Tears in Heaven

How to play Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton on guitar

Tears in Heaven is a great song to learn because it is gentle, emotional, and very rewarding at a slow tempo. You will get a calm, reflective feel while building control over clean chord changes and steady timing.

Most of the song sits on familiar open shapes, with F#m as the main harder shape to watch. The opening move from A to F#m and back to A is the change that can catch you out, so keep your fretting hand relaxed and aim for smooth transitions.

Start by looping A - F#m - A - E until the shapes feel automatic. Then practice the same progression with a slow, even pulse, and only speed up when every change sounds clean. After that, run the full song in short sections and link them together.

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.