Breaking Me

How to play Breaking Me by Topic on guitar

These are the sounding chords. With a capo on fret 4 you play Em, D, C, Am, the shapes the player above shows.

Breaking Me is a great beginner song because it sits in a steady groove and keeps repeating the same small group of chords. You can focus on getting comfortable with the feel of the progression instead of chasing lots of changes, and the moderate tempo helps you settle into it quickly.

You will spend most of your time on barre shapes for G#m, F#, and C#m, while E is the easier open shape. The main thing to watch is the move from G#m to F# and then into E, since that shift shows up right away in the opening progression and keeps coming back.

Start by looping G#m - F# - E - F# very slowly until your fingers land cleanly. Then practice the full cycle in time, first with pauses between chords, then with shorter gaps, and finally at full tempo. Once the changes feel automatic, play along with the song and keep the motion relaxed.

Use the play-along above to follow each chord change in time with the music, or learn the shapes first with the chord diagrams below.