Dave D - Posted - 04/02/2019:  03:15:44

Does anyone have a tab for Joy of my life, John Fogerty on Dobro or could someone point me in the right direction. New to playing reso guitars so need some help.
Tia Dave D.

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 04/02/2019:  11:57:38

I've embedded the video here to make for more convenient discussion.  Posting in the hangout video section is fine for getting it on the home page for convenient viewing, but it makes for awkward back and forth discussion. 

The guy who made this video is named Bastian Schubeck, it's the first time I've seen anything by him. He has other videos on YouTube. He's playing a Regal RD-40S, a guitar I love to hate, but I have to say it sounds pretty good. 

I've always liked this song - I'm a big Fogerty guy - and it's hard to believe that the album it is a part of came out over 21 years ago.

No TAB from me, I've fooled around with it in the past - and here is something important to know about Sebastian's version that he wrote in the YouTube comments:

"Yeah it's Open G, but at this time I didn't know that Open G is different for squareneck and roundneck guitars. Here I'm tuned DGDGBD, but the actual open G tuning for squareneck guitars that I'm using now and that Fogerty for sure used for this song too is GBDGBD.?"

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 04/02/2019:  13:40:20

John Fogerty and I have a few things in common: we both grew up in the Bay Area, we are dyed-in-the-wool baseball fans, and we have both declared our favorite musician to be Jerry Douglas. 

As we know, John can play some dobro, and he's friends with Jerry Douglas. Here's a side story where Jerry recorded a Bob Wills song (Swing Blues #1) for his 2005 album Best Kept Secret and he was able to trade a dobro lesson for getting Fogerty to return a favor and sing on the tune:

Jerry Douglas played dobro on "I Will Walk With You" on the Deja Vu All Over Again album of John Fogerty in 2004. In return, Fogerty joined Douglas on the dobro master's ninth solo album The Best Kept Secret next year and provided vocals and guitar on "Swing Blues #1" while Douglas handled the dobro parts.  



In a radio interview, Douglas recalled how his collaboration with Fogerty began: "We have the same birthday, that's right, and the same love of resophonic guitars. That's how I met him. He was out, you know, just looking around for old dobros to buy and wanted to see my collection, and I called home to tell my wife that, you know--I said, `Oh, what are we having for dinner tonight? Is it OK if I bring somebody home?' And she's always--I'm always bringing somebody home, and she's going, `Oh, OK. Well, who is it?' And I says, `John Fogerty,' and she's a bigger--she was a bigger fan than me."



Douglas also explained how Fogerty ended up to play on The Best Kept Secret: "I had just played on his last record [Deja Vu All Over Again], and I said, you know, `I'm almost embarrassed to ask you, you know, but would you play on something of mine someday?' and he said, `Well, yeah! Yeah, I would do it.' And I said, `Well, I'm sort of in the middle of one right now.' So we decided that in the end that he would do it for a dobro lesson, which is pretty good for me." (Liane Hansen, Interview with Jerry Douglas, NPR, USA, November 6th, 2005). 



The original version of "Swing Blues" by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys dates back to year 1936. It was recorded in two parts. Part 1 was the flip side of "Steel Guitar Rag", and Part 2 was on the B-side of "Back Home In Indiana".

HTrain - Posted - 04/02/2019:  15:05:40

What great story Mark. Thank you

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 04/02/2019:  17:08:52

You're welcome Train. 

Of course it never hurts to ask if someone tabbed out, or has access to dobro tab for a song. 

But let's face it - the overwhelming majority of dobro tab applies to bluegrass numbers with occasional classic country thrown in for good measure. A nice little acoustic ballad with a country flavor Fogerty wrote for his wife just isn't typically in the cards for dobro tab - even though dobro is the lead instrument in this case. 

So over the years, if I can't easily figure out all the chords on my own I try to seek out a chord chart online. Or if it's a relatively popular song I'll go for a lead sheet with notation if available. 

The good thing about Joy of My Life is that it can't be any easier for a GBDGBD tuned dobro. It's in the key of G, and is a classic example of "three chords and the truth" first attributed to legendary country songwriter Harlan Howard. G-C-D, I-IV-V.

If I'm looking for a chord chart on line I usually start with chordie.com but I use several others. 

I found the tune there, tried to paste it here - but it didn't come out correctly. 

Here is the link:

guitaretab.com/f/fogert.../6560.html">guitaretab.com/f/fogert.../6560.html" target="_blank">chordie.com/chord.pere/chordie...6560.html

What I usually do is play the chords through the song, or a partial chord since a lot of the full chords  are not available on the dobro.  Then I start working through the individual lead lines and fills. If there are some lines I would like to play exactly as written, I write out tab for that section, and as my long time (standard) guitar teacher used to say, "once you understand the correct way to play it, practice it a thousand times so that you'll get it down."

