How to Play Pompeii by Bastille on Guitar (with Chords & Lyrics)

Introduction – Pompeii by Bastille on Guitar

Although first released in 2013, Bastille’s “Pompeii” is a song that still gets regular airplay. Aided by a mix of traditional pop hooks and electronic pop elements, English indie rockers Bastille landed a radio hit.

You can learn to play the complete “Pompeii” song with guitar chords, lyrics and a strumming trainer directly in the Uberchord app.

Song Key of Pompeii

The song is in the key of A major, which along to its minor parallel (A minor) is a rather common occurrence in pop music. Read more about the Key of A major and other common chord progressions here.

As far as harmony is concerned, we have a very simple turn around comprised by the following chords:

D major –  A major – F# minor – E major

In Roman numerals we’d thus have IV I vi V.

This is a very popular turnaround, which you will regularly encounter in a lot of mainstream songs.

Guitar Chords for Pompeii

If you’ve been playing for a while, three out of the four chords you’ll need are already known to you. F# minor is the one that might give you trouble due to the fact that it is a bar chord fretted in the second position, and as such, quite challenging for the beginner.

The best solution for you would be using a capo on the second fret and fretting the following chords in the order shown:

That’s really all you need for this song.

Watch & Learn How to Play Pompeii

As with any popular song, there will be different ways to approach it.

This tutorial is the best I could find. Reason being that it shows you how to use chords you already know, merely with the addition of a capo. This is a good way to circumvent the problem posed by the bar chord in the second position, which will be a bit of a problem for the beginner guitarist.

Pompeii Lyrics

I was left to my own devices
Many days fell away with nothing to show

And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above

But if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like you’ve been here before?

How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

We were caught up and lost in all of our vices
In your pose as the dust settled around us

And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above

But if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like you’ve been here before?

How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

Eh-oh, eh-oh
Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh

Oh, where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?
Oh, oh, where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?

And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above

But if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like you’ve been here before?

How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

If you close your eyes
Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?

Now that you’ve gone through this great song…would you like to learn a few more? Right now you’re at the Uberchord blog and it’s filled with hundreds of articles that include many lessons like this one. A few we recommend you start with include selective guitar learning, why are chords called 7th, and humble and kind lyrics and chords.