Angels | Chords + Lyrics
Intro (0:00)
| E Esus4 | E Esus4 |
Verse 1 (0:08)
| E Esus4 | E | A Amaj7 | B |
I sit and wait, does an angel, contemplate my fate?
| E Esus4 | E | Aadd9 Amaj9 | B |
Do they know, the places where we go, when we’re grey and old?
| F#m7 | A | C#m C#sus2 | Aadd9 A |
‘Cause I’ve been told, that salvation, lets their wings unfold.
Bridge 1 (0:35)
| D5 Dsus2 | A |
So when I’m lying in my bed, thoughts running through my head.
| E | D5 A/C# | E |
And I feel that love is dead, I’m loving angels instead.
Chorus 1 (1:04)
| B5 | C#m | Asus2 | E |
And through it all, she offers me protection, a lot of love, and affection, whether I’m right or wrong.
| Bsus4 | C#m | Aadd9 | E |
And down the waterfall, wherever it may take me, I know that life won’t break me when I come to call.
| F#m11 | D A | E |
She won’t forsake me, I’m loving angels instead.
Verse 2 (1:40)
| E | E | Aadd9 Amaj9 | B5 |
When I’m feeling weak, and my pain walks down a one-way street.
| E | E | A Amaj7 | B |
I look above, and I know I’ll always be blessed with love.
Bridge 2 (2:07)
| D5 | A |
And as the feeling grows, she breathes flesh to my bones.
| E | D A | E |
And when love is dead, I’m loving angels instead.
Chorus 2 (2:23)
| B7omit3 | C#m | Aadd9 | E |
And through it all, she offers me protection, a lot of love, and affection, whether I’m right or wrong.
| Badd4 | C#m | Aadd9 | E |
And down the waterfall, wherever it may take me, I know that life won’t break me when I come to call.
| F#m11 | D/A A | E |
She won’t forsake me, I’m loving angels instead.
Solo (2:59)
| Bm11 Bm7 | A6/9 | E Esus4 | E |
| Bm11 Bm7 | A6/9 | E Eadd9 | E |
| Bm11 Bm7 | A6/9 | E | E |
| Bm11 Bm7 | A6/9 | E |
| B7omit3 | C#m | Asus2 | E |
Chorus 3 (3:49)
And through it all she offers me protection, a lot of love and affection, whether I’m right or wrong.
| Badd4 | C#m | Aadd9 | E |
And down the waterfall, wherever it may take me, I know that life won’t break me when I come to call.
| F#m11 | D5 A | E | Eadd9 |
She won’t forsake me, I’m loving angels instead.
You can learn how to play Angels by Robbie Williams!
My one guitar arrangement is an example of how you could arrange a piano ballad like this, for one acoustic guitar.
For example, the first chord of verse 2, a C-shaped E major, uses the low E string and a pattern moving between the bass note and chord to imitate a traditional piano part.
During the arrangement, open strings are incorporated in order to make the chords sound as big as possible. These chords, because of the open strings incorporated now get some strange-sounding names.
Most strangely perhaps, the Badd4, closest relative here would be the sus4, a chord without the 3rd. With a 3rd, it becomes an add4, very unusual.
The original version of Angels was decorated with massive production, including a full band and string orchestra. To incorporate all this on just one guitar is, of course, impossible. It comes down to picking the most important parts.
A full understanding of the movement of the chords and what the melody does is needed in order to build the arrangement.
Below, you find the first guitar lesson of eight detailing how to play Angels, exactly as I do in the video lesson above.
In the first five steps, we look at different sections, complete with TAB and practice loops. Following this, you get three lessons on modal scales, all relating to how Angels’ chords and melody use the modes.
Angels guitar lesson | Verse and bridge chords, strumming, and TAB
Let’s start learning how to play Angels by Robbie Williams on just one acoustic guitar. This song is in E Ionian, or is it?
We start by learning how to play the verse and bridge in order to find out. Here’s example 1, practice along with the TAB loop in the playlist above for best results.
Here’s example 2, this is verse 2 so if you learn it exactly as written, you know both verses already.
Let’s move on and learn example 3, or bridge 1. Here is the TAB, use the corresponding TAB loop.
And finally, example 4, is bridge 2. More detail in the bass line is now apparent.
When you can play this as written, consider your own variation on this theme.
In the course, we next learn three variations of how to play the chorus. This is followed by how to play the solo and then the complete song with full TAB.
In the final three steps, we look at how to play Angels’ vocal melody, as well as practice all modes the melody uses.
For the complete experience, sign up here.
Angels still end most of Robbie Williams’ live shows
Despite never getting higher than #4 in the U.K. charts, there is little doubt that Angels is by far Robbie Williams’ most popular song.
Only comparable to Wonderwall by Oasis, Angels was voted Best British Song (BRIT awards) of the last twenty-five years in 2005, a position that Wonderwall overtook in 2009.
Angels have sold over one million copies in the UK (two times platinum) and have been covered by many artists and perhaps, more importantly, working musicians, semi-pros, and amateurs. For example, the song claimed the Most Popular Karaoke Song Ever title by PRS.
Williams himself says the song has been “very good to his wallet”.
Angels chords | Related pages
Angels – 8 guitar lessons
Angels is an adventure in playing a big, piano-like, guitar part. Easier than it sounds, we achieve this in just four steps.
Following this, we play the vocal melody, practice the Ionian mode and fit all our CAGED chords around each scale shape.
Advanced Acoustic Songs
These songs use big chord extensions and sometimes, unique and complex chords that incorporate open strings.
Study these in-depth and you will gain a complete understanding of the guitar fretboard, including how to build any scale, arpeggio, or chord.
Angels – 5 similar tunes
- Arthur’s Theme chords
- Beautiful chords
- Can’t Take My Eyes Off You chords
- Love Is In The Air chords
- Red chords
Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams is a fifteen-time BRIT Award-winning English pop singer. Williams’ career started as a member of the pop band Take That in 1990.
When Robbie left Take That in 1995 to pursue a solo career, he had sold twenty-five million records with the group.
Robbie Williams on the web
