Ode to Joy - Fingerstyle Blues - with Free Tab

 

In this video I want to share with you a short bluesy version of the famous song Ode to Joy. Ode to Joy was originally written as a poem in 1785 by Friedrich Schiller. In 1824 the poem (or at least the majority of it) was put to music to create a song when it was married up to Beethoven's 4th Movement from his 9th Symphony. This created the song we know today. However, it is probably the music, rather than the lyrics, that people now recognise as it is one of the most famous and well known pieces of music there is. And the music (not the lyrics) has been adopted as the anthem of the European Union. 

I have heard people derisively call some of Beethoven's music classical pop tunes, and although such criticism is largely unfounded, this piece could certainly fall within that category. It is a simple and striaghtforward piece using a chord sequence which is now commonly found in modern pop music. But this gives it is a light, joyous tone and makes it a catchy, accessible, and memorable piece of music. 

The music is in the Key of C and is played on a guitar in Standard Tuning. It is in 4/4 time and is a travis picking fingerstyle piece.

Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab.

Ode to Joy Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT

 

• Using the Pinky - I know a lot of people don't like playing 4 finger chords but to make this piece of music flow smoothly, and let the notes ring out when changing chords, it's best use the pinky when making some chords and also form some four finger chords. If you watch the video, you will see the fingerings that I use when forming the underlying chords. Now, you may not see this as be the most efficient or easiest way to play it for yourself so I recommend you adapt the fingerings and to suit your playing style. However, I find that this is the best for my playing style and I also find it helps the chords flow easily between each other and let the notes ring out.
  

• Travis Picking - The music employs a standard travis picking pattern which it uses through the entire piece. The travis picking is fairly straightforward and only alternates between the 5th and 4th string or the 6th and 4th strings, and any changes to the Travis Picken pattern mostly occur at the start of a new bar when there is a chord change. However, there are a few bars where there is a chord change mid bar, and with that chord change comes a change to the travis picking pattern as well. If you practice this and be mindful of these changes, it shouldn't be too much trouble. However, if you are struggling using travis picking when playing. just leave it out and just play the bass notes on the same string (either the 6th or 5th strings depending on the underlying chord) and it should be easier.
  

• Fast Changes - The music uses the standard chords you would expect to find in the key of C and most of the changes between the chords take place at the start of a new bar. However, there are quite a few bars where there's a chord change mid-bar and this can catch people out, especially as they occur in consecutive bars meaning you have some quite rapid chord changes back to back. If you're mindful of these rapid chord changes, and you learn the piece slowly, you should be able to get them okay. And once you're comfortable playing it at a slower tempo, you can just bring the tempo up to a speed that you feel comfortable with.
  

This is about all I need to say about this piece. It is a fairly straightforward piece of fingertsyle guitar music. If you are used to playing travis picking fingerstyle guitar, you should be able to learn this quite quickly.

Thanks for Reading,
Neil