Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding

Welcome to my Sittin on the Dock of the Bay guitar chord and lesson page by Otis Redding. This is a beautiful guitar song and really great way to practice barre chords.

This song features a B major barre chord in the verses as well as and F major barre chord on the bridge. The rest of the chords are open chords.

You could play many of the chords of this song as barre chords but I will leave that up to you to decide.

SITTIN ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY GUITAR CHORDS:

SITTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY STRUMMING PATTERN:

Make sure to listen to the song because some of the chords are going to change on the upstrum and be held through the next measure as shown below.

Strumming Option 1:
G B
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4+
D DU U DU UD DUDU

Strumming Option 2:
G B
1 + a 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + a 3 + 4 +
D U DU DU DU UD U DU DU

I do not provide printable materials for chord charts and lyrics. If you are looking for written charts, I would highly recommend Hal Leonard’s Strum Together Campfire Songbook which features this song and many more classic hits.

SITTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY GUITAR LESSON:

SITTIN ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY CHORD CHART: By Otis Redding

INTRO: G G G G

VERSE:
|G                               B| B
Sittin' in the mornin' sun
          |C                                   A|      A
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' come
   |G                               B|   B
Watching the ships roll in
                |C                               A|    A
Then I'll watch 'em roll away again,      yeah

CHORUS:
      |G                                     E|   E
I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
                      |G             E|   E
Watching the tide roll away
                       |G                                   A|    A
Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
              |G     E| E
Wastin' time

VERSE:
|G                         B|     B
I left my home in Georgia
   |C                                A|   A
Headed for the 'Frisco Bay
   |G                      B|       B
I have nothing to live for
                  |C                                     A| A
Look like nothin's gonna come my way

BRIDGE:
|G          D|     C
Looks like, nothing's gonna change
|G       D|          C
     Everything still remains the same
|G          D|                         C
               I can't do what ten people tell me to do
           F                               D
So I guess I'll remain the same, yes

VERSE:
|G                                 B|     B
Sittin' here resting my bones
               |C                                          A|   A
And this loneliness won't leave me alone
      |G                                B|     B
It's two thousand miles I roam
             |C                             A|   A
Just to make this dock my home

CHORUS:
      |G                                     E|   E
I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
                      |G             E|   E
Watching the tide roll away
                       |G                                   A|    A
Ooo, I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
              |G     E| E
Wastin' time

Whistling Out Over Chorus Chords.

This file is the author’s own work and represents his interpretation of this song. It’s intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.

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