What Wondrous Love

What Wondrous Love, one of my favorite old gospel hymns, for voice, piano and guitar. Download free lead sheets of the famous hymn melody, or a less-well-known pentatonic version, hauntingly beautiful, with free guitar tabs.

I'm not quite done with the full piano arrangement, but will try to get it up in the next few days.

What Wondrous Love is apparently an entirely authentic American hymn. Almost 200 years ago, William Walker wrote it down as he journeyed through the Appalachian Mountains. It appears, along with other hymns and songs he wrote down, in his compilation book "The Southern Harmony, and Music Companion" (1835).

Now here is the alternate melody I told you about, but first, the video from Blue Highway:

You probably noticed that there were no guitars in the song, but I wrote it out for guitar anyway -- or fiddle. The guitar tablature is amazingly easy in all of the three keys, so it will be fun for beginners!

It is a one-chord song; when playing it in the key of Em, for example, you can have the backup instrument just play an Em chord all the way through. Capo up to Fm, if you want to sing in the same key as Blue Highway. (Or just play a difficult-for-beginners Fm barre chord!)

Like many other old gospel hymns, the hymn lyrics focus on the soul's separation from God because of sin.

Though humankind deserved God's "righteous frown," yet because of His great love for those He made, those who were like lost lambs, God took the curse of sin upon Himself. By becoming man -- the God-man -- and dying for sin like a sacrificed Lamb Himself, He freed those He loves (all of us, says the Bible). It is the story of a Great Rescue.

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