Skinny Love Chords
Heads up — Skinny Love is played in a non-standard tuning, which our automatic detection can't read reliably. The chords below are what the analysis heard, and a lot of them are wrong. The key, chords and capo further down the page are checked against published sources and are the ones to trust.
Chords in this song
Chords for Skinny Love by Bon Iver, in the key of C, around 76 BPM. The song is built on Am, C, G, F. Press play — the chord sheet above highlights in time with the track, and you can click any bar to jump there.
How to play Skinny Love
C is the key you actually hear on the record. No capo needed — the chords are played in open position as written.
Difficulty: Easy — mostly open chords, with F as the one tricky shape.
Open C tuning, no capo. IMPORTANT: original recording is ~20 cents FLAT of A=440, so playing along at 440 sounds off. Spotify-derived sites say Em (likely algorithmic error).
Chords you need
Why there's no bar-by-bar chart here
This recording defeats automatic chord detection. Skinny Love isn't played in standard tuning, so the pitches our analysis hears don't line up with normal chord shapes and the detected timeline comes out fragmented and unreliable. Rather than show you a chart we don't trust, we've left it out — the key, chords and capo above are checked against published sources and are correct.
Frequently asked
What key is Skinny Love in?
Skinny Love by Bon Iver is in the key of C, at around 76 BPM. That's the key the recording actually sounds in.
What chords do I need for Skinny Love?
The core of the song is Am, C, G, F.
Is Skinny Love good for beginners?
Easy. Mostly open chords, with F as the one tricky shape.