Otis Redding
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay chords
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding is an intermediate song in G, played with no capo. The whole sheet is 6 chords (G, B7, C, A7, E7, D) across 3 sections: Verse ×2 → Chorus → Bridge. Every shape is an open chord, so nothing here needs barre strength. It sits at roughly 104 BPM.
By Chiye · Updated
Hardest change in the sheet: G → E7, 3 times.
- Difficulty
- Intermediateno barre needed
- Key
- Gwith no capo
- Tempo
- 104BPM
- Tuning
- Standard (E A D G B E)low to high
- Chords
- 6all open shapes
- Sections
- 3each with its own progression
Chords in (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
Frets read low E to high E, x means leave that string out.
Chord sheet
One chord per bar in this practice sheet. Follow the time signature shown beside each section; dots mark the remaining counts in the bar. Tap a bar to hear its chord, or loop the section to practise the changes.
Chord accompaniment only. Follow the section notes for this arrangement’s timing. Songs whose words are public domain →
Verse× 2 · 4/4 · ♩=104
Chorus4/4 · ♩=104
Bridge4/4 · ♩=104
Printable one-page chord chart
How to play (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
This arrangement uses dominant sevenths for colour, including the open B7 x-2-1-2-0-2. B7 does not need a barre: place four separate fretting fingers and keep its open B string clear. Listen to how that chord differs from B major before joining the G, C and A chords around it.
Learn the open seventh grips separately: B7 is x-2-1-2-0-2, A7 is x-0-2-0-2-0 and E7 is 0-2-0-1-0-0. None needs a barre. Keep the right hand steady while preparing the next grip, and land the new chord on its printed downbeat. Start A7 at the A string; reserve the low E bass for chords that include it.
Work at 85 BPM with a metronome, looping the verse until B7 to C is silent, then add A7 and count the loop four times without stopping. Treat E7 and the bridge separately, since both involve a bigger hand jump than the verse does. Finally, play with the click on beats two and four only, which is the quickest way to feel where this groove actually sits.
How to practise (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
Four steps computed from this sheet: the order the shapes are easiest to learn in, the changes that really occur in the progressions above, where each chord turns up, and the tempo ladder up to the speed marked here.
Learn the shapes easiest first
G (3-2-0-0-0-3, beginner) → B7 (x-2-1-2-0-2, beginner) → C (x-3-2-0-1-0, beginner) → A7 (x-0-2-0-2-0, beginner) → E7 (0-2-0-1-0-0, beginner) → D (x-x-0-2-3-2, beginner)
6 of the 6 shapes are open chords, so nothing here needs barre strength yet.
Drill the changes this sheet actually uses
G → E73×C → G2×D → C2×G → D2×
These counts come from the progressions on this page, so they are the changes you will actually play, not a generic list of pairs to practise.
Know where each chord turns up
- Gevery section
- B7Verse
- CVerse, Bridge
- A7Verse, Chorus
- E7Chorus
- DBridge
Climb the tempo ladder
Start at 62 BPM and move up only when a full pass is clean: 62 → 78 → 94 → 104 BPM. The tempo marked on this sheet is 104 BPM, and the last step is the one that always feels like a jump. Stay at 94 for longer than feels necessary.
Practise each section's chord changes slowly, then play the sheet through at a steady tempo without pausing between sections.
Playing (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay with a capo
This sheet needs no capo. Each card shows what you would finger at that capo position so the song still sounds exactly as written. Useful when the shapes above are awkward, or when you want to sing it higher without learning new chords.
No capoas written
G B7 C A7 E7 D
6 of 6 stay open
Fret 1
F# Bb7 B Ab7 Eb7 C#
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 2
F A7 Bb G7 D7 C
4 of 6 stay open
Fret 3
E Ab7 A F#7 C#7 B
2 of 6 stay open
Fret 4
Eb G7 Ab F7 C7 Bb
2 of 6 stay open
Fret 5
D F#7 G E7 B7 A
5 of 6 stay open
Fret 6
C# F7 F# Eb7 Bb7 Ab
no open shapes left, all barre
Fret 7
C E7 F D7 A7 G
5 of 6 stay open
Working out a different key? The capo calculatordoes the same arithmetic for any chord set.
More songs built on the same chords
If (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay clicks, these use the closest set of shapes, so the chords you just learned keep working.
More intermediate songs to learn after this one: Father and Son, 500 Miles, Shallow, The One That Got Away.
These chords across the songbookHow often each chord in (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay turns up across all 104 songs on this site, and what it most often moves to next. The counts come from the sheet library itself, not from theory.
509bars of this chord across the songbook
77songs use this shape
Most often followed by D, 89×.
10bars of this chord across the songbook
5songs use this shape
Most often followed by E, 3×.
420bars of this chord across the songbook
70songs use this shape
Most often followed by G, 115×.
49bars of this chord across the songbook
15songs use this shape
Most often followed by Dm7, 10×.
31bars of this chord across the songbook
10songs use this shape
Most often followed by A7, 4×.
323bars of this chord across the songbook
58songs use this shape
Most often followed by G, 52×.