Chords + Lyrics | Love Story
Intro
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 | Dsus2/A | Dsus2/A |
| Dsus2/B | Dsus2/B | Dsus2/G | Dsus2/G |
Verse 1
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 |
We were both young when I first saw you.
| Dsus2/G | Dsus2/G | Dsus2/B | Dsus2/B |
I close my eyes and the flashback starts, I’m standin’ there.
| Dsus2/G | Dsus2/G |
On a balcony in summer air.
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 |
See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns.
| Dsus2/G | Dsus2/G | Dsus2/B | Dsus2/B |
See you make your way through the crowd and say: “Hello”.
| Asus4 | A |
Little did I know.
Bridge 1
| Dsus2/G | Dsus2/A |
That you were Romeo, you were throwin’ pebbles.
| Dsus2/B | Dsus2 |
And my daddy said: “Stay away from Juliet”.
| Dsus2/G | Dsus2/A |
And I was cryin’ on the staircase.
| Dsus2/B | Dsus2/G A |
Beggin’ you, “Please don’t go”, and I said:
Chorus 1
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 |
Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone.
| A | A |
I’ll be waiting, all there’s left to do is run.
| Bmadd4 | Bmadd4 |
You’ll be the prince, and I’ll be the princess.
| Dsus2/G | Asus4 A |
It’s a love story, baby just say: “Yes”.
Instrumental 1
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 |
Verse 2
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 |
So I sneak out to the garden to see you.
| Dsus2/G | Dsus2/G | Dsus2/B | Dsus2/B |
We keep quiet ’cause we’re dead if they knew, so close your eyes.
| Asus4 | A |
Escape this town for a little while, oh, oh.
Bridge 2
‘Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter.
And my daddy said: “Stay away from Juliet”.
But you were everything to me.
I was beggin’ you, “Please don’t go”, and I said:
Chorus 2 (double)
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 |
Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone.
| A | A |
I’ll be waiting, all there’s left to do is run.
| Bmadd4 | Bmadd4 |
You’ll be the prince, and I’ll be the princess.
| Dsus2/G | A |
It’s a love story, baby just say: “Yes”.
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 |
Romeo save me, they’re tryna’ tell me how to feel.
| A | A |
This love is difficult, but it’s real.
| Bmadd4 | Bmadd4 |
Don’t be afraid, we’ll make it out of this mess.
| Dsus2/G | A |
It’s a love story, baby just say “Yes”.
Solo
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 | A | A |
Oh, oh-oh.
| Bmadd4 | Bmadd4 | Dsus2/G | A |
Middle 8
| Bmadd4 | Gmaj13 |
I got tired of waiting.
| Dsus2 | Asus4 |
Wonderin’ if you were ever comin’ around.
| Bmadd4 | Gmaj13 |
My faith in you was fading.
| Dsus2 | A5 |
When I met you on the outskirts of town, and I said:
Chorus 3
| D | D |
Romeo save me, I’ve been feeling so alone.
| A | A |
I keep waiting for you but you never come.
| Bm | Bm |
Is this in my head? I don’t know what to think.
G | A N.C |
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said:
Chorus 4
| E | E |
Marry me Juliet, you’ll never have to be alone.
| B | B |
I love you and that’s all I really know.
| C#m | C#m |
I talked to your dad go pick out a white dress.
| A | B |
It’s a love story, baby just say “Yes”.
Outro
| E | E |
Oh, oh-oh
| B | B | C#m | C#m |
Oh, oh-oh, oh.
| A | A |
‘Cause we were both young when I first saw you.
Love Story Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Love Story. I’ve used stem separation 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?
Love Story is a masterclass in pop songwriting – let’s examine each section to uncover the formula!
A key ingredient is taking something familiar and giving it a twist. Here, Taylor Swift draws inspiration from Mr. Brightside by The Killers, reshaping the riff from an add9 into a sus2 and transposing it into the more guitar-friendly key of D.
The order of notes in the moving bass line beneath the static sus2 shifts in each section.
Intro
The intro establishes the modified riff like this:
Dsus2 – /A – /B – /G.
This outlines a I – V – VI – IV progression, one of the most common in modern pop.
Each chord lasts two bars. Written out fully, it looks like this:
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 | Dsus2/A | Dsus2/A |
| Dsus2/B | Dsus2/B | Dsus2/G | Dsus2/G |
Verse
In the verse, the bass line changes to:
Dsus2 – /G – /B – /G.
After repeating, it resolves to A. The full progression for verse 1 is:
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 | Dsus2/G | Dsus2/G |
| Dsus2/B | Dsus2/B | Dsus2/G | Dsus2/G |
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 | Dsus2/G | Dsus2/G |
| Dsus2/B | Dsus2/B | Asus4 | A |
To maintain momentum, verse 2 is shortened to just the second half of verse 1.
To see how to play these chords effectively in a band setting, check out the TAB further down this guitar lesson.
Bridge
The bridge reshuffles the order, starting on the IV before moving V – VI – I, while keeping Dsus2 as the anchor.
The final bar after the repeat moves IV – V:
| Dsus2/G | Dsus2/A | Dsus2/B | Dsus2 |
| Dsus2/G | Dsus2/A | Dsus2/B | Dsus2/G A |
Chorus + Solo
The first chorus builds on familiar material, now outlining I – V – VI – IV – V:
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 | A | A |
| Bmadd4 | Bmadd4 | Dsus2/G | Asus4 A |
This is followed by an instrumental section, identical to the first two bars of the intro.
