The A Team

How to play The A Team by Ed Sheeran on guitar

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

This is a great beginner song to learn because it feels calm, steady, and musical right away. You can focus on clean chord changes and let the progression do most of the work, which makes it rewarding even at a slower tempo.

You will spend most of your time moving between open shapes and a couple of harder barre shapes. The open chords are A, D, and E, while F#m and Bm take more finger strength. The change to watch most closely is the move from A into F#m and back through D, since that shift can feel awkward at first.

Start by practicing the opening progression slowly, one change at a time, until your fingers land cleanly. Then loop A - F#m - D - A with a steady count, and only speed up when each switch feels reliable. Once that is smooth, run the full song shape changes at a relaxed pace and build toward the target tempo.

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.