25 Easy Taylor Swift Songs on Guitar with Tab and Video

25 min read Liam Engl
Easy Taylor Swift Songs On Guitar

The easiest Taylor Swift song to play on guitar is undoubtedly “Begin Again” from her “Red” album. Its gentle pace combined with straightforward open chords in the verses makes it ideal for beginners.

Following closely, “August” from “Folklore” and the timeless “Teardrops On My Guitar” stand out as beginner-friendly choices. “August” maintains a consistent four-chord pattern (D, G, Em, A) throughout, while “Teardrops” features the basic chords of G, C, Em, and D, super simple for those just starting out, or anyone learning to play guitar while singing.

The great thing about Taylor Swift’s songs is that so many of them are super fun to play on guitar, and many of them are actually very simple. Once you know your main open chords and can pull off a barre chord, you’re ready to roll. Here’s 25 songs that’ll give you a great place to start.

Begin Again

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Another classic country song that Taylor wrote in collaboration with Nathan Chapman and Dann Huff for her Red album. This was a much welcomed return to her country roots and was praised by critics for this direction. The song was also nominated for Best Country Song at the 56th Grammy awards and went platinum in the US with over a million copies sold.

This song is ideal if you don’t have a capo, because it’s just in regular standard tuning, and uses the chords G, Cadd9, Em7, and Dsus4. The nice thing about this is your pinky and ring finger can stay planted on those top two strings for all but the final D chord.  Be sure to remember the quick upstroke on the offbeat before changing the chord!

August

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A very somber and melancholic song that’s accented with electronics and vocal harmonies. But as always, there is a clear chord progression that can be used for an acoustic version. The song itself is from Taylor’s 2020 album Folklore and it made the top ten in both the US Rolling Stone Top 100 and US Hot Rock songs.

The song jumps between the chords: D, G, Em, and A. Take note of the strumming pattern as some upstrokes fall on unusual parts of the bar. You can use a metronome to help you, as this is a little different from some of the other Taylor Swift songs on the list. No capo is required for this song!

Teardrops on My Guitar

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Going all the way back to Taylor’s debut, self-titled album from 2006. The song was co-written with Liz Rose and is said to be about her high-school love interest, perhaps the same one Fifteen references? Who knows! But what we do know is this song lends itself incredibly well to the learning guitarist as it’s catchy and easy to play.

The song has some simple strummed open chords which are accompanied by lead melodies played on a banjo, adding to that country-pop feel. The main chords you will be playing are G, G6, Cadd9, and Dsus4, no capo is required! Try to give some attention to the dynamics (loud and soft chords) as it’s an important part of the song’s feel.

Back to December

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First up, we have the hit single Back to December from Taylor’s third studio album Speak Now, which was released in 2010. This is a nice, easy, ballad-esque song written from the perspective of someone apologizing to a young man whose heart she had broken. There’s a lot of emotion in the vocal delivery and the melancholic chord progression helps cement the somber feel of the song perfectly. Later on, Taylor revealed this was about her former boyfriend Taylor Lautner.

The song is nice and slow at 71bpm and is essentially all played using simple open chords. There are also some melodies and percussive elements that can easily be incorporated into the primary guitar if you want to spice things up a little.

Fifteen

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Next up, we have a single from Taylor’s second album titled Fearless. The song discusses her own experience of falling in love at an early age and serves as a source of solace for young teens. It delivers the hopeful message that despite their inevitable experiences of heartbreak at a young age, they will achieve much greater things in their lives. The song was a huge commercial success going 2x platinum in the US alone.

The song primarily uses a 4-chord progression which is G, Cadd9, Em7 to Cadd9. This repeats throughout the song and is quite easy to remember, but do be conscious of the strumming pattern, as it’s a large contributor to the groove and overall feel of the song.

