Happiness by Elliott Smith Tutorial

[blindmaninanorgy]

You've got E.T's hands !

[johns680]

Anyone know the tuning??

[chennaprateep]

@johns680 im sure its standard tuning...

but can also be played in half step down i think, not sure about tat

[wedidthetango]

@chennaprateep on the recording he actually plays it 3 steps down in C#

[Heathathnasoodua]

good video man, thanks a lot... for a while I said, "What is that in the background? Galaga?" A window... haha

[ralyman2]

Fucking awesome, thanks mate!

[Zlahlers]

Don't over-do the emotion when you sing. :D

[Murgroena]

I find it really hard to play the bassline with that other melody in this song. i think i'm playing it bad

[clevermint37]

are you a robot?

[michaelb772]

I really was interested in learning that song... never mind!

[vicsaurus]

I found the tab and was racking my head on how to play this til I saw your video, nice job man! *thumbs up*

[elliottsmithiswithme]

mellowtonen we could be good friends!!! pinback is my second fav to but i love my iron and wine as well.

[mellowtonen]

iron and wine is cool, haven't heard much new stuff. scope out my music vids of my tunes. peace

[mellowtonen]

1.Elliott

2. Pinback

3. The Sea and Cake

4. Built to spill

5. Modest Mouse( early albums only)

[Amulius]

Never heard of Built to Spill but wow, i know every other group / musician.. and Elliott Smith is also my favorite :)

[cruelkitti]

you should check out built to spill immediately. please.

[mellowtonen]

also Quasi, they play similar chorded songs at times but sound a bit more experimental and dirty than Smith.....they are the closest "feel" to Elliott I think.....since Sam did play bass in heatmiser.

[Amulius]

heard of Quasi. Listened to them a few times

[cruelkitti]

agreed completely.

[mellowtonen]

I agree that I Completely agree that you agreed completely. Quasi is working on a new album now! cant wait

[NOdougieFX]

You are awesome- make these difficult elliott songs sound easy!

[2mMarco]

Cheers mate you've been a great help. Man I love this song!

[LedZeppelinGNR1]

solid

[samd42]

You tutorial of this song is better than the tab I found. I'm working on learning it. You make it sound really smooth and effortless. Thanks a million.

[guitarfolk21]

fleet foxes? psh

elliott

bright eyes

neutral milk hotel

mountain goats

andrew bird

[armydud5]

1 elliott

2.bright eyes

3.pinback

4neutral mik hotel

5.the smiths

[marshie25]

Elliott, Bright Eyes, and the Mountain goats are also my top 3 favorite Indi bands. You are awesome

[WhaleRider86]

great tab, I personally find it easier to play the Gmay7 and the F/G in the intro as barre chords. sounds the same.

[tttdddppp]

one hour are trying to say something?

[Mel0dymaker]

Innit as beautiful as this song is it ain't that hard.

[tttdddppp]

Hey man thank you 1 hour later I have learned it cleanly. I have wanted to learn how to play that song since the first time I heard it.

[WhaleRider86]

1 hour later....for sure....

[suellensemicek]

man i wish i'd play guitar like you do!!!!

[eibesfeldt]

yeah man you're awesome.

[Clifurd]

You rule man!!!

[turtlie]

i HATE that huge ass bar chord between the first and fifth frets. my hands are tiny, hahah it actually hurts to do it.

[SeikoPsycho]

my left hand calluses are thicker than my feet calluses, and I am a construction worker

[onlymodestmouse]

try moving the F on 1st fret to F on the 3rd fret D string. Then you don't have to stretch!

[lexluke]

YAY! Its back! Keep up the great work!

[lexluke]

Why is this video gone!?!?! I need it more than ever!

[0672638903]

merci beaucoup c est trés joli,

je suis un fan d'elliott et je joue de la musique aussi, continus bien tes tutoriels c'est trés pratique et je pense que tu pourrais faire la chansson en entiere, à la fin par exemple, pleeease...

[roxals]

thank you very much.

now I want to practice this song.

[selfdestruct999]

Excellent ! I play the run part a bit different but yours is probably the right way. I've played everything by ear for 20 years, so I know I don't play the exact versions. But man you are severely talented. I hope you're doing studio work or better yet your own thing.

[SeikoPsycho]

what are all those lights behind you?? it looks so high tech and scary!

[imatube1975]

Have you never experienced the thrill of looking through a window onto a road before ;)

A wonderful tutorial by the way. We all hope you post more Elliott stuff soon. Damn he was gifted!

[shizzle412]

haha!

that is all.

[SeikoPsycho]

i thought it was some crazy studio electronics shit and it blew my mind

[chillbro9]

oh, i want a tab of this... anyone have any suggestions???

[renoufarnold]

yahoo search elliott smith, go to the sweet adeline homepage it should be the first link on the page..click it...on the page click the link that says music, then go to tablature on the left side, here you will find a treasure chest of elliott smith tabs some even have piano tabs

[Barca87]

On the studio version of this track, there is the best moment in music. It's the backing vocals on the word 'lie' in the lyric 'he made his life a liee...' kills me everytime.

[idiocyinbubbles]

sweet

[haulpartnett]

i've been trying to figure this one out for ages. thnk you kind sir, you have done a service to elliott smith fans everywhere

[MH808Jason]

Hey man this is so awesome. I have been looking for sheet music for his music but i can't find it anywhere. Please keep adding Smith tunes. You are doing a service man thanks.

[fevito]

i love your voice. like its so half assed in such a sweet way but its still on pitch and everything. beautiful

[overmjind]

i love you.

