Want to learn how to play guitar like Ed Sheeran?

Want to learn how to play guitar like British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran? Check out this Ed Sheeran Player Study to learn his groove-based acoustic style, seen in his hits like “Shape of You”, “Photograph”, “Bad Habits”, and “Thinking Out Loud”.

Background

Ed Sheeran was born in 1991 to two art gallery employees in West Yorkshire, England. Sheeran grew up singing in a church choir and started playing guitar at age eleven, and started to write songs while attending high school. He began recording music in 2004. Sheeran was involved in theater as a teen, joining the National Youth Theater in London and Youth Music Theatre UK. In 2009, he began studying music at the Academy of Contemporary Music, but left that same year to support hip-hop musician Just Jack on tour. In 2010, he released his EP Loose Change, which contained “The A-Team”, which would become his debut single.

Style

Ed Sheeran has said that his influences include Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, and Van Morrison – saying that Clapton was the “reason he started playing guitar”. He also cites Eminem as an inspiration. Sheeran has said that he had a stutter when he was younger, and that rapping along to the Marshall Mathers LP helped him to overcome it. Sheeran often incorporates rapping into his songs. His guitar style utilizes slap technique, chug technique, flowing fingerstyle, and embellishing simple chord shapes. 

 

Awards 

Sheeran has earned many accolades during his career, including being appointed as a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 2017. At one point, he had the highest-grossing tour (for his “Divide” Tour), dethroning U2. He’s one of the best-selling artists in the world with over 150 million records sold. He has received multiple GRAMMY awards. 


Once you have Sheeran’s signature style down, try out this song lesson for “Photograph”! It includes the lesson and play-along version. 

 

Photograph

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