Shallow

by A Star is Born • Lesson #181 • Oct 11, 2018

Full lesson

Licensed Song Sheet 3 pages

Follow along with my print-friendly guide for this song! It’s available for purchase at Musicnotes.com, the web’s leading provider of licensed sheet music.

On the fence? Here's a guide I made showing the purchase & print process, including answers to common questions about my song sheets.

Buy at Musicnotes.com

Play-along cover

Lyrics w/ chords

See PDF for lyrics, chords, and intro tab.

Chords needed

“Magic ring” chord shapes (used for intro & verse fingerpicking):

E ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
B ––––3–––––3–––––3–––––3–––––  <== left ring finger stays here,
G ––––0–––––2–––––0–––––0–––––      on 3rd fret, for all chords!
D ––––2–––––0–––––0–––––2–––––
A ––––2–––––0–––––2–––––3–––––
E ––––0–––––2–––––3–––––––––––
     Em7   D/F#   G   Cadd9

Conventional chord shapes (used throughout the song):

E ––––0–––––3–––––3–––––0––––0–––––0–––––2–––––0––––
B ––––0–––––3–––––3–––––1––––1–––––1–––––3–––––2––––
G ––––0–––––2–––––0–––––0––––2–––––0–––––4–––––2––––
D ––––2–––––0–––––0–––––2––––2–––––2–––––4–––––2––––
A ––––2–––––––––––2–––––3––––0–––––x–––––2–––––0––––
E ––––0–––––––––––3––––––––––––––––3––––––––––––––––
      Em    D     G     C    Am   Am/G   Bm    A

How to learn the intro riff

When learning this song, I recommend using the following as a guide to understand the rhythm of the intro & verse chords. Whether you strum or fingerpick, you’ll want to note which chords are switched to on the beat, and which are “pushed” so that you switch to them an 8th note ahead of the main beat (e.g., the first G is played on the “4 +” count instead of the “1” count).

See PDF for tab diagram

From here, you can bring in the fingerpicking tab as heard in the actual song. Notice how the chord changes happen on the beats prescribed above.

See PDF for tab diagram

Simplifying the intro & verse riff

Here’s the same intro progression, but using the simplified chord shapes that keep your left ring finger on the same note for all chords. Can’t beat that!

See PDF for tab diagram

If you want to keep things simpler for the intro and/or the verse, I recommend learning this approach. The benefit is that your left ring finger stays on the B string (3rd fret) for all chords, which makes things so much easier. Note, this gets looser with the timing - which also keeps things simpler (don’t feel like you HAVE to match the exact timing of the song, if it’s giving you a hard time).

See PDF for tab diagram

Chord progression cheat sheet

There are four beats per measure - and each of the main song sections used the following chords (sometimes you stay on a chord for 4 counts, other times you split a measure between two different chords).

Verse:        "Tell me something, girl..."
              | Em    D/F# | G          | C          | G     D    |

Pre-chorus:   "I'm off the deep end..."
              | Am         | D          | G     D/F# | Em         |

Chorus:       "In the shallow, shallow..."
              | Am    Am/G | D/F#       | G     D/F# | Em         |

Bridge:       "Whoaaaa....."
              | Bm         | D          | A          | Em         |
              | Bm         | D          | A          |

Strumming pattern

After the verse sections are over, I usually strum the rest of the song. Quite simply, I’ll use a “down, down up… up down up” pattern, over and over again.

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D   D U   U D U

Thanks and good luck!

I hope this helps, and as always let me know if you have any questions. While you’re here, check out my other lessons for songs from A Star is Born:

Always Remember Us This Way

Lesson timestamps:

0:00 Lesson preview & agenda
1:45 Chords shapes needed
4:53 Chord progressions
7:04 Strumming patterns
11:18 Chorus: strum & timing
14:05 Chorus: advanced voicings
16:23 Putting it all together
18:03 Farewell & thanks

Maybe It’s Time

Guitar lesson:

Play-along cover (full song):

Browse Related Lessons

Click any tag below to view other lessons I've made in that category:

Enjoy My Lessons? Show Your Support!

Most of the lessons on my website are 100% free. If you have the means, please show your support with a tip jar contribution. I put many hours into every lesson — but it only takes you a minute to make a donation. You have my thanks!

Donate

Looking for More Song Lessons?

Recently Added

Featured Courses

Strumming & Rhythm

While your left hand is busy learning chords, your right hand has its own job: creating a sense of rhythm with strumming! This can be tricky at first, but there's so much fun-to-be-had once you get over the hump. Here's a guide to get you started.

17 lessons

View

Fingerstyle & Travis Picking

Dive into the basics of fingerstyle guitar, with plenty of examples of riffs, exercises, and songs that put this technique to use. This includes a healthy serving of Travis Picking lessons, which feature an alternating bass note played with your right thumb.

