Every Breath You Take chords

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Every breath you take | Chords + Lyrics (tune down 1/2 step)

Intro

Verse 1

Verse 2

Bridge 1

Verse 3

Middle 8

| F (C) | F (B A) |
Since you’ve gone, I’ve been lost without a trace.
| G (D) | G (C B) |
I dream at night, I can only see your face.
| F (C) | F (B A) |
I look around, but it’s you I can’t replace.
| G (D) | G (C B) |
I feel so cold, and I long for your embrace.
| F (C) | F (B A) | Aadd9 | Aadd9 |
I keep crying baby, baby please.

Instrumental

| Aadd9 | Aadd9 | F#madd9 | F#madd9 |
| Dadd9 D | Eadd9 E | Aadd9 | Aadd9 |
||: Do do do do :||

Bridge 2

Verse 4

Outro

||: Aadd9 | Aadd9 | F#madd9 | Dadd9 D :||
(Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you’ll break),
I’ll be watching you (every step you take).
(Every single day, every word you’ll say, every game you play),
I’ll be watching you, (Every night you’ll stay).
(Every move you make, every vow you’ll break day, every smile you’ll fake),
I’ll be watching you (everything you take)
(Every single day, every word you say) Whoo, hoo (every game you play),
I’ll be watching you, (Every night you’ll stay).
(Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you’ll break),
I’ll be watching you (every step you take).
(Every single day, every word you’ll say, every game you play),
I’ll be watching you, (Every night you’ll stay).
(Every move you make, every vow you’ll break day, every smile you’ll fake),
I’ll be watching you (everything you take)
(Every single day, every word you say, every game you play),
I’ll be watching you, (Every night you’ll stay).

Every Breath You Take’s chords and progressions

The main bulk of Every Breath You Take is in the key of A, moving I – VI – IV – V. This is the same chord progression as Stand By Me and another hundred hits of the 50s/60s, it’s super common.

To vary this familiarity, we add a chord at the end. Either a VI, or the I chord, very subtle, and very effective.

Of course, there are also the add9 decorations on everything, so what we end up with for the verse is this:

Aadd9 – F#madd9 – Dadd9 – Eadd9 – F#madd9, or this:
Aadd9 – F#madd9 – Dadd9 – Eadd9 – Aadd9

The most difficult bit here is to stretch your fingers out to reach all these notes. The best way is to not hold down whatever note you don’t play, so as soon as you played a note, let go of it. This will make the part more staccato as well.

Here’s some TAB demonstrating the main riff.

Every Breath You Take chords, nain riff in guitar TAB. — Every Breath You Take Main Riff Guitar TAB

The outro is a variation on the verse, moving I – VI – IV on a loop, like this: Aadd9 – F#madd9 – Dadd9.

The bridge goes outside the key: Dadd9 – Cadd9 – Aadd9 – Badd9 – Eadd9.

The Cadd9 is a bIIIx, the Badd9 is a IIx. Adding these chords creates tension compared with the verse, which was so incredibly straightforward. This gives Every Breath You Take tension and release between the two main sections.

The M8 is a modal interchange, going from A to C major as if A was Aeolian, not Ionian.

From C Ionian, we play chord IV – V on a loop, F – G.

The genius piano notes added are C B A for the F chord and D C B for the G chord.

Using intervals, this is 5th, #4, 3rd for the F, that’s Lydian! and 5th, sus4, 3rd for the G, that’s Mixolydian.

You can play these lines on the top string if you play C-shaped chords. Below, there’s TAB demonstrating how to incorporate this keyboard line on the guitar.

Notice how the pattern is interrupted in bar 4, beat 2. This has been done so it’s easier to play all notes.

Every Breath You Take chords, middle 8. — M8 section Every Breath You Take with the piano line

Playing along to records that are off the pitch

The original version of Every Breathe You Take is probably played with the instruments tuned down a half step. Most likely the tape machine was not calibrated properly, so when played back, it was too fast.

Or maybe the band forgot the tuner at home and used a nearby piano, who knows, anyway, all this results in the pitch being somewhere between Ab and A, making it a nightmare for you to play along with the original recording.

There are three ways you could approach this:

Import the song to a DAW, and pitch shift the song down to concert Ab (tune your guitar down 1/2 step as well, tuner set to 440hz). Think in the key of A.
Same as above, but shift the pitch up to concert A, don’t tune down the guitar. Still, think in A.
Tune your guitar down to Ab, having the tuner set to 449Hz, not 440. Play along as if in A.

You can use my free tuner to change the Hz to 449.

Funnily enough, when they play it live, they do it in tune, in the key of A, they must have found the tuner!

The most-played song in the history of radio

The Police‘s most popular song and the most played song in the history of radio, Every Breath You Take is the definition of a hit.

Funnily enough, the band was just about to scrap it as they were trying to record it in the studio, thinking it was way too cheesy. That was before Andy Summers came up with the iconic add9 extensions for the main chord riff.

To wrap your head around how big this hit was, in 2010, it is estimated that Every Breath You Take generated almost 1/3 of Sting‘s entire publishing income.

Considering he by then had written Roxanne, Englishman In New York, Fragile, Shape Of My Heart, So Lonely, Message In A Bottle, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Don’t Stand So Close To Me, and Walking On The Moon, that’s pretty nuts!