Chris Stapleton’s Joy of My Life riff, Simplified

Hey there, my friends! In this lesson I answer a question from Patreon supporter Bud, who wrote in asking about learning a Chris Stapleton song for an upcoming family wedding. In my video, I give some advice about learning a song for such a performance — which can be summarized as start with the groove, and let the details follow.

Later in the lesson I’ll demonstrate what this means using a portion of the song Bud asked about (Joy of My Life), and show how you can work through the chords, progression, strumming, and even the riff with a groove-first mentality. It’s all about not racing ahead to immediately learn the details, which can prevent you from building up a sturdy foundation for the rest of the song.

If y’all would like me to do a full song lesson for for Chris Stapelton’s verison of Joy of My Life, let me know. Bud, I hope this helps — and best wishes to your grandson for his upcoming wedding!

Video timestamps:

0:36 Advice on learning any song for a wedding
3:00 Chord Shapes
4:35 Progression & Strumming
8:10 Adding some flourish…
11:03 The riff, explained w/ tab

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[jonathanmaroney]

I love when I find a video that's the perfect amount of challenge and still enjoyable without getting frustrated. This lesson hits right where I'm at skill wise thanks again Dave never disappoints

[susansykes]

I really appreciate how easy you are to follow. The breakdowns make it very doable for me. Thank you.

[KennyFishbone]

Excellent tutorial…slow start but soooo glad I stuck with. Starting with the groove was so helpful.
This was a song at my Wedding!

[markstacey]

Simple delightful song I'm sure I'll enjoy tinkering with it this weekend....Many thanks for sharing....

[kishorekumarbiswas]

So Delightful song 🎵and the tutorial are so simple thanks Dave for this tremendous tutorial.... Lots of ❤from India ✌😎🎸🇮🇳

[geoffreyhardy]

The lesson was awesome, I liked and subscribed !

[AussieChic]

Pretty nifty strategic left hand, trick using the 2 finger version of a chord like C major so as to release other fingers to add little flourishes that make a song sound more interesting and accomplished than the same old monotonous strumming or repetitive finger picking. I knew these two or even finger versions of common chords existed but never bothered with them because I could play their full version and thought the one or two finger version were for those who didn't know to play the full proper chord. I rarely and only reluctantly used such simplified forms. Maybe if I had to play some impossible configuration my small female hands simply could not reach and there was no other easier substitutable chord to avoid playing the impossibly hard one to reach with small female hand. But now that you have shown me this clever little trick I will have less contempt for such simplified one or two finger chords and try exploring their useful creative possibilities. Thanks for your tips.

[MrHoustonismydog]

Great lesson. Hoping you might do a lesson on Whiskey Myers - Stone. Thank you

[Cookiemusiconline]

David love your tutorial. Are you able to show me the strumming pattern slower before the hammer ons come in? I'm having trouble finding the groove once you add a few more strums in. I saw the pattern just not sure I'm playing it right.

[claudedascottebouhiere]

Hello, I am Claude from Belgium.I like your Taylor guitar. Can you please tell me what model it is ?
Thank you very much for this tuto.

[R.L.Humpert]

This is great too by the way. Ultimate guitar tabs has it all wrong as it’s in the key of G starts with G not Fmaj7.

[R.L.Humpert]

I cannot play G with the middle and ring. Is it ok to just play it with my index? It’s just so unnatural for me now after several years of learning. Thoughts?

[pipe.dreamss]

Something sounds off.... hmmm... I will need to watch more videos...

[lesheath]

This is John Fogerty's song, not Stapleton's

[lukeborsos]

This isn’t any harder/easier than the original…