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Guitar Songs, Tabs & Lessons

Ellie Goulding

3 guitar songs · Tabs, Lessons & Tone Guide Pop Rock

Choose a Ellie Goulding Song to Play

Artist Overview

Ellie Goulding is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who emerged from Hereford, England, breaking through in 2010 with her debut album "Lights." While she is primarily known as an electropop and synth-pop artist, her music holds real value for guitarists looking to develop clean chord voicing, arpeggiated patterns, and the art of translating electronic productions into acoustic or electric guitar arrangements. Many of her biggest hits, including "Love Me Like You Do," "Burn," and "Anything Could Happen," are built on chord progressions and melodic structures that translate beautifully to guitar, making them popular choices for acoustic covers and fingerstyle arrangements. From a guitarist's perspective, Goulding's catalog is an excellent training ground for intermediate players who want to work on smooth chord transitions, open-string voicings, and capo usage. Her songs tend to live in guitar-friendly keys (or can be capoed into them easily), and the progressions often use familiar shapes like open E minor, C major, G major, and D major. What makes her material genuinely interesting to play is the rhythmic dimension. Her synth-driven arrangements feature pulsing eighth-note and sixteenth-note patterns that, when adapted for guitar, become excellent exercises in steady strumming, fingerpicking consistency, and dynamic control. Goulding herself plays guitar and often performs with acoustic guitar in live settings, typically using a Taylor or Martin acoustic. Her live band has featured session guitarists who add shimmering clean electric tones, reverb-soaked arpeggios, and ambient textural parts that complement her electronic backbone. For electric guitarists, learning Goulding's material is a chance to explore clean tone sculpting, chorus and reverb usage, and how to fill sonic space without relying on distortion or heavy gain. The difficulty level sits comfortably at beginner to intermediate. The chord shapes are not complex, but nailing the rhythmic feel and dynamics of songs like "Love Me Like You Do" requires attentive practice and a good ear for groove.

What Makes Ellie Goulding Essential for Guitar Players

  • Goulding's songs are built on common open chord shapes (Em, C, G, D, Am) that make them accessible to beginners while still offering rhythmic challenges that keep intermediate players engaged.
  • Translating her synth-driven arrangements to guitar is an excellent exercise in fingerpicking and arpeggiation. Songs like "Love Me Like You Do" reward players who can maintain a steady, even picking pattern across four or more strings.
  • Clean electric tone is essential when covering Goulding's music on electric guitar. Focus on using your neck pickup or a middle position with chorus and reverb to replicate the shimmery, ambient quality of her live band's guitar parts.
  • Capo work is a big part of making Goulding's songs playable and singable on guitar. Many arrangements use a capo at the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th fret to simplify barre chords into open shapes while matching her vocal key.
  • Dynamic control is the real skill Goulding's music teaches guitarists. Her songs build from sparse, quiet verses to massive, layered choruses, so learning to vary your strumming intensity and switch between fingerpicking and full strums is critical.

Did You Know?

Ellie Goulding studied drama and theatre studies at the University of Kent but was already writing songs on guitar throughout her teenage years, citing Joni Mitchell as an early influence on her acoustic playing.

Her breakout hit "Lights" was originally written on acoustic guitar before being heavily produced with synths and electronic beats, a reminder that many pop-electronic tracks start life as simple guitar-and-voice demos.

"Love Me Like You Do" (from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack) became one of the most-covered songs on YouTube by acoustic guitarists, largely because its four-chord progression sits perfectly in open position with a capo.

In live performances, Goulding's band guitarists often use Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters through clean amp settings loaded with reverb and delay to create the atmospheric, pad-like textures behind her vocals.

Goulding has credited folk and acoustic artists like Laura Marling and Bon Iver as influences, which explains why her music, despite being electronic on record, translates so naturally to stripped-down guitar arrangements.

Her 2015 album "Delirium" featured more layered guitar parts in the production than her earlier work, with session players adding clean electric arpeggios and ambient tremolo-picked lines underneath the synths.

Essential Albums for Guitarists

Lights album cover
Lights 2010

This debut album is the best starting point for guitarists because tracks like "Lights," "Starry Eyed," and "Your Song" all feature straightforward chord progressions that sound fantastic on acoustic guitar. The songs teach you how to create rhythmic drive with simple open chords and develop your strumming dynamics from quiet verses to big, anthem-like choruses.

