Chords + Lyrics | One Love
Intro
| Bb | F | Eb Bb | F Bb |
Chorus 1
| Bb | F |
One love, one heart.
| Eb Bb | F Bb |
Let’s get together and feel all right.
| Bb | F |
Hear the children cryin’ (one love). Hear the children cryin’ (one heart).
| Eb Bb | F Bb |
Sayin’ give thanks and praise to the Lord, and I will feel all right.
| Eb Bb | F Bb |
Sayin’, let’s get together and feel all right. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Verse 1
||: Bb Gm | Eb Bb :||
Let them all pass all their, dirty remarks (one love).
There is one question, I’d really love to ask (one heart).
Is there a place for the, hopeless sinners?
Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own belivin’?
Chorus 2
One love, what about the one heart, one heart.
What about, people, let’s get together and feel all right.
As it was in the beginning (one love). So shall it be in the end (one heart).
All right! Let’s give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right.
Let’s a-get together and feel all right, one more thing!
Verse 2
Let’s get together to fight this Holy Armageddiyon (one love).
So when the Man comes, there will be no, no doom (one song).
Have pity on those whose chances grows t’inner.
There ain’t no hiding place from the Father of Creation.
Chorus 3
Sayin’, one love, what about the one heart? (one heart).
What about the let’s get together and feel all right.
I’m pleadin’ to mankind (one love). Oh, Lord (one heart) whoa.
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right.
Let’s get together and feel all right.
| Eb Bb | F Bb |
Give thanks and praise to the Lord, and I will feel all right.
| Eb Bb | F Bb |
Do the lets them get together and feel all right.
One Love Backing Track | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning One Love. I’ve used stem separation 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 434Hz. In the backing tracks, I’ve done this job for you by tuning it to 440Hz.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
The chords for Bob Marley’s One Love follow a simple yet effective structure, using only the I, IV, V, and VI chords in two movements.
Chorus
The chorus is in the key of Bb and follows this diatonic chord progression:
||: Bb (I) | F (V) |
| Eb (IV) Bb (I) | F (V) Bb (I) :||
| Eb Bb | F Bb |
When playing on electric guitar in a band, use CAGED shapes on the top strings, strumming upstrokes on each upbeat.
Verse
The verse follows a similar structure with these four chords:
||: Bb (I) Gm (VI) | Eb (IV) Bb (I) :||
I’ve designed a TAB exercise for this in five areas of the neck, you can find it further down this guitar lesson.
Once you’re able to execute this concept along with the backing tracks in all five areas, you’ll have the freedom to shift between positions and improvise the chord shapes used in One Love.
In the TAB, we also explore an acoustic guitar arrangement that integrates bass and drums, played using a capo on fret 3 and thinking in the key of G.
After completing the TAB, this chord chart will be all you need to play One Love with a band.
One Love Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: One Love chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro. Here’s a link to the file: One Love iReal Pro. With this and the iReal Pro app, you can easily change the key (for example, to G) and play along with a capo, see more below.
One Love | Chords + Lyrics (capo 3)
Intro
| G | D | C G | D G |
Chorus 1
| G | D |
One love, one heart.
| C G | D G |
Let’s get together and feel all right.
| G | D |
Hear the children cryin’ (one love). Hear the children cryin’ (one heart).
| C G | D G |
Sayin’ give thanks and praise to the Lord, and I will feel all right.
| C G | D G |
Sayin’, let’s get together and feel all right. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Verse 1
||: G Em | C G :||
Let them all pass all their, dirty remarks (one love).
There is one question, I’d really love to ask (one heart).
Is there a place for the, hopeless sinners?
Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own belivin’?
Chorus 2
One love, what about the one heart, one heart.
What about, people, let’s get together and feel all right.
As it was in the beginning (one love). So shall it be in the end (one heart).
All right! Let’s give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right.
Let’s a-get together and feel all right, one more thing!
Verse 2
Let’s get together to fight this Holy Armageddiyon (one love).
So when the Man comes, there will be no, no doom (one song).
Have pity on those whose chances grows t’inner.
There ain’t no hiding place from the Father of Creation.
Chorus 3
Sayin’, one love, what about the one heart? (one heart).
What about the let’s get together and feel all right.
I’m pleadin’ to mankind (one love). Oh, Lord (one heart) whoa.
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right.
Let’s get together and feel all right.
| C G | D G |
Give thanks and praise to the Lord, and I will feel all right.
| C G | D G |
Do the lets them get together and feel all right.
One Love | TAB
There’s a lot of TAB to get through here—but don’t worry, we only use chords I–IV–V–VI.
Think of all this as a test: can you keep up?
We’ll begin by using only strings 1–3 and the concept of the closest possible shape. Once you’ve worked your way through all five CAGED areas, try improvising without looking at the TAB.
Here’s the lowest possible starting point, the A shape. Play all chords using upstrokes only:
Stick with this until you’re playing cleanly with no mistakes. Then move up to start from a G shape. You don’t need to finish the whole song before you switch!
Same approach here—when you’ve got it, move up to the E shape.
Next, it’s the D shape (if you’re ready for it!).
And finally, the C shape. Can you play through all five shapes fluently?
One Love chords in all CAGED shapes, strings 2-4
Now repeat the process—but this time, using strings 2–4, and still playing only upstrokes.
Start again with the A shape:
Note that the IV chord (Eb) turns into a power chord here, which always happens when a D shape falls on strings 2–4.
Now begin from the G shape:
Here, it’s the V chord (F) that becomes a power chord due to the D shape.
Next, the E shape—no power chords here:
Now the D shape—chord I is a power chord in this version:
Finally, the C shape again—no power chords this time:
When you can play all 10 of these examples cleanly, try improvising freely along with the backing tracks at the top of this lesson.
One Love acoustic guitar arrangement (capo 3)
I couldn’t help myself—I had to put together an acoustic version too.
At first, I tried transcribing the bassline, but it was too loose and free. Instead, I focused mainly on the drum beat and came up with something that works better rhythmically.
One Love: A Tune on the Best Album Ever Made
One Love is a song that Bob Marley recorded multiple times. The first version appeared on his debut album in a ska, more uptempo style.
However, the most well-known rendition can be found on the legendary album Exodus (1977), which also features the iconic People Get Ready (a Curtis Mayfield cover).
In 1999, The Times magazine ranked Exodus #1 on their list of the best albums of the 21st century, a title that many musicians and artists likely agree with.
If you also consider his next album, as well as the B-side of Exodus and the A-side of his 1978 album Kaya, you get a remarkable run of ten incredible tracks:
- Jamming
- Waiting In Vain
- Turn Your Lights Down Low
- Three Little Birds
- One Love/People Get Ready
- Easy Skanking
- Kaya
- Is This Love
- Sun Is Shining
- Satisfy My Soul
To me, that’s undoubtedly the most impressive sequence of ten songs ever!
One Love Chords: Continue Learning
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