Aerosmith - What It Takes: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "What It Takes" on your guitar with our chord guide. This page provides everything you need to perform this song on the guitar, including lyrics integrated with chords, chord diagrams, and a key transposer to match your vocal range.

For easier playing, use our Simplify Chords feature to remove difficult chords like barre.

  G
There goes my old girlfriend,
       D
there's another diamond ring.
         Em
And, uh, all those late night promises
   C
I guess they don't mean a thing.

So, baby, what's the story?
Did you find another man?
Is it easy to sleep in the bed that we made?
When you don't look back
                                     D
I guess the feelings start to fade away

I used to feel your fire
But now it's cold inside
And you're back on the street
Like you didn't miss a beat, yeah

Chorus:
A#                                  F
  Tell me what it takes to let you go.
A#                                    F
  Tell me how's the pain supposed to go.
A#            A                    Dm
  Tell me how it is that you can sleep,
           Dm/C
  in the night
          Dm/B
Without thinking you lost ev'rything
that was good in your
                             A#
life to the toss of the dice?,
                 C#               F
Tell me what it takes to let you go.

Girl, before I met you
I was F.I.N.E, fine
But your love made me a prisoner
Yeah, my heart's been doing time

You spent me up like money
Then you hung me out to dry
It was easy to keep all your lies in disguise
'Cause you had me in deep with the devil in your eyes

Chorus

 C                                            G
Tell me that you're happy that you're on your own.
 A#                                            F
Yeah, tell me that is better when you're all alone.
 Fm                             D#       C#
Tell me that your body doesn't miss my touch.
                                         G#
Tell me that my loving didn't mean that much.
                                                C
Tell me you ain't dying when you're crying for me.

Chorus:
Tell me what it takes to let you go (Ooh)
Tell me how the pain's supposed to go (Oh yeah)
Tell me how it is that you can sleep in the night
Without thinking you lost everything that was
Good in your life to the toss of the dice

Tell me who's to blame for thinking twice
No, no, no, no, 'cause I don't want to burn in paradise
Ooo
Let go, let go, let go
Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go
Let it go, let it go, let it go
Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go
I don't want to burn, I don't want to burn
Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go
Yeah


You can simplify chords by removing barre

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Simplify chords by removing barre

Guitar Chord Diagrams

A

Guitar chord A

A#

Guitar chord A#

C

Guitar chord C

C#

Guitar chord C#

D

Guitar chord D

Dm

Guitar chord Dm

D#

Guitar chord D#

Em

Guitar chord Em

F

Guitar chord F

Fm

Guitar chord Fm

G

Guitar chord G

G#

Guitar chord G#

B

Guitar chord B

Here you can see detailed diagrams for each guitar chord used in the song. Utilize our key transposer to adjust the chords to a key that better fits your singing range. Simply select the desired key, and the chords throughout this page will update automatically, ensuring you can play and sing comfortably.

If you are also interested in learning how to play "What It Takes" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "What It Takes" by Aerosmith.

Aerosmith Song List