Chords + Lyrics | Is This Love
Intro
||: F#m | F#m | D | A E/G# :||
Verse 1
| F#m | D | A E/G# |
I wanna love you, and treat you right.
| F#m | F#m | D | A E/G# |
I wanna love you, every day and every night.
| F#m | F#m | D | A E/G# |
We’ll be together, with a roof right over our heads.
| F#m | F#m | D | A E/G# |
We’ll share the shelter, of my single bed.
| F#m | F#m | D | A |
We’ll share the same room, yeah, ’cause jah provide the bread.
Chorus 1
||: C#m | C#m | Bm | Bm :||
Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling?
Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling?
Chorus tag 1
| Bm C#m D | E D6 | D6 | D6 |
I wanna know, wanna know, wanna know now.
| Bm C#m D | E D6 C#m | C#m | C#m |
I’ve got to know, got to know, got to know now.
| C#m | C#m | Bm | Bm |
I am willing and able,
| F#m | F#m | E D | C#m Bm |
so I through my cards on your table.
Verse 2
I wanna love you, I wanna love and treat, love and treat you right.
I wanna love you, every day and every night.
We’ll be together, yeah, with a roof right over our heads.
We’ll share the shelter, yeah, oh yeah, of my single bed.
We’ll share the same room yeah, ’cause jah provide the bread.
Chorus 2
Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling?
Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling? Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Chorus tag 2
Oh yes I know, yes I know, yes I know now.
Oh yes I know, yes I know, yes I know now.
I am willing and able,
so I through my cards on your table. Sing.
Outro (as verse)
I wanna love you, I wanna love and treat ya, love and treat you right.
I wanna love you, every day and every night.
We’ll be together, with a roof right over our heads.
We’ll share the shelter, of my single bed.
We’ll share the same room, yeah, ’cause jah provide the bread.
| F#m | F#m |
We’ll share the shelter.
Is This Love | Chords + Lyrics (capo 2)
Intro
||: Em | Em | C | G D/F# :||
Verse 1
| Em | C | G D/F# |
I wanna love you, and treat you right.
| Em | Em | C | G D/F# |
I wanna love you, every day and every night.
| Em | Em | C | G D/F# |
We’ll be together, with a roof right over our heads.
| Em | Em | C | G D/F# |
We’ll share the shelter, of my single bed.
| Em | Em | C | G |
We’ll share the same room, yeah, ’cause jah provide the bread.
Chorus 1
| Bm | Bm | Am | Am |
Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling?
| Bm | Bm | Am | Am |
Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling?
Chorus tag 1
| Am Bm C | D5 D7omit3 C6 | C6 | C6 |
I wanna know, wanna know, wanna know now.
| Am Bm C | D5 C6 Bm | Bm | Bm |
I’ve got to know, got to know, got to know now.
| Bm | Bm | Am | Am |
I am willing and able,
| Em | Em | D C | Bm Am |
so I through my cards on your table.
Verse 2
I wanna love you, I wanna love and treat, love and treat you right.
I wanna love you, every day and every night.
We’ll be together, yeah, with a roof right over our heads.
We’ll share the shelter, yeah, oh yeah, of my single bed.
We’ll share the same room yeah, ’cause jah provide the bread.
Chorus 2
Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling?
Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling? Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Chorus tag 2
Oh yes I know, yes I know, yes I know now.
Oh yes I know, yes I know, yes I know now.
I am willing and able,
so I through my cards on your table. Sing.
Outro (as verse)
I wanna love you, I wanna love and treat ya, love and treat you right.
I wanna love you, every day and every night.
We’ll be together, with a roof right over our heads.
We’ll share the shelter, of my single bed.
We’ll share the same room, yeah, ’cause jah provide the bread.
| Em | Em |
We’ll share the shelter.
Is This Love Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Is This Love. I’ve used stem-seperation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, horns, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Should you want to play along with the original recording instead, you need to tune your guitar to 436Hz. In the backing tracks, I’ve done this job for you by tuning it to 440Hz.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
Is This Love can be played on electric guitar in a band setting or as an acoustic arrangement, incorporating the bass line. You’ll find the song presented in two different keys above, along with the lyrics.
For a band, small, rhythmically consistent barre chords in the original key of A/F#m work best.
