Stand By Me

How to play Stand By Me by Ben E. King on guitar

These are the sounding chords. With a capo on fret 2 you play G, E, C, D, Em, the shapes the player above shows.

Stand By Me is a great beginner song because the groove is steady, familiar, and easy to feel once you lock into the pulse. You get a classic, supportive sound that stays relaxed and musical, so it is a good one for building confidence while keeping the rhythm moving.

You can lean on the open shapes A, D, and E for most of the comfort, while F# and F#m are the harder barre shapes to keep clean. The main change to watch is the move from the opening A - F# - D - E, since that shift asks you to switch between open and barre shapes smoothly.

Start by practicing the chord changes slowly without worrying about speed, then loop the opening progression until your hands know the shapes. After that, bring it up toward tempo in small steps and focus on even timing. Once the changes feel automatic, play through the whole song with a steady, relaxed strum.

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.