31 lessons

View

Blues Starter Kit

A guide to must-know elements of beginner blues guitar! I'll walk you through the essential topics, showing you fun things to play along the way.

18 lessons

View

Reading Music for Guitarists

Learn to read tabs, chord charts, fretboard diagrams, strumming patterns, and more! This course explains how to understand all of these must-know notation styles.

6 lessons

View

Learning Lead Guitar

A collection of videos teaching you licks, riffs, solos, and other lead guitar techniques! Includes info on scales, CAGED shapes, and other helpful lead guitar concepts.

24 lessons

View

Beginner Chord Guide

A guide to the must-know chords you'll need when getting started with guitar! The quickest way to learn major chords, minor chords, the chords in each key, and more.

22 lessons

View

Practical Music Theory

A general overview of must-know theory concepts. The goal here is practical, easy-to-understand explanations — all of which provide clarity to your everyday guitar playing.

12 lessons

View

Using a Capo

Capos are incredibly helpful if you want to play along with your favorite artist, change a song's key, adjust things to your vocal range, and so on. In this series of videos I explain all this & more!

8 lessons

View

Walk Ups & Walk Downs

A very common trope in rock, country, and folk music involves walking bass lines that "connect" one chord to another. I've used this in many of my song lessons, and I'm happy to share this list of related lessons if you'd like to brush up on this technique.

10 lessons

View

CAGED Essentials

Learn about the repeating pattern of shapes on the fretboard, named after the five open chord shapes (C-A-G-E-D). Each shape can be used to play a chord, arpeggio, pentatonic or diatonic scale in every key... which makes them worth knowing!

6 lessons

View

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Interactive fretboard map! See the patterns behind every scale in any key.

View

Capo Captain

An easy way to calculate key & chord combinations, for any capo location!

View

Key Master

See and hear the notes, chords, scales used in each of the most common keys.

View

Blank Tabs

Free PDF templates to download, print, and write out your own guitar tabs!

View

Coming soon is Jambox – which shows all the video jam tracks I've made. It's note quite ready for the spotlight, but check it out if you like!

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Be sure to never miss a lesson by subscribing on YouTube. I put out 2-3 new videos every week. These include full song lessons, as well as covers, practice tips, behind-the-scenes updates. Thanks!

Recent Lessons

March 21, 2025

Leaving Your Comfort Zone to Speed Up Learning

Tips on pushing your boundaries without overwhelming yourself, all in the name of learning more quickly & expanding your guitar skillset.
March 12, 2025

"All The Best" by John Prine

Let's learn how to play John Prine's 1991 classic! Tons of fun with his Travis-picking fingerstyle, where he makes magic with just three chords.
March 6, 2025

Acoustic Fun with AC/DC's "Back in Black"

Let's dive into the hard-hitting classic from AC/DC — played on an acoustic guitar! By rounding a few corners, I'll show you how to have fun with this 1980 classic.
Feb 24, 2025

Major, Minor, and Pentatonic Scales in Every Key!

I'm thrilled to finally share 40+ new pages of PDF cheat sheets looking at all the must-know scales! Many of you have asked about this in the last couple years... it's finally here!
Feb 12, 2025

"Handle with Care" by Traveling Wilburys

Let's dive into this 1988 classic from the late-1980s supergroup featuring George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison. So fun to play!
Feb 5, 2025

Strumming Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind"

I've updated my "Blowin' in the Wind" lesson with two zoomed playthrough videos, showing how to strum the verse & chorus (with and without bass-note strumming). Updated practice notes too!
Feb 4, 2025

Tom T. Hall's Classic Country Riff

I've updated my lesson for "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died" with new practice notes and three zoomed playthrough videos! The intro riff for this song is an absolute killer.
January 29, 2025

"Third Coast" by Larry Joe Taylor

Let's dive into this campfire-friendly fan-favorite by LJT! I'll teach it in two different keys, and show a few different ways to use strummy walk-downs to spice up the 8 measure progression.

Browse All Recent Lessons →

← back to homepage

Shallow

Full lesson

Licensed Song Sheet 3 pages

Play-along cover

Lyrics w/ chords

Chords needed

How to learn the intro riff

Simplifying the intro & verse riff

Chord progression cheat sheet

Strumming pattern

Thanks and good luck!

Always Remember Us This Way

Maybe It’s Time

Unlock My Secret Stash!

Browse Related Lessons

Enjoy My Lessons? Show Your Support!

Looking for More Song Lessons?

Featured Courses

Strumming & Rhythm

Fingerstyle & Travis Picking

Blues Starter Kit

Reading Music for Guitarists

Learning Lead Guitar

Beginner Chord Guide

Practical Music Theory

Using a Capo

Walk Ups & Walk Downs

CAGED Essentials

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Capo Captain

Key Master

Blank Tabs

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Recent Lessons