Guitar lesson for

You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'

by The Righteous Brothers  •  Lesson #283

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Editor’s notes

Hey friends! Here’s a new lesson for the classic tune “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’” by the Righteous Brothers (1964) – which you may also know from the famous bar-singing scene in Top Gun. I’ll teach you an arrangement based off the Mike Massé cover on YouTube – which makes for a fantastic solo acoustic version of this song. I’ll show the chords, progressions, strumming patterns, and more. Note I’m in standard tuning to keep things as approachable as possible (tune down 1/2 step if you want to play along w/ the Righteous Bros or Mike Massé’s version).

Here’s the timestamps for my video:

Enjoy!

Mike Massé’s version of this song

Great cover here by Mike Massé and Sterling Cottam. Can’t recommend it enough, and likewise totally recommend all the other great music that Mike puts out (Sterling has been a guest on a few of his videos, such as “Can’t Help Falling in Love”).

The scene from Top Gun

Lyrics with chords

VERSE
    (no chord)            D7sus2                                    D
    ............You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips
                   D7sus2                                D
    And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips

PRE-CHORUS
                      Em                   F#m          G             A
        You're trying hard not to show it (baby)... but baby, baby I know it

CHORUS
            D                   Em              A             D
            ...You've lost that loving feeling... whoa, that loving feeling          
            D                   Em
            ...You've lost that loving feeling
                     C    (walk down)              D
            Now it's gone, gone, gone... whoa, oh, oh...

    [use the same chords as above for each repeated section below]

                    D7sus2                                      D
    Now, there's no welcome look in your eyes when I reach for you
                    D7sus2                                 D
    And girl you're starting to criticize little things I do

                    Em                     F#m           G               A
        It makes me just feel like crying, baby...'cause baby, something beautiful's dying

            D                   Em             A              D
            ...You've lost that loving feeling... whoa, that loving feeling
            D                   Em
            ...You've lost that loving feeling...
                     D7sus2    (walk down)       D
            Now it's gone, gone, gone... oh, oh, oh...

                                                          [start bridge on D]
REFRAIN
                D ... G ... A ... G ... (repeat for entire bridge)

                D        G     A            G               D   G  A  G
                ...Baby, baby... I get down on my knees for you
                D               G     A      G                   D   G  A  G
                ...If you would only love me... like you used to do
                D            G       A       G                        D   G  A  G
                ...We had a love, a love, a love you don't find every day
                   D       G      A      G                  D   G  A  G
                So don't, don't, don't, don't let it slip away

                [D] ...Baby [G] (baby)... [A] baby [G] (baby)...
                I'm begging you [D] please [G] (please)... [A] please [G] (please)...
                I need your [D] love [G] (need)... need your [A] love [G] (need)...
                So bring it on [D] back... [G] bring it on [A] back... [G]

            D                   Em            A            D
            ...Bring back that loving feeling... oh, that loving feeling
            D                   Em    
            ...Bring back that loving feeling
                     D7sus2    (walk down)     D7sus2 (walk down)     D
            Now it's gone, gone, gone... and I can't go on... no, oh, oh

                            [...repeat chorus as desired, end on D]

Tuning notes

To play this song along with the Righteous Brothers version of this song, tune your guitar down 1/2 step and use the chords I show you. Note that Mike Massé’s YouTube cover of this song also uses guitars tuned down 1/2 step. By ear, this song is in the key of C#.

Chord shapes

Here’s the tabs for the chord shapes I use in my lesson. Note that the “D7sus2” may likely have some other name (e.g., Cadd6/D) – but regardless of the name, just learn the shape below and put it to use.

E ––––0–––2–––0––––2–––3–––0–––
B ––––1–––3–––0––––2–––0–––2–––
G ––––2–––2–––0––––2–––0–––2–––
D ––––0–––0–––2––––4–––0–––2–––
A ––––––––––––2––––4–––2–––0–––
E ––––––––––––0––––2–––3–––––––
   D7sus2 D   Em  F#m  G   A

Chord progressions

Here’s how to play each section of the song. Think of this as being in the key of D, with the D7sus2 being the “weird” chord one not usually heard in that key… but hey, it sounds great!

VERSE
"You never close your eyes..."
| D7sus2 . . . | D7sus2 . . . | D . . . | D . . . |
| D7sus2 . . . | D7sus2 . . . | D . . . | D . . . |

PRE-CHORUS
"You're trying hard not to show it..."
| Em . . . | F#m . . . | G . . . | A . . . |

CHORUS
"You've lost that loving feeling..."
| D . . . | Em . . . | A      . . . | D      . . . |
| D . . . | Em . . . | D7sus2 . . . | D7sus2 . . . |
                                     ...resolve to D

REFRAIN
"Baby baby, I get down on my knees for you..."
| D . G . | A . G . | D . G . | A . G . |
                                ...repeat

Strumming pattern

For a simple strumming pattern, use this straightforward pattern of only playing down-strums on the 1 and 3 counts.

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D       D             "down.... down...."

For a full strumming pattern, I recommend this. It’s what Mike Massé uses in his cover, which is worth listening to for context.

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D   D U   U D U       "down, down up, up down up"

For the refrain I use this strum pattern. The reason is all chord changes are happening on the 1 and 3 counts, which we want to pair with downstrums. I’ve accented the 1 and 3 counts below to reflect this.

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
D   D U D   D U           "DOWN, down up, DOWN, down up"

Refrain “doo wop”-sounding bass line

In my playthrough, I play the following bass line (all on the 4th string) when I first get to the refrain. Start off by getting a hang of the 5th and 7th frets (played with left index and left ring, respectively):

E –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––
B –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––
G –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––
D –0–––––––5–––––––7–––––––5–––––––|–0–  ....repeat
A –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––
E –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––
   1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

And then from there, you can play the following, which repeats each note on the “+” count just before you switch to the next note. This can be tricky, but it adds a nice rhythmic sound!

E –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––
B –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––
G –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––
D –0–––––0–5–––––5–7–––––7–5–7–––5–|–0–  ....repeat
A –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––
E –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––
   1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

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