Love Story

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One of Taylor’s biggest-ever singles, complete with a stellar music video which loosely follows the story of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and is currently sitting at 613 million views on YouTube. It’s a country/pop song that works great on either acoustic or electric. It was a massive commercial success, selling 18 million copies worldwide, winning numerous awards, and going 8x platinum in the US.

The song uses a very catchy and easy to play chord progression, which every guitarist should have in their vocabulary. It can also be played with a capo to make some of the barre chords a little easier to hold. But no worries if you don’t have one on hand, it’s very playable without. The song is in C major and again be aware of the strumming pattern, particularly where there is a doubled-up downstroke on the offbeat (D-DU).

Shake it Off

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This is the one many people will be here for. With its upbeat feel and ludicrously catchy verse and chorus hooks, this song is guaranteed to get everyone young and old dancing along as you play, whether at a party or a campfire singalong. The song sold over 10 million copies in the US alone and spent 50 weeks in the Billboard Top 100. It also has an accompanying music video which, drama and controversy aside, is also very lighthearted and entertaining.

Fortunately, the song is also super easy to play. You just need to learn G, Am, C, D.  No capo or special tuning is needed! The strumming patterns are a little open for interpretation as the original song is not primarily guitar-driven, so you can make it as simple or complicated as you wish for your desired level of comfort (alternate strumming patterns are demonstrated in the video lesson).

You Belong with Me

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Another song from Taylor’s debut album Fearless, and once again written with fellow songwriter Liz Rose. It’s a quintessential catchy and radio-friendly song that harkens back to her older style of blending country and pop. You may also recognize this as the infamous song for which Kanye West hilariously interrupted Taylor Swift’s MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech to complain that Beyoncé didn’t win.

Drama aside, this song works great on both electric and acoustic and has both lead and rhythm elements you can choose between. If you are a beginner, we recommend learning it from a chordal perspective and leaving the other parts for another day. The song has a very emotive chord progression and will introduce you to a couple of cool voicings, including the add9 chord.

Wildest Dreams

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For something a (little) bit more recent, Wildest Dreams is from her fifth studio album titled 1989 is a great power ballad. Although primarily driven by electronics, this can easily be translated to the guitar and played as a solo acoustic piece. The song itself achieved reasonable critical acclaim with two million copies sold in the US.

If you are looking for something a bit more technically interesting, there is an arrangement that also includes the vocal melodies as part of the guitar transcription. Perfect if you’re not interested in singing along! But the video lesson also includes regular chords if you want a more traditional version of the song to learn on the guitar.

Our Song

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Remarkably, this song went 4x platinum with over 4 million copies sold in the US AND hit the number 1 spot on the US Hot Country Songs billboard. Yet it was a song that she had humbly written for her high-school talent show. Although the production was upgraded quite a bit for her full album release, it was still met with critical praise for its catchy hook and mass appeal.

The song is primarily played using the chords D, Em, G, and A. As always, pay attention to the strumming pattern where you’ll be using your thumb to pick single notes acting as the bass before hitting the rest of the chord. There is also a banjo lead over the top, which you can choose to join in on if you wish. Otherwise, the chords are plenty interesting by themselves.

Ours

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One of the main promotional singles from Taylor’s third album Speak Now. It hit the number 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for Country songs and was certified platinum in the US. It also has a very successful accompanying video which is sitting at 100 million views on YouTube. The song has a very emotional and catchy feel to it. Fortunately, it’s also heavy acoustic guitar driven, making it an ideal song to learn.

To play this in the correct key, you will need a capo on the 5th fret. Otherwise, you might have to use a bit of theory knowledge to re-jig the chords about to work in different voicings. The strumming pattern is primarily DDD-DU.

Red

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The second single from her fourth studio album of the same name. Much like many of her other songs, this flirts between pop and soft rock with some country flair, using a banjo for some of the lead lines. While not her most popular single, it did sell two million copies in the US and was the song that spent the longest amount of time in the charts at a whopping 42 weeks.

