Chords for Fireflies by Owl City - Guitar Lesson

Hey guys, so today I'm going to teach you how to play Fireflies by Owl City.
And it's really easy and it's fun to play.
It's just chords and there's really only two parts.
There's the verse and the chorus and they just keep repeating.
Sound good?
_ First off, you're going to want to play capo on fret 3, okay?
Now if we're looking at the verse, there's only three chords.
And it starts with G. _
That's played for one bar.
[Eb] And then C, which is played for another bar.
And then [Ab] F.
And that's played for two bars.
[N] Okay?
So the whole verse, it goes from G, C to F.
And it repeats that four times.
And that's the entire verse.
_ _ So this song wasn't really written for guitar, right?
It's kind of on like a synth piano sort of feel, you know?
Right?
So as far as strumming goes, it's really open and you can really strum it however you want.
As long as you switch chords when you're supposed to at the right time.
Anyways, I'll show you real slow how I strum it.
And you can copy me if you want because it sounds good to me.
So this is how it goes.
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Right?
[Am] So if you want to like break it down, [Bb] it's like_
Down, down, up, up, down, [Eb] up, down, down, down, down, up, [Ab] down, down, up, up, down, up, down, down, down, up. _ _
[N] _ _ So now I'm going to sing the first verse.
I'm going to play along.
I'm going to do it slow so you can get a sense of the rhythm and like when you're supposed to change chords and stuff.
Okay?
_ So here we go.
_ _ [Bb] _ Well, wouldn't [Eb] I believe your eyes
[Ab] _ Ten million _ _ _ [Bb] fireflies _
Lit up [Eb] the world as I fell [Ab] _ asleep
_ But _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ they'd fill [Eb] the open _ [Ab] air
And leave teardrops everywhere
[Bb] You'd think me rude
[Eb] But I would just stand [Ab] and stare _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[N] _ So now I'm going to show you the chords for the chorus.
And it starts with [Ab] an F.
_ _ _ Okay, [Eb] then it goes to C.
_ _ Then [Bb] G. _
_ Then it goes back [Ab] to F. _ _
[Eb] Then C.
_ [Gm] Then E minor.
[Ab] Then back to F.
Then F.
[Eb] Then C.
_ [Ab] And then [Bb] F, G, [Cm] _ E minor, _ _
[Ab] _ F, _ [Eb] _ C.
And [F] then D.
_ _ _ Okay? _
_ _ [N] So for the chorus, I strum it differently.
And it's a different rhythm.
So if you want to just watch, I'll play it really slow.
And you can just copy [Ab] my strumming pattern, okay?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Cm] _ _
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [N] Okay, so now I'm just going to play the chorus.
And I'm going to sing along.
And I'm going to do it a little slow so you can match the lyrics with the chords.
So you know like when to change chords and you know the rhythm.
Okay? _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ I'd like [Eb] to make myself [Bb] _ believe
_ _ That planet [Ab] _ _ [Eb] Earth will [Gm] _ _
_ explode
[Ab] _ _ _ _
To say [Eb] that I'd rather stay [Bb] away
While I [Cm] must leave
[G] [Ab] Because everything [Eb]
is never as [F] it seems _ _
_ _ _ _ _ So those are [B] the chords for the first chorus, okay?
All the other choruses are pretty much the same.
They just have a couple variations, okay?
So one of them is at the very beginning, the first phrase, when it goes like this. _
I'd [Eb] like to make [Bb] myself believe _
[Ab] Right?
So it's like the F, [Eb] the C, [Bb] and the G.
Okay, that's only for the first chorus.
Every other chorus, instead [Eb] of going to a C, they go [Cm] to an A minor. _ _
Okay?
[Ab] So it ends up sounding like this. _
[Cm] I'd like to make myself [Bb] believe _ _
_ _ Right?
Okay?
Now another thing, at the end of the chorus when he goes like this.
[Ab] Because everything [Eb] is nothing [F] as it seems _
[C] Okay, when he lands on the D.
He only lands on a D on the first and third choruses, okay?
Every other [Bb] chorus, he lands on a G.
_ _ Okay, so at the very end it [Ab] ends up sounding like this.
_ Because everything [Eb]
is nothing [Bb] as it seems
_ Okay?
Also, [Eb] on every chorus except for the first one, he adds an extra [Ab] line.
When I fall asleep
_ With the F.
Okay?
[A] So it sounds like this. _
[Ab] And everything [Eb] is nothing [Bb] as it _ seems
When I [Ab] fall asleep _
_ _ _ [N] Okay?
So it's pretty much the same, just a couple of the chords are different in [Ab] the added line at the end.
With the F.
Right?
[N] So yeah, that's the entire song.
It's like a verse and a chorus.
And that's it.
So, practice the chorus.
Practice singing it as well.
And practice singing and playing together so you can get all the rhythm perfect.
And everything, just all the chord changes perfect.
Okay?
So yeah, go learn it.
It's an awesome song. _ _ _ _ _