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Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding

    “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” is a song co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. It was recorded by Redding twice in 1967, including once just days before his death in a plane crash.

    Sitting-On-The-Dock-Of-The-Bay

    Verses

    Barre chords are used in the original recording.

    With Barre Chords…

    Using Open Chords

    You could play a more basic version that only uses open chords. You can still provide some of the “walk”.

    Take the chord/lyric sheet and instead of using barre chords, just use the open chord form of the chords listed:

    G                      B7
    Sittin' in the mornin' sun
            C                        A
    I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes
    G                       B7
    Watching the ships roll in
               C                    A
    And then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah
    

    Here we go, just using open chords:

    But, what about that cool walk from the C chord down to the A chord as found in the original transcription?

    We can even add an additional walk from the G chord up to the B chord:

    Main Riff

    Guitar 1

    Guitar 2

    Riff Resources

    Complete Transcription To “Dock Of The Bay” (PDF)

    Complete Transcription To “Dock Of The Bay” (Power Tab)