Yellow

How to play Yellow by Coldplay on guitar

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

Yellow is a great beginner song because it has a calm, steady feel and a memorable progression that is easy to recognize once you settle into it. You can keep your playing relaxed and let the chords ring, which makes it a good choice for building confidence.

You will use one open shape, E, while B, F#, G#m, and F#m are the harder barre shapes. The main thing to watch is the move between B and F#, since that change comes up right away in the opening progression and can feel slow at first.

Start by looping B - F# - B - E very slowly until the shape changes feel smooth. Then practice the barre chords on their own, making sure every note rings clearly, and only after that bring the whole song up toward the full 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.