No one can deny how good a songwriter Ed Sheeran is. The great thing about his songs is that they are fairly simple, often built using basic chord progressions and song structures. His melodies and lyrics carry the songs, without the need for complex arrangements and production techniques.
As he’s become one of the most popular guitarists of his generation, I thought it was about time I gave you some easy songs by Ed Sheeran that you can play on the guitar.
I’ve chosen 12 of the easiest guitar songs by Ed Sheeran that sound awesome, have 4 chords, and are really fun to play, especially on acoustic guitar.
Note – All the songs mentioned below can be played with or without the capo and should be suitable even for beginner guitarists.
So, here it goes.
10 Easy 4 Chord Ed Sheeran Guitar Songs
1. Photograph
Photograph is the last single from Ed’s second studio album ‘X’ which was released in 2014. This song was apparently composed in just half an hour by Ed and Johnny McDaid! The original key of the song is E major and has a very common chord progression.
The chords for the song are D-Bm-A-G and the strumming pattern is DXX-DXX-Dx. The capital D represents a downstroke and X represents a mute. Here you have to mute all the strums marked with ‘X’ with your palm to sound exactly like the original song.
Note – This song is played with a capo on the second fret so make sure to clip one on.
2. Perfect
This song is the fourth single from his third studio album ‘÷’ (divide). It’s so popular that there are thousands of guitar lessons available online for this song. In an interview, Ed said that the inspiration for writing this song came after he listened to rapper Future’s music at James Blunt’s house.
The song’s chord progression is very common, it’s G-Em-C-D, and the strumming pattern is DDD-DDD-DDD-DDD. There are a couple more strumming patterns Sheeran uses that you can find in the video lesson by Kurt Berg mentioned above.
This is one of the easiest songs by Ed Sheeran to learn on the guitar. To sound exactly like the song, use a capo on the first fret.
3. Shape of You
Shape of You is the last single from Ed’s third album ‘÷’ (divide), which was released in the year 2017. This song has a dance vibe to it and can easily be played on an acoustic guitar using 4 chords. It’s in the key of C#m and the whole song is about 3 minutes and 53 seconds long.
This song has a lot of barre chords, which can be challenging for beginner guitar players. If you don’t want to use barre chords, try putting a capo on the second fret and playing the chord progression Bm-Am-G-A.
This chord progression still has one barre chord, but don’t worry, in the video lesson above you can watch Kurt Berg teach how to play the Bm barre chord just like an open chord.
Note: Though you can skip the barre chords in any song by using a capo, it’s a good idea to start working on barre chords at some point. They may feel impossible at first, but over time, as you build strength in your hands and fingers, they’ll become easier and more comfortable. Learning barre chords will open up your guitar playing to different sounds and styles and give you more control over your instrument.
Happier is one of the songs from Ed’s third studio album ‘÷’ (divide). He co-wrote this one with Ryan Tedder and Benny Blanco. Ed explained in an interview that he wrote this song to throw some light on his breakup with his first love and how she is happy with someone else. To learn the complete story you can visit this link.
This song only has 3 chords that are Am-F-C, and it’s perfect for beginner guitarists. Though there are many lessons out there for this song, I highly suggest you watch the one mentioned above by Kurt Berg. In this video, Kurt teaches us how to play the entire song using 3 beginner chord shapes.
5. Afterglow
Afterglow is a folk-pop song and one of the newly released singles by Ed Sheeran. As mentioned in Wikipedia, this is the first single released by Ed after a gap of 18 months. The theme of the song is all about the trip to Antarctica with his wife. The whole song is about 3 minutes and 05 seconds long and is in the key of B.
The chords of this song go like G-Cadd9-Dsus4-Em7 with a capo on the fourth fret. To learn the whole song watch the video above by GuitarZero2Hero. In this video, you will find a full breakdown of the song.
6. Thinking Out Loud
This song is the last single from Ed’s second studio album ‘x’ which was co-written by Sheeran and Amy Wadge. As mentioned in Wikipedia, they completed writing and composing this song in just 20 minutes. There is a very interesting story behind this song, visit this link to know more about it.
Originally the song was written in the key of D and has more than 4 chords but you can play it using the C-F-G-Dm with a capo on the second fret.
7. Galway Girl
This song is a pure fusion of pop, folk, and hip-hop which was released as the third single from Ed’s ‘Divide’ album. Initially Sheeran’s record label was denying to include this track on the album as the song is heavily folk influenced but Sheeran was able to convince them.
The chords of the song goes like Em-G-D-C with a capo on the second fret. You definitely need to try this one on guitar,
8. River
River is a great Pop Rap song by Eminem featuring Ed Sheeran that can be played on acoustic guitar. This is the fifth track from Eminem’s ninth studio album revival. The song starts with Sheeran’s vocals and light guitar strumming in the background. If you heard the song then you will agree with me that the fusion of acoustic strumming and rap beats simply sounds awesome.
The chord progression is also very basic which goes like Em-G-C-D with a capo on the fourth fret. Refer to the video above by Kurt Berg for a detailed lesson.
9. Give Me Love
This is the final single from his debut studio album ‘Plus’. In an interview with Q magazine, Sheeran said he started recording his debut album in a friend’s garden shed in Suffolk. He added, “I went in with pretty much all the songs written, but a couple popped out while we were recording. The last track, ‘Give Me Love,’ for example. That’s an important song for me.”
The feel of the song is very emotional and the chords are pretty much the basic one. The chord progression goes like Am-F-C-Dm-Em with a capo on the first fret. There are little dynamics that you need to take care of while playing this song but overall it is an easy one.
10. Castle On The Hill
This is one of the popular Ed Sheeran songs that was co-produced by Sheeran himself and Benny Blanco. According to Wikipedia, Sheeran reveled that he was influenced from ‘Fallen Empires’ by the Scottish-Northern Irish band Snow Patrol to write this song. You can hear Sheeran talking about his tales living life as a teenager in Framlingham.
This song covers almost three genres of music i.e, Folk, Pop and Rock and can be easily played on an acoustic guitar. You can play it without the capo using the chords D-G-Bm-A. Refer the video above for a brief lesson of this beautiful song.
11. Supermarket Flowers
Supermarket Flowers is the promotional single from Ed’s third studio album ‘Divide’. Despite being a piano-based song, you can easily play it on an acoustic guitar. The chords used in this song are more than four but the good news is they are all open chords. The progression goes like C-Em-F (open) for the intro, C-Em-F-G for the verse, Dm-F-C-G for the pre-chorus, and C-Em-F-G-Am for the chorus.
12. The A Team
Last but not the least we have ‘The A Team’ on this list. This song is the debut solo and lead single from Sheeran’s debut album ‘Plus’. I have listed it at end because the original strumming pattern of this song can be tricky for beginners. If you want a easy version of this song then simply play this video above. In this video Kurt has explained how you can play this one using five open chords with a capo on the second fret.
Summary
Fun Fact about Ed Sheeran – Ed got his first guitar as a gift from his uncle and taught himself the basics of guitar. Later he did take proper lessons. He may not be as good on the technical side but no one can deny how good a songwriter he is.
I hope you liked these 12 easy 4 chords Ed Sheeran guitar songs. To make your work easy I have attached the best and easy video lesson below each song. Make sure to learn one song at a time and not rush. As this blog is completely reader-based, I request you to share this post as much as you can to support it.
