How to Play Can’t Find My Way Home on Guitar

Today I want to share with you how to play “Can’t Find My Way Home” on guitar. This song has a beautiful chord progression to it that has been used in countless classic rock songs. Once you learn this progression you’ll immediately start to recognize it as a familiar sound from other songs as well.

There are many ways to approach the guitar part in this song, in fact, all of the other lessons online focus on playing this song with a flatpick. However, to me, it sounds like fingerstyle on the recording. So for this lesson, I will be focusing on a fingerpicking approach. This approach is very similar to how Eric Clapton later played many tunes from his iconic Unplugged record. 

Who wrote Can’t Find My Way Home?

"Can't Find My Way Home" is a timeless classic, written by Steve Winwood and originally performed by the band Blind Faith. It was first released on their self-titled album in 1969. "Can't Find My Way Home" has been covered by a ton of great artists over the years. It really shows the song's enduring appeal and its ability to resonate with musicians across different genres. Here are some notable artists who have put their own spin on this timeless classic:

What tuning is Can't Find My Way Home in?

"Can't Find My Way Home" is in a drop d tuning. To get there from standard tuning lower your 6th string down from E to D.

6th string = D

5th string = A

4th string = D

3rd string = G

2nd string = B

1st string = E

The rest of the strings stay the same.

Can't Find My Way Home Chords

The main progression to “Can’t Find My Way Home” is all designed around a descending chord progression, and uses 7 chords total. These chords in order are Csus2, G/B, Bb6, D5/A then F, G, and D5. Here is how I would play each of these chords: 

The chord progression starts on the Csus2 and then each chord for the first four chords progressively moves the bass note down 1 fret at a time. 

This is the descending chord progression part. Check out the bass notes in each chord, so on the Csus2 it’s the 5th string 3rd fret, then G/B is the 2nd fret, then Bb6 is the 1st fret, and finally, D5/A is the open 5th string.

This creates a walk down as you move through the progression spending 2 beats on each chord like this:

Csus2, G/B (1 bar)

Bb6, D5/A (1 bar)

This progression is one of the most common classic rock progressions. Clapton also used this it in Tales Of Brave Ulysses with Cream.

After this, the chord progression almost does the opposite and plays a sequence that sounds more like climbing back up like this:

F, G (1 bar)

D (1 bar)

This same progression was also used by the Beatles on their song “The End” from Abbey Road. 

So it starts off with a walk-down progression and then finishes with a climb back up and then the whole progression restarts. Each chord last 2 beats, until the final bar. When you get to the D chord in the final bar, that last 4 beats. The entire progression is 4 bars long and then repeats. Here it is all together:

Csus2, G/B (1 bar)

Bb6, D5/A (1 bar)

F, G (1 bar)

D (1 bar)

Fingerpicking Patterns

To capture the essence of this song you want to break up the chords in an arpeggio-style rhythm. Now as I mentioned this can be played with a flatpick, and many versions do but in the video above I am playing fingerstyle. Each chord change should start with the bass note of each chord. It begins on the 5th string 3rd fret, and then plays the 3rd string, and then 2nd string. After that, it does the same thing backwards so 3rd string 5th string, all while holding down a Csus2 chord like this:

This same approach can be applied to the rest of the walk-down progression like this:

After this, the progression moves to the climb up. Here we’ll adjust the pattern slightly and play strings 6, 4, 2, 3, like this:

And then move up two frets and play the same picking pattern:

Then in the final bar of this progression will play a little bluesy lick on the D5 chord like this:

All 4 bars put together go like this:

Bridge 

Once the main progression feels comfortable there is only one other chord progression you need to learn to put the whole tune together and that is the bridge progression. 

The bridge of this song uses 7 new chords, but don’t worry for some of them you only need to use 1 finger. The bridge section starts on a G/B. This is the same chord from above and then goes to an Asus4 to an A.

For Asus4 I would play this shape:

And for A just move one note like this:

G/B (1 bar)

Asus4, A (1 bar)

Then well use a D to Em7 one bar each.

D would be played like this: 

And Em7 like this:

D (1 bar)

Em7 (1 bar) 

Then we go up to a G chord with just 1 finger and walk down on the bass string to get a G/F# and G/E like this:

After this return to just one bar of D. So all together the bridge section looks like this:

G/B (1 bar)

Asus4, A (1 bar)

D (1 bar)

Em7 (1 bar)

G, G/F#, G/E (1 bar)

D (1 bar) 

Steve Winwood Plays A Powerful Acoustic Version Of "Can't Find My Way Home" By The Fire

A few years back, one of my guitar students showed me this video. It's an acoustic version of "Can't Find My Way Home" with snare firewood.

Can't Find My Way Home Guitar Lesson (LEAD)

Now that you have the basic fingerpicking and progression down. Let's next talk about how to approach soloing over this progression. (See video below)

Conclusion:

Now that you've nailed the chords, and experimented with different strumming/fingerpicking patterns, it’s now time to put it all together and jam with the song. Remember, when you start it won’t be perfect so be patient and keep in mind that playing music is all about expressing yourself and connecting with the emotions within the song.

Don't be afraid to make it your own. One cool thing about "Can't Find My Way Home" is how different artists from various genres have given it their own spin. Take a cue from legends like Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt, Alison Krauss, and the one and only Eric Clapton. They've each left their mark on this timeless classic.

So happy playing and to master this style grab my free fingerstyle PDF next right here: