Help making this song playable for me?

I should clarify... I don't necessarily want to pick it... strumming is good. 

I was afraid I'd be told that.  My Dad can play his stuff... but then, my Dad's been playing since he was a kid!

Cmon Amy, buckle down and learn this thing. The only chord that looks odd is the C7. Everything else should be easy enough for you. It will take some time but you can do it. Or get into it a little bit at a time, then when you do decide to go for it you will some of it down already. Have your dad help you out too.

You can do it.

Hi Amy, I think I know where you are having difficulty..... the C Am/B Am change happens pretty quickly and that change can be a stinker.  The chords here on the link you provided are correct (I have Jim's big book and they are the same).  You might try using a simple Em in place of the Am/B and catch it on the upstroke heavy on the bass strings, and the Am on the downstroke to get the timing to fit the recording.  The Am/G however requires that you kinda hammer your pinky on the low E string and that can be another hangup to practice around.  It is easier to use the 345 fingers for the open G as well to speed up those changes.

Once again the cure is practice and lots of it, breaking it all down into phrases and working it through slowly until it comes easy enough to pick up the pace.  Croce is one of my personal faves and I learned most of his stuff back when I was getting back into fingerpicking... this one came right back to me first thing through, but I still have some rough spots in "I have to say I love you in a song"  some challenging chords in that one too.

Take Care;
Doug

Maybe you could transpose it to a different key for easier chords them capo it to your vocal key. Maybe the key of G capoed on the 5th fret to get the real key of C will work for you. Good luck.

dfoskey... I actually JUST did this before seeing your post.  I didn't even try before because I "thought" as written would be the easiest I would find, but actually -5 semitones is easier for me.  I can jump into that a lot easier!    I am so thrilled to be able to continue to "cheat" my way though the guitar.  LOL!  I WILL be picking up a few different chords though in the process... never fear, I shall continue to learn at my snail pace On the other hand, this doesn't sound too bad without a few of the changes that I'm not familiar with since my voice can drown some of that out for now!  Ha!

It's working great!  Music theory.... so I'm playing it -5 which is G, Em, Am etc... capo on 2nd fret...  So, my G is really an A, is this in the key of A now? (yes, this is as close as my feeble attempt at music theory gets).  I'm seriously thinking I need to start figuring this out more so that at the least, when/if I ever play with my Dad I can tell him what key to play it in so I can sing along, )or at least we can be playing the same stuff (he doesn't use a capo but knows his notes/chords enough to change keys!    Thanks!

It's not cheating. There is no right way to play a song. Just different. Yes the original is what you fell in love with, but if that doesn't fit your voice, then you have to change it. In the end, as long as you're comfortable with it and can say "Yes, I can play that song" then you're good. No such thing as cheating when it comes to playing the guitar.

Glad you found a version that will work for you!

Lovely, MKM. I watched all three videos on the page. Nice!
Who's your buddy? You two appear to be having the best time together.
She will sing as well as you someday.
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