Now And Then | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: Am | G6 :||
One, two.
Verse 1
| Am (Asus4) | G6 |
I know it’s true.
| Am (Asus4) | G6 |
It’s all because of you.
| Am (Asus4) | Fmaj7 |
And if I make it through.
| E | E | Am | Am |
It’s all because of you.
Verse 2
And now and then.
If we must start again.
Well, we will know for sure.
That I will love you.
Chorus 1
| G | G |
Now and then.
| Bm | Bm |
I miss you.
| Em | Em |
Oh, now and then.
| Am | D |
I want you to be there for me.
| Am | D |
Always to return to me.
Verse 3
I know it’s true.
It’s all because of you.
And if you go away.
I know you never could stay away.
Chorus 2
| G | G |
Now and then.
| Bm | Bm |
I miss you.
| Em | Em |
Oh, now and then.
| Am | D |
I want you to be there for me.
Solo
||: Dm | Dm | C | C :||
| Em | Em | Am | Am |
| D | D | Dm | G |
Verse 4
I know it’s true.
It’s all because of you.
And if I make it through.
It’s all because of you.
Outro
| G | E | Am | G | E |
| Am |6/4 G F E |
| Am |
Now And Then Chords: Learn the progressions
The last Beatles song, Now And Then, is mainly in the key of Am although it’s not that simple.
The verse moves VI – V on repeat, then VI – IV – IIIx – VI. That IIIx chord (E) is more common than Em when the key is Am, rather than C. Posh folk call it the mediant major.
Here are all of Now And Then’s verse chords.
| Am (VI) (Asus4) | G6 (V) | Am (Asus4) | G6 |
| Am (Asus4) | Fmaj7 (IV) | E (IIIx) | E | Am | Am |
The Asus4 in brackets is a chord that appears in the middle of the bar and then returns to the Am chord again. You’ll need TAB to get this right, here’s a link to that part of the lesson: Now And Then – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
The chorus is in the neighbouring key of G, there is one sharp is in this key, rather than none. The chords now move I – III – VI – II – V, like this:
| G (I) | G | Bm (III) | Bm |
| Em (VI) | Em | Am (II) | D (V) | Am | D |
For chorus 2, we scrap the last two bars and go to a slide solo.
The solo bridges the previously used keys C and G. We start in C as we play II – I on repeat.
However, the feeling here is that of a Vm at first as we’re coming from the key of G (compare this to Angels solo which has a similar feeling).
||: Dm (II or Vm) | Dm | C (I or IV) | C :||
| Em (III or VI) | Em | Am (VI or II) | Am |
| D (IIx or V) | D | Dm (II) | G (V) |
After the repeat, we go to Em – Am which could be a III – VI in the key of C, or VI – II in the key of G.
As the next chord is a D, we get the feeling it must previously have been in G. And just as that feeling settles they hit us with a II – V in the key of C, again making that initial Dm chord feel like a Vm in the key of G.
It’s the way The Beatles blend the two key signatures Am/C and G that we get the tension felt throughout Now And Then’s chords.
I’ve built an acoustic guitar arrangement that you can use if you want to play this song on your own and sing, it is mainly inspired by what the piano plays, available with TAB here: Now And Then – Guitar Lesson with TAB
Once you can play it using the TAB, a simple chord chart may be enough to remind you of all the chords, here’s one I made for you.
Now And Then Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
I’m so pleased with the way this chord chart worked out. It’s got plenty of space between sections and even though there is a Segno sign, it’s almost impossible to misunderstand the layout.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Now And Then Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Now And Then iReal Pro.
Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key. Although, in my opinion, if you change the key it won’t sound quite right.
Now And Then – The Last Beatles Song!
Recordings of Now And Then started during the same time as The Beatles got together in 1994 to finish off Free As A Bird and Real Love using old recordings of John Lennon.
Now And Then was found as a demo tape that Yoko provided. At the time, they couldn’t use it, the technology to restore and separate the vocal from the piano wasn’t developed yet.
As Peter Jackson was making Get Back, a documentary about The Beatles, he got very deep into restoring old recordings.
What Peter had learned during this time was used to recover John’s voice. Using this technology (AI), they managed to get to a point where Paul and Ringo could add to it and finish the song.
You can see the full story of this process in the 2nd video of the playlist at the top of this page.
My favourite quote here is when they discuss the computers that started to appear in 1994.
George says: “This computer stuff… it opens up another Kettle of fish”.
Ringo replies: “But will it open up another year of work?”
It turns out it took much longer than that. It took The Beatles a quarter of a century to finish their last tune!
Now And Then Chords | Related Pages
Now And Then | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play Now And Then by The Beatles using TAB and chord analysis.
| Am (Asus4) | G6 | Am (Asus4) | G6 |
I know it’s true. It’s all because of you.
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
The Beatles tunes
The Beatles are the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in the history of popular music.
As the leaders of the so-called British Invasion, their catchy Rock ‘N’ Roll infused Pop songs took America by storm, creating hysteria everywhere they went.
The Beatles on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Now And Then 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.
