open up a bit with some open chords — E to E7, and A minor to A minor 7. The bridge adds open C, and you’ve already got E, F, and G covered from earlier.

The Intro and Verses

The intro starts with a percussive chugging move, two muted 16th notes down-up before landing on the A minor bar chord. For that muted sound, try laying all four fingers across the strings between the fifth and seventh frets to get a good percussive thud.

The strumming pattern for the intro and verses is: down, down, down, down, up looped over and over. On the A minor, you hit the bottom three strings (power chord style) for the first two downs, then a muted strum, then switch to A minor 7 (just lift your pinky) for the rest. On the last down-up of each measure, Jack Johnson often lets the open strings ring. It’s a relaxed, spacious sound that fits his style perfectly and gives you a beat to get to the next chord.

The progression is A minor → G → F → C, and you play it once for the intro and twice for each verse.

The Chorus

The chorus is actually a little easier than the verses — no muting to worry about. It’s built on E → E7 (twice) and then A minor → A minor 7 (twice). The strumming pattern is similar: down, down, down, up, with some accents on the two and four.

The main thing to watch for is where the chord changes fall. On the E section, changes happen on beats one and three. On the A minor section, the switch to A minor 7 happens on the “and” of beat two. That’s half a beat earlier than you might expect. A good way to remember it: when you hear that accent, the very next strum is where you lift your third finger.

Play through the chorus twice before moving on.

The Bridge

The bridge uses open chords: C for one measure, E for one measure, F for one measure, then G for two beats and F for two beats. The strumming pattern here is down, down, down, down, up — accenting beats two and four. On beats one and three, focus on hitting just the bottom strings to add dynamics. The bridge progression repeats once with a slight variation: C, E, F, then G for a full measure.

Song Structure

Here’s the full order of the song:

• Intro

• Verse 1

• Chorus 1

• D.S. back to Verse 2

• Chorus 2

• Bridge

• Instrumental Interlude (verse progression twice)

• Verse 3

• Double Chorus (played 4x - on the 4th time, return to E/E7 instead of A minor, then end on A minor)

Tips for Learning This Song

Practice the intro/verse strumming pattern on its own before adding chord changes. The muted strum and the open-string moment at the end of each measure are what give it the Jack Johnson vibe. Don’t skip those details. For the chorus, work on the strumming pattern first, then layer in the chord changes.

TAB and a jam track are available for download on GuitarFam.com so you can practice along at any tempo. And if you need to work on your fundamentals before tackling this one, the Guitar Foundations course is a great place to start. It’s free with a complimentary Guitar Fam account.

Thanks for watching,

Nate