Chords + Lyrics | Stand By Me
Intro
| A | A | F#m | F#m |
| D | E | A | A |
Verse 1
| A | A | F#m | F#m |
When the night has come, and the land is dark.
| D | E | A | A |
And the moon, is the only, light we’ll see.
| A | A | F#m | F#m |
No, I won’t, be afraid, oh I won’t, be afraid.
| D | E | A | A |
Just as long, as you stand, stand by me.
Chorus 1
| A | A | F#m | F#m |
So darlin’, darlin’, stand by me, oh, stand by me.
| D | E | A | A |
Oh, stand, stand by me. Stand by me.
Verse 2
If the sky that we look upon, should tumble and fall.
Or the mountain, should crumble to the sea.
I won’t cry, I won’t cry, no I won’t, shed a tear.
Just as long, as you stand, stand by me.
Chorus 2
And darlin’, darlin’, stand by me, oh stand by me.
Oh, stand now. Stand by me, stand by me.
Solo
| A | Aadd9 | F#m11 | F#m7 |
| Dsus2 | E | Aadd9 | Aadd9 |
| Aadd9 | Aadd9 | F#m7 | F#m7 |
| Dadd9 | E | Aadd9 | Aadd9 |
Chorus 3
And darlin’, darlin’, stand by me, oh stand by me.
Oh, stand now, stand by me, stand by me.
Outro
| A | A | F#m | F#m |
Whenever you’re in trouble won’t you. Stand, by me? Oh, stand by me, woah won’t you,
| D | E | A | A |
Stand now? Oh, stand, stand by me.
Stand By Me Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Stand By Me. 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 sharp to 441Hz. In the backing tracks, I’ve done this job for you by tuning it to 440Hz.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
Stand By Me features a chord progression used in many tunes before it, still, because of the popularity of this tune, it has become known as the Stand By Me changes. Using Roman Numerals, it’s the I – VI – IV – V.
In the key of A, this spell:
Verse + Chorus
||: A (I) | A | F#m (VI) | F#m |
| D (IV) | E (V) | A (I) | A :||
Since the progression remains the same throughout, it’s an easy addition to any cover band’s repertoire. Its simplicity makes it easy to learn and being instantly recognisable to any audience helps too!
To take your playing to the next level, use the Stand By Me chord progression as an opportunity to explore your CAGED chord shapes. Do it by simply playing the I – VI – IV – V progression in different positions on the fretboard.
Many singers prefer to change the key of Stand By Me, so it’s also worth practising playing in different keys.
If you’re playing Stand By Me solo on an acoustic guitar, consider the bassline and build your part around it. To help you with this concept, I’ve created some TAB to get you going, find it by scrolling further down this guitar lesson.
Solo
The solo can, once learned, be remembered by seeing the chords with extensions, like this:
| A | Aadd9 | F#m11 | F#m7 |
| Dsus2 | E | Aadd9 | Aadd9 |
| Aadd9 | Aadd9 | F#m7 | F#m7 |
| Dadd9 | E | Aadd9 | Aadd9 |
Once you’re comfortable with the TAB, all you need is a simple chord chart to play along with the backing tracks as you explore the fretboard and not just learn Stand By Me’s chords, but improve your fretboard knowledge too.
Stand By Me Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Stand By Me chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Stand By Me iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Stand By Me | TAB
Let’s go through how to arrange this classic for one acoustic guitar. To get there, we need to start by looking at what the bass plays, as this is the main instrument in Stand By Me.
In order to get the movement of the line right, we must start with a high A, like this:
The problem here is that on a guitar, this doesn’t sound like a bass. So what happens when we pull it down an octave—why doesn’t it work? Let’s take a look.
It’s all fine until the 5th bar, where we want that D to be lower than E. Playing it high ruins the bass line.
After scratching my head for a while, I managed to work out how to play this. Here’s what I came up with:
Study this carefully. I’m varying how much I play of the A chord—sometimes it’s just the bass note, sometimes a power chord, sometimes a bigger power chord.
For the F#m, I again play more notes and fewer notes. To set up the D chord, I use the upper octave from F#m, then stay in the higher octave going to E, only going low before the A chord comes back.
Play along with the backing tracks as well as on your own to get the feel right
Here’s the biggest challenge—the solo!
I’m using a lot of the strings from the original recording but also blending them with chords using open strings, and therefore extensions, to create a big-sounding instrumental section.
When you can play all this TAB, start experimenting with moving around the fretboard in an improvised way as you play along with the backing tracks using an electric guitar.
If you take as a habit to learn how to play a tune as an acoustic arrangement as well as on the electric in a band, you’re development will be accelerated.
Stand By Me Chords: Continue Learning
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