The verses of the song are 16 measures long. Each verse has 4 lines of lyrics, so if you do the math you’ll come to find that each line of the lyric will last 4 measures.

[Verse 1]
Hello there my old friend
Not so long ago it was ’til the end
We played outside in the pouring rain
On our way up the road we started over again

The chord progression for the verse is A, E, F#m, D and each chord gets a measure.

• Download the jam track (right click and choose “save as”)

Use The Am Pentatonic for this key.

Let’s Jam

Here I am improvising with the A jam track:

The root is easy to spot on the low E string and therefore it’s easy to identify all the chord variations:

9thsus4 chords:

It’s Up To You!

Slower:

Slower:

]]> https://guitarmojo.com/2026/06/03/life-by-the-drop-1/ Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:43:59 +0000 http://guitarmojo.com/?p=155 “Life By The Drop” Song Facts

The song’s tempo is at about 98 beats per minute. It’s in standard 4/4 time and the rhythm uses a shuffle pattern. Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded the song using a 12 string acoustic guitar. If you don’t have a 12 string, that’s okay. It sounds great on a six-string acoustic, too. It’s one of those rare SRV songs in standard tuning.

In this lesson, we’ll be looking at the intro lick to the song which takes place in the measures 1 and 2.

Intro Lick

Wouldn’t you know it! The hardest part to play of Life By The Drop is the very first part. Stevie sets things up nicely with a tasteful two measure lick.

This lick seems straightforward but it is deceptively difficult. It’s not real fast, but that’s not the problem. It’s got a certain swing to it and accents that give it character.

The main thing to keep in mind when learning it is to maintain the steady triplet pattern. That’s what gives it that swing.

Lesson Tab: Better Bends PDF