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In today’s lesson I’ll teach you to play When The Stars Come Out, the 2015 Chris Stapleton song from his breakthrough album Traveller. I’m tackling this song without a capo, which I state because Stapleton plays it capo 3rd fret. But fear not, you can still play along with his recorded version – and the chords we’re using are all typical Key of G fare.
For the intro riff in particular, Stapleton’s exact tab has stumped me for years… I just can’t get my ring & pinky fingers to do what he does. So, I’m excited to share a simplified version of the riff I worked out. It lets you play the same notes, but on the thinnest three strings - and sounds almost identical to his version.
- 0:00 Lesson Overview
- 2:48 Intro Riff (Stapleton’s version)
- 4:26 Intro Riff (my version)
- 7:47 Chords & Progressions
- 12:07 Strumming
- 18:34 Vocal Melody
Licensed Song Sheet 3 pages
Follow along with my print-friendly guide for this song! It’s available for purchase at Musicnotes.com, the web’s leading provider of licensed sheet music.
On the fence? Here's a guide I made showing the purchase & print process, including answers to common questions about my song sheets.
Buy at Musicnotes.comLesson Discussion
Premium Lessons
The following videos are available to members of Song Notes Premium. If you’re not a member, learn more about the many perks of Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those of you who are members — thanks for your support! It makes these lessons possible.
Play-Along Cover
Here’s how I play the song, start to finish. I use everything I show in my main lesson. For the intro, I play it once using my custom version, and then play it once in Stapleton’s style. For strumming, notice how I’m using low-key, dialed-down strums during the verse… and then I’ll slowly ramp things up as I approach the chorus.
Apologies for the “early” typo in the chorus! It should say “L.A.” — and rest assured that it’s fixed in my song sheet.
Video Practice Track
Here’s a jam track you can play over while practicing this song. It combines a steady drum beat (74 bpm) with low-volume guitar for each of the sections of this song, played over and over. This lets you practice anything you want — strumming, lead guitar, singing, etc — with a steady beat (and chords!) being played for you.
Audio Jam Track
If you’d like an audio-only track to play over, try this! It gives you a steady drum beat played at 74 beats per minute (which matches Stapleton’s tempo). It’s a low-key drum beat, roughly matching the vibe heard in the intro to Stapleton’s album recording.
Related Lessons
Here’s a few lessons I mention in my main tutorial. If you need help with the four-string F chord, strumming while palm muting, or the G major pentatonic scale — check these out!
My Other Chris Stapleton Tutorials
Recommended Videos
Chris Stapleton’s Album Version (2015)
Stapleton at NPR Tiny Desk (2015)
Here’s Chris and his wife Morgane playing this song live at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series. You can watch the full performance here, if you want to see the other songs they sing. This is a great way to see what he’s playing up close!
Browse Related Lessons
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