The song is in a slightly higher key, so you’ll need a capo on the 4th fret. The guitar-work on this is a little bit more interesting. For the intro and verse, you will be playing the chords as arpeggios, which means playing each note of the chord one at a time instead of strumming them all at once.

Speak Now

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The main promotional single from the album of the same name, this was written in collaboration with Nathan Chapman. The song tells the story of someone interrupting a wedding after having a dream about the would-be groom marrying another girl. The song did very well, charting in the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The song uses all easy-to-play open chords: G, D, Am, C, and Em. The song is produced as a kind of a country-pop blend with some distorted guitar underneath. So you can easily learn this on both acoustic and electric. There are also some cool arpeggiated sequences on the verse which will provide you an opportunity to flex those picking skills!

State of Grace

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A little bit more of a rock tune for Taylor, but it nevertheless has all the catchy melodies and hooks that you’d expect. There are a lot of electric guitars, power chords, and higher-up melodies on this. But it can be easily translated to the acoustic guitar, just check out some cover renditions that are around on YouTube to get an idea.

You can essentially just take the underlying chord the guitar is outlining and play them as your regular open chords that you are probably quite familiar with. But if you did want to play this on electric, remember to use just a little bit of gain, as all the notes still need to ring clearly.

Treacherous

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One of Taylor’s more subdued and balladesque songs. A perfect choice for those quiet nights when you just need to learn something relaxing. It was released as a promotional single for the album Red and was co-written with Dan Wilson, who Taylor wanted to work with after being inspired by his work in his own band Semisonic. 

The chords on this are a little more interesting in their voicings, using some cool minor 7th and add9 chords. You can use a capo on the 7th fret to make this easier to play and of course, the song is transposable, so if the original is too high or low, you can just move the capo around and play the song in a different key.

We Are Never Getting Back Together

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Another single from Red, this one has a great anthemic feel to it and mixes acoustic guitar into modern dance-pop. But it nevertheless translates onto the acoustic guitar exceptionally well because of its clear and defined chord progression. The song was a collaboration between Taylor, Max Marin, and Shellback. It achieved monstrous commercial success going 6x platinum in the US alone.

Although the chord progression is quite simple, because of the nature of how it translates to the acoustic guitar, there is a lot of freedom to play this in a few different ways. You can approach it with basic strummed chords or others have created some cool strumming patterns and arpeggiations to give it a little more spice. Do check out the video lessons for some inspiration on how to play the song.

22

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And once more, another song from Red. This was also a continued collaboration between Taylor and songwriters/producers Max Martin and Shellback. The song depicts the fun-loving and carefree joys of being 22 years old. The song became a bit of a phenomenon amongst her fans all over the world, who would mark their 22nd birthday as a date of special importance because of this song.

It’s an upbeat and joyful pop song that uses some good staccato rhythmic acoustic guitar, which provides a lot of energy and life. Do be sure to check the video lessons for the strumming patterns as that’s a large part of what gives the song its upbeat feel.

Betty

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Another relatively new one from Taylor, also from her most recent 2020 release titled Folklore. The song returns to those country roots with a bit of rock flair and was written between Taylor and William Bowery. It was largely praised for the use of instruments such as the lap steel, harmonica, and harpsichord. Not common things to see in modern commercial pop!

The song uses some interesting chord voicings with the progression C, C/B, Am, Gsus4, and Fsus4. You won’t need a capo for this, as they can all be played in their regular open positions. Some of these chords are arpeggiated with a nice picking pattern on the intro, but don’t be afraid to just strum these. It works just as well!

Blank Space

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This was the second single from Taylor’s 2014 album 1989. It achieved huge commercial success, spending seven weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100, selling over 8 million copies in the US and even earned a Grammy nomination! The official video for the single is sitting at an incredible 2.9 billion views on YouTube.

Although the song is not necessarily guitar-driven, it does lend itself well to being played as a solo acoustic piece and many people have made their own renditions and interpretations of it. When Taylor sings the song acoustically, it doesn’t completely line up with the original studio version, so don’t worry if some of the chords sound a little different.

