New Song: As Long As You Love Me

Let’s learn this classic 90s boy-band hit! Like many pop tunes, this song uses the chords C-F-G-Am – it’s arguably the most common set of chords around. If you’re wanting to write songs, try putting these chords together in any order you choose, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to sound good. You could also try figuring out the chords in this song by ear, which is fantastic practice and will help you recognize similar songs more quickly.

“As Long As You Love Me”, made famous by Backstreet Boys, is now available in Yousician for Guitar, Piano, Ukulele, Bass, and Singing.

As Long As You Love Me for Guitar
by: James Neilson, Music Education Designer for Guitar

In the main melody exercise (level 4) you’ll play the main vocal and instrumental melodies – they’re super-catchy, and fun to play. There are lots of short sections of fairly quick notes, so start slow, and use alternate picking (down-up) on the fast notes as needed.

In the cowboy chords exercise (level 5) you’ll play the main chords of the song: mostly C F G Am, plus the occasional E, D and Dm. Look out for the syncopated (off-beat) rhythms, and the quick chord changes in some sections.

In the fingerpicking exercise (level 7) you’ll play a fingerpicking arrangement of the main guitar and piano parts, using some interesting chords and arpeggios. Look out for the melodic sections – it can be hard to coordinate the melody and bass parts at the same time, so start slow to get it under your fingers.

As Long As You Love Me for Ukulele
by: Joona Hasan, Music Education Designer for Ukulele

In the chords exercise (level 4) you’ll be playing along with the main chords. The tempo is deceivingly slow, so make sure not to rush those 8th-notes!

In the melody exercise (level 6) you’ll alternate between playing either the catchy guitar melody or the memorable vocal melody. There’s a bit of syncopation involved and some quick notes, so stay focused! It’s always a good idea to try to sing the melody while you’re playing it.

The fingerpicking exercise (level 6) is an adaptation of the underlying chords, arranged for fingerpicking. It’s a fun arrangement that can be useful when you want to accompany a singer and provide a one-person band!

As Long As You Love Me for Bass
by: Antti Halmetoja, Bass content specialist

In the basic bassline exercise (level 2) you’ll learn the basics of this romantic pop tune. There are a couple of string-skips along the way so keep eye on them.

In the main bassline exercise (level 4) you’ll learn all the fundamental parts of original bassline. There’s a repeated descending line that’s really fun to play, so focus on that to get it smooth.

The full bassline exercise (level 7) is the original bassline – it’s recorded with synth bass, but it’s also great to play on a real bass. The chord progression is quite simple but rhythmically complex, so there are plenty of rhythmic details to focus on. The tuning is in drop-D, which means you have to tune the E-string a whole step down.

As Long As You Love Me for Singing
by: Sonja Patrikainen, Music Education Designer for Singing

As Long As You Love Me is a song, where the same melodic phrase keeps repeating several times in a row. This is a good thing, because it is faster to learn, after which you can concentrate on other things like interpretation and articulation. Focus on the lyrics, what is the song about, and what is the message you want to get through to your listeners.