Six String Fingerpicking Courses and Lessons

Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley – Fingerstyle Guitar lesson & TAB

Elvis Presley

SONG DETAILS

DIFFICULTY:

6

TUNING:

Standard

TEMPO:

65 BPM

KEY:

G major

Can’t Help Falling in Love was recorded in 1961 by the great Elvis Presley and appears on the album Blue Hawaii. Although Elvis sings the version we’re learning in this lesson, it was actually written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George David Weiss

The song is in 6/8 time and follows a straightforward chord progression throughout. Also, as you’ll see, the structure is not particularly difficult to navigate, mainly just a repeated verse/bridge. Because the melody of Can’t Help Falling in Love is so strong and the chords move along nicely, it works great as a solo fingerstyle arrangement.

Learn To Play Can't Help Falling in Love

Can't Help Falling in Love (Performance)

As you learn to play this fingerstyle arrangement of Can’t Help Falling in Love, be sure to frequently return to the performance and use it as a good reference point and guide.

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Intro

Can’t Help Falling in Love starts with a very simple four bar introduction. I’ve added in the bass line that’s on the original recording here, this makes it considerably harder to play and requires a pretty big and awkward stretch. Thankfully, if you find it too hard or frustrating, I show you a much easier way to play it at the end of this video.

Verse

The verse appears four times in Can’t Help Falling in Love and each time it follows the exact same chord progression. This certainly makes learning the song considerably easier.

The first time through I take a very straight, no frills approach, just letting the melody do all the work and simply arpeggiating the chords underneath. However, to add some life and texture to the arrangement, I do add a few small nuances here and there in the other verses. It’s completely up to you if you want to put them in or not.

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Bridge

The bridge adds a real lift to the song and comes in at just the right time. You may find this section difficult as some of the chord shapes require a bit of stretching, and the percussive tap doesn’t make it any easier either. However, stick with it and I’m sure you’ll get it.

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Outro

As I was arranging Can’t Help Falling in Love, when it came to the end of the song it really felt like something was missing, and to my ear it needed something a little extra. So I played around with it and came up with this simple idea. Again, it’s completely up to you if you want to put it in or not.

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