Knock, Knock, Knockin on Heaven’s Door in the East Bay

As a professional studio guitarist and Christian , I love teaching guitar basics to all guitar students in the East Bay of California. A great Rock and Roll guitar classic by Bob Dylan is “Knockin On Heaven’s Door.”

The song was released in 1973 and became a number one hit quickly. It has been recorded by Rock & Roll Hall-of-Famers like Eric Clapton, the Grateful Dead and Guns N’ Roses. T

Knockin on Heaven’s Door consists of 4 basic chords. G,D, Am7 and C.

The basic guitar pattern throughout the song is D-D-Am7-Am7 and then G-D-C-C, and repeats over and over.

Over the years the composer, Bob Dylan, has changed the lyrics. Musically this classic is very similar to Neil Young’s “ Helpless”

In my guitar version of Knockin on Heavens Door, the first 4 bars are stock and second 4 bars are my substitutions to enhance a song that truly needs enhancing since it only uses 4 chords.

Knocking on Heaven’s Door Sheet Music (mp3 file at bottom of post)