Can't Help Falling in Love

by Elvis Presley • Lesson #349 • Jan 30, 2021

Video 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

Editor’s notes

Hey friends! Here’s a guitar lesson teaching you how to play the Elvis classic “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” from his 1961 album (and film) Blue Hawaii. This lesson is focused around a beginner-friendly, strummed version of the song – aimed to make things as approachable as possible. I’ll be using no capo in my video lesson, just to ensure those of you without capos can play along – but note you’ll need to add a capo on 2nd fret (and use the chords I show) to play along with Elvis’ album version. I’ll also explain simple ways to play some of the more tricky chords (F and B7), and likewise show you a handful of strumming patterns – some of which are great if strumming gives you trouble. Thanks to all of you who requested this classic song… I hope you enjoy!

Video timestamps:

0:00 Preview & lesson summary
2:17 Chord shapes needed
4:35 Chord progressions
8:03 Strumming patterns
14:24 Full playthrough

Capo 2nd fret

To play along with the Elvis version, add a capo on the 2nd fret and use the chords I show here. Without a capo, you’ll need to play in the key of D to play along with Elvis. You can still use the chords I show with no capo, but note you’ll be out of tune with the Elvis version.

Chord progressions

Here’s the measure-by-measure progressions used for the entire song, which has a verse and bridge section. The diagram below is broken into measures, each of which has 6 full beats.

Verse:

"Wise men say..."
| C       | Em      | Am      | Am      |
| F       | C       | G       | G       |

"But I can't help..."
| F       | G       | Am      | F       |
| C       | G       | C       | C       |

Bridge:

"Like a river flows..."
| Em      | B7      | Em      | B7      |
| Em      | B7      |

"Some things are meant to be..."
| Em      | A7      | Dm      | G       |

Strumming and rhythm

This song has 6 counts per measure. If you set your metronome to 100 bpm, this means one “click” per every 3 counts. In other words, the “1” and “4” counts would happen on the metronome beats. Visualized, this looks like this:

[ See PDF for diagram ]

To strum the song, the most beginner-friendly way to start is doing a down-strum only on the “1” count of each measure.

[ See PDF for diagram ]

From there, you can dial it up a bit by adding another down-strum on the “4” count. That is, do a down-strum on the “1” and “4” counts:

[ See PDF for diagram ]

To continue dialing it up, you can add even more down-strums… but make these a bit lighter, so that the “1” and “4” remain the strongest strums.

[ See PDF for diagram ]

Finally, you can add some up-strums if you wish – but again, keep these light! It’s okay if you’re only brushing the thinnest few strings when you up-strum.

[ See PDF for diagram ]

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Can't Help Falling in Love

Video lesson

Licensed Song Sheet 3 pages

Editor’s notes

Capo 2nd fret

Chord progressions

Strumming and rhythm

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

Fret Monster

Capo Captain

Key Master

Blank Tabs

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Recent Lessons