Play the Miley Cyrus hit "Flowers" on the acoustic guitar!

In this easy tutorial, we'll learn how to play Flowers by Miley Cyrus on the acoustic guitar. This is a massive hit - it's been number one around the world for months, and it was about time for a lesson on it. :)

Flowers by Miley Cyrus is a perfect song for beginners! You only need open chords and 8th Note Strumming to play it! But we'll go further and also explore the original rhythm pattern, dynamics, and some quirks in the chorus that you might not have noticed. ;)

😂 F Chord Humour! My chord-vocal demos are a great way to learn where the chord changes fall, but F chord often comes at… unfortunate points, let's say. This is exactly what happened in this lesson, to my embarrassment - check out my Chorus Playthrough for some laughs!

Singing Flowers by Miley Cyrus is a bit tricky, as you can hear from my falsetto in the post-chorus! If you want to sing it but find the original key tough, try using a guitar capo to suit your voice, or drop the high parts an octave, as I did later in the video when my voice got tired. :)

Let's get to it.

Flowers: Verse Chords

The Miley Cyrus original has no full introduction, but a chord falls before the verse and helps you get the pitch. The chord is an Open CMaj7, which sounds tricky but is simply open C with finger 1 lifted off.

There are tons of effects over this chord that are impossible to mimic on acoustic guitar. Try picking out a few strings or do a long strum. Play around and see what works. :)

The verse progression is 12 bars long, uses standard open chords, and always returns to Am. Find the full chord chart and a chord–vocal demo in the Verse Chords video chapter.

Now we've learned the chords, let's look at the really interesting part: the rhythm.

Flowers: Strumming Pattern

Use all-down eighth notes strumming pattern, with accents on beat 1, the "and" of 2, and beat 4, to play Flowers by Miley Cyrus. You can use the same pattern throughout the entire song! It gives amazing energy, so it's well worth practicing it. Later in this tutorial, we learn how to vary the dynamics so it doesn't get boring to the listener.

🎤 Pro-tip: if you want to sing, you must automate the strumming and accents before adding the lyrics. Check out my 10-step guide to singing and playing songs to learn more!

Flowers: The Chorus and the Unusual Quirk

Here's the secret to playing the chorus: we don't play on beat 1 of the first bar. The first strum comes on beat 2! This is rare, and while it doesn't sound strange on the original, it's awkward to play.

My trick is tapping the guitar body with my strumming hand on beat 1 to ensure I don't strum! If you're still unsure, check out the Chorus: Miss Beat 1 video chapter.

💡 Learn Faster With My App! Playing along to backing tracks is the best way to get all the details down; Flowers by Miley Cyrus and hundreds more songs are available on the JustinGuitar Lessons & Songs App.

The chorus sequence is almost identical to the verse, except it lasts 14 bars. The F barre chord might be a stumbling block, but there are plenty of easy substitutes for the F Chord if you don't like it.

Shift Your Guitar Dynamics

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: playing one strumming pattern at one volume for the entire song gets boring, especially if your singing is repetitive. You must, must, must change it up!

You can keep the rhythm consistent for most of this Miley Cyrus tune, but this means your volume needs to change. In the chorus, lift the volume of your strumming and vocal and give it more energy.

🔥 Master Your Dynamics: Dynamics are so important for solo guitarists that I made a whole course on them! Check out my Strumming Dynamics course to transform your sound.

I suggest you strip the rhythm back when you hit verse 2. Drop your volume and strum once per bar for the first four to eight bars. Feel how this changes the vibe - there should be lots of space. After those first four to eight bars, slowly introduce the all-down pattern with accents and build into the next chorus.

Song Structure

You should be able to pick up the form or structure from the Miley Cyrus original, but there are a couple of variations, so let's make sure you've got it down. The structure is as follows:

Verse, chorus, post-chorus; 
Verse, chorus, post-chorus, post-chorus;
Verse (final 4 bars only), chorus (with extra F to E), post-chorus.

There's no guitar on the original, so you have plenty of scope for making this your own. You can change the tempo, try fingerstyle, or play with the chord grips. Time to get creative. :)

👉 Get full guitar tabs, chords, and lyrics for Flowers and loads of other songs with JustinGuitarTabs. :)