Kodaline - The One guitar tutorial with chord/ melody acoustic playing

We look at "The One" by Kodaline, focusing on why capo at the second fret makes this song work for both beginner and advanced players. Ultimate Guitar has this in G-D-C with capo second fret, which is much more fingerstyle-friendly than the original key of A.

Why A and D keys are limiting for fingerstyle: It's rare for intermediate and advanced fingerstyle pieces to be in A or D because having the root note on string four breaks any pattern. If you're doing an inside-out fingerpicking pattern in D, you can play it but moving it around creates problems because the root note isn't on the same strings. When you use capo at second fret and play in G shape, you unlock way more possibilities.

The G key advantage with capo: Playing in G with capo gives you three complete octaves to work with - low G on the low E string, middle G, and high G on the high E string. You can even go higher while still incorporating open strings and staying in G. This is essential for chord melody arrangements where you're playing both the chord and the melody simultaneously.

This is very similar to what we did with "Fairytale of New York" before Christmas - you can play it with basic open chords (D-G-A-B minor), but the limiting factor isn't the B minor bar chord appearing briefly; it's what you can do with the melody. By putting it in C or G with capo, you get access to those three octaves and all the chord melody options.

Strumming arrangement: For a simpler approach, I demonstrate strumming the song as a first dance arrangement - similar to how "Chasing Cars" works in this context. The lyrics even hint at this use ("for better or for worse"), suggesting the songwriter knew this could be a wedding song. The arrangement uses basic chord progressions with natural strumming patterns, making it accessible while still sounding full and emotional.

The song reminds me of "Chasing Cars" in its structure and feel - both work beautifully as stripped-down acoustic arrangements or as more elaborate fingerstyle pieces, depending on your skill level and the context you're playing in.