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Home ❯ Songs ❯ Lorde ❯

Royals

by Lorde • Lesson #5 • Nov 12, 2013

About this lesson

Here’s an acoustic guitar lesson teaching the song Royals, from Lorde’s 2013 debut album. I’ll break down the song and explain how you only need 3 chords to play the entire thing. As always, I hope you find this helpful!

Guitar Chords Used

This song uses three chords: D, C, and G. They’re played in the same exact progression the entire time – with the exception of the verse, which can alternatively be played using only the D chord. Below, I show a few different ways you might approach playing the D-C-G chords – these different positions might help you mix it up a bit to add variety. Ultimately, do what works for you – you can be quite flexible with this song, as the vocals carry the bulk of the weight.

e-|---2---0---3---   ---2----3----3---   ---10----8-----3---
B-|---3---1---0---   ---3----3----3---   ---10----8-----3---
G-|---2---0---0---   ---2----0----0---   ---11----9-----4---
D-|---0---2---0---   ---0----2----0---   ---12----10----5---
A-|-------3---2---   --------3----2---   ---12----10----5---
E-|-----------3---   -------------3---   ---10----8-----3---
      D   C   G         D    C9   G         D     C     G

Switching Chords During the Verse?

On a guitar, you can get away with playing the verse using only the D chord, as shown in this video.

Alternatively, you could use the D-C-G progression for the entire song, as heard here:

Chord progressions

VERSE, v1
"I've never seen a diamond in the flesh..."
| D . . . | . . . . | . . . . | . . . . | (repeat)

VERSE, v2
"I've never seen a diamond in the flesh..."
| D . . . | . . . . | C . . . | G . . . | (repeat)

PRE-CHORUS
"But every song's like gold teeth, Grey Goose..."
| D . . . | . . . . | C . . . | G . . . | (repeat)

CHORUS
"And we'll never be royals..."
| D . . . | . . . . | C . . . | G . . . | (repeat)

BRIDGE
"Ohhh, We're bigger than we ever dreamed..."
| D . . . | . . . . | C . . . | G . . . | (repeat)

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Title (long)
"Royals" by Lorde
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Royals by Lorde
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFAGFlrf1bM
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