Chords + Lyrics | Flowers
Intro
| Cmaj7 | Cmaj7 |
Verse 1
| Am7 | Dm7 |
We were good, we were gold.
| G | Cmaj7 |
Kinda dream that can’t be sold.
| Am7 | Dm7 |
We were right, ’til we weren’t.
| G | Cmaj7 |
Built a home and watched it burn.
Bridge 1
| Am | Dm7 |
Mm, I didn’t wanna leave you, I didn’t wanna lie.
| E7 | N.C |
Started to cry, but then remembered I.
Chorus 1
| N.C Am7 | Dm7 | G | Cmaj7 C/B |
I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand.
| Am7 | Dm7 | G | Cmaj7 C/B |
Talk to myself for hours, say things you don’t understand.
| Am7 | Dm7 | G | Cmaj7 C/B |
I can take myself dancing, and I can hold my own hand.
| Fmaj7 | E |
Yeah, I can love me better than, you can.
Chorus tag 1
||: Am7 | Dm7 | G | Cmaj7 C/B :||
Can love me better, I can love me better, baby.
Can love me better, I can love me better, baby.
Verse 2
Paint my nails, cherry red.
Match the roses that you left.
No remorse, no regret.
I forgive every word you said.
Bridge 2
Ooh, I didn’t wanna leave you, baby, I didn’t wanna fight.
Started to cry, but then remembered I.
Chorus 2
I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand.
Talk to myself for hours, yeah, say things you don’t understand.
I can take myself dancing, yeah. I can hold my own hand.
Yeah, I can love me better than, you can.
Chorus tag 2
Can love me better, I can love me better, baby.
Can love me better, I can love me better, baby.
Can love me better, I can love me better, baby.
Can love me better, oh, I.
Bridge 3 (breakdown)
I didn’t wanna leave you, I didn’t wanna fight.
Started to cry, but then remembered I.
Chorus 3
I can buy myself flowers (oh-oh). Write my name in the sand (mm).
Talk to myself for hours (yeah). Say things you don’t understand (you never will).
I can take myself dancing, yeah. I can hold my own hand.
| Fmaj7 | E | Fmaj7 | E |
Yeah I can love me better than. Yeah I can love me better than, you can.
Chorus tag
||: Am7 | Dm7 | G | Cmaj7 C/B :||
Can love me better, I can love me better, baby (oh).
Can love me better, I can love me better (than you can), baby.
Can love me better, I can love me better, baby.
Can love me better, I.
Flowers Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Flowers. I’ve used stem-seperation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
Miley Cyrus Flowers presents a unique challenge for guitarists, as there’s no guitar on the original recording.
When adapting a song like this, I start by identifying the core chord progression and then transcribe standout instrumental parts for inspiration. In Flowers, the bassline is the most distinctive element, so I transcribed it first—it’s surprisingly fun to play along with the original recording!
From there, I developed several guitar arrangements, all fully TABBED out for you. You can find them further down this guitar lesson.
Before you dive in to all that, let’s look at Flower’s chord progressions, starting with the verse.
Verse
Here are the diatonic chords for the verse:
||: Am7 (VI) | Dm7 (II) | G (V) | Cmaj7 (I) :||
Bridge
In the bridge, Am7 changes to a plain Am, followed by Dm7 and E7 (IIIx):
| Am | Dm7 | E7 | N.C |
Chorus
At first, the chorus is as the verse, then, in the second half of the last bar, play C/B for a smooth transition. The last two bars are chords IV – IIIx.
| N.C Am7 | Dm7 | G | Cmaj7 C/B |
||: Am7 | Dm7 | G | Cmaj7 C/B :||
| Fmaj7 | E |
Once you’ve worked through the TAB and nailed the parts, don’t forget to bring this chord chart to the gig—you’ll be ready to go!
Flowers Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Flowers chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro. Here’s a link to the file: Flowers chord chart iReal Pro. You can change the key using this and the iRealPro app.
Flowers | TAB
To be fair, the best part of Flowers is the bass line—it’s so much fun to play! The chords are, let’s say, somewhat ambiguous.
Do let’s start by looking at said bass line in guitar TAB. Make sure you understand all the intervals throughout—this is really important.
The intervals are almost entirely chord tones. A few 2nds/9ths are added, but it’s mainly triads.
The best part of the entire tune is how beat 1 of the chorus is a rest—this is genius!
Make sure you play this bass line along with the backing track. As you listen, focus on what’s going on beyond the bass, drums, and vocals.
After working through it myself, I realised we can do more harm than good here—so I’m just going to play along with the rhythm of the snare. Since we don’t have layered handclaps live, a simple chord on each snare hit won’t get in the way—it’ll enhance things.
For the intro, verse, and bridge, we can follow the keyboards—maybe using delay, chorus, or a rotary effect to emulate an organ. If you’ve got a keyboard player, try not to crowd their space.
Here’s the part I worked out for the intro, verse, and bridge:
Honestly, I feel that anything more than this will just get annoying—it’s all about that bass!
Here’s the first chorus idea, where I’m simply aiming to double the snare:
And here’s another idea for the chorus. I’ve doubled the bass for the Cmaj7 chord by putting the same notes up an octave—just aiming to support what the bass is doing.
Finally, here’s a tag part for the chorus:
Again, I’m doubling the snare. The final lick follows the vocal melody.
Play all these parts along with the backing track, and then decide whether you want to add more or stick with the disciplined approach I’ve laid out in the TAB above.
Is this a rip-off of a Bruno Mars tune?
There’s an internet rumour going around that Flowers is a disco version of Bruno Mars‘s ballad When I Was Your Man.
This claim is based on the lyrics rather than the chords or production, which is usually what people focus on—like Ed Sheeran’s Perfect vs. Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, or Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines vs. another Marvin tune, Got to Give It Up. The most obvious example is Sam Smith’s Stay With Me vs. Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down.
Someone has bought a share of the rights to Bruno’s song, and they’re the ones pursuing legal action against Miley, likely in hopes of making more money.
In the case of Miley vs. Bruno, the similarity is in the lyrics. Here’s Bruno Mars:
That I should’ve bought you flowers and held your hand.
Shoulda gave you all my hours when I had the chance.
Take you to every party, ’cause all you wanted to do was dance.
Now my baby’s dancin’, but she’s dancin’ with another man.
And here’s Miley’s:
I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand.
Talk to myself for hours, say things you don’t understand.
I can take myself dancing, I can hold my own hand.
Yeah, I can love me better than…
I honestly don’t see how this is a rip-off at all.
If you’re worried about copying songs, I’d encourage you to try it anyway—just as an exercise. You don’t have to release it!
Songwriting is a craft, and the most important thing is to keep working at it. If there’s no inspiration, rewriting a song can lead to unexpected ideas.
To me, Flowers sounds very little like Bruno Mars’s tune. If anything, I feel I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor may have been the main inspiration.
Flowers Chords: Continue Learning
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