Chords for Wonderful Life Guitar Lesson Preview - Black
Tempo:
56.85 bpm
Chords used:
Em
G
C
D
E
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[Em] [G]
[C] [D] [Em]
[D] [Em]
[G] [Em]
[F] This is a haunting song, Wonderful Life by Colin Verne Coleman.
His band, band, was black.
[G] It was basically him and whoever he could get to, whoever he needed to play along with him.
Big hit in England in 1987.
Really not too well known here in the United States, but beautiful, haunting tune.
And what we're going to do in this lesson is take a look at more the way he plays it
acoustically, the way he did later in, like even now, in 2005 and 2002, a few different performances.
But what we're going to really do in this lesson is just take a quick look.
It's very simple chords, no bar chords involved, a little bit of thumb wrapping, using your
thumb to play the sixth string on some D chords with F sharp in the [N] bass.
And we're going to just play that little intro.
We're going to do this without tabs.
I'm going to talk you through a couple of very specific things.
I'll have some hand close-ups and things like that, so don't worry.
Don't panic yet.
We will have a chart that has the chords, and [Ab] we'll talk about that as we're getting
into the lesson.
And so we'll play that little intro.
[Em] [C] [Em] But the main thing that's going to happen in this lesson is I want to work on this,
[N] this percussive attack.
And so it's very simple chords, E minor, G, A minor, Cs, Ds, a few things like that.
But [G] we're going to work on each chord, being [E] able to stop the chord on the second and fourth beat.
So that's kind of the focus of this lesson.
It's a pretty simple strumming song, but that's what we're going to [N] work on is to get your
right hand being able to sound a little bit like a snare drum.
So let's take a look at some of the things we're going to do to learn Wonderful Life.
[Em] First I want to talk about the chords.
[E] There's a few different ways of playing them.
Most of the chords are really easy.
E minors, now Colin plays his E minor with these two fingers, first and second fingers.
And what that does is it lets him [Em] get the percussive effect on the E minor with his third finger.
Right hand is just going to be doing some very simple strumming.
You can either do this with a pick, or you can do it with your fingers.
If you use a pick, just put it in between your thumb and your index finger and strum.
And it's our [A] basic folk strum, down, down, up, up, down, up.
Well, let's talk our way through the little introduction that he [G] plays on the live video.
It's got somebody on the shaker, somebody else playing the violin, if you've seen that video.
This is the one I really like of these.
There are plenty of these videos.
Now I'll tell you a little bit about the original version actually, because it appears in a
few different keys.
So you could play this song in [Dm] D minor, [Em] going from D minor to C with E in the bass, to F,
and then G minor.
[G] So there's a, I've heard a version of that from a studio album.
There's a version in E minor.
Now when he played this on the live version that we hopefully have attached to the announcement
for this lesson, his guitar was tuned down a half step.
So if you try to play this with him, you're going to have to tune your guitar a half step low.
But he played it in the key of E minor.
That's the key that I have the chart in, and so that's the one we're going to rely on.
But now, again, without tablature, I want you to really [A] use your ears here and your
eyes to watch what I do and listen to what I do as I explain this.
So we have pairs of notes.
It starts with a C on the second string at the first fret, and an E on the fourth string
at [C] the second fret.
Pinch those two notes [Em] together.
Now these are two notes that are out of a C chord.
[E] Keep the E ringing the whole [B] time.
Don't let it come off while you play two more notes.
[G]
Well we are now into the easy part of the song.
You really just now have to strum it [N] and get those chord changes happening in there.
A few things though, is when he's singing it, and it's really important that you listen
to some of the live [D] versions of Colin Vercomte singing this and seeing what he's doing on the guitar.
Because the most important thing [Em] here is that we get that percussive [C] tap on beats two and four.
[N]
[C] [D] [Em]
[D] [Em]
[G] [Em]
[F] This is a haunting song, Wonderful Life by Colin Verne Coleman.
His band, band, was black.
[G] It was basically him and whoever he could get to, whoever he needed to play along with him.
Big hit in England in 1987.
Really not too well known here in the United States, but beautiful, haunting tune.
And what we're going to do in this lesson is take a look at more the way he plays it
acoustically, the way he did later in, like even now, in 2005 and 2002, a few different performances.
But what we're going to really do in this lesson is just take a quick look.
It's very simple chords, no bar chords involved, a little bit of thumb wrapping, using your
thumb to play the sixth string on some D chords with F sharp in the [N] bass.
And we're going to just play that little intro.
We're going to do this without tabs.
I'm going to talk you through a couple of very specific things.
I'll have some hand close-ups and things like that, so don't worry.
Don't panic yet.
We will have a chart that has the chords, and [Ab] we'll talk about that as we're getting
into the lesson.
And so we'll play that little intro.
[Em] [C] [Em] But the main thing that's going to happen in this lesson is I want to work on this,
[N] this percussive attack.
