Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud - Chord

Key D major – B minor Chords D, A, F#, G, Em, Bm Easy key C (capo 2)

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Capo 0

D   D F#                                  G             A
    When your legs don't work like they used to before
D   D F#                               G    A
    And I can't sweep you off of your feet
D   D F#                                 G           A
    Will your mouth still remember the  taste of my love
D   D F#                        G      A
    Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks

            D   D F#          G   A          D  D F#   G A
And darling I will be loving you till we're 70
            D  D F#                 G  A        D    D F#
And baby my heart could still fall as hard at 23 
G                         A
And I'm thinking bout how 

Em                         A      D
People fall in love in mysterious ways
Em                       A
Maybe just the touch of hand
     Em                          A          Bm
Well me I fall in love with you every single day 
    Em                      A
And I just wanna tell you I am
            D       D F#
So honey now

G A                          D    D F#
   Take me into your loving arms 
G A                            D        D F#
  Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars 
G            A                  D     D F#
  Place your head on my beating heart 
             G    A
I'm thinking out loud

          Bm  A    G    D F#    Em   A   D
And maybe we found love right where we are


D      D F#                               G            A
   And when my hair's all but gone and my memory fades
D      D F#                          G     A
   And the crowds don't remember my name
D      D F#              G          A
   When my hands don't play the strings the same way
D      D F#                             G     A
   I know you will still love me the same

           D      D F#              G     A            D  D F#       G   A
Cause honey your soul could never grow old it's evergreen
           D     D F#           G  A            D     D F# 
And baby your smile's forever in my mind and memory
G                A
And i'm thinking bout how 

Em                        A       D
People fall in love in mysterious ways
Em                         A
And maybe it's all part of plan
      Em                      A     Bm
Well I'll just keep on making the same mistake 
Em                    A
Hoping that you'll understand
D              D F#
That baby now

G A                        D  D F#   
Take me into your loving arms 
G A                            D        D F#    
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars 
G A                            D   D F#   
Place your head on my beating heart 
             G    A
I'm thinking out loud

          Bm  A    G    D F#    Em   A   D
That baby we found love right where we are

         D   D F#
So baby now
G A                        D  D F#   
Take me into your loving arms 
G A                            D        D F#    
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars 
G A                            D   D F#   
Place your head on my beating heart 
             G    A
I'm thinking out loud

           Bm  A    G      D F# Em   A   D
That maybe we found love right where we are
     Bm  A    G      D F#  Em   A   D
Baby we found love right where we are
     Bm  A    G   D F#   Em   A   D
And we found love right where we are

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Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud Tabs

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Harmony analysis

Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud: key and chord analysis

The song opens on D and ends on D. Its chords belong to both D major and Bm, so every chord below is read both ways.

Major view

D major

Brightness rank 2/7 (bright)

Characteristic notes

7 = C# (leading tone, pulls home)
4 = G (the note that leans on the 3rd)

Minor view

B minor

Brightness rank 5/7 (leaning dark)

Characteristic notes

b6 = G (the minor's melancholy)
b7 = A (natural-minor colour)
#7 = A# (harmonic-minor leading tone from the V chord)

Which side does the ear lean to?

Our reading: to us the song feels closer to the D major side because it both starts and finishes on D, D is heard 68 times against 7 for Bm and the major V chord points straight at Bm. That is an interpretation, not a rule — hearing the same chords from B minor is just as valid and teaches you something different.

Chord degrees: major and relative minor

Show the degrees above the chords — relative to D or to Bm; comparing both readings is a practice of its own.

Every chord of the key, listed 1 to 7 separately for each key. Chords played in the song show how often they appear; chords from outside the scale sit next to their own degree.

Seen from D major
Degree	Chord	Role	Notes	In song
I	D	Tonic — home	D · F# · A	68×
ii	Em	Supertonic — prepares the dominant	E · G · B	13×
iii	F#m	Mediant — a tonic-family shade	F# · A · C#	—
V/vi	F#	Secondary dominant V/vi — leads to Bmsecondary dominant	F# · A# · C#	33×
IV	G	Subdominant — moves away from home	G · B · D	33×
V	A	Dominant — strongest pull home	A · C# · E	46×
vi	Bm	Relative minor — the melancholy side	B · D · F#	7×
vii°	C#dim	Leading-tone chord — tension	C# · E · G	—

Seen from B minor
Degree	Chord	Role	Notes	In song
i	Bm	Tonic — home	B · D · F#	7×
ii°	C#dim	Supertonic — prepares the dominant	C# · E · G	—
III	D	Relative major — the bright side	D · F# · A	68×
iv	Em	Subdominant — moves away from home	E · G · B	13×
v	F#m	Minor dominant — soft pull	F# · A · C#	—
V	F#	Dominant — borrowed from harmonic minor, pulls hard to the tonicharmonic minor	F# · A# · C#	33×
VI	G	Submediant — warm colour	G · B · D	33×
VII	A	Subtonic — steps back to the tonic	A · C# · E	46×

Analysis

The key pair is D major and its relative B minor (2 sharps). 6 different chords appear 200 times in total; 5 of them sit naturally inside the shared scale. The major V of Bm brings the harmonic-minor leading tone, giving the minor side a sharper, more dramatic pull; seen from D, the same F# is V/vi, a secondary dominant heading for Bm.

Chord movement

A D DV → Iauthentic cadence BmVII → III ×32
G A DIV → VIV → V BmVI → VIIVI → VII ×28
Em A Dii → Vii → V Bmiv → VII ×13
A Bm DV → videceptive cadence BmVII → iAeolian arrival ×5
G D DIV → Iplagal cadence BmVI → III ×5

The move to watch is A → D, heard 32 times. From the D side it reads V → I (authentic cadence: the strongest arrival home); from the Bm side it is VII → III. Knowing where these arrivals fall helps you feel the phrasing and anticipate the next chord.

Improvisation tips

D major pentatonic and B minor pentatonic are the same five notes (D – E – F# – A – B): start from D for a brighter phrase, from B for a bluesier one.
Over D, land on D, F#, A — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
Over A, land on A, C#, E — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
Over F#, land on F#, A#, C# — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
When F# comes, swap the scale's A for A#: that single note is the harmonic-minor sound of the chord.

The song on the circle of fifths

Played in the song — chord of the key
Played — the minor's harmonic V or a secondary dominant
Played — borrowed or outside chord
Home region: IV–I–V and ii–vi–iii

Empty slices are chords the song doesn't use.

Capo and easier keys

With D major shapes

No capo — open D shapes
Capo 2 + C shapes
Capo 5 + A shapes

With B minor shapes

Capo 2 + Am shapes
Capo 7 + Em shapes

Easiest keys on guitar

2 semitones down · capo 2 keeps the original pitch
5 semitones up · capo 7 keeps the original pitch

The song's harmonic story

Starting on D, the song gives away its key from the very first bar. The chords that keep coming back are D, A, F#, G; read them as I–V–V/vi–IV in D or III–VII–V–VI in Bm. F# is the interesting twist: in D it is a chromatic chord (V/vi), while in Bm it becomes the dominant (V) that makes the minor side sound so determined. Keep an ear on A → D (V → I in D, VII → III in Bm): authentic cadence — the strongest arrival home. The final chord is D; the ear comes to rest in D.

This analysis is generated from the song's chords by akorculuk's harmony engine using consistent rules. When you change key, the degrees stay the same; only the chord names change.