How to play The Cure by Olivia Rodrigo

The second single from her 2026 album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So In Love,The Cure by Olivia Rodrigo is a great song for acoustic and electric players. Cleverly written and structured, Rodrigo’s The Cure features a driving acoustic guitar rhythm reminiscent of the classic 1980s style of Robert Smith and The Cure. Works perfectly on electric too and is a great track for singers who self-accompany.

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Chords: Am2 (A minor sus2) Cmaj7 Fmaj7 C Dm F Em/B (E minor with a B bass) F/A (F major with an A bass)

Why so many F variations? Chord (harmony) variation creates the nuances that make arrangements interesting. On guitar this can work well if you are skilled at defining the bass notes, however it can also cause some awkward chord transitions. If you use the suggested F shapes you will create some important nuance that is on the recording but, if F is presently causing you grief just use the Fmaj7, and ‘easy F’ through the whole chart but make sure you keep the open 6th string muted for those shapes.

Does it need a capo? The original uses a capo at the 1st fret; to play with the recording you need the capo. Otherwise just play it at concert pitch. or move the capo to a fret that suits your vocal range.

Why don’t the chords look like what Olivia plays in the video? In the promotional performance video for The Cure Olivia plays a cardboard guitar, with a large cardboard pick strumming on comically slack strings. Her left hand is clearly playing shapes that suggest the key of E minor but this is not what you hear on the recording (it’s a performance act for the camera!).

Pick or Fingers? use a pick ; the sound you hear on the original recording is a steel-string acoustic being played with a pick.

Acoustic or Electric? The rhythm guitar on the recording is acoustic but it works great on electric too. Doesn’t suit nylon strings.

How does the timing work? Many of the chords arrive a half-beat ahead of their 1st beat via two energetic semiquavers that reinforce the downstrum on the next downbeat. This technique (prominent on several 1980s songs by The Cure) is a type of rhythm embellishment; it doesn’t change the harmony of that previous bar. It’s effect is to give a special accent to the new chord and keep the rhythm pushing forward. Count yourself in as “ 1 2 3 4 and-a | 1 “ (down-up | down)

Relevant pages in Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 : To learn more about the chords and rhythms used in Olivia Rodrigo’s The Cure check out pages 5, 10, 12 - 13, 19 - 22, 26, 28 - 29, 31 and 34.

Need a bit of help?

Modern Guitar Chord Styles 1 is the perfect companion for our song guides. It will teach you how to read the rhythm slash notation used in our charts (and in professional theatre and studio charts) and is specially designed to help beginners speed up their chord changes, master strumming patterns, and many other techniques.