song

‘Losing My Religion’ Guitar Tutorial – R.E.M.

Artist: R.E.M.
Genres: Folk, Alternative
Decades: 90's

Losing My Religion Chords:

Strumming Pattern (8th note counting):

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Strumming Pattern (16th note counting):

1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a

Time Signature

125 bpm

Difficulty: Beginner

Losing My Religion Chords:

‘Losing My Religion’ Guitar Tutorial – R.E.M.

Hey everyone! In this lesson I’m going to show you all how to play “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M. This song is fairly simple chord-wise, but the strumming is actually somewhat challenging. If you listen to the actual recording, there isn’t much of a recurring strumming pattern. Instead there are certain beats that are always accented, and the rhythm guitarist is playing around those beats. I’ve simplified all that and managed to come up with a pattern that fits the whole song so you can focus on the switches 🙂

The lesson begins with 2 chord shapes: Am and Em. These are VERY simple to switch between, and if you’re an ABSOLUTE beginner you should be able to follow along with the first part of this video, as we’re only going to be using these 2 simple chord shapes.