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Delirium album cover
Delirium 2015

Delirium is worth exploring because it features more prominent guitar layering in the production. Songs like "Love Me Like You Do" and "On My Mind" are excellent for practicing clean electric arpeggios, fingerpicked patterns, and using effects like reverb and chorus to fill space tastefully without distortion.

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Halcyon album cover
Halcyon 2012

Halcyon offers darker, more textured material that challenges guitarists to work on mood and atmosphere. "Anything Could Happen" and "Figure 8" feature builds that are great for practicing dynamic transitions, and the minor-key tonality of several tracks is useful for developing your ear beyond simple major-key pop progressions.

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Tone & Gear

Guitar

Ellie Goulding has been seen performing with Taylor acoustic guitars (particularly the Taylor 214ce and similar Grand Auditorium models) for live acoustic sets. Her live band guitarists typically use Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters for their clean, articulate tone and single-coil sparkle. For covering her material at home, any steel-string acoustic or a clean-sounding electric will work perfectly.

Amp

Her band's live guitar tone is rooted in clean Fender-style amplification. Think a Fender Twin Reverb or Fender Deluxe Reverb set to a pristine clean channel with the volume around 4-5, just enough to open up the tone without any breakup. The key is headroom: you want a glassy, bell-like clean that can handle reverb and delay without getting muddy.

Pickups

Single-coil pickups are the go-to for replicating the bright, shimmery guitar textures in Goulding's live arrangements. Standard Fender single-coils (neck or position 4 on a five-way switch) deliver the airy, transparent quality needed. If using humbuckers, try coil-splitting to thin the tone out and roll back the volume knob slightly for a cleaner, more open sound.

Effects & Chain

Reverb and delay are the two essential effects for nailing Goulding's guitar sound. A lush hall or plate reverb (like a Strymon BigSky or Boss RV-6) paired with a moderate tempo delay (around 350-400ms with 2-3 repeats) creates the ambient wash her songs demand. Adding a subtle chorus pedal (such as a Boss CE-2W) on arpeggiated parts enhances the synth-like shimmer. Keep it clean: no overdrive, no distortion. The tone should feel spacious and ethereal.

Recommended Gear

Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

Ellie Goulding's live band guitarists use Strats for their single-coil sparkle and articulate clean tone that cuts through her synth-heavy arrangements. The instrument's bright, transparent character perfectly delivers the shimmery, ethereal textures her songs demand.

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

Telecasters provide the crisp, bell-like clarity that complements Goulding's layered production with pristine single-coil definition. Their snappy attack and articulation ensure each note remains distinct even when drenched in reverb and delay.

Fender Twin Reverb
Amp

Fender Twin Reverb

The Twin Reverb's legendary headroom and pristine clean channel are essential for Goulding's ambient guitar textures, allowing reverb and delay to bloom without any distortion or muddiness. Its glassy tone sits perfectly behind her ethereal vocals.

Fender Deluxe Reverb
Amp

Fender Deluxe Reverb

This compact powerhouse delivers the same bell-like clean character as the Twin Reverb with slightly less headroom, ideal for Goulding's spacious, lush reverb-soaked guitar sound in smaller venues and studio settings.

Boss CE-2 Chorus
Pedal

Boss CE-2 Chorus

The CE-2 adds that synth-like shimmer to Goulding's arpeggiated passages, thickening the guitar texture while maintaining clarity. Its subtle modulation enhances the ethereal, ambient quality her music requires.

How to Practice Ellie Goulding on GuitarZone

Every Ellie Goulding song page on GuitarZone includes a built-in Practice Toolbar. No app to download, no account needed. Open any song, then use the toolbar to slow the video to 0.5× speed, set an A/B loop around the exact riff you're working on, and jump between song sections instantly.

The toolbar appears automatically on every guitar tab, lesson, and cover page. Pick a song below, hit play, and start practicing at your own pace.

Practice Love Me Like You Do - Guitar CoverPractice Love Me Like You Do - Guitar LessonPractice Love Me Like You Do - - How to Play - - Guitar Lesson