Nothing really to it, right? Most strumming is just a matter of a steady down-and-up stroke of the strings. Now, let’s try playing this with a simple strum.
![sitting on the dock of the bay chords sitting on the dock of the bay chords](https://ukulelecheats.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/otis-redding-sittin-on-the-dock-of-the-bay-ukulele-chords.jpg)
Also, I want to stay away from barre chords at this point in our studies. I’ve substituted B7 for B because it will be an easier chord to play and it doesn’t change the tone of the song drastically enough for someone to notice. In our arrangement, we’re going to make one chord substitution: As always, my chords (and lyrics) may be different than others you’ve seen or heard. It’s pure formula: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus. After all, this is the twenty-first song, isn’t it? Time for some work! Okay, work that is both easy and fun!įirst, let’s grab the chords and examine the song structure. But I also think you’re more than up for it. It will be a bit of a challenge, I think. I’ve chosen Otis Redding’s (Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay as our “Easy Songs for Beginners” lesson for today. They are intended solely for private study, scholarship or research. These files are the author’s own work and represent his interpretation of this song. So let’s take a song and try out a few ideas. You have to know what different strumming styles are going to sound like. If you want to come up with something yourself that will sound perfectly fine of its own accord, then you need to experiment. If you want to copy what the guitarist on a recording does, then you just listen to what he or she is playing.
#SITTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY CHORDS FULL#
And then we practice putting it together.Questions we hear from a lot of beginners include, “How do I strum this? Should I play full chords or single notes?” And, of course, I’m going to chime in with, “What about a combination of both?” I have an easy F chord that I show you, you’re welcome to use either that or the F bar chord.Įither way, we practice through every single section of this song intro, verse, chorus bridge outro. And we also have to deal with a barre chord, the F chord. We do this just by using the first half, down down-up, on each of the two shapes within the measure. First of all, we’re splitting measures, meaning we have to split our strumming pattern among two chord shapes. Not too much needs to be said about that, but the bridge does have a couple things we need to take a look at. The chorus is very, very straightforward.
#SITTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY CHORDS HOW TO#
We talk about how to count it out, learn how to play it, and then we move on and learn the rest of the tune. It’s a 16th note pattern, it’s twice as dense as the other one. I don’t recommend using this one if it’s a solo performance but if you do play with a band, this pattern is the one that they use and it sounds great. Then we practice putting it together with the chord shapes.Īfter that, just for completion sake, I’ve included another strumming pattern that you hear the guitar playing on the recording.
![sitting on the dock of the bay chords sitting on the dock of the bay chords](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ISxskvJ9FwI/maxresdefault.jpg)
![sitting on the dock of the bay chords sitting on the dock of the bay chords](https://www.yourguitarsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/E-Major.png)
![sitting on the dock of the bay chords sitting on the dock of the bay chords](https://www.musicnotes.com/images/productimages/large/mtd/MN0101143.gif)
My biggest advice is to learn how to say it, that’s going to get you there the fastest if you are having trouble with stuff like this. It’s the most common strumming pattern ever. We talk a little bit about switching between them and how to practice that effectively and then we play them in order, using downstrokes only, just to get the counting right.Īfter that, we take a look at a strumming pattern. The lesson starts off with the chords needed to play the verse: G, B7, C, A7. But even then, I will show you a simpler way to do it so that will be possible. Even if you’re fairly new to guitar, you could play each section of this song, except probably the bridge. It’s a classic strummer made up of some pretty simple components and a great opportunity to work on some lesser practiced chord switches, like from G to B7 for instance.