Thinking Out Loud Chords

Song Difficulty

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Lesson Description

In this free guitar lesson we will be learning Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran. This popular tune is a great song for beginners. This lesson also includes a tab sheet that you can download to follow along with the video. Thinking Out Loud chords are A, D, Em, Bm, and G.  There are also A7 and D/F# used in the song. In the verse of the song Ed uses a quick hammer on lick over the A chord going into the D chord.  This short melodic lick leads us back the the beginning of the phrase.

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Video Transcript

in this lesson we're going to be learning thinking out loud by ed sheeran.
pretty good tune for beginners. pretty basic.
Its got three parts and it would be in the Key of D major
so we're gonna have a D Major chord and I like to finger pick this it's not really a finger picking in the sense of finger picking arpeggios. but it's kind of got that feel of plucking the strings like this.
ok so we have a D, an A Major and a G Major you could play it like that as well without the pinkie we're gonna have an E minor chord an A7 chord and a B Minor chord so if you're a beginner this is gonna be the toughest chord for you cause we got the barre chord in there
so the song starts out with this verse material intro and verse material
its got this little lick in it, so it just repeats that pattern. we have this little slur hammer on dwon within out D MAjor chord here so you're gonna pluck without your first finger on you're gonna hammer it down on the second fret of the G string. and then we're gonna cut the sound off but it's also like a little percussive dead note effect so so I'm just kinda slapping my fingers lightly on the strings to stop it but you're doing it in time so
Now this part is a little tricky we're playing a D Major chord with the F Sharp on the bottom so it gives it the illusion that the chord is changing even though it's really not it's just you're putting the third of the chord on the bottom just like a bassline.
I mean technically if you're playing with a bass player you can stay on the D and just play it like that but it sounds a lot nicer if you add the bass on the bottom so I'm doing that with my thumb. if you can't do that you could switch and play the third on the bottom with your first finger `so I am going from here. I'm switching these two fingers if you can see that and then just be careful not to pluck the high E String
Ok so, we got our D with a hammer on then our D with the F sharp on the bottom we have a G, A. So far..
Ok, I'm picking, I'm not actually picking the high E string at all so on the first chord I'm just picking with these three fingers then i'm using my thumb on the low E string still picking D, G and B with these fingers same thing here then on the A my thumb switches down to playing the root or bassnote on the A String. so, then here... it's just a hammer on from second fret of the g string to the fourth fret then you play the second fret of the D String it's a real quick hammer on almost like a slide and then it repeats now you could play this with a pick you could also play it with a pick so that's the verse and it's the chorus material as well you just don't do the little hammer on thing at the end that thing so it's just...
ok? so there's only two more parts so let's take a look at the bridge next.
Ok so the bridge is going to start with an E minor chord and it's gonna be pretty much all down strokes or if you're playing with a pick you're just plucking so it's gonna be E, E minor, A7, to D so then it goes the first two bars are E Minor , A7, D. Then we go E minor again then we just go to the A7, ok, then we go E minor , A7, B minor.. then we go E minor again, and then we go and there's a stop. that's A7 there. SO again for the bridge. E minor, A7, D, E minor A7E minor A7 B minor, E minor , A7.. Ok if you were strumming that, it'll be all down strokes really. ok and then i think it goes back to a chorus or a verse or something. now there's a little tag at the end of these its B minor, A, G.. E minor.. I'm sorry.. B minor.. A , G, D, E minor, A7, D.. Sounds like this..That's the only other part. So you can strum that or or you could pick that. OK so, that's pretty much it. make sure always when you're learning tunes to go and listen to the song if you don't have a recording of the song an mp3 or a cd or what have you, go to youtube and search the song title. thinking out loud by Ed sheeran and listen to the original song. It's always important when you're learning a song to listen to the original recording so That's it for thinking out loud by ed sheeran