And so it's very simple chords, E minor, G, A minor, Cs, Ds, a few things like that.
But [G] we're going to work on each chord, being [E] able to stop the chord on the second and fourth beat.
So that's kind of the focus of this lesson.
It's a pretty simple strumming song, but that's what we're going to [N] work on is to get your
right hand being able to sound a little bit like a snare drum.
So let's take a look at some of the things we're going to do to learn Wonderful Life.
[Em] First I want to talk about the chords.
[E] There's a few different ways of playing them.
Most of the chords are really easy.
E minors, now Colin plays his E minor with these two fingers, first and second fingers.
And what that does is it lets him [Em] get the percussive effect on the E minor with his third finger.
Right hand is just going to be doing some very simple strumming.
You can either do this with a pick, or you can do it with your fingers.
If you use a pick, just put it in between your thumb and your index finger and strum.
And it's our [A] basic folk strum, down, down, up, up, down, up.
Well, let's talk our way through the little introduction that he [G] plays on the live video.
It's got somebody on the shaker, somebody else playing the violin, if you've seen that video.
This is the one I really like of these.
There are plenty of these videos.
Now I'll tell you a little bit about the original version actually, because it appears in a
few different keys.
So you could play this song in [Dm] D minor, [Em] going from D minor to C with E in the bass, to F,
and then G minor.
[G] So there's a, I've heard a version of that from a studio album.
There's a version in E minor.
Now when he played this on the live version that we hopefully have attached to the announcement
for this lesson, his guitar was tuned down a half step.
So if you try to play this with him, you're going to have to tune your guitar a half step low.
But he played it in the key of E minor.
That's the key that I have the chart in, and so that's the one we're going to rely on.
But now, again, without tablature, I want you to really [A] use your ears here and your
eyes to watch what I do and listen to what I do as I explain this.
So we have pairs of notes.
It starts with a C on the second string at the first fret, and an E on the fourth string
at [C] the second fret.
Pinch those two notes [Em] together.
Now these are two notes that are out of a C chord.
[E] Keep the E ringing the whole [B] time.
Don't let it come off while you play two more notes.
[G]
Well we are now into the easy part of the song.
You really just now have to strum it [N] and get those chord changes happening in there.
A few things though, is when he's singing it, and it's really important that you listen
to some of the live [D] versions of Colin Vercomte singing this and seeing what he's doing on the guitar.
Because the most important thing [Em] here is that we get that percussive [C] tap on beats two and four.
[N]
Key:
Em
G
C
D
E
Em
G
C
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ _ _ [F] This is a haunting song, Wonderful Life by Colin Verne Coleman.
His band, band, was black.
[G] It was basically him and whoever he could get to, whoever he needed to play along with him.
Big hit in England in 1987.
Really not too well known here in the United States, but beautiful, haunting tune.
And what we're going to do in this lesson is take a look at more the way he plays it
acoustically, the way he did later in, like even now, in 2005 and 2002, a few different performances.
But what we're going to really do in this lesson is just take a quick look.
It's very simple chords, no bar chords involved, a little bit of thumb wrapping, using your
thumb to play the sixth string on some D chords with F sharp in the [N] bass.
And we're going to just play that little intro.
We're going to do this without tabs.
I'm going to talk you through a couple of very specific things.
I'll have some hand close-ups and things like that, so don't worry.
Don't panic yet.
We will have a chart that has the chords, and [Ab] we'll talk about that as we're getting
into the lesson.
And so we'll play that little intro.
[Em] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [Em] But the main thing that's going to happen in this lesson is I want to work on this,
_ [N] this percussive attack.
And so it's very simple chords, E minor, G, A minor, Cs, Ds, a few things like that.
But [G] we're going to work on each chord, being [E] able to stop the chord on the second and fourth beat.
So that's kind of the focus of this lesson.
It's a pretty simple strumming song, but that's what we're going to [N] work on is to get your
right hand being able to sound a little bit like a snare drum.
So let's take a look at some of the things we're going to do to learn Wonderful Life. _
_ _ [Em] _ First I want to talk about the chords.
[E] There's a few different ways of playing them.
Most of the chords are really easy.
E minors, now Colin plays his E minor with these two fingers, first and second fingers.
And what that does is it lets him [Em] get the percussive effect on the E minor with his third finger.
_ _ _ Right hand is just going to be doing some very simple strumming.
You can either do this with a pick, or you can do it with your fingers.
If you use a pick, just put it in between your thumb and your index finger and strum. _
_ And it's our [A] basic folk strum, down, down, up, up, down, up.
_ Well, let's talk our way through the little introduction that he [G] plays on the live video.
It's got somebody on the shaker, somebody else playing the violin, if you've seen that video.
This is the one I really like of these.
There are plenty of these videos.
Now I'll tell you a little bit about the original version actually, because it appears in a
few different keys.
