May202023

Lewis Capaldi – The Pretender Chords on Piano & Ukulele

KeyKeyCapo

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[Intro]
A

[Verse 1]
A
I will be your shoulder
 to cry on
F#m
I will make you laugh
if you need
E
I will play the part
if you say so
      D
Yeah, I'll be anybody but me

[Pre-Chorus]
A
To tell you the truth,
        E
 I'm a mess, I'm a fool
           D        E
You don't know that
    F#m
And you never will
       E
In my mind, it's instilled
         D
 not to show that

[Chorus]
A
I spend almost all of my time
                 A/E
Feeling like I'm falling
even further behind
      F#m      D
And I know I'm so
 good at seeming
A/E
Like I'm not on the
             Asus2/E
edge of a knife
           D
I'm the pretender,
           F#m
what can I tell ya?
            Asus2/E
Designed to deceive
   D
So tell me who you
               A
want me to be

[Verse 2]
A
I can wear a million faces
F#m
'Cause I don't like
the one underneath
E
Always found it
easy to fake it
      D
Yeah, I'll be anybody but me

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[Pre-Chorus]
A
To tell you the truth,
           E
 I'm the fraud in the room
           D        E
You don't know that
    F#m
And you never will
       E
In my mind, it's instilled
         D
 not to show that

[Chorus]
A
I spend almost all of my time
                 A/E
Feeling like I'm falling
 even further behind
      F#m      D
And I know I'm so
good at seeming
A/E
Like I'm not on the
            Asus2/E
edge of a knife
            A
I feel like everything
 I do is a lie
                       A/E
And all the words just further
 pull the wool over my eyes
  F#m      D
I know I'm no good at being
A/E                     Asus2/E
Who I am away from the light
           D
I'm the pretender,
            F#m
what can I tell ya?
            Asus2/E
Designed to deceive
   D
So tell me who you
             A
 want me to be

[Bridge]
          E
And I'll be
       D
Be my best impression of
                      F#m
what you expect from me
          E         D
But what you don't see is

[Chorus]
A
I spend almost all of my time
                 A/E
Feeling like I'm falling
 even further behind
      F#m      D
And I know I'm so
good at seeming
A/E
Like I'm not on the
             Asus2/E
edge of a knife
            A
I feel like everything
I do is a lie
                       A/E
And all the words just further
 pull the wool over my eyes
  F#m      D
I know I'm no good at being
A/E
Who I am away from
      Asus2/E
the light
           D
I'm the pretender,
            F#m
what can I tell ya?
             A/E
And I'm an imposter,
                Asus2/E
 my head is a mender
           D
I'm the pretender,
            F#m
what can I tell ya?
            Asus2/E
Designed to deceive
   D
So tell me who you
               A
 want me to be

How to play The Pretender: key, chords and progression

These are The Pretender chords by Lewis Capaldi on Piano, Ukulele, Guitar, and Keyboard.

The Pretender by Lewis Capaldi is centred on A major (three sharps: F♯, C♯, G♯). The song uses 6 chords: A, F#m, E, D, A/E and Asus2/E.

The progression the song keeps returning to is F#m – E – D – A (vi – V – IV – I in A major). In solfa, that is lah – soh – fah – doh. Learn these 4 changes first and most of the song falls into place.

Beginner-friendly: almost every chord here is an open shape on guitar: no capo, no barre chords needed.