Скачать или смотреть Joy of My Life - Chris Stapleton (play-along for guitar)

This is a screen-capture video from a TuneLing for "Joy of My Life" from the album "Starting Over", by Chris Stapleton.

This song is also available in a separate TuneLing video for ukulele!

Notes:

This song was actually written by John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival, and more), and his own version is lovely as well, though based on dobro rather than plain guitar. But we'll always choose Chris Stapleton's version of pretty much anything - he can do no wrong.

Given a capo, this one is easy enough for near-beginners on guitar. There's a lot of little fills and licks throughout the recording, but it really needs a second pair of hands to get most of that right.

Guitar people (esp. newbies): when your hand is in the G chord shape, try using your index finger to create your own enhancements, primarily using the two middle strings, either open, and/or at the second fret. When you pluck an open string, then change its note by fretting it without plucking it again, that's called a "hammer-on". For this G shape, you'll want your second finger to not only hold down the sixth string at the third fret (or sixth fret, accounting for the capo), but to also touch the fifth strong lightly in order to mute it - only when your index finger is doing something melodic.

Once you have a bit of dexterity playing hammer-ons and pull-offs (which are simply hammer-ons played backwards), you can find your own way to add just a touch more melody to the guitar part. But don't overdo it! We're not trying to get flashy here - we just want some subtle touches to add interest - and this is a great song to learn that with. BONUS: a lot of the same hammer-on/pull-off techniques that work for the G shape will also work for the F and C shapes (using the second finger!). Experiment!

Also, do take note of the G/B ("G over B") shape, which only occurs in bar 30 (under "Walk with the angels..."). That's there to add a touch of bass melody to the guitar part, but make sure to mute the sixth string when you play it! And notice that the rhythm in that bar emphasizes the first three beats distinctly - that's a deliberately uplifting touch, that's present in the original (Fogerty) version too! It might be a tiny detail, but it packs a punch.

Uke players, this one is simple and straightforward just as shown, without trying to replicate the guitar licks. But there are a couple of "cheats" you can use here, if your fingers don't like what we've notated:

1) You can play the A-flat chord with three fingers instead of four. Just play the first three strings as notated, but instead of fretting the fourth string at the fifth fret, just mute it instead with your thumb. No one will know - the note you're omitting there is redundant anyway.

2) The E-flat chord can be played with a one-finger barre across the second, third and fourth strings as shown, with the same finger muting the first string - in case you prefer that.

Outside of all this minutiae, just keep the rhythm steady, sing it like you mean it, and ENJOY!

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