Having played a lot of dobro and lap steel over the years in church bands, with the exception of a handful of classic hymns, there is never any dobro tab available for Contemporary Christian songs. Any lead lines I've had to learn have been played on the original recording on anything from guitar to keyboard to flute and a few other instruments in between. 

islandgirl - Posted - 04/02/2019:  19:19:29

Hey Mark, have you ever read John Fogerty’s autobiography? What a great book. He went through the process of how he came to write some of his songs.

Dave D - Posted - 04/02/2019:  22:14:39

quote:Thanks for the hint, especially what key as this  was the main problem. Actually think I gave a chord chart for  the  key of G so will go through that for the  notes and try to work out the fills from there. It's somewhere to start anyways. Regards Dave D

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Originally posted by MarkinSonoma

You're welcome Train. 

Of course it never hurts to ask if someone tabbed out, or has access to dobro tab for a song. 

But let's face it - the overwhelming majority of dobro tab applies to bluegrass numbers with occasional classic country thrown in for good measure. A nice little acoustic ballad with a country flavor Fogerty wrote for his wife just isn't typically in the cards for dobro tab - even though dobro is the lead instrument in this case. 

So over the years, if I can't easily figure out all the chords on my own I try to seek out a chord chart online. Or if it's a relatively popular song I'll go for a lead sheet with notation if available. 

The good thing about Joy of My Life is that it can't be any easier for a GBDGBD tuned dobro. It's in the key of G, and is a classic example of "three chords and the truth" first attributed to legendary country songwriter Harlan Howard. G-C-D, I-IV-V.

If I'm looking for a chord chart on line I usually start with chordie.com but I use several others. 

I found the tune there, tried to paste it here - but it didn't come out correctly. 

Here is the link:

guitaretab.com/f/fogert.../6560.html">guitaretab.com/f/fogert.../6560.html" target="_blank">chordie.com/chord.pere/chordie...6560.html

What I usually do is play the chords through the song, or a partial chord since a lot of the full chords  are not available on the dobro.  Then I start working through the individual lead lines and fills. If there are some lines I would like to play exactly as written, I write out tab for that section, and as my long time (standard) guitar teacher used to say, "once you understand the correct way to play it, practice it a thousand times so that you'll get it down."

Having played a lot of dobro and lap steel over the years in church bands, with the exception of a handful of classic hymns, there is never any dobro tab available for Contemporary Christian songs. Any lead lines I've had to learn have been played on the original recording on anything from guitar to keyboard to flute and a few other instruments in between. 

 

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Dave D - Posted - 04/02/2019:  22:22:22

quote:Thanks for the hint, especially what key as this  was the main problem. Actually think I gave a chord chart for  the  key of G so will go through that for the  notes and try to work out the fills from there. It's somewhere to start anyways. Regards Dave D

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 04/03/2019:  10:38:16

Dave, I have no idea how long you have been playing, but after awhile a song like this - particularly because it's played in G - is pretty much a piece of cake for the experienced player.

I'm thinking this is why John did it in G. It's a good key for his voice, but it's also user friendly from the dobro player's perspective. I think he was a dobro "dabbler" for a lot of years since obviously electric guitar is his main instrument. 

Sue, thanks for the reminder on the Fogerty book. I remember checking it out in Barnes & Noble when it was released (2015?), but usually I avoid spending $25-$30 on a newly released biography. I typically buy books like this on the cheap 2-3 years down the line after they've run their course and are part of the "remaindered" table and the price is 7 or 8 bucks. 

Or I try to find it in our Sonoma County Library system to borrow which I will do today. 

Dave D - Posted - 04/03/2019:  13:51:29

This is the first song I am attempting to learn. Have never tried playing slide guitar before.
Regards 6

Paramenace - Posted - 04/05/2019:  17:06:16

I sooo want to learn this song!

Dave D - Posted - 04/06/2019:  02:52:25

Same here, so if someone could show me some notes or put up a vid playing it slowly would be if great help
Tia

Dave D - Posted - 04/06/2019:  19:32:32

quote:

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Originally posted by Paramenace

I sooo want to learn this song!

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Dave D - Posted - 04/06/2019:  19:37:29

Found this one on another forum, hope it's of some use, unfortunately there is a mix up at the start where the 2P0 is. I think this should be the last bit at the end of fill

 

mesmithut - Posted - 04/07/2019:  08:29:52

That tab is mostly correct, and you're right.  The 2PO comes after everything else. But, I'm about 100% certain after watching this  video 

youtube.com/watch?v=-1Zi1SJFFbk

that he's in standard GBDGBD tuning, so that would just change the tab to where the first note is the open 6th string, not the 5th string. Watching the video, it's hard to tell much for sure but it looks like his thumb is coming way back and just hitting the 6th string to me. Also, it just doesn't sound like low D tuning when he strums in a couple of places - sounds like standard open G. Also, there's absolutely no reason to play this in anything other than standard tuning since he never uses the low D, even if it is tuned that way.

Mark

mmuussiiccaall - Posted - 04/10/2019:  05:42:52

try this

Joy

 

Dave D - Posted - 04/10/2019:  06:26:44

Awesome, thanks guys, this has helped tremendously.