Learning What A Healing Jesus Lyrics And Chords
The original song is by Chris Tomlin, sometimes listed under its opening line or as "What A Healing Name." It sits in D major, which is a standard worship key for guitar. The capo usually goes on the 2nd fret for the recorded version, which pushes the actual pitch up to E major. Most people who play this at church leave the capo off and just play the D version. D -- xx0232
G -- 3x0033
A -- x02220
Bm -- x24432
F#m -- 2x4422
A7 -- x02020 That F#m is the chord that trips people up. On a standard D-tuning, it's a barre chord at the 2nd fret with the shape of B minor. You can also voice-lead it as a partial shape: x242xx. Both work. The full barre sounds more balanced in the chorus; the partial version leaves room for the vocal line to sit cleanly in the mix.
Verse And Chorus Progression
The verse runs D -- G -- D -- A. You strum it fairly even. Fourth-and-fifth beats are where the space lives. Don't over-strum here. I've seen players nail every chord change and still make the vocal sound cramped because they were driving the rhythm too hard. The chorus shifts to the fuller progression: D -- G -- D -- A -- D -- G -- A. Then it resolves to A7 before circling back to D. That A7 is important. It creates a mild pull toward the D without feeling like a dominant resolve. If you skip the A7 and just go D to A, the end of the chorus loses its forward motion.
What A Healing Jesus Lyrics And Chords
Verse 1 D G At the cross I see Your mercy
D A I can see the depth of grace D G
And it wipes away my failures D A Washes me clean from any trace
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G D What a healing Name the Father gave us D A
All creation sings His praise G D A We will shout and never be silent
D A Let every heart and tongue be swayed G D
What a healing Name that saves us D A Power over death and hell
G D A Every chain and bond is broken D A
Jesus has set us free G D What a healing Name we sing about it
D A Oh the power of that Name G D A
He has made us new forever D A Worthy of all honor and fame
G D What a healing Name Chorus
G D What a healing Name the Father gave us D A
All creation sings His praise G D A We will shout and never be silent
D A Let every heart and tongue be swayed G D
What a healing Name that saves us D A Power over death and hell
G D A Every chain and bond is broken D A
Jesus has set us free
Bridge
Same chord movement, just faster strumming to build intensity: G -- D -- A -- G -- D -- A -- G -- D Then hold the A and drop back into the final chorus.
G D What a healing Name the Father gave us D A
All creation sings His praise G D A We will shout and never be silent
D A Let every heart and tongue be swayed
Practical Notes From Playing This Live
The main issue I run into is the transition from G back to D at the end of each verse. The G chord has that open high E string ringing, and when you shift to D the thumb needs to grab the low D string cleanly. If your fingers overlap during the change, the D sounds muddy. I solved this by lifting the ring finger off the G before moving to D, rather than trying to slide everything across at once. Takes a half-second longer but the chord comes through clean. If you're playing with a band, the A7 works best when the bassist plays an A and the guitarist uses the partial voicing. Full barre on the A7 eats up too much frequency space and fights with the vocal midrange. Capo on 2 gives you the recorded key of E. Capo on 0 keeps it in D. Both are fine. D is easier for most singers to hold over a full set. E is brighter but more straining after four songs in a row.
Look up official sheet music through Hal Leonard or Wonder Worship if you need exact transcriptions. I'm giving you the practical chord framework here. Sheet music varies slightly depending on which arrangement the publisher used.
