Payphone chords

How to play Payphone

Play Payphone by Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa with capo 4, using Cadd9, G, Em and Dsus4 shapes in standard tuning. The accompaniment sounds in B major. Each chord lasts one four-beat bar in the selected guitar arrangement. Learn the four changes as a loop before adding the busier feel associated with the song.

Set capo 4 and read the shape names

Alfred’s Guitar 101: Pop Songbook sample specifies capo 4 and these four shapes for Payphone. The sounding equivalents are Eadd9, B, G#m and F#sus4. A Cadd9 diagram at this capo therefore does not mean the accompaniment has moved to C major; it names the pattern under your fingers.

The Musicnotes piano/vocal/guitar edition identifies the song as Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa, dated 2012, with B major, 4/4 and a 108 BPM marking. The exercises here slow the pulse to 80 BPM. Check the tuning after fitting the capo and count diagram fret numbers from its position, not from the guitar’s nut.

Repeat one bar on each chord

The loop is Cadd9–G–Em–Dsus4. Alfred’s teaching arrangement keeps one measure per chord and repeats the order through the song. Begin on Cadd9, count four beats, and change to G on the next beat one. After four beats of Dsus4, return directly to Cadd9 without inserting a rest to set up the hand.

Both sections below practise that same four-bar sequence. The first gives four downstrokes per bar; the second attacks only beat one and lets the chord sustain. They are two ways to practise accompaniment, rather than labels for a complete verse-and-chorus performance order. Keep a tally of completed loops if you find that repeating the sequence makes you lose track of the bar.

Check the added ninth and suspended fourth

The printed Cadd9 is x-3-2-0-3-3. It includes D on the B string, alongside the C, E and G chord tones. Plain C removes that added ninth. Dsus4 is x-x-0-2-3-3: the high G supplies the suspended fourth, where a D-major grip would have F# on the first string. Let that high note ring clearly before trying the change at speed.

The printed G and Em use their own catalog fingerings. Do not assume that the two top-string fingers can stay anchored throughout the entire loop just because some Payphone tutorials use another G or Em voicing. In particular, the Em diagram has open top strings. Follow the visible positions, lift any fingers that are no longer needed, and check the ringing strings separately.

Keep the bass clean while building speed

Start Cadd9 on string 5, G and Em on string 6, and Dsus4 on string 4. Avoid sweeping the low E through Cadd9 or both low strings through Dsus4. At capo 4, listen to the bass change from E to B to G# to F#; this gives the repeated loop a clear outline even with a sparse right hand.

At 80 BPM, the first exercise places downstrokes on beats 1, 2, 3 and 4, with empty eighth-note spaces between. Keep the returning motion light. In the sparse exercise, continue counting during the sustained chord instead of waiting silently for the next change. Raise the practice speed gradually once several loops keep the same duration, and use the published tempo as a reference rather than a first-session target.