Rather Be | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: G#m D#m | Eadd9 B/D# F#/A# :|| x3
| Emaj7 Emaj7/C# N.C | N.C |
Oh, Woah, Ooh, ooh, yeah.
Verse 1
||: G#m D#m | Eadd9 B/D# F#/A# :||
We’re a thousand miles from comfort,
we have travelled land and sea.
But as long as you are with me,
| Emaj7 Emaj7/C# N.C | Emaj7 B6 |
there’s no place I’d rather be.
Verse 2
I would wait forever,
exalted in the scene.
As long as I am with you,
my heart continues to beat.
Bridge 1
| Emaj7 | D#m7 | G#m11 | G#m11 |
With every step we take, Kyoto to The Bay, strolling so casually.
| Emaj7 | D#m7 | G#m11 | G#m11 B F# |
We’re different and the same, get you another name, switch up the batteries.
Chorus 1
||: G#m F#6 | Emaj7 B F# :||
If you gave me a chance I would take it.
It’s a shot in the dark but I’ll make it.
Know with all of your heart, you can’t shake me.
| Emaj7 | Emaj7/C# D#m7 |
When I am with you, there’s no place I’d rather be.
Chorus tag 1
||: G#m7 D#m7 | Eadd9 Gdim :||
No-no-no, no, no, no place I’d rather be.
No-no-no, no, no, no place I’d rather be.
| Emaj7 Emaj7/C# N.C | Emaj7 B6 |
No-no-no, no, no, no place I’d rather be. woah, oh.
Verse 3
We set out on a mission,
to find our inner peace,
Make it everlasting,
so nothing’s incomplete.
Verse 4
It’s easy being with you,
sacred simplicity.
As long as we’re together,
there’s no place I’d rather be.
Bridge 2
With every step we take, Kyoto to The Bay, strolling so casually.
We’re different and the same, get you another name, switch up the batteries.
Chorus 2
If you gave me a chance I would take it.
It’s a shot in the dark but I’ll make it.
Know with all of your heart, you can’t shake me.
When I am with you, there’s no place I’d rather be.
Chorus tag 2
| G#m7 D#m7 | Eadd9 Gdim :||
No-no-no, no, no, no place I’d rather be.
No-no-no, no, no, no place I’d rather be.
No-no-no, no, no, no place I’d rather be.
| N.C | N.C |
When I am with you, there’s no place I’d rather be, yeah.
Instrumental
||: G#m D#m | Eadd9 B/D# F#/A# :|| x3
| Emaj7 Emaj7/C# N.C | Emaj7 B6 |
Beeeeeeeeee, oooooooh, oh. Be [x9]
Yeah-e-yeah-e-yeah-e-yeah-e-yeah, yeah, yeah!
Chorus 3
If you gave me a chance I would take it.
It’s a shot in the dark but I’ll make it.
Know with all of your heart, you can’t shake me.
When I am with you, there’s no place I’d rather be.
Chorus tag
No-no-no, no, no, no place I’d rather be.
No-no-no, no, no, no place I’d rather be.
No-no-no, no, no, no place I’d rather be. woah, oh.
| Emaj7 Emaj7/C# N.C | Emaj7 |
When I am with you, there’s no place I’d rather be.
Rather Be Chords: Learn the progressions!
Rather Be is clearly a keyboard song, however, it is possible to play all that stuff on the guitar.
For the intro, the chords are like this with Roman Numerals:
||: G#m (VI) D#m (III) | Eadd9 (IV) B/D# (I/3) F#/A# (V/3) :||
The I and V chords at the end have the 3rd in the bass.
These chords repeat for the verse and end like this:
Emaj7 – Emaj7/C# – Emaj7 – B6. That’s chord IV, and instead of C#m, which would be chord II, we have a nice variation in Emaj7/C#. The B6 is chord I.
Next, we get the bridge section that goes “With every step we take, Kyoto to The Bay…”. The chords are:
| Emaj7 (IV) | D#m7 (III) | G#m11 (VI) | G#m11 |
| Emaj7 | D#m7 | G#m11 | G#m11 B (I) F# (V) |
The chorus is similar to the initial chord riffs, as D#m and F#6 are very similar, it looks like this:
||: G#m (VI) F#6 (V) | Emaj7 (IV) B (I) F# (V) :||
| Emaj7 (IV) | Emaj7/C# (IV/3) D#m7 (III) |
Unusually, there’s another chorus after this, perhaps it should be called a chorus tag, it goes “no-no-no-no…”. These are the chords:
G#m7 – D#m7 – Eadd9 – Gdim.
Again, it’s similar to what we’ve already played, although there are small changes in there.
Even though Rather Be’s chords are very complex, it doesn’t actually go outside the key of B, not even once.
||: G#m7 (VI) D#m7 (III) | Eadd9 (IV) Gdim (bVIdim) :||
This section is repeated and then ends like the verse, and the second time stops.
Having studied my TAB and played along with the original recording, this chord chart will help you for the gig.

Rather Be Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Rather Be Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Rather Be iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key. I would recommend should you do this, write the TAB out too!
Rather Be was Jess Glynn’s debut single!
As a worldwide hit, Rather Be reached the #1 spot in the charts in almost every country, apart from the U.S.
Crafted by Clean Bandit, an electronic British group from Cambridge that has worked with many contemporary singers. For this song, they picked Jess Glynn. For Jess, Rather Be was her debut single!
Released in 2014, this was one of the most successful songs of the 2010s, with many bands on the circuit adding it to their repertoire and to this day, still playing it.
It sits nicely alongside other modern classics such as One Kiss, Don’t Start Now, Say My Name, Make Luv, and American Boy, as well as more old-school tunes like Finally and Show Me Love.
Rather Be Chords | Related Pages
Rather Be | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play Rather Be by Clean Bandit using TAB and chord analysis.
||: G#m D#m | Eadd9 B/D# F#/A# :||
We’re a thousand miles from comfort…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Clean Bandit tunes
Fusing classical with dance music, Clean Bandit had great success with Rather Be, before the first album was even released.
Their biggest tunes include Mozart’s House, How Will I Know, Grace Kelly, Rockabye, and Symphony.
Clean Bandit on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Rather Be’s 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 by practising scales or studying theory in isolation.