Khalid - American Teen: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "American Teen" on your guitar with our chord guide. This page provides everything you need to perform this song on the guitar, including lyrics integrated with chords, chord diagrams, and a key transposer to match your vocal range.

For easier playing, use our Simplify Chords feature to remove difficult chords like barre.

            F
Living the good life full of goodbyes
C/E
My eyes are on the grey skies
       G
Saying I don't want to come home tonight
               F
Yeah, and I'm high up, off what?
C/E
I don't even remember
         G
But my friend passed out in the Uber ride

                  F              C/E
Oh, I'm from the city of the 9-1-5
                          G
Where all the girls are pretty
And they're down for the hype
                 F
All my boys are with me
                  C
Going up for the night
         G
But who cares, who cares
                    F  C/E
'Cause this is our year

Chorus:
                        G
So wake me up in the spring
                                 F  C/E
While I'm high off my American dream
                             G
We don't always say what we mean
That's the lie of an American teen

Maybe the end is near
But I've been waiting all year
To get the hell up out of here
And throw away my fears
I'm so faded (I'm so faded)
Off of all the things that I've taken, and
Maybe I'm not really drunk
Maybe I'm really good at faking

From the city of the 9-1-5
Where all the girls are pretty
And they're down for the hype
All my boys are with me
Going up for the night
But who cares, who cares
'Cause this is our year

Chorus

   C/E                         G
My youth is the foundation of me
                            F              C/E
Living life as an American teen (American teen)
          G
American teen
         F
Mmm, oh yeah
C/E                          G
We don't always say what we mean
                                  F
When we're high off our American teen
   C/E                         G
My youth is the foundation of me
                           F C/E
Oh, I'm proud to be American

Chorus:
So wake me up in the spring
While I'm high off my American (American dream)
And we don't always say what we mean
It's the lie of an American teen
My youth is the foundation of me
Living life as an American teen
American teen (American teen)

American Teenager
And I'll be living this dream with you

We don't always say what we mean
When we're high off our American teen
My youth is the foundation of me
Oh, I'm proud to be American


You can simplify chords by removing barre

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Simplify chords by removing barre

Guitar Chord Diagrams

Am

Guitar chord Am

C

Guitar chord C

E

Guitar chord E

F

Guitar chord F

G

Guitar chord G

Here you can see detailed diagrams for each guitar chord used in the song. Utilize our key transposer to adjust the chords to a key that better fits your singing range. Simply select the desired key, and the chords throughout this page will update automatically, ensuring you can play and sing comfortably.

If you are also interested in learning how to play "American Teen" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "American Teen" by Khalid.