Lauren BatemanGuitar Teacher; Founder of the 7 Level Guitar System

What If God Was One of Us

13 Jul 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:07

In this instructional YouTube video, Lauren Bateman introduces a beginner-friendly guitar arrangement of Joan Osborne’s song “What If God Was One of Us.” She explains that the song can be played using four basic chords—G major, E minor, C major, and D major—while employing a capo on the 2nd fret to brighten the tonal quality. Bateman demonstrates a consistent down‑down‑up strumming pattern (down, down, up, down, down, up) applied to each chord, counting the rhythm as 1‑2‑3‑4. After outlining the chord shapes, capo placement, and strumming technique, a second speaker joins to sing the opening lyrics, providing a live example of the arrangement in action.

Chapters

Hey guitar enthusiasts, I'm gonna do a fun song by Joan Osbourne called What If God Was One of Us, okay? And it uses 4 simple chords. We have a G major chord, an E minor chord, a C chord, and a D chord. I do also have a capo at the 2nd fret of my guitar, so all of these chords are being played relative to the capo. They're going to sound a little bit brighter. And our strumming pattern is going to be down, down, up, down, down, up. 1, 2, and 3, 4, and, and we're gonna do that for each chord. Each chord is going to have a down, down, up. So it's going to sound like this. Down, down, up, down, down, up, down, down, up, down, down, up.
1, 2 and 3, 4 and 1, 2. Here we go. What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home. Aum.