The second double chorus—and the solo—are almost the same, but the Asus4 is replaced with a straight A for a smoother loop:
| Dsus2 | Dsus2 | A | A |
| Bmadd4 | Bmadd4 | Dsus2/G | A |
Chorus 3 simplifies things further, using triads and ending with a stop:
| D | D | A | A |
| Bm | Bm | G | A N.C |
For maximum impact, the final section lifts everything up a tone:
| E | E | B | B |
| C#m | C#m | A | B |
The song then resolves by landing on chord IV, creating a sense of forward motion and optimism that mirrors the lyrics:
| E | E | B | B |
| C#m | C#m | A | A |
Middle 8 (Breakdown)
After the solo, a middle8/breakdown leads into chorus 3. The same harmonic language is used, but with a new order and added extensions: VI – IV – I – V.
To maximise the sound on a single guitar, I’ve used Bmadd4 (played as a Bm in an Am shape with an open top E string), followed by a Gmaj13 created by shifting the bass note to G.
The progression is:
| Bmadd4 | Gmaj13 | Dsus2 | Asus4 |
| Bmadd4 | Gmaj13 | Dsus2 | A5 |
Final thoughts
While the chords in Love Story may sound sophisticated, they’re largely built from open-position chord shapes. It’s the subtle variations and rich, layered production that create the overall effect.
As the only guitarist in a band, the real challenge is translating that production into a single, effective part. I spent several days working this out and have TABBED the entire song from start to finish (available furtehr down this lesson).
Once you’ve practiced and absorbed it, this chord chart is all you’ll need for the gig.
Love Story Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
You can download my chord chart as a static PDF, or—if you’d like to customise it—grab the iReal Pro version instead.
Love Story | TAB
Let’s learn this epic tune by studying custom-made TAB that works for the sole guitarist in a band.
Intro
The intro establishes the riff and looks like this:
On the recording, there are layers of guitars. If you have a second guitarist live, it’s a good idea for them to establish the movement using power chords—here’s a part that works well:
That said, you could just as easily have the bass player cover this movement higher up the neck using single notes. To avoid turning this into the world’s longest beginner lesson, I won’t include further second guitar parts.
Verse
The verse begins with guitar alone. When the bass enters, it works well to tie the last note into the chord change and leave the downbeat for the bass player. Here’s how that looks in TAB:
Verse 2 follows the second half of verse 1 harmonically, but we vary the part by including more bass notes:
Bridge
The bridge builds towards the chorus while maintaining a similar riff. The chords move more quickly, and the bass line changes:
Chorus
There are several variations of the chorus. Here’s the first:
I’ve intentionally played less here to let the bass and drums drive the section. This creates a bigger impact, using long, sweeping rhythms before moving into 8th notes. We finish with an instrumental identical to the first two bars of the intro.
Chorus 2 is the same but drops the Asus4, allowing it to loop more smoothly:
Chorus 3 follows the build-up, with chords simplified into triads. Here’s a part that fits well:
Chorus 4 and the outro introduce a key change. Notice how the third chord hit uses one fewer string each time. We also begin with single notes before expanding into power chords:
Solo
The solo is heavily layered in the original recording. Here’s a way to combine those melodies into a single playable part:
You could analyse the harmony in detail, but it quickly becomes overcomplicated:
- Dsus2 can be heard as Dsus4 – D – sus2, then sus2 – D – sus2
- A7sus4 works as a general name for most of the notes, though the final note introduces a 6
- Bmadd4 is slightly misleading; a more accurate view would be Bmb6 – Bm – Bsus4 – Bm, followed by a B minor scale
The final two bars become even harder to label clearly—so the best approach is simply to learn the TAB.
And that’s the key point: just learn the TAB. This is a beginner song, so there’s no need to get lost in complex chord theory at this stage.
Middle 8
The same applies here—focus on the TAB rather than the chord names.
The first chord (Bm with an open E string) can be called Bmadd4. The next chord, Gmaj13, is the same shape with a different bass note—just shift the bass while holding the upper structure.
Once you can play all of this, practise along with the backing tracks—and then find yourself a band!
Once you’ve got a band with a repertoire, only then will all this music theory stuff becomes relevant as you dig deeper and learn more complex music.
Love Story’s chords are a great stepping stone as they are easy to play, but maybe too complicated to fully understand.
A Masterclass in Hit Writing and Arrangement
While transcribing Love Story, I spotted all the classic tricks used in writing and arranging a hit. Here’s a bullet-point breakdown:
- Take something everyone recognises (the riff from Mr. Brightside by The Killers) and use it as a reference
- Change it—ideally simplify the idea and shift the genre
- Make small variations to keep the listener’s attention
- Start with the musical theme; avoid vocals so a radio DJ can talk over the intro
- Use the first verse to set up the story, often with subtle undertones
- Let the bridge build naturally
- Bring in the chorus at around the one-minute mark
- Return to a verse but shorten it to increase intensity
- Repeat the bridge unchanged to create familiarity
- Loop the chorus
- Peak with a solo over the same chord progression
- Strip it back with a breakdown or middle 8
- Rebuild with a chorus using different production and simpler chords
- Add a key change for the final chorus
- Repeat the chorus as an outro
- End abruptly
Apply these touchpoints to your next song, and you might just have a hit!
Love Story Chords: Continue Learning
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