Hymn of Heaven Chords | Guitar Tutorial | Phil Wickham

"Stephen is one of my good friends; someone who has been teaching me lessons on guitar for many years!"

Building 429: Grammy-nominated; Dove Award Winner

"I think the Guitarmann Method is best way for anyone who wants to learn guitar. You'll be playing real songs the right way in no time. I use what I learned nearly EVERY DAY as a worship leader, guitarist, and song writer for Vertical Worship"

Worship Leader & Song Writer for Vertical Worship

Who wrote Hymn of Heaven?

Hymn of Heaven, also known as “There Will Be A Day,” is a worship song written by Bill Johnson, Phil Wickham, Brian Johnson, and Chris Davenport. It is the title track on the album “Hymn of Heaven,” released in 2021 on the label, Phil Wickham.

What is Hymn of Heaven about?

This song is a powerful ballad that reflects on the idea of longing and hoping for the future of heaven, in the midst of struggles and doubts. The lyrics speak to the day when problems will be no more and every prayer in answered.

Each verse demonstrates the reality of pain and desperation, while looking ahead. The lyrics of chorus affirm that “There will be a day when all will now before Him. There will be a day when death will be nor more. Standing face to face with He who died and rose again. Holy holy is the Lord.”

What does Hymn of Heaven sound like?
Musically, the song starts with simple piano chords, with little accompaniment. The melody is simple and easily sung. The chorus introduces a little more energy and introduces more chord changes.

There is a simple melodic piano lick that happens at the end of the chorus in order to easily identify the song and help it move back into the next verse.

As the song progresses, it builds musically into strong and vibrant choruses that are suited well for a full choir. Finally, the song ends with a tag to emphasize the last few words and then musically ends with a strong chord.

This worship song is played in the key of E.

How do you play Hymn of Heaven on guitar?

For today's lesson, we're covering Hymn of Heaven by Phil Wickham. And if you haven't heard this song, go check it out. A lot of churches are starting to incorporate it into their worship sets.

It's a really great song, and we're going to talk about some different capo options and different chord options with your left hand and with your right hand.

We'll also cover how to strum it the best way to get you from cord to cord pretty easily.

Let's take a look at the chart and see what's happening as a whole with this song. You can download the chart for free just check out the link in the description box.

So this song is in the key of E so let's talk a little bit about the key of E and what you can do with this song or any other song in the key of E. The most obvious option, is to use the E chord family.

And I cover the E chord family in my intermediate course that you can check out on the site.

However, another option (and this is what we'll do today) is to use a capo and put it on the second fret, using D chord shapes. D plus capo 2 is going to put you in the key of E. All of your chords will be a little bit easier to play.

There is a third option as well. We won't spend a lot of time on it, but I do want to
show it to you. This is called a shortcut capo. It will allow your little two strings to ring out as well as your low E string.

Using this capo is similar to using a normal capo and playing D chord shapes. However, the main difference is that anything that's on the the little two strings can open up, which will complement what's happening with your your E chord family.

For a G chord, you can lift off the fingers that play the bottom two string, so they are open. Now, let's look at a D chord. For this chord, you can play every string, since the short cut capo doesn't clamp down on the low E string.

This will create a nice, full sounding D chord. This type of capo also makes chords
pretty easy to play.

Anytime you have a song in the key of E, just know that the shortcut capo. can be a really good option for you.

So let's go back to using a normal capo on the 2nd fret, and let's talk about the chords that we're groin see in this song.

You will, of course, see many of the normal D chord family chords. With this chord family, I always encourage people to keep their
ring finger on the 2nd string, because that will help you with all kinds of chord switches like D to G or a D chord to an A chord.

One unique chord you'll encounter in this worship song is an A/C#. This is a tricky chord that means an A chord with the C# as the bass note. This type of chord is also known as an inversion.

You can play that new bass note by using your ring finger on the fourth fret of the D string, and then bar the A chord with your index finger.

You could also play a regular A chord and then use your pinky to cover the bass note. This
is a more difficult option, however.

Remember, that with any slash chord, such as A/C#, you can always just disregard the
second note (the C#) and let your bass player get that. You can just play the A chord.

You'll see this chord as a passing cord, which means it happens quickly during one beat of the measure.

There are a few ways to play the D/F# chord. the first way is to play the D chord and then use your thumb to wrap around the neck to cover the F# bass notes on the 2nd fret of the low E string.

The easier way to play it is to take your middle and pointer fingers of a D chord, and move them up a few strings. This will create what's called a D2/F# chord. Also, remember that you can just play a D chord and not worry about the F#!

For a Bm chord, there is a similar trick. You can use a D2/B instead. To do so, move both your middle and pointer fingers up two strings, each,

Start the strum on your fifth string to play this chord. So you still have your B as a base note.
You're just not playing an actual B minor. Instead, you are combining the D chord with a B bass note.

You'll see a Dsus chord in the verses. The best way to play this chord is to start with a D chord and then add your pinky on the bottom string, on the 3rd fret.

"Sus" just stands for suspended, and in this case, you will be playing a Dsus4 chord.

That should get you going, as far as your left hand and your cords are concerned. Now, let's talk about your right hand and strumming.

In looking at the chord chart, you can see that there are a lot of boxes with hatch marks over the chords. This signifies that the chords within the boxes share the beats of a particular measure of the song.

In some cases, the two chords share the measure unequally. For instance, one chord might get three beats, while another chord may only get one beat. So anytime you see the little marks, look and see how many beats a particular chord will get.

As far as your strum pattern, ,if you listen to this song, you'll hear that the acoustic guitar isn't leading everything. Piano is used as the main instrument and the band surrounds.

So, with this particular song, there are a few strum pattern options. The first option is to apply any 4/4 strum pattern that we have covered before.

However, for this worship song, Hymn of Heaven, you mainly hear down strums as eighth notes. For each beat of the measure, simply strum down two times per beat of each measure.

At the end of the song you'll see a diamond, which just means to play it once and let it ring out for the entire measure. This is similar to a whole note.

You can also play diamonds at the beginning of the song. Just strum once per chord.

Now, let's cover the lick that you hear at the end of the chorus. In the track, you'll hear the piano play this part; however, you can play it on guitar as well.

For my right hand I'm plucking, using my thumb, just to give it a little bit of a warmer sound; however, you can use a pick if you'd like.

For your left hand, start on the D string (the fourth string from the bottom) on the fourth fret with your ring finger. Next, the pointer can get the second fret of the 3rd string (the third string from the bottom).

After that, play the fourth fret on the same string. Hop back up to where you started, the fourth fret of the fourth string.

Finally, you'll play the 2nd are on that same string to end it out.

This is a pretty simple lick, but it does a lot to complete either another guitar or piano.

So now, you have everything that you need to play the song him of Heaven.