So you could play this song in [Dm] D minor, [Em] going from D minor to C with E in the bass, to F,
and then G minor.
[G] So there's a, I've heard a version of that from a studio album.
There's a version in E minor.
Now when he played this on the live version that we hopefully have attached to the announcement
for this lesson, his guitar was tuned down a half step.
So if you try to play this with him, you're going to have to tune your guitar a half step low.
But he played it in the key of E minor.
That's the key that I have the chart in, and so that's the one we're going to rely on.
But now, again, without tablature, I want you to really [A] use your ears here and your
eyes to watch what I do and listen to what I do as I explain this.
So we have pairs of notes.
It starts with a C on the second string at the first fret, and an E on the fourth string
at [C] the second fret.
Pinch those two notes [Em] together.
Now these are two notes that are out of a C chord.
[E] Keep the E ringing the whole [B] time.
Don't let it come off while you play two more notes.
[G] _ _ _
_ Well we are now into the easy part of the song.
You really just now have to strum it [N] and get those chord changes happening in there.
A few things though, is when he's singing it, and it's really important that you listen
to some of the live [D] versions of Colin Vercomte singing this and seeing what he's doing on the guitar.
Because the most important thing [Em] here is that we get that percussive [C] tap on beats two and four.
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ _ _ [F] This is a haunting song, Wonderful Life by Colin Verne Coleman.
His band, band, was black.
[G] It was basically him and whoever he could get to, whoever he needed to play along with him.
Big hit in England in 1987.
Really not too well known here in the United States, but beautiful, haunting tune.
And what we're going to do in this lesson is take a look at more the way he plays it
acoustically, the way he did later in, like even now, in 2005 and 2002, a few different performances.
But what we're going to really do in this lesson is just take a quick look.
It's very simple chords, no bar chords involved, a little bit of thumb wrapping, using your
thumb to play the sixth string on some D chords with F sharp in the [N] bass.
And we're going to just play that little intro.
We're going to do this without tabs.
I'm going to talk you through a couple of very specific things.
I'll have some hand close-ups and things like that, so don't worry.
Don't panic yet.
We will have a chart that has the chords, and [Ab] we'll talk about that as we're getting
into the lesson.
And so we'll play that little intro.
[Em] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [Em] But the main thing that's going to happen in this lesson is I want to work on this,
_ [N] this percussive attack.
And so it's very simple chords, E minor, G, A minor, Cs, Ds, a few things like that.
But [G] we're going to work on each chord, being [E] able to stop the chord on the second and fourth beat.
So that's kind of the focus of this lesson.
It's a pretty simple strumming song, but that's what we're going to [N] work on is to get your
right hand being able to sound a little bit like a snare drum.
So let's take a look at some of the things we're going to do to learn Wonderful Life. _
_ _ [Em] _ First I want to talk about the chords.
[E] There's a few different ways of playing them.
Most of the chords are really easy.
E minors, now Colin plays his E minor with these two fingers, first and second fingers.
And what that does is it lets him [Em] get the percussive effect on the E minor with his third finger.
_ _ _ Right hand is just going to be doing some very simple strumming.
You can either do this with a pick, or you can do it with your fingers.
If you use a pick, just put it in between your thumb and your index finger and strum. _
_ And it's our [A] basic folk strum, down, down, up, up, down, up.
_ Well, let's talk our way through the little introduction that he [G] plays on the live video.
It's got somebody on the shaker, somebody else playing the violin, if you've seen that video.
This is the one I really like of these.
There are plenty of these videos.
Now I'll tell you a little bit about the original version actually, because it appears in a
few different keys.
So you could play this song in [Dm] D minor, [Em] going from D minor to C with E in the bass, to F,
and then G minor.
[G] So there's a, I've heard a version of that from a studio album.
There's a version in E minor.
Now when he played this on the live version that we hopefully have attached to the announcement
for this lesson, his guitar was tuned down a half step.
So if you try to play this with him, you're going to have to tune your guitar a half step low.
But he played it in the key of E minor.
That's the key that I have the chart in, and so that's the one we're going to rely on.
But now, again, without tablature, I want you to really [A] use your ears here and your
eyes to watch what I do and listen to what I do as I explain this.
So we have pairs of notes.
It starts with a C on the second string at the first fret, and an E on the fourth string
at [C] the second fret.
Pinch those two notes [Em] together.
Now these are two notes that are out of a C chord.
[E] Keep the E ringing the whole [B] time.
Don't let it come off while you play two more notes.
[G] _ _ _
_ Well we are now into the easy part of the song.
You really just now have to strum it [N] and get those chord changes happening in there.
A few things though, is when he's singing it, and it's really important that you listen
to some of the live [D] versions of Colin Vercomte singing this and seeing what he's doing on the guitar.
Because the most important thing [Em] here is that we get that percussive [C] tap on beats two and four.
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _