Guitar lesson for

Starting Over

by Chris Stapleton  •  Lesson #352

Video lesson

PDF currently unavailableas of May 6, 2021

  • The PDF for this (and my other "song" lessons) are temporarily unavailable while I address some copyright issues. I'm currently working out a licensing solution so the rights holders can be properly credited & compensated.
  • If you’re a Patreon supporter and have questions or concerns, please email me directly and I can absolutely assist.
  • Thanks for your patience as I work out this matter 🙏 Keep an ear out for updates on this topic via the button below.
More info about this »

Editor’s notes

Hey friends! Here’s a new guitar lesson for Starting Over by Chris Stapleton, from his 2020 album of the same name. Super catchy song, great fun to play – and the intro & verse riff make very good use out of two very similar chords (G and Cmaj7), each of which has a single finger being added & removed for good effect. I’ll initially explain this (and the chorus) in a beginner-friendly way, before moving on and explaining some more advanced strumming techniques which’ll help you sound just like Chris Stapleton. Finally, I’ll end the tutorial with a full playthrough, showing you how it sounds when you put it all together. I hope you enjoy!

Video timestamps:

Lyrics with chords

Capo 3rd fret.

INTRO
    G ... G4 G ... G4   Cmaj7 ... C Cmaj7 ... C   (play twice, see PDF for tab)

VERSE
              G                                   G4      G
    Well, the road rolls out like a welcome mat...
         Cmaj7                                    C       Cmaj7
    To a better place than the one we're at.......
        D                                         Dsus2   Dsus2
    And I ain't got no kinda plan.................
             C                                    Cmaj7   Cmaj7
    But I've had all of this town I can stand.....

        G                                           G4      G
    And I got friends out on the coast................
           Cmaj7                                    C       Cmaj7
    We can jump in the water and see what floats......
    D                                               Dsus2   Dsus2
    We've been saving for a rainy day.................
          C                                         Cmaj7   Cmaj7
    Let's beat the storm and be on our way............

CHORUS
        Em       D/F#      G               Cadd9        D/F#    G
        It don't matter to me, wherever we are is where I wanna be
            Em         D/F#        G                    Cadd9       D/F#     G
        And honey, for once in our life, let's take our chances and roll the dice
        D                          C                                   
        I can be your lucky penny, you can be my four-leaf clover
                 G       G4  G     Cmaj7    C  Cmaj7
        Starting over

    This [G] might not be an easy time... there's [Cmaj7] rivers to cross and hills to climb
    [D] Some days we might fall apart [Dsus2]... and [C] some nights might feel cold and dark [Cmaj7]

    When [G] nobody wins afraid of losing... and the [Cmaj7] hard roads are the ones worth choosing
    [D] Some day we'll look back and smile [Dsus2]... and [C] know it was worth every mile [Cmaj7]

        [Em] It don't [D/F#] matter to [G] me, wherever we [Cadd9] are is where [D/F#] I wanna [G] be
        And [Em] honey for [D/F#] once in our [G] life
          Let's take our [Cadd9] chances and [D/F#] roll the [G] dice
        [D] I can be your lucky penny, [C] you can be my four-leaf clover [Cmaj7]
        Starting [G] over...[G4][G]... Starting [Cmaj7] over...[C][Cmaj7]...

BRIDGE
            | Am   | Em   | G    | G   |
            | Am   | Em   | D    | D   | Dsus2 | Dsus2 |

        [Em] It don't [D/F#] matter to [G] me, wherever we [Cadd9] are is where [D/F#] I wanna [G] be
        And [Em] honey for [D/F#] once in our [G] life
          Let's take our [Cadd9] chances and [D/F#] roll the [G] dice
        [D] I can be your lucky penny, [C] you can be my four-leaf clover [Cmaj7]
        Starting [G] over...[G4][G]... Starting [Cmaj7] over...[C][Cmaj7]...

        [G] Oooh............ Ooh, [Cmaj7] ooh.....[C][Cmaj7]...
        [G] Oooh............ Ooh, [Cmaj7] ooh.....[C][Cmaj7]... [G]

Chord shapes needed

Here’s the chords you’ll need for this song, broken into the verse and chorus sections. For the verse, note how the note on the 2nd string 1st fret is being added to both the G and Cmaj7, giving you a G4 (technically a Gadd11) and C, respectively. Keep your left pinky on the 3rd fret of the high-e string for the aforementioned four chords. For the chorus, the normal way to play these chords is below, but I have some tips further below if the D/F# gives you trouble.

Verse chords:                         Chorus chords:

e ––3––––3––––3––––3––––2––––0–––     e ––0––––2––––3––––3–––
B ––0––––1––––0––––1––––3––––3–––     B ––0––––3––––3––––3–––
G ––0––––0––––0––––0––––2––––2–––     G ––0––––2––––0––––0–––
D ––0––––0––––2––––2––––0––––0–––     D ––2––––0––––0––––2–––
A ––2––––2––––3––––3–––––––––––––     A ––2––––0––––2––––3–––
E ––3––––3–––––––––––––––––––––––     E ––0––––2––––3––––––––
    G    G4 Cmaj7  C    D  Dsus2          Em  D/F#  G  Cadd9

Chorus chord shapes, as I like to play them

For the Em-D/F#-G sequence, I prefer to use the voicings shown below. This is mainly because the D/F# played with the wrapped thumb isn’t my cup of tea. In the voicings below, I’ll keep my left ring finger on the B string (3rd fret) for all of the chords shown. I typically don’t play the thinnest string in any of the chords (though by habit, I’ll leave my left pinky on the 3rd fret of the thinnest string – which sounds fine if you happen to play it).

e –––(3)––––––(3)––––––(3)––––––(3)––
B ––––3––––––––3––––––––3––––––––3–––
G ––––0––––––––2––––––––0––––––––0–––
D ––––2––––––––0––––––––0––––––––2–––
A ––––2––––––––0––––––––2––––––––3–––
E ––––0––––––––2––––––––3––––––––––––
      Em      D/F#      G      Cadd9

Chord progression

178 BPM. See PDF for advanced strumming notation written within for this entire progression.

Intro:

G               G     G4        G               G     G4         
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Cmaj7           Cmaj7 C         Cmaj7           Cmaj7 C
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Verse:

G               G               G     G4        G     G4        
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Cmaj7           Cmaj7           Cmaj7 C         Cmaj7 C        
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

D               D               Dsus2           Dsus2
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

C               C               Cmaj7           Cmaj7          
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Chorus:

Em      D/F#    G               Cadd9   D/F#    G
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Em      D/F#    G               Cadd9   D/F#    G
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

D               D               C               C
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

C               C               G
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1
                                         ...play intro riff x1, starting on final G

Strumming pattern basics

The simplest pattern you can use is a simple “bass-DOWN-bass-DOWN” on the 1-2-3-4 counts. The main idea here is to lightly play the bass string of whatever chord you’re playing on the “1” and “3” counts, and then do full down-strums on the “2” and “4” counts (with a bit more emphasis). This should feel like it has a bounce to it, alternating between light and heavy strums.

[ see my PDF for diagram ]

From there, you can upgrade to this pattern if you choose – which uses up-strums to round thing out. Keep the bass note on the “1” count, and likewise maintain the heavier strum on the “2” count. The final three strums (up-down-up) can be light brushes on the thinnest couple strings.

[ see my PDF for diagram ]

Basic strumming tabs for intro and verse

See my PDF for tabs showing you a simple way to strum the intro and chorus sections.

Enjoy my lessons? Buy me a beer!

If this and my other lessons have proven helpful to you, please consider making a one-time donation to my tip jar. Contributions of any amount help make this project possible (including the many, many hours I put into it).

You can also support me on Patreon. For only $3/month you'll get access to a print-friendly PDF of my notes for each new lesson (view free sample).

Thanks!

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Be sure to never miss a lesson by subscribing on YouTube. I put out 2-3 new videos every week. These include full song lessons, as well as covers, practice tips, behind-the-scenes updates. Thanks!

Recent video lessons:

📝 PDFs for my "song" lessons temporarily unavailable! I'm working out a proper copyright solution that will fairly credit & compensate the rights holder of each song. Get the latest info here (last updated May 6, 2021)

Browse my all lessons

By lesson type

By song decade

By musical genre

By guitar technique

By musical key

By popular artist

← back to lesson list