Blinding Lights | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
| Eb | Eb | Bb | Bb :||
Verse 1
| Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
I’ve been tryna call, I’ve been on my own for long enough.
| Eb | Eb | Bb | Bb |
Maybe you can show me how to love, maybe.
| Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
I’m going through withdrawals, you don’t even have to do too much.
| Eb | Eb | Bb | Bb |
You can turn me on with just a touch, baby. I look around and,
Bridge 1
| Fm | Fm |
Sin City’s cold and empty (oh).
| Cm | Cm |
No one’s around to judge me (oh).
| Eb | Eb | N.C | N.C |
I can’t see clearly when you’re gone.
Chorus 1
| Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
I said, ooh, I’m blinded by the lights.
| Eb | Eb | Bb | Bb |
No, I can’t sleep until I feel your touch.
| Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
I said, ooh, I’m drowning in the night.
| Eb | Eb | Bb | Bb |
Oh, when I’m like this, you’re the one I trust. Hey, hey, hey!
Instrumental 1
| Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
| Eb | Eb | Bb | Bb |
Verse 2 (half)
I’m running out of time, ’cause I can see the sun light up the sky.
So I hit the road in overdrive, baby. Oh, oh, oh.
Bridge 2
The city’s cold and empty (oh).
No one’s around to judge me (oh).
I can’t see clearly when you’re gone.
Chorus 2
I said, ooh, I’m blinded by the lights.
No, I can’t sleep until I feel your touch.
I said, ooh, I’m drowning in the night.
Oh, when I’m like this, you’re the one I trust.
Middle 8
| Fm | Fm |
I’m just walking by to let you know (by to let you know).
| Cm | Cm |
I can never say it on the phone (say it on the phone).
| Eb | Eb | Bb | Bb |
Will never let you go, this time (ooh).
Chorus 3
| Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
I said, ooh, I’m blinded by the lights.
| Eb | Eb | Bb | N.C |
No, I can’t sleep until I feel your touch. Hey, hey, hey!
Instrumental 2
| Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
| Eb | Eb | Bb | Bb |
Hey, hey, hey!
| Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
| Eb | Eb | Bb | Bb |
Outro (chorus breakdown)
| Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
I said, ooh, I’m blinded by the lights.
| Eb | Eb | Bb | Bb |
No, I can’t sleep until I feel your touch.
Blinding Lights Chords: Learn the progressions
Blinding Lights by The Weeknd is a four-chord song. The order of these chords is unusual, but the chord progression is diatonic.
Because the I chord is in bar 3, we never feel rested and a never-ending loop has been created, like this:
||: Fm (II) | Fm | Cm (VI) | Cm |
| Eb (I) | Eb | Bb (V) | Bb :||
The bridge only varies this by not playing a Bb, instead having a rest. The chorus is the same as the verse.
I’ve designed some TAB for the riff, and perhaps most importantly, broken down the intervals in relation to the chords of the riff.
This last point is what you need to study if you want to write music or improvise solos, it’s all about target notes.
Here’s a link to the TAB lesson: Blinding Lights – Guitar lesson with TAB.
As you come back here to look at the chords again, this chord chart should help with the structure, after all, Blinding Lights only have four chords to remember.
Blinding Lights Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Blinding Lights Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Blinding Lights iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Blinding Lights went to #1 everywhere!
Released in 2019 from the forthcoming album After Hours (2020), Blinding Lights is one of The Weeknd’s biggest hits.
The tune won 19 Awards, including Song of Summer, and multiple Awards for the video which does look great.
The success at Award ceremonies is also reflected in the charts as Blinding Lights went to #1 in almost 40 countries. The album did the same in over 20 countries.
Another big tune from the album is Save Your Tears, this one had a version with Ariana Grande that also became a worldwide hit, firmly establishing The Weeknd as an international artist and household name.
As the Weeknd’s tunes are released in the streaming era, sales are irrelevant. Instead, we look to Spotify to gauge the popularity of a tune. In late 2023, Blinding Lights had almost 4 billion plays.
To compare this, The Beatles‘ most played tune, Here Comes The Sun has had a quarter of those numbers. Although saying that, when The Fab Four released Now And Then, it surpassed Here Comes The Sun’s play count in just a few days…
But I digress, let’s focus on how the riff of Blinding Lights works with the chords, that’s the main lesson here, and maybe compare it to Take On Me as well…
Blinding Lights Chords | Related Pages
Blinding Lights | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn how to play Blinding Lights by The Weeknd using a chord analysis and TAB.
| Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm |
I’ve been tryna call, I’ve been on my own for long enough…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- 24K Magic chords by Bruno Mars
- Crazy chords by Gnarles Barkley
- Don’t Start Now chords by Dua Lipa
- One Kiss chords by Dua Lipa
- Take On Me chords by A-ha
The Weeknd tunes
The Weeknd’s debut album came out in 2015 but his big break came with Earned It, the soundtrack for the controversial movie 50 Shades Of Grey.
His best-known tunes include Earned It, Can’t Feel My Face, Starboy, Die For You, Blinding Lights, and Save Your Tears.
The Weeknd on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Blinding Lights chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
