To practice Ed Sheeran’s songs on guitar, it is crucial that the chord shapes become second nature. Begin with simple songs such as Sweet Home Alabama or Bad Moon Rising as a means of familiarizing yourself with his chord shapes.
Once you have your chords mastered, practice switching from one chord to another slowly without making an audible change; gradually build up to faster tempos over time.
Rhythms
Ed Sheeran incorporates various rhythms into his songs. For instance, in Perfect, he employs an unconventional D major chord variation called a stepping stone chord to add variety to the playing style. This technique can provide you with an effective means of adding interest to your playing.
Pushing chord changes adds tension to his music and can easily be practiced using basic chords like those found in stepping stone chords, yet also applied to more advanced ones.
Once you’ve mastered chord progressions, focus on practicing strumming patterns that match the rhythm of the song. Learning each section piecemeal will help commit it to memory; once all chords have been learned however, try honing in on what makes your songs pop: strumming patterns!
Accents
Ed Sheeran is a popular pop artist known for writing melodies, harmonic progressions and chord structures that are easily playable on guitar. Many of his songs only require acoustic guitar and vocals but others incorporate additional elements like drums, bass or orchestra arrangements.
Ed uses not only strumming patterns, but also an accent technique known as accents to add some groove to his playing. Accents involve loudening a particular strum more than others within a chord sequence – in the case of “Perfect,” for instance, this would include using accented downstrums on counts 2 and 4. He utilizes this accented downstrum pattern on verse chords when singing verse 3 to add groove to verse 4.
Learn this song alongside an instructor of Fender Play to gain a greater understanding of its chord progressions, strumming patterns and lead parts that comprise this beautiful ballad. Sign up for your free trial of Fender Play now to start learning this beautiful ballad!
Strumming Patterns
As a guitarist, one of the most beneficial techniques you can learn is different strumming patterns. This practice helps add rhythm and groove to your playing and also adds interest to chord progressions.
Ed has an array of strumming patterns he employs in his songs, often employing one that alternates between downstrokes and upstrokes for maximum groove and ease of learning. This creates an engaging sound while making learning effortless.
Another popular strumming pattern is the 12 bar blues progression. This chord progression can be used across any genre of music; however, it’s especially popular among country and blues performers.
D, C and G chord progression is another popular chord sequence used widely on guitar, making it easy and intuitive. This chord progression can be found in numerous popular songs such as “A Team”, “Drunk Small Bump”, and “Perfect”. Furthermore, Jimi Hendrix used this progression famously in “Little Wing”.
Scales
Ed Sheeran’s emotive ballad “Perfect” is an ideal song for beginner guitarists to learn, thanks to its manageable tempo and open chord structure, while experienced players may appreciate its 12/8 time signature for adding variety to their repertoire.
The verse guitar part features an I-vi-IV-V progression, common to many songs and an effective way of practicing the chromatic scale (all notes on fretboard). To play this part, simply count off eighth notes within one bar (1, 2, 3, 4… 2) while strumming chords.
For an intricate chord change, move your ring finger from the first position of a G major chord to its second position of D major chord and create bluesy sounds in your chords.