Love Me Tender | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| D D/A |
Verse 1
| D D/A | E7 E7/B | A7 | D D/A |
Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go.
| D D/A | E7 E7/B | A7 A7/B | D D/A |
You have made my life complete and I love you so
Bridge 1
| D F#7/C# | Bm D7/A | G Gm6 | D D/A |
Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfilled.
| D B7 | E7 E7/B | A7 A7/B | D D/A |
For my darling I love you and I always will.
Verse 2
Love me tender, love me long, take me to your heart.
For it’s there that I belong and we’ll never part.
Bridge 2
Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfilled
For my darling I love you, and I always will
Verse 3
Love me tender, love me dear, tell me you are mine.
I’ll be yours through all the years, ’til the end of time.
Bridge 3
Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfilled.
For my darling I love you, and I always will.
Love Me Tender Chords: Learn the progressions
The chords for Love Me Tender are so great, they don’t even need rhythm.
In the key of D, we get mainly open-position chords strummed in a way reminiscent of a beginner.
The verse chords make use of an alternating bass, like this:
| D (I) D/A | E7 (IIx) E7/B | A7 (V) | D D/A |
| D D/A | E7 E7/B | A7 A7/B | D D/A |
That E chord is a variation, moving outside the key, using Roman Numerals, the D is I, E is IIx, and A is V.
The bridge chords are more sophisticated, check out the IVm!
| D (I) F#7/C# (IIIx/5) | Bm (VI) D7/A (I7/5) | G (IV) Gm6 (IVm) | D (I) D/A |
| D (I) B7 (VIx) | E7 (IIx) E7/B | A7 (V) A7/B | D (I) D/A |
The chords may be easy to play but you do need TAB to make it sound like Elvis did it, here’s a link to that part f the lesson: Love Me Tender – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Having grasped exactly how to play these chords, all you need is a simple chord chart, here’s one I made for you.
Love Me Tender Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Love Me Tender Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Love Me Tender iReal Pro.
Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key although if you do that, you’ll lose the sound that Love Me Tender’s chord shapes have.
Love Me Tender – A cover that was covered!
Love Me Tender by Elvis is an adaptation of an old tune from 1861 called Aura Lea.
The lyrics are credited to Vera Matson but Elvis did tweak it for both the single and then the subsequent movie it was written for.
As a #1 single in 1956, Love Me Tender sold 3 million copies in the U.S. alone.
Post Elvis’s release, many famous singers have covered Love Me Tender, including Johnny Cash, Nat King Cole, Albert King, B.B. King, Cliff Richard, Julie Andrews, Barry Manilow, Norah Jones, James Brown, Frank Sinatra, Jim Morrison, and Barbara Streisand.
This makes Love Me Tender a cover that was well covered. Will you play it like Elvis, or make it your own?
Love Me Tender Chords | Related Pages
Love Me Tender | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play Love Me Tender by Elvis using TAB and chord analysis.
| D D/A | E7 E7/B | A7 | D D/A |
Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Elvis Presley tunes
Elvis Presley didn’t just change music by popularising Rock n’ Roll and becoming the world’s first superstar, he changed the world.
Hits include Jailhouse Rock, Heartbreak Hotel, Don’t Be Cruel, Blue Suede Shoes, In The Ghetto, Suspicious Minds, and (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear.
Elvis Presley on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Love Me Tender 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.