For acoustic guitar, it’s easier to change the key to G/Em and use a capo on fret 2, which makes it simpler to incorporate the bass line.
I’ve created TABs for both the key of A (electric) and the key of G (acoustic) which you’ll find further down the lesson. For now, let’s focus on Is This Love‘s chords.
Verse
Let’s look at the chords and arrangement. The first challenge lies in the beginning of the verse. Here’s the full chord progression:
| F#m (VI) | D (IV) | A (I) E/G# (V/3) |
||: F#m | F#m | D | A E/G# :|| x3
| F#m | F#m | D | A |
Notice that the first line is one bar shorter, and the last bar doesn’t include an E/G#, as it would be too similar to the first chord of what’s coming up.
Chorus
The chorus follows this progression:
||: C#m (III) | C#m | Bm (II) | Bm :||
Chorus Tag
The chorus tag is the most complex section, so let’s break it down, one line at a time:
| Bm (II) C#m (III) D (IV) | E (V) D6 (IV) | D6 | D6 |
We start by climbing from chord II to V, before moving back to IV with a 6 extension. Next, we vary the progression like this:
| Bm (II) C#m (III) D (IV) | E (V) D6 (IV) C#m (III) | C#m | C#m |
In this variation, the IV chord, which was almost three bars long previously, is now just one beat before we descend to chord III. This shift is a highlight of the song.
Here’s what follows next:
| C#m (III) | C#m | Bm (II) | Bm |
In a clever move, we return to the chorus chords, but with a completely different melody. The progression moves like this:
| F#m (VI) | F#m | E (VIx) D (V) | C#m (III) Bm (II) |
In the TAB lesson, we look at how to play all of this with rhythmic consistency, introducing variation by moving around the fretboard. This makes it a great exercise.
Perhaps most interestingly, we also explore how to play Is This Love on the acoustic guitar, incorporating the bass line and playing it independently.
Once you’ve gone through the TAB, a simple chord chart will help you remember how to play Is This Love‘s chords. Here’s the one I made for you.
Is This Love Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
The chord chart above is in the key of F#m, intended for you to play on the electric in a band.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Is This Love Work chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Is This Love iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Changing the key is a great idea if you want to play Is This Love on the acoustic as you can then use a capo and think in the key of Em (as described with chords and lyrics above).
Is This Love | TAB
Using two opposite approaches, we can learn more about Is This Love and guitar playing by playing this tune both on electric and acoustic.
Let’s start with how to do it on the electric—here’s the verse:
We start with an Em shape for the first F#m chord, which is short—only a bar long.
Once we start repeating the same progression, we go for a Cm shape for the F#m, then a Dm shape, an Am shape, and then a Cm shape again.
You could instead start high, then go low, then back up again. I would suggest you start playing as the TAB says, then improvise.
Here’s the chorus:
As you can see, I’m now using a different approach when playing the chords—the second half of each bar is played higher.
Experiment with other chord shapes once you can play as written along with the original recording.
Here’s the chorus tag:
Here, I’ve started on a low Bm chord using the Am shape. Once we repeat, I’ve gone for the Em shape to create momentum.
I like holding the C#m chord before we start playing like the chorus, with different parts of the chord shape again.
Make sure you play the F#m first as a Cm shape, then as a Dm shape—it sounds great.
Once you feel comfortable playing Is This Love on the electric to the original recording, try fitting a capo on fret 2 and play it on the acoustic.
I spent hours on this because Is This Love is my favourite Bob Marley tune. One day, I’ll record it with a singer. This will be my arrangement.
My favourite Bob Marley tune
One of the world’s best songwriters, Bob Marley, crafted some incredible songs.
What’s amazing about his writing is how his tunes feel timeless—almost like hymns or traditional songs, as though they’ve always existed.
While his Reggae style is part of the package, it’s the timeless melodies and lyrics that truly stand out.
Among his incredible compositions is Is This Love, released in 1978 on the album Kaya, the follow-up to what many consider the best album of all time, Exodus (1977).
The songs on Exodus were recorded and likely written around the same time as those on Kaya. Ironically, the title track Kaya was recorded much earlier, in 1971.
Can you imagine if he had included Is This Love, Sun Is Shining, and Satisfy My Soul on Exodus as well?!?
Is This Love Chords: Continue Learning
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