How to Play "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard — A Practical Chord Guide
I picked up "Falling Slowly" back when everyone was trying to cover the "Once" soundtrack. It's one of those songs that sounds deceptively simple. The chords repeat, the tempo stays steady, and yet getting it to feel right takes some attention to detail. This isn't going to be a Wikipedia-style dump. I'll walk you through what you actually need to know, including the parts most beginner tutorials miss. The song sits in the key of E major for most common tunings, though you'll also find it played in G major with a capo. The original recording leans toward a fingerstyle acoustic approach, so if you're strumming hard you'll lose the nuance. Let's talk about the actual chord shapes and how they move through the song.
Falling Slowly Glen Hansard Chords — The Core Progression
The main verse and chorus progression is straightforward: Em – G – D – A, repeated. That's the skeleton. But here's where people get it wrong. They play it as four equal strums per measure and it sounds flat. The real feel comes from the timing differences between chords. The Em to G transition is where the tension builds. Hold the Em a beat longer than you think you should, then let the G land with less attack. The D to A is a lift — strum a touch harder on the A and pull back on the next Em. The key signature is E major, which means four sharps in theory, but you're not reading sheet music here. You're using Em, G, D, and A — all open chords. For the D chord, use the standard shape with your ring finger on the third fret of the high E string. Don't bend it into a D/Funless you want it to sound like a different song. The A chord is your workhorse. It appears constantly, and beginners often mute the low E string unnecessarily. Let it ring. Now, the chorus adds a slight variation. After the Em – G – D – A loop, there's a brief turn to C – G – D – A before resolving back. That C chord is where most people stumble. Use a standard open C with your index finger barring the first two strings. Some guitarists prefer the easier Cadd9 shape (x32010) — it sounds warmer and fits the song better. I switched to Cadd9 after months of fighting with the barre and never looked back.
If you're struggling with the G chord transitions, try this: start with Em, then slide your middle finger from the fifth fret of the A string down to the second fret of the B string to form G. It's a micro-movement, not a full hand reset. Practicing just that one transition in isolation will cut your downtime significantly. I spent probably three weeks fumbling through it before I internalized the muscle memory. For the bridge section, the progression shifts to Am – G – D – A. The Am chord gives that melancholic lift before the final chorus. Use the standard open Am (x02210) or the simpler Am7 (x02010) if you want less finger strain. The Am7 version lets you keep your index finger on the second fret of the D string while your other fingers handle the rest. It's less dramatic but practically identical in sound for this arrangement. One thing worth noting: the original tempo is roughly 76 beats per minute, but live performances vary. If you're practicing with a metronome, set it to 70 first, then gradually increase. Don't jump to 80 immediately. Your fretting hand needs time to lock in the chord changes at speed. I went from 60 bpm to the target tempo over about two weeks, adding 2 bpm every few days. Anything faster and the transitions started sounding rushed.
Get the Full Details
For capo players, placing it at the second fret and using G major shapes (G – B – Em – C) gives you the same sound with easier fingerings. This is actually closer to how some of the live versions sound. The trade-off is that you lose the deep bass resonance of the open E strings, so if you're playing solo it might feel thinner. Pair it with a bass player or add a low drone on the open strings and it works fine. Here's a specific edge case that caught me off guard: if you're using a steel-string acoustic, the G chord can sound buzzy on the first fret if your fretting hand isn't positioned correctly. Make sure your thumb is anchored behind the neck, roughly opposite your middle finger. This gives you enough leverage to press the strings cleanly without crushing the neck. I learned this the hard way after a friend pointed out my G chords sounded choked during a jam session. The fix took about five minutes once I understood the hand position. For recording purposes, layer two guitar tracks: one fingerpicked on the higher strings and one with lighter strumming across all six. Pan them slightly left and right. This creates the fullness you hear in the studio version without needing additional instruments. The first take of this double-track approach usually sounds decent, but a second pass with slightly different dynamics adds the warmth that makes it feel alive. Don't overthink the quantization — leaving a few milliseconds of natural timing variation preserves the human feel.
Finally, the outro fades on a repeating Em – G – D – A pattern that slowly decrescendos. Don't abruptly stop the chords. Let each strum naturally decay into silence, and allow the final Em to ring until it fades on its own. This is where the emotional impact lands. Rushing the end undercuts the whole piece. I've heard too many cover versions cut off at the last chord like they're escaping the stage. If you want a reliable tab source, Ultimate-Guitar has a verified version with around 87 percent accuracy, though I'd recommend cross-referencing with the official sheet music from the "Once" soundtrack book. The tab sometimes mislabels the Cadd9 as a standard C, which changes the color of the chorus. Check the audio while you read it — your ears will catch discrepancies faster than your eyes will.
