Learn how to play Coldplay’s hit song with Viva la Vida sheet music and practice tips.

Viva la Vida by Coldplay is such a great song, and I always have students asking me if they can learn the fun strings parts on violin. The good news is that this song works really well on the violin and isn’t too tricky to learn.

Want to learn? Download the sheet music and keep reading for practice tips to help you start learning.

Viva la Vida Violin Sheet Music

Due to copyrights, I’m not able to make this sheet music available for free. Would you like to practice with my free sheet music instead? Click here to check out all available tutorials with free sheet music.

How to Play Viva la Vida on the Violin

Watch the tutorial to hear my arrangement of Viva la Vida and to learn how to practice it!

Key Signature

My arrangement of Viva la Vida is in the key of A Major. Before practicing the song, download my free booklet of A Major scales and warmups to learn exactly where your fingers go for this key!

Syncopation

A big part of what makes this song so fun is the syncopation: rhythms that happen between beats or where we might not usually expect them. Try clapping along to the beat while listening to a recording of the song. Do you hear how a lot of the rhythms in the song happen between your claps? That’s syncopation!

One great way to learn the rhythms in the sheet music is to practice clapping them before actually playing them on your violin. Playing the violin is difficult, so learning tricky aspects like rhythm away from your violin can make the music feel so much easier when you pick up your violin!

Bow Techniques

Viva la Vida uses a mix of detaché bowings and slurs. If the slurs are difficult, start by practicing all detaché and just add the slurs back in once you’re confident with the notes and rhythms.

Throughout the song, use a quick bow speed to keep the music sounding exciting. It really adds to the song!

Slides

A fun way to add a singing quality to your playing is by using slides. For important notes you’d like to emphasize, start with your finger slightly below the note you want to play, and slide up into tune. Learn more about adding slides to your music in this tutorial.

Start Playing

Now that you have the sheet music and a practice plan, go try it out! Have fun playing Viva la Vida, and comment down below if you have any questions!