Thinking Out Loud

How to play Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran on guitar

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

Thinking Out Loud is a great beginner song because it feels smooth, warm, and steady under your fingers. You get a relaxed groove that lets you focus on clean changes and even timing, so it is a good one for building confidence while still sounding musical.

Most of the song uses open shapes, with D, G, A, and Em doing the heavy lifting. Bm is the harder shape, so give that one extra attention if it appears in your chart. The main change to watch is moving cleanly between D, G, A, and back to D without rushing.

Start by looping the opening D - G - A - D slowly until the shapes feel automatic. Then add the rest of the chord sequence one change at a time, keeping your strums light and steady. When that feels solid, bring it up toward the song tempo and aim for smooth transitions over speed.

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.