Take On Me | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: N.C | N.C :||
||: Bm9 :|| x4
||: Bm | E | A | D C#m :||
| Bm | E | Bm | E |
Verse 1
| Bm | E | A | D C#m |
We’re talking away, no, I don’t know what I’m to say,
| Bm | E | A | D C#m |
I’ll say it anyway, today’s another day to find you,
| Bm | E | F#m | D |
shying away. I’ll be coming for your love, okay?
Chorus 1
| A | E/G# | F#m | D |
Take on me (take on me).
| A | E/G# | F#m | D |
Take me on (take on me).
| A | E/G# | F#m | D | (half time)
I’ll be gone,
| A | E/G# | D | E |
in a day.
Verse 2
| Bm | E | A | D C#m |
So needless to say, I’m odds and ends but I’ll be,
| Bm | E | A | D C#m |
stumbling away, slowly learning that life is okay.
| Bm | E | F#m | D |
Say after me, it’s no better to be safe than sorry.
Chorus 2
| A | E/G# | F#m | D |
Take on me (take on me).
| A | E/G# | F#m | D |
Take me on (take on me).
| A | E/G# | F#m | D | (half time)
I’ll be gone,
| A | E/G# | D | E |
in a day.
Solo
||: C#m | C#m | G | G :||
| Bm | Bm | E | E |
| Bm | E | Bm | E | (half riff repeated
||: Bm | E | A | D C#m :||
| Bm | E | Bm | E |
Verse 3
| Bm | E | A | D C#m |
Oh, the things that you say, yeah, is it life or just to play my,
| Bm | E | A | D C#m |
worries away? You’re all the things I’ve got to remember,
| Bm | E | F#m | D |
you’re shying away, I’ll be coming for you anyway.
Chorus 3
||: A | E/G# | F#m | D :||
Take on me (take on me).
Take me on (take on me).
I’ll be gone,
in a day. (take on me, take on me)
(take me on, take on me)
I’ll be gone (take on me, take on me)
In a day (take me on, take on me)
(Take on me, take on me)
(Take me on, take on me)
(Take on me)
Take On Me chords, progressions, and TAB
A-ha’s Take On Me is great fun to play on the guitar. I’ve tabbed out the intro and riff below for you, try it along to the original recording and you’ll see what I mean!
Before we get to the analysis of this, let’s look at the chords first and make sense of them.
There are three progressions to worry about, the first is the verse, which goes like this:
||: Bm | E | A | D C#m :||
| Bm | E | F#m | D |
That first line is a II – V – I – IV – III, in the key of A.
The second line goes II – V – VI – IV, again in A and again, completely diatonic.
Compared with the intro/instrumental section, only the last two bars differ as we there go to Bm – E twice instead.
The chorus starts on chord I, then uses the 3rd of chord V to get to VI. The last chord is IV, like this:
||: A | E/G# | F#m | D :||
Play this twice, the third time it’s the same chords, although the drums go to half-time.
The final line of the chorus end on a IV – V, like this:
| A | E/G# | D | E |
This leaves us with just one more chord progression to investigate and it is the most odd one. The solo section goes to C#m, that’s chord III, then to a G, that’s a bVIIx. This is followed by a bunch of II – V’s before we play the riff again.
The last chorus repeats the same four chords until the end, it never goes to D – E again.
Now that you know all of Take In Me’s chords, let’s look at the intro and riff using TAB.
The opening chord is a Bm9, followed by intervals 9 – b7. We then get some funky Bm7 arpeggio notes before the riff kicks in.
The notes of the riff are mainly B minor pentatonic although there is a natural 6 in there making it Dorian.
Take On Me chords | Related pages
Five similar tunes
A-ha
Norwegian 80s pop/new wave band A-ha had to re-record both their signature song and video before the world woke up to their smash hit.
Their best tunes include Hunting High and Low, The Sun Always Shines On T.V, and of course, Take On Me.
A-ha on the web
