Learn "Yellow" By Coldplay On Guitar!

A Coldplay mega-hit everyone knows!

Yellow was released over 20 years ago, and it's still a song that you'll often hear on the radio. It had a lovely melody to it, and you'll have loads of fun playing it.

Yes - I'm aware the vocal at the start is pretty ropey in my video playthrough. This is a tricky song to sing, and this was the best I could get it without spending hours practicing it!

In this guitar lesson, you'll learn how to play Yellow By Coldplay. I'll show you how to get the correct tuning! That's the biggest issue for many. There's a tuning tweak you have to do to get that original record sound! Playing this song is pretty easy once you get that right.

If you're following my Guitar Courses, this song will be perfect to practice techniques for Grade 3+ students.

🎵 Love this tune? It's part of my Justinguitar Acoustic Songbook. It also has 50 songs for guitar players that are into playing acoustic guitar. It's got all the proper names of the chords & you'll also find loads more songs to play along with! Check it out if you're an acoustic guitar lover. :)

How To Play Yellow By Coldplay

To play this tune, you'll need chords like Badd11 and Emaj7. Don't worry about their names - they're quite easy to play, and I'll walk you through it. :)

Yellow is in the key of B, and you'll have to make a tuning tweak to sound like the record.

All you have to do is tune the thinnest string down on semitone. If you're doing it manually, put your first finger in the fourth fret of the second string. Or - you could use a tuner and tune your thinnest string down one semitone to the D sharp. The tuning gives this new rich sound that makes these common chords sound lovely!

Yellow Guitar Strumming

Most of the way through, the strumming is going to be continuous down strums. If you're a beginner - I suggest you keep it simple and start with this!

You can start putting in small up strokes here and there. But - start with driving eight notes all downstrums.

To give this Coldplay song a bit more movement, accent your strum on beats 2 and 4. This will sound awesome, especially if you're playing by yourself.

🚨 Watch out for the rhythm as far as adding in the upstrokes. Get the rhythm down first!

A Coldplay Hit From The Start

When I volunteered in Ghana back in 2007, I was amazed that almost everyone knew this song! This Coldplay hit reached people all over the world in a way that only music can.

I remember I had this little guitar and was trying to get kids singing Xmas songs. I thought they would single along, but only when one of them started singing Yellow, they all joined in!

They didn't speak English well enough to make sense of any of it. Most of the words were just sounds, but they somehow connected. It was an incredible moment. Music is amazing - some say it's even magical. :)

Get chord, tabs, and lyrics for Yellow and loads more songs with JustinGuitar Tabs!