Playing From This Moment by Shania Twain
The original recording is in the key of G major, but most people transpose it to E major or D major because the vocal range sits pretty high. The basic progression for the verse and chorus is G, Cadd9, D, and Em. That's about it for the harmony. The song moves at a moderate ballad tempo, roughly 72 beats per minute, so you have plenty of room to let the chords ring out. Here's the progression broken down by section. Verse: G Cadd9 D G. Pre-chorus: Em Cadd9 D D7. Chorus: G Cadd9 D G, then Em Cadd9 D G again. The bridge goes Cadd9 G D Em, which hits a bit different because of that Cadd9 landing first. Strumming pattern is straightforward — down, down-up, up-down-up. Keep it loose. Don't hammer it. I spent way too long trying to nail the Cadd9 to G transition on the chorus because my pinky kept dragging across the high E string. What actually works is lifting all fingers off at once and repositioning as a single motion instead of placing them one by one. Cuts the fretting time from about half a second to nearly zero. Takes a few days of slow practice to make it reliable, but it's worth it.
Common Pitfalls and How to Actually Play It
The D7 in the pre-chorus is where most people stumble. You'll see simplified charts that just say "play D major" everywhere, but the D7 gives you that characteristic pull back to G. Use the fingering x02021. Don't barre it like a full D shape. It'll sound muddy and you'll lose the voice leading. Another thing nobody mentions: the Cadd9 should ideally be played without the C natural in the bass during the chorus. If you strum all six strings you get a C that clashes with the G bass note the melody lands on. Use a partial Cadd9 — x30033 — and you'll hear the difference immediately. The arrangement sounds cleaner and closer to the record. If you're trying to play this with a band, the guitar part is supposed to be mostly arpeggiated in the verses and opened up in the chorus. Don't overcomplicate it. The arrangement is sparse by design. A lot of players try to fill every gap with runs and end up fighting with the vocal melody. Just outline the harmony and let the singer carry it.
I've also seen tablature sites list the key as A major, which throws everyone off by a whole step. Check the reference recording if you're unsure. The recorded version is definitely G. Some karaoke tracks shift it around, but the original studio recording sits in G. If you want a downloadable chord sheet, there are several legitimate sites like Songsterr and Ultimate-Guitar that have it, but honestly you don't need much more than the progression above. The song doesn't change keys or introduce any unusual chords. Once you have the verse-chorus pattern locked in, you can play through the entire track without looking at anything. The main challenge is really just timing the chord changes cleanly at this tempo. Practice with a metronome at 60 first, then bump it up in increments of 4. It usually takes about two weeks of daily practice at ten minutes a day to get the transitions smooth enough to perform without thinking about them.
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