Let's learn to play the Harry Styles acoustic song "Boyfriends"!

In today's tutorial, we'll learn how to play Boyfriends by Harry Styles on the acoustic guitar. This song has something for everyone – beginners can go for strumming and open chords, while intermediates can try their hand at the lovely 6:8 fingerstyle guitar. :)

We'll start with the chords for the intro, verses, and bridge. No barre chords are required! Then, we'll dive deeply into each section's excellent fingerstyle patterns – picking and embellishments.

🧐 Two Guitar Parts – It’s worth noting that there are two distinct but complementary guitar parts in the original recording of Boyfriends by Harry Styles – one in the left speaker, one in the right.

Unlike the originals, this version blends the two guitar parts and uses a consistent fingerstyle pattern. If you want to get into each part's fine details, I suggest you listen closely to each and figure it out yourself. There are loads to explore, so let's get playing!

Boyfriends by Harry Styles – Intro Chords

First, we'll need our capo on fret 5, and all the chords and frets are relative to this. So if I say "fret 3," I mean three frets above the capo, not fret 3 of the guitar! Boyfriends' time signature is in 6:8 time, meaning there are six strums per bar.

We start on a G chord. I suggest you use this two-finger grip, especially if you want to play fingerstyle. Place finger 3 on 6:3 (string 6, fret 3) and finger 4 on 1:3 (string 1, fret 3). Finger 3 should also mute string 5.

🤔 Why Fret String 6? – Though we often won’t pick string 1 in the fingerstyle patterns, you might accidentally hit it. So let’s fret the entire chord to avoid any bad notes ringing out.

There's a nice embellishment over G in the intro. Fingers 1 and 2 hammer down simultaneously: finger 1 on 2:1 and finger 3 on 4:2.

Practice this by strumming the G chord and hammering the two fingers. Make sure the notes ring clearly. We'll look at the exact rhythm for this riff further down. :)

The intro is three bars of G followed by a pause. Let's look at the verse and bridge chords.

Boyfriends by Harry Styles – Verse and Bridge Chords

Good news – we can play the entire song with open chords. :) The verse progression is G G D D; Am Am C D; G Em Am Am; C D G G. Remember there are six beats in the bar.

The progression changes slightly in the bridge. It's C C G Em; C C G Em; A7 A7 D, then a bar of rest. Play a single strum on beat 1 of the D and let it ring out for two bars. We also switch to G/F# on beat 4 in the bar of G. Just lift finger 3 from 6:3 (G) and add finger 2 to 6:2 (F#).

💡 Unsure of these open chords? Check out the chord boxes below, or head to my Beginner's Course for in-depth lessons on all these chords. :)

Ensure to memorize the chords and chord progression before you do anything fancy; that will make it loads easier to add the fingerstyle pattern. I suggest you write out the chords and play along with the original with simple strumming. :)

The overall song structure is intro, verse, verse, bridge, verse. Have you learned all that? Great! It's time to check out the fingerstyle. :)

Boyfriends by Harry Styles – Intro Fingerstyle

The intro has a beautiful fingerstyle part involving the double hammer-on that we covered above! Here is the first bar.

Beat:    1   2 + 3   4 + 5 + 6 
Finger:  T   T 1 T   T     T
                     2     2
String:  6   4 3 4   4 4h  4 4h
                     2 2h  2 2h

It's tempting to play T 1 2 1 for the first four notes, but T T 1 T fits better in this style. After picking strings 4 and 2 together, we play the double hammer-on with fingers 1 and 2. We pluck strings 6 and 2 at the same time on beat 1 of the remaining bars.

💡 Master The Time Feel – The count for this riff is a little strange. I suggest you listen to the original and try to replicate it rather than counting as you play. :) You can even slow down the original with transcribing software.

Let's look at the verse picking.

Verse & Bridge Fingerstyle Guitar

Here is the basic pattern for the rest of the song.

Beat:      1   2 + 3  4  5 + 6
Finger:    T   T 1 T  T  T 1 T
           2          2  
String:    6   4 3 4  6  4 3 4
           2          2

One little detail: make sure you pluck string 4 very lightly on beat 2 – you can barely hear it!

🚨 Take It Slow: Start by practicing this pattern with the G chord only. After some practice, you can start adding the other chords. We'll need to adjust the pattern a little. :)

Over the D chord, we play the same pattern but move it over to the four thinnest strings. We play strings 4 and 1 together, then pluck strings 2, 3, and 2. On Am, we move the picking for D up one string, avoiding the thinnest string. The pattern stays the same over C.

If you want to make this pattern sound wicked, play a step between Am and C in the verse. Finger 2 goes down on 5:2 on beat 6, and we hit string 5 with the thumb. This movement also happens between G and Em in the bridge, with finger 1 fretting 6:2. Over Em, we use the same picking pattern as we do for G.

Let's add some more fancy stuff if you're cool with that. :)

Boyfriends by Harry Styles – Fingerstyle Guitar Embellishments

Though the double hammer-on is most obvious in the intro, it sounds great over G in the verses. I hear it in the first verse of the original track.

On the Am, you can play a little sus2 embellishment on beat 1. Pinch string 5 and open string 2, then immediately hammer on finger 1 at 2:1. You can also try out the sus4 version by hammering on finger 4 at 2:3. The same goes for the D chord: remove finger 1 for the sus2 (XX0230) or add finger 4 to 1:3 for the sus4 (XX0233).

These are my suggested embellishments, not the ones found on the original. It's too complicated to go through all the variations from Harry Styles' version!

💡 To Copy or Not To Copy? There is much to learn from mimicking his playing, but you should also feel free to leave your mark on the song and make it your own. This is very beneficial too.

Let's spice up the bridge too. :)

Boyfriends by Harry Styles – Bridge Guitar Embellishments

When we switch from C to G, we play a climb down with the bass notes. On beats 4, 5, and 6, we play 5:3 (C), 5:2 (B), then 5:0 (A). Since we pluck 6:3 (G) on beat 1 of G, we end up with a lovely bass run between the chords (C B A G).

🚨 Remember: the bridge progression is C C G Em; C C G Em; A7 A7 D, with a change to G/F# on beat 4 of G.

Otherwise, the fingerstyle pattern is the same as before. Remember to experiment with Dsus2 and Dsus4. :)

Explore The Guitar Parts

If you want to record various guitar parts, I suggest you listen to Harry Styles' playing on the original record. They are almost the same as one another, with only slight variations. They also sound organic – not looped or sterile. Explore it by yourself and see what you find.

I recommend you don't figure out all the minute details of the guitar parts unless you're in a Harry Styles tribute band and want to nail them. I think it's best you add your twist to the song. Explore your embellishments but be sparing and ensure they don't clash with the vocal melody. :)

Boyfriends is a beautiful song with lovely 6:8 fingerpicking. There is plenty to explore, and you have lots of scope for adding your twist. Now, go and practice it! Have fun. :)

🎵 Get chords, lyrics, and tabs for Boyfriends and my other song tutorials with JustinGuitar Tabs!