How to play Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley
Can’t Help Falling in Love is one of the most famous of all Pop ballads. Written for Elvis Presley’s 1961 film Blue Hawaii it is based on the 18th Century French love song Plaisir d’amour by Jean-Paul Martini. This older song was popularised in the mid-20th century, and there are several Pop versions of it. Can’t Help Falling in Love is the most enduring of these and has itself been covered by many artists since, including the piano-based version by Hayley Reinhart that has become popular in recent years. It was the last song Elvis performed live and featured in the Baz Luhrmann 2022 film Elvis. Here’s a chart for finger-style acoustic guitar modeled on the piano arpeggio part in the original Elvis version.
Chords: C Em Am Am/G F G B7 C/G G7
Does it need a Capo? To play with the Elvis Presley version you need the capo on at the 2nd fret (it’s in the key of D). You don’t need the capo to play with the Haley Reinhart version. It’s in the key of C ; just play the chart at concert pitch (as it is).
Pick or fingerstyle? Definitely a finger-picker, this one! Works perfectly on all acoustic guitars, steel and nylon strings. It also can work on an electric guitar but choose a soft, neck-pickup tone ; ballads like this don’t need much twang! It can work played with a pick but will prove easier in finger-style.
Is the timing correct? For the 1961 Elvis Presley version, yes. The accompaniment in the original version is a moderate 6/8 ; count it as “1 2 3 4 5 6” etc. The 2016 Hayley Reinhart version is a slow 4/4 with the accents on 1 and 3 ; count it as “1 2 3 4” etc. This style of piano chords works well finger picked on guitar. It’s a very sparse style' so keep it simple.
Expression details: The last section is marked as ‘Coda’ - a music term for ‘ending’. In the last line you see Rit. followed two bars later by ‘A tempo’ ; this tells you to slow down as you play the Rit. bars, resume the tempo at ‘A tempo’ but then slow down again in the last two bars as you reach for the final chord. Listen to the way this happens at the end of the Presley version and you’ll understand what those terms are saying.
Relevant pages in Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 : To learn more about the chords used in Can’t Help Falling in Love see pages 5, 8, 12 - 13 and 18 - 19 in MGCS1. And to learn more about finger-picking techniques and how they combine with chord progressions, check out the very helpful Modern Guitar Fingerstyle, Book 1
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Modern Guitar Fingerstyle 1 is the perfect companion for our fingerpicking song guides- it is specifically designed to help beginners develop finger independence, tone and articulation, helping guitarists master their fingerpicking abilities!