(pick the first paragraph, and then the rest is strumming--until the last 3 words) 
 
A5                        G5 
   Hello darkness, my old friend, 
                           A5 
I've come to talk with you again, 
                     F5       C5 
Because a vision softly creeping, 
                        F5       C5 
Left it's seeds while I was sleeping, 
        F5                             C5 
And the vision that was planted in my brain 
        A5 
Still remains 
           G5        A5 
Within the sound of silence. 
 

                             G5 
In restless dreams I walked alone 
                        A5 
Narrow streets of cobblestone, 
                   F5        C5 
'neath the halo of a street lamp, 
                          F5        C5 
I turned my collar to the cold and damp 
        F5                                        C5 
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light 
               A5 
That split the night 
                G5        A5 
And touched the sound of silence. 
 
 
                         G5 
And in the naked light I saw 
                           A5 
Ten thousand people, maybe more. 
                   F5       C5 
People talking without speaking, 
                   F5        C5 
People hearing without listening, 
               F5                       C5 
People writing songs that voices never share 
           A5 
And no one dare 
            G5        A5 
Disturb the sound of silence. 
 
 
                         G5 
Fools said i, you do not know 
                      A5 
Silence like a cancer grows. 
                     F5           C5 
Hear my words that I might teach you, 
                    F5           C5 
Take my arms that I might reach you. 
       F5                           C5 
But my words like silent raindrops fell, 
 
And echoed 
       G5        A5 
In the wells of silence 
 
 
                         G5 
And the people bowed and prayed 
                     A5 
To the neon God they made. 
                         F5       C5 
And the sign flashed out it's warning, 
                      F5     C5 
In the words that it was forming. 
                       F5 
And the sign said, the words of the prophets 
 
 
    A5                    C5 
Are written on the subway walls 
             C5 
And tenement halls. 
                     G5         A5 
And whisper'd in the sounds of silence. 
                    /                  /               
      Picking, here            to here