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Sloop John B

by Beach Boys • Lesson #595 • Jul 25, 2025

About This Lesson

In today’s lesson I’ll teach you to play the folk-rock classic, Sloop John B. I learned this song through the Beach Boys, only recently realizing it came from the folk tradition of Nassau in the Bahamas. My lesson explains the chords and basic strumming, before teaching a few ways to spice things up. I’ll end with an overview of the melody, in case you want to incorporate that into your strumming, fingerstyle, or lead guitar work. This is such a great tune, enjoy the lesson and have fun!

  • 0:00 Lesson Overview
  • 0:59 Chords, Explained
  • 2:38 Strumming & Chord Tips
  • 5:24 Playthrough with Tabs
  • 6:37 Melody Notes
  • 9:55 Fingerstyle & Lead Guitar Preview

Practice Notes 5 pages

It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Lesson Discussion

Jump in the conversation with other members of the Song Notes community! Post a comment about this lesson, ask a question, or even upload a video of your progress. All skill levels welcome!

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Extended Video Lessons

Here’s a few extra videos, made in thanks to those supporting me with Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those showing your support, you have my true thanks and appreciation — and I hope you find these additional videos helpful!

Part 2 - Melodic Fingerstyle Arrangement

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Part 3 - Lead Guitar Arrangement using Harmonized 3rds & 6ths

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Sing & Strum Cover

Here’s the first three verses, zoomed in. Played over the practice track.

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Play-Along Practice Track

Here’s a video with drum, bass, and organ instrumentation that loops through the 16 measure progression. Use this to practice strumming, fingerstyle, lead guitar, or anything else! Note, this is a bit slower than the Beach Boy’s version — which helps for practice.

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Other Recommendations

Here’s some related lessons that tackle some of the concepts mentioned in the videos above.

Learning Chords in Key of G

★ Instructional PDF

Travis Picking & Strumming, Combined

★ Instructional PDF

Accenting Notes While Strumming

★ Instructional PDF

Here’s a great cover of Sloop John B, from Josh Turner & crew. Definitely check this out! Note, they’re playing much closer to the Beach Boys’ quicker tempo (128bpm), which sounds great if you can make it work. My lesson and jam track above are 108bpm, which is a bit slower & more relaxed.

Finally, here’s some other links for this song:

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