Chords: King of Pain by The Police

King of Pain is one of my favourite songs by The Police, and it’s been on my list to do for a while. Though I’ve searched, I’ve just never found chords on the net that I was happy with. So I figured these ones out myself, and…yeah, I’m pretty happy with them.

These were put together from sheet music for the song, machine algorithm versions, and my own ear, and while they’re not perfect by any stretch, they’re a darn sight more correct than many of the other versions I’ve seen available online so far.

Come get you the ukulele/guitar chords for King of Pain by The Police.

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If you’re not familiar, King of Pain comes from Synchronicity, the very last album The Police released. It’s an incredible album, and houses one of their biggest hits (Every Breath You Take) which, while nice enough, I’ve always felt was kind of stalkery, invasive, and entitled, as opposed to a beautiful love song. The album also has Mother on it, which is bloody awful (which is kinda the point, but the less said about it the better) but, it’s got great songs like Miss Gradenko and Synchronicity I and II to make up for it.

King of Pain slaps though. It slaps my whole bod. The bit where it kicks in from the quiet start is fantastic, and feels so good to play.

Here’s the Imperfection Project video, where it’s me and my uke, one take, singing both the lead and the backing:

There’s some clipping at the BIG BELTY NOTES right at the end because my mic gain was way too high, but…who watches to the end? Or really cares? I considered putting the harmonies over the backing, but I think it’s actually a fun artefact on its own as a one-take.

Here are the chords you came for:

For this one, the Em sounds nicer than the Em7 on uke, and vice versa on guitar. Go figure. And if the C#m7 is too much of a sod to play, you can sub in an F#m there instead for ease. Both sound pretty good, and even when two people play together, playing the different versions, it sounds alright.

Anyhoo, I hope you have a fantastic day, and that you’ll enjoy the chords. I’m positive you’ll do a much better job than I did. :D

Love always,

Fay

xXx

P.S. I didn’t write this, the band did. Go listen to the original here:

I've discovered this little masterpiece of songwriting recently, and I've immediately fallen in love with it. It was released in 1983 as forth single of the ...