How to play 'Thinking Out Loud' EXACTLY like Ed Sheeran | Acoustic Guitar Lesson, Practice Along

This week I'm going to show you how to play "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran, exactly the way he plays it. This famous fingerpicking song uses some easy chord shapes and the strum slap technique (just like in the song "Love Yourself").

"Thinking Out Loud" Sheet Music/TAB no longer available due to copyright issues, but I have something even better!
► FULL PLAY-THROUGH (entire song, start to finish) available on my Patreon page:

► My Fingerstyle course covers everything from beginner to intermediate (and even a bit of advanced) in a practical, song-learning sorta way:

Other Ed Sheeran guitar lessons you might be interested in:

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[christopherwilliams]

i do take my hat off to all you guitarist who give up their own free time to teach lessons....its so admirable :)

[duqan]

“Slightly touch a string to mute it”, finally something I’m natural at

[rookandpawn]

From the bottom of my guitar strings.. Thank you so much for making such a in-depth, produced and explained tutorial on my favorite Ed Sheeran song.

[StevenJyoung]

Best tutorials I've ever seen, thank you so much James! I got really frustrated and stopped learning/practicing because I couldn't find any good tutorials that I could understand but watching yours re-ignited my passion to learn and I'm grateful for your lessons :)

[Momo-bbfn]

The ad placement at 6:25 was timed perfectly I applaud I applaud 👏

[josephcheok]

So much detail. Forget one on one live coaching when you have videos like this! Keep up the good work!

[johnkennington]

Outstanding!~ Even after 8 yrs it's still one of the best lessons I've viewed on youtube. You know how to make it simple and don't take anything for granted... which is the KEY to good teaching.
Thanks!

[mustaphaagboola]

5:40 that’s how I’ll be pricking all of my chords... my heart dropped right there.

[kittekathi]

I haven't touched my guitar in years and you actually made me enjoy it again. Thanks :)

[HarryHTF]

Dude, u are awesome, u deserve more subscribers

[thatmanislagoat]

After learning live yourself I was so confident that I followed along this video and learned this on my first try. Feeling happy for first try is because I just started learning the guitar and am a natural at it.

[victoriasparks]

please never stop teaching us, you are the only person that takes the time to actually teach us. Thank you so very much

[Momo-bbfn]

6:08 9:05 *Verse* D D/F# G A
11:15 12:55 *Prechorus* Em A7(1.5 beats) D Em A7(4beats) Em A7(1.5 beats) Bm Em A7
15:22 *Chorus* D D/F# G A x4 then tag 16:13 Bm A G D/F# Em A D

[Aceinthehole]

Your the only one teaching correctly! I've watched him play this 100 times & I knew know one was teaching it correctly. Good job again buddy!

[kabirjain]

My God. James is always just so perfect, no flaws, maybe unlike the others who simply try to take the shorter path and grab the compliments...
Thank you so much buddy for such gr8 lessons, bro

[bus]

Great stuff! No personal blah-blah and every detail covered. We don't have to play it note-for-note as long as we KNOW what the total product is. And now we do!

[sauravbhattarai]

You're the best. The best tutorial on YouTube

[fearlessman]

Just picking back up guitar after not playing for five years. I love Ed Sheeran's music so this song was one that I really wanted to learn. Thanks so much for taking the time to make this helpful video!

[commandernation]

Only channel on YouTube that does everything right lol awesome dude thanks mann

[greggnumme]

Nice job son! You're a nice mellow guy and I've looked at a few of these just for fun and giggles and without tuning down half step, your lesson is the best! I never seen you before but I just wanted to say great job and you doing it the right way I've been teaching for like 30 years now and I watch these videos and they're all the same and unfortunately they never get them right! So good job cheers mate! ☮️