The Beatles
Something chords
Something by The Beatles is an intermediate song in C, played with no capo. The whole sheet is 9 chords (C, Cmaj7, C7, F, C/E, D, D7, G, Am) across 4 sections: Intro → Verse ×2 → Chorus → Outro. 8 of the 9 shapes are open chords. Shapes that use a barre: F. It sits at roughly 66 BPM.
By Chiye · Updated
Hardest change in the sheet: C7 → F, 2 times.
- Difficulty
- Intermediatebarre shape F
- Key
- Cwith no capo
- Tempo
- 66BPM
- Tuning
- Standard (E A D G B E)low to high
- Chords
- 98 open, 1 with a barre
- Sections
- 4each with its own progression
Chords in Something
Frets read low E to high E, x means leave that string out.
Chord sheet
One chord per bar in this practice sheet. Follow the time signature shown beside each section; dots mark the remaining counts in the bar. Tap a bar to hear its chord, or loop the section to practise the changes.
Chord accompaniment only. Follow the section notes for this arrangement’s timing. Songs whose words are public domain →
Intro4/4 · ♩=66
Verse× 2 · 4/4 · ♩=66
Chorus4/4 · ♩=66
Outro4/4 · ♩=66
Printable one-page chord chart
How to play Something
The verse in this arrangement moves C, Cmaj7, C7 and F. Start from open C: release the B string at fret 1 for Cmaj7. For C7, restore that C on the B string and add Bb on the G string at fret 3. Restoring the index alone only returns to C, not C7.
The D, D7 and G passage needs a new grip. D and D7 share the G-string fret 2 and high E-string fret 2, but the B string changes from fret 3 to fret 1. Choose comfortable fingers for that change rather than sliding the whole D shape unchanged.
For Am to D7, keep track of the actual notes: Am has the D string at fret 2, while D7 uses an open D. The B string can stay at fret 1, but the other fingers need rearranging. Let the bass D speak before the upper notes.
At 66 BPM there is time to hear every change. Loop C7 to F until it arrives cleanly, then connect the verse and chorus using the section lengths printed above.
How to practise Something
Four steps computed from this sheet: the order the shapes are easiest to learn in, the changes that really occur in the progressions above, where each chord turns up, and the tempo ladder up to the speed marked here.
Learn the shapes easiest first
C (x-3-2-0-1-0, beginner) → Cmaj7 (x-3-2-0-0-0, beginner) → C7 (x-3-2-3-1-0, beginner) → C/E (0-3-2-0-1-0, beginner) → D (x-x-0-2-3-2, beginner) → D7 (x-x-0-2-1-2, beginner) → G (3-2-0-0-0-3, beginner) → Am (x-0-2-2-1-0, beginner) → F (1-3-3-2-1-1, intermediate, needs a barre)
8 of the 9 shapes are open chords, so start there and leave F until the others change cleanly.
Drill the changes this sheet actually uses
Am → D72×C → Cmaj72×C7 → F2×Cmaj7 → C72×
These counts come from the progressions on this page, so they are the changes you will actually play, not a generic list of pairs to practise.
Know where each chord turns up
- CVerse, Outro
- Cmaj7Verse, Outro
- C7Verse, Outro
- FIntro, Verse, Outro
- C/EIntro, Outro
- DIntro, Verse
- D7Intro, Verse, Chorus
- Gevery section
- AmIntro, Chorus
Climb the tempo ladder
Start at 40 BPM and move up only when a full pass is clean: 40 → 50 → 59 → 66 BPM. The tempo marked on this sheet is 66 BPM, and the last step is the one that always feels like a jump. Stay at 59 for longer than feels necessary.
Practise each section's chord changes slowly, then play the sheet through at a steady tempo without pausing between sections.
Playing Something with a capo
This sheet needs no capo. Each card shows what you would finger at that capo position so the song still sounds exactly as written. Useful when the shapes above are awkward, or when you want to sing it higher without learning new chords.
No capoas written
C Cmaj7 C7 F C/E D D7 G Am
8 of 9 stay open
Fret 1
B Bmaj7 B7 E B* C# C#7 F# Abm
2 of 9 stay open
Fret 2
Bb Bbmaj7 Bb7 Eb Bb* C C7 F Gm
2 of 9 stay open
Fret 3
A Amaj7 A7 D A* B B7 E F#m
7 of 9 stay open
Fret 4
Ab Abmaj7 Ab7 C# Ab* Bb Bb7 Eb Fm
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 5
G Gmaj7 G7 C G/B A A7 D Em
9 of 9 stay open
Fret 6
F# F#maj7 F#7 B F#* Ab Ab7 C# Ebm
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 7
F Fmaj7 F7 Bb F/A G G7 C Dm
5 of 9 stay open
* this position has no separate fingering for a bass-note inversion in our chord library, so the parent chord is shown. Play that shape and the inversion note is an optional bass addition.
Working out a different key? The capo calculatordoes the same arithmetic for any chord set.
More songs built on the same chords
If Something clicks, these use the closest set of shapes, so the chords you just learned keep working.
More intermediate songs to learn after this one: Father and Son, 500 Miles, Shallow, The One That Got Away.
These chords across the songbookHow often each chord in Something turns up across all 104 songs on this site, and what it most often moves to next. The counts come from the sheet library itself, not from theory.
420bars of this chord across the songbook
70songs use this shape
Most often followed by G, 115×.
8bars of this chord across the songbook
3songs use this shape
Most often followed by C7, 2×.
12bars of this chord across the songbook
6songs use this shape
Most often followed by F, 6×.
114bars of this chord across the songbook
29songs use this shape
Most often followed by C, 38×.
6bars of this chord across the songbook
3songs use this shape
Most often followed by D7, 2×.
323bars of this chord across the songbook
58songs use this shape
Most often followed by G, 52×.
45bars of this chord across the songbook
12songs use this shape
Most often followed by G, 22×.
509bars of this chord across the songbook
77songs use this shape
Most often followed by D, 89×.
125bars of this chord across the songbook
35songs use this shape
Most often followed by F, 23×.