Romeo and Juliet

by Dire Straits • Lesson #284 • Feb 12, 2020

Hey there friends! Here’s my lesson for the Dire Straits song “Romeo & Juliet”. I’ll be showing you an “easy” way to pick up your guitar and play this song, specifically (1) using no capo, (2) in standard tuning, and (3) using a simplified version of the intro. All this together allows you to quickly jump into the song, hopefully keeping things accessible. As per normal, I’ll explain the chord shapes, the verse & chorus progressions, talk about strumming, and then break down the intro riff step-by-step.

Best of luck with things! Again, keep on reading for additional notes on how to play this 100% exactly like Dire Straits does. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this lesson and the PDF chord sheet I’ve made for this song.

0:00 Greeting & overview
1:42 Capo & tuning notes
3:00 Chord shapes needed
4:18 Chord progressions & strumming
11:17 Playthrough of verse & chorus
13:12 Intro tab, step by step
21:41 Farewell

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

Tour of My Song Sheet

Here’s a tour of the song sheet I made for this song. It’s currently available for individual purchase over at Musicnotes (who provides licensing). The link to buy it is above. Ignore what I say in this video about Patreon – that is no longer the best place to support me with membership (instead, become a member on this site you’re reading now – here’s more info).

More About Capo and Tuning

My video lesson above is in standard tuning, no capo – which aims to give you an accessible way to play this song with any old guitar, no re-tuning or capo needed.

However, if you want to play along with Dire Straits, use the chords I show and put a capo on the 3rd fret. Any for extra credit even, you’ll want to tune your guitar to open G tuning (D G D G B D). Check out Justin Sandercoe’s lesson if you want to learn how to play it in open G:

Dire Straits Version

Here’s the official album version, if you’d like to hear exactly how Dire Straits plays it.

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Romeo and Juliet

Licensed Song Sheet 3 pages

Tour of My Song Sheet

More About Capo and Tuning

Dire Straits Version

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

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

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Capo Captain

Key Master

Blank Tabs

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Recent Lessons