[exti047]

This is THE BEST thing I have ever found on youtube! Thanks for sharing...except I now have bleeding finger tips! Any more Elliott songs gratefully received.

ps. good luck with the metagenomics and biochemistry!

[mattwithabeard]

yo, this is freaking amazing. seriously, i've been looking for correct tabs for a while now, and you've definitely got it spot on. anyway you could send me tabs or gp5 if you get a chance? thanks.

[jakemooreisgay]

could you please send the tabs my way?!!?!

I will love you!

[grungesludge]

absolutely brilliant thanks man,, post some more from elliott

[dubba17]

you are amazing,

[allenchu123]

yo, could you hook up the gp5 file

[PrydeTube]

Thanks! Just like the last comment... my guitar has been sitting awhile and you got me to get it out. Also, very nice job on the transcription. Many thanks for the good energy and the time you took. You're on it!

[MJMMagic]

Dude, you've inspired me to pick up the guitar again. ES is one of my all time favorite artists, and you nailed his guitar playing to a "T". What kind of guitar are you playing?

[BackstreetCowboy]

thanx a lot

[pressureofdays]

great job

[rustysasquatch]

dude you are pretty much my favorite person ever.

[allmappedout13]

i want to BE you.

[furiousdan]

man, how wide is your handspan? hsero is right. that reach is amazing. i can't do it at all, much less with the song.

great vid, though.

[jeffhkim2501]

That chord is super super hard to reach. I don't have a wide handspan but I throw my elbow toward the neck a bit to get underneath so my wrist is as flat as possible to reach that one...it still hurts a bit without warming up. elliott pulls it off effortlessly of course :) but try that tip to reach it.

[supradude7891]

what kind of mic are you using???

it sounds great!!

im using a PowerBook G4 and i need a good mic.

thanks!

-John

[jeffhkim2501]

Hey, thanks for checking out the vids, i'm using an MXL 880 for a mic that i found on sale for 50 bucks. it picks up a lot of room noise but it's great for the price. i'd recommend a shure sm57 for instrumentation, they're tanks and sounds awesome for the price as well.

[hserokdivad]

I love how you make the position of 1st fret on low E and 5th fret on high E look so simple.

[neurotik]

if you could make a tutorial for either alameda or stickman, that would be amazing!

[iouahaal]

wow why are you so fucking cool for posting this?

[LenoskaTA]

I was just wondering how I could learn to play various Elliott Smith songs correctly late last night... so yeah. Thanks. It's perfect timing.

Could I perhaps get the tabs you used also? ^-^

[BottleUpExplode]

Thank you so much. This is really helpful!

[mastoe]

Hey , can I get the tabs you used, the sweetaddy ones are different

[jeffhkim2501]

sure thing, i'm working on the gp5's still (grad school is currently kicking my ass in terms of time) but i'll pm you with the files as soon as they're done. take care and thanks for checking the clip!

[rififi27]

@jeffhkim2501 could it be possible if you can pm those tabs to me as well? if you still have them, since mastoe commented 3 years ago? thanks man, i love your tutorials.

[chennaprateep]

@jeffhkim2501 hey can you pm me the gp5 files too? cause as mastoe said sweetaddy 1's are different :/

[starpier]

some chords are really stretched..I couldn't follow everything, it's not so easy to understand the positions without a tab. This tutorial is great, but it needs a tab to be followed correctly I think.

[peterdelatorre]

whoa spider fingers

[stellar107]

hey jeff, your tutorials are really helpful and fun! i'm looking forward to part 2 of this and angeles. any chance you could send me the tabs for this?

[fiveandnine]

thanks for going to the trouble to put out these tutorials, im gonna be working on these songs for a while i think ... elliot smith was a unique guitarist and i appreciate your help in getting to grips with his style. thank you!

[jeffhkim2501]

no problem! I love his music, it's gotten me through the toughest parts of life so it's the least i can do to give back. thanks for checking the clip out. Feel free to message me with any questions. Take care!

[FantasyParadox]

this is really good.

Sounds high though.

Aint it played a in C# standard tuning?

[jeffhkim2501]

you're right. I haven't tuned properly in a long time due to laziness, I usually tune relatively to my open "E". I'll start tuning properly in the followups and stuff because i think i confused some people with the differences in key. thanks for checking out the clip!

[94FAB10]

...you're right!!!

[jeffhkim2501]

Yup, the recorded version, live version, b-sides, and(tres inedits version) are all a bit different. These chords are based on a live performance I saw here from 97. the tuning is also standard, just all dropped as he does from time to time. I usually transpose or capo using the same shapes to match the key on different songs. I also have GP5 tabs of this version if people want. Take care and thanks for checking the clip out!

[mistercakes]

could you please post a link to the GP5 tabs?

[stiltedattitude]

the version you're playing is how elliott typically played it live acoustically, but on both recorded versions (album and b-side version) he plays it in a different key, in standard tuning using completely different chord shapes. i made a tab for it the way it's being played here if anyone would like it just message me.

[billyapplesauce7]

You really capture these songs remarkably accuratley and justI really wanted to thank you for taking the time to help us Ellliott lovers out, please post as many of these tutorials as you have energy for.

[jeffhkim2501]

will do, gotta find a second to post part II and I'll go over the chords for the chorus. take care.

[bosomfondler]

should have showed the chorus

[jeffhkim2501]

Got requests to post up sheet music so i'm working on it and will link to it shortly. Sorry it's a bit sloppy and I sound like a horse, I have the flu. I will slow it down and walk through chords in more detail in part II.