Rockschool: Otis Redding – (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay

The classic (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of

The Bay features R&B great and co-writer of this tune Steve Cropper on guitar. Rockschool’s arrangement is full of classic soul licks, both lines from Redding’s original track and adaptations shaped to be more playable on the acoustic guitar. The line in bar 13 is Cropper’s classic part simply played an octave lower.

As with many old soul licks, most of these are based around chord shapes – a style popularised by Jimi Hendrix. To start using this approach, take a song you know well and begin by playing the chords slowly. Now try to find some new notes (other than the chord tones) that you can easily fret while keeping the basic chord shape under your fingers. By adding even one note to a chord you can introduce gospel and R&B flavours.

Try experimenting with these ideas and transposing them to other areas on the fretboard.