Sunflower (向日葵)
Focus: E-major fingerstyle with "melody + accompaniment as one," the I–IV–V progression and dominant-7 color, steady and connected right-hand arpeggios
Transpose · Capo
The original key is inferred from the first chord in the chart. Transposing changes the chords you have to play; to keep easy shapes, switch to “Capo” instead.
💡 Too high to sing? Move down. Too low? Move up. Guys often go a few keys below the original, women a bit above — that's just a starting point. You've got it right when you can sing the highest line of the chorus comfortably.
Chords in this song
✦ = harder to play (mostly barre); try a capoChord progression
Play-along
Chords change automatically to the beat (following the current key E). Get it smooth slowly, then speed up.
One bar of count-in first, then the chord changes automatically each bar. Get it smooth slowly, then speed up bit by bit.
Practice ladder · from playing it to playing it well
Not sure how to practice? Follow these four steps — each has a clear goal and a concrete method.
- 1
Get the chords ringing
Goal: every chord clear, no buzzingGet this song's 5 chords ringing one by one and switchable (E · A · B · A7 · E7). Press each alone first, then switch in pairs; for any that won't ring, scroll to “Don't know these chords?” below, or use the chord-change timer for a one-minute challenge.
- 2
Play it through in time
Goal: no stalls with the metronome, start to finishPick a steady strum, open the metronome and connect the whole song from a slow tempo, no pausing on the changes; while you're at it, spot which chord progression it follows.
- 3
Play it with feel
Goal: dynamics and a sense of breathE-major fingerstyle with "melody + accompaniment as one," the I–IV–V progression and dominant-7 color, steady and connected right-hand arpeggios。 This song has full tablature — follow the play-along playhead to drill the right-hand order and rhythm.
- 4
Own it & make it yours
Goal: explain why it works and change up your own versionUnderstand why the harmony goes the way it does, then use the Transpose / Capo control above to change keys, and try reworking the rhythm, adding color chords or improvising — turn “I can play this one” into “I can play many.”
The progression behind this song
Recognize this go-to progression and you can play loads of songs by analogy:
Practice this in the courses
A course uses this very song as a practice piece — follow it step by step, faster than fumbling on your own:
Music theory deep dive
Key: E majorUnderstanding why a song's harmony moves the way it does matters more than memorizing the chords.
Structure
Chord function
Function: Tonic= the stable home · Subdominant= sets up the departure · Dominant= tension that wants to come home. Harmony is the story of leaving → tension → coming home.
Highlights
- Melody + accompanimentI–IV–V: fingerstyle's “golden iron triangle”IIVIV
E–A–B are the three most comfortable open chords in E major, and the roots E–A–B themselves form a stable bass framework. The beauty of fingerstyle is that one guitar plays bass + melody + harmony at once — keep the thumb steady on the bass while the other fingers play the melody, and it sounds good naturally.
Tip: Use PIMA: the thumb lays down the bass strings while the index / middle / ring fingers play the melody above.
- Color chordDominant-7th coloring: from “speaking” to “singing”IIVI7IV7
Same skeleton, but change the chord color and you change the mood. The theme uses pure major triads (I–IV–V); the development adds A7 and E7, lending a “gentle but eager-to-move-forward” tension — exactly the trick jazz and City Pop use to make expressive faces with dominant 7ths.
Tip: Play the two versions side by side and feel the color shift that the dominant 7ths bring.
Full tablature (TAB) · play-along
An original by the site's author, auto-transcribed from the GuitarPro project file (not an official release). Numbers = fret (0 = open), ‹12› = harmonic; it wraps by measure and scrolls sideways. Tap “Play along” to follow.
Tap any column in the tab to start playing from there (stuck on a bar? practice from that bar — the loop returns there too). The playhead moves through the tab; adjust speed, loop, and toggle follow. Note: this play-along uses uniform eighth notes at aneven, steady tempo (not the song's actual rhythm — the rhythm wasn't kept during transcription). Use it to grasp the note flow and right-hand order — refer to the original recording for the real rhythm.
Don't know these chords? Learn them in the courses
An original fingerstyle piece by the site's author (E major · standard tuning · no capo). This is the harmonic skeleton automatically extracted from the author's original score — the original piece also uses color chords like G#m7 / F#m7 to make the melody more nuanced; the full tablature is the author's own work. To learn it in full, you can ask the author for the original score.