In today’s Acoustic Guitar Tutorial we are learning how to play Kokomo by The Beach Boys.

In 1988 Kokomo was released under the name of The Beach Boys. This 80s hit has a summer chill, easy- going flavour that lends itself excellently to an acoustic guitar arrangement.

Using some percussive rhythms and an array of summery sounding chords we have a very enjoyable song to play and sing along to.

The chords for today are – C Cmaj7 Gm7 Fmaj7 Fm7 D7 G7 & Am. Do not fear the barre chords as I have included substitutes for the ones that may be a bit tricky. There are usually open chorded variations that will do a great job. All chord charts are included in the video. 

THE SONG

The Intro-
The intro to the song is part of the chorus lyrically but with a percussive rhythm accompaniment instead.  The song has a multitude of layers recorded for the percussion so today to make this possible on a single acoustic guitar and keep it fairly simple I have used the following rhythm..

We play this by muting the strings using our fretting hand to get the percussive chuck sound.

The red down arrows indicate an accent. Put a little more pressure into this strum to make it more prominent.

Repeat the sequence until you reach the Verse

The Verse-

Chords (there are substitutes for the Barre chords if you are unable to do them)

(Chord Alternatives)

The strumming feel for