Come Back, Be Here

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Another track from Taylor’s highly successful Red album. The song has an original studio version which has a full band supporting it, but there is also one dubbed Taylor’s Version which is essentially a solo performance just with an acoustic guitar and vocals. You can choose to play along to either depending on your preference.

Because of the multiple versions, there are a few interpretations of the song and you can choose which one suits you best by referencing both the tablature and video lesson. Regardless, both the chords and strumming pattern are very simple and should pose no trouble for even a beginning guitarist.

Cornelia Street

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Taylor has said that this is one of her most personal songs from her seventh album titled Lover. She also mentioned that she wrote the lyrics to the song while in the bath and Cornelia Street is a reference to the location of the property she was renting. The song charted in the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK streaming chart, but did not win any awards.

At first glance, the song might seem electronically driven, but there is still a clearly discernible chord progression that you can follow on the guitar. Because you are playing a section that wasn’t present in the studio recording, you are free to strum and interpret the song how you wish. The video tab will have a good guide if you’re not sure.

Cruel Summer

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This song was famously made in collaboration with St. Vincent, who guitarists will know for her signature Sterling by Music Man series guitar. The single marries a range of styles, leaning towards more of an electronic and synthesized sound. The song details some of Taylor’s struggles with being in the public spotlight while dealing with an uncertain romantic relationship. 

The song has a great ambiance and melodic feel, much like some of her other singles. Although it’s primarily driven by electronics, it’s easily adapted as a solo singer/acoustic piece and you will find many covers and adaptations of it online. Feel free to use the chord progression and play it any way you see fit.

Everything Has Changed

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This song was written in collaboration with the world-famous acoustic singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran to create a wonderful acoustic folk-pop ballad. Although the song got middling reviews from critics, this is largely due to high expectations from such stellar musicians. The single still charted in the US and UK.

Generally speaking, Ed’s guitar work is a little bit more involved than what you might commonly see from Taylor’s music. So there are some interesting chord voicing and strumming patterns you need to be aware of. You will notice that when Taylor plays this solo, her version is a little more simplified, so feel free to pick whichever one is more in line with your current level of technical ability.

Gorgeous

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One of the more unique and quirky synth-pop songs from Taylor, which took some fans aback because of how different from her other music it sounds. But the closer you listen, the more you will realize it still follows all the same beats of a classic Taylor song, including chord progression and hooks.

Like many of her songs, the studio recording for this is electronically driven, so you can take the core progression which is C, C/B, G/B, Am, F, and G and strum them in a way that’s comfortable for you. There are many acoustic renditions available on YouTube so do reference them for some inspiration as well as the provided video tab.

I Don’t Wanna Live Forever

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This song was a collaboration between Taylor and English singer Zayn. It was released as part of the soundtrack for the movie Fifty Shades Darker, which came two years after the hit movie Fifty Shades of Grey. The song was a huge hit. Between the associated movie and the prominence of the two performing artists, it went 4x platinum in the US and hit number 2 on the US Mainstream Top 40.

For this song, you will be mostly following the bassline, which is very easily converted into strummable chords on the acoustic guitar. The vocal performance can be quite tricky to execute, as the studio recording has two different singers with their own tonality. So you can simplify the strumming pattern to make this easier to perform.

Final Thoughts On Easy Taylor Swift Songs on Guitar

Taylor Swift has a long and deep musical history. As each new record comes out, a new batch of songs are added for both experienced players and those looking for easy Taylor Swift songs to learn on the guitar. Once you have these under your fingers, you should be ready to take a step up to some more challenging songs. Enjoy!

  • Liam Engl

    Liam is a British guitarist who splits his time between the UK and Asia. He fills his time with guitar as a full time guitar teacher, producer/songwriter/engineer for his own projects Mera and Decode The Design, YouTuber with over 2.5m views, occasional Twitch streamer, and featured artist for brands such as Carillion Guitars and WristGrips.

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