Wake Me Up | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 A5 |
Verse 1
||: Bm G5 | D5 | Bm G5 | D5 :||
Feeling my way through the darkness, guided by a beating heart.
I can’t tell where the journey will end, but I know where to start.
They tell me I’m too young to understand, they say I’m caught up in a dream.
Well, life will pass me by if I don’t open up my eyes, well that’s fine by me.
Chorus 1
||: Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 A5 :||
So wake me up when it’s all over, when I’m wiser and I’m older.
All this time I was finding myself, and I didn’t know I was lost.
So wake me up when it’s all over, when I’m wiser and I’m older.
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 N.C |
All this time I was finding myself, and I didn’t know I was lost.
Instrumental
||: Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 A5 |
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | N.C :|| x3
Verse 2
I tried carrying the weight of the world, but I only have two hands.
Hope I get the chance to travel the world, but I don’t have any plans.
Wish that I could stay forever this young, not afraid to close my eyes.
| Bm G5 | D5 | Bm G5 | D5 N.C |
Life’s a game made for everyone, and love is a prize.
Chorus 2
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 A5 |
So wake me up when it’s all over, when I’m wiser and I’m older.
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 N.C |
All this time I was finding myself, and I, didn’t know I was lost.
||: Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 A5 :||
So wake me up when it’s all over, when I’m wiser and I’m older.
All this time I was finding myself, and I, I didn’t know I was lost.
I didn’t know I was lost, I didn’t know I was lost.
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | N.C |
I didn’t know I was lost, I didn’t know.
Outro
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 A5 |
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm | N.C |
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 A5 |
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 |
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 A5 |
| Bm G5 | D5 A5 | Bm G5 | D5 | B5 N.C |
Wake Me Up Chords: Learn the progressions
It would be easy to miss the fine details and subtle variations of Avicii‘s Wake Me Up’s chords and progressions.
At first glance, it seems as if it’s just Bm – G – D on repeat with the occasional stop. However, a closer inspection reveals that the G chord is a G5 and the same goes for the D.
Here are Wake me Up’s verse chords with Roman Numerals.
||: Bm (VI) G5 (IV) | D5 (I) :||
There is also an A5 during the chorus, and that A comes in on beat 4, this is the twist that subtly makes the chord progression unique, like this:
||: Bm (VI) G5 (IV) | D5 (I) A5 (V) :||
The trick here is that the A5 chord appears on beat 4m not 3.
Here’s a link to the TAB lesson which provide all the fine details of Wake Me Up’s chords: Wake Me Up – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Armed with that knowledge, this simple chord chart is all you need to bring to the gig, the best thing about a chord chart is how it tells you when to drop out.
Wake Me Up Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Wake Me Up Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Wake Me Up iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Wake Me Up was just a fun experiment!
Released in 2013, Wake Me Up was an incredible success with 11 million copies sold and a chart-topper in over 30 countries.
Written by Avicii and Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger, they got vocal melody and lyrics from Aloe Blacc (I Need A Dollar) who used old lyrics he’d written a few years earlier, adapting them to what Mike and Avicii had already recorded.
They put it down and probably didn’t think much of it, a few days later Avicii made the dance mix.
Described as a fun experiment by Avicii, Wake Me Up happened because he went to work every day to write tunes, not from divine inspiration, a great lesson to us all!
Wake Me Up was the most successful dance track of the 2010’s.
Wake Me Up Chords | Related Pages
Wake Me Up | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play Wake Me Up by Avicii using TAB and chord analysis.
| Bm G5 | D5/A | Bm G5 | D5/A |
Feeling my way through the darkness, guided by a beating heart…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Avicii tunes
Tim Bergling came from a family consisting of famous Swedish actors and singers, his stepdad being Tommy Körberg.
As Avicii, his first breakthrough came when he sampled Etta James and paired her vocals with House music.
Avicii on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Wake Me Up 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.
