Intermediate Acoustic, Pop & Rock, Songbook A-Z

Every Breath You Take Chords | The Police Guitar Lesson

Video blocked due to privacy settings

[rcb-consent type=”change” tag=”link” text=”Change privacy settings”]

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

Intro

Verse 1

Verse 2

Bridge 1

Verse 3 (as verse 1)

Every move you make, and every vow you break.
Every smile you fake, every claim you stake, I’ll be watching you.

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

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

Bridge 2

Oh, can’t you see, you belong to me?
How my poor heart aches, with every step you take.

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 Chords: Mastering the Progressions

When you try playing along with the original recording of Every Breath You Take, you might notice it’s not quite in tune. To fix this, use my free tuner and set it to 449 Hz.

You’ll also need to tune down a semitone—or convince the singer to raise the key by a half step—otherwise, your chords won’t sound right.

If the singer isn’t on board, save yourself the hassle and get a Digitech Drop pedal to shift the tuning instantly. Alternatively, dedicate a guitar to Eb tuning and avoid the conversation altogether!

Chord Progression

Let’s assume you’re playing while thinking in the key of A. The intro and verse follow a I – VI – IV – V – VI progression. With the add9 extensions, it looks like this:

If you strip away the last two bars and the add9 extensions, this is essentially the same chord progression as Stand by Me.

However, the add9 extensions make it sound entirely different, and to capture the feel of the original, the correct chord shapes are crucial. Since only TAB can fully illustrate this, check out this section of the lesson: Every Breath You Take – Guitar Lesson with TAB.

Bridge Progression

The bridge starts on IV, introduces tension with a bIIIx (C), returns to I, then builds more tension with IIx before resolving to V, like this:

A subtle but important shift here is moving from add9 chords back to simple triads, modifying the verse/chorus feel.

The Challenge

The biggest challenge in Every Breath You Take is the (very) stretchy chord shapes. To play them comfortably, you’ll need TAB, along with some techniques to make things easier.

The lesson also covers how to incorporate the middle eight piano line on guitar.

Once you’ve mastered the TAB, all you need is a simple chord chart to remind you how to play Every Breath You Take’s chords.

Every Breath You Take Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro

Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Every Breath You Take chord chart PDF.

This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Every Breath You Take chord chart iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.

Every Breath You Take is the most-played song in radio history!

As The Police’s biggest hit—and the most-played song in the history of radio—Every Breath You Take is the very definition of a classic.

The band nearly scrapped it, thinking it was far too cheesy—until Andy Summers introduced the now-iconic add9 extensions in the main riff, transforming the song entirely.

To grasp just how massive this hit became, in 2010, it was estimated that Every Breath You Take accounted for nearly one-third of Sting’s entire publishing income.

Considering he had already 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 incredible!

Every Breath You Take Chords: Continue Learning

Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Every Breath You Take (The Police) Guitar Lesson with TAB.

Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy: