Staying

How to play Staying by Lizzy McAlpine on guitar

These are the sounding chords. With a capo on fret 2 you play A, F, F#m, D, Dm, B and more, the shapes the player above shows.

This song is worth learning because it has a steady, emotional feel that sits nicely at about 120 BPM. You get a strong, flowing progression that sounds polished without being overly complicated, so it is a good intermediate piece to build confidence and control.

You will move between open shapes and barre shapes, so the main challenge is keeping your grip relaxed while changing cleanly. The opening progression, B - G - G#m - E, asks you to shift from a harder shape into easier ones, then back again, so watch that transition closely and keep each chord ringing clearly.

Start by looping the opening progression slowly until the shape changes feel automatic. Then add the rest of the song in small sections, focusing on smooth movement between the barre chords and the open chords. Once that feels secure, bring it up to full tempo and aim for even, confident changes.

Use the play-along above to follow each chord change in time with the music, or learn the shapes first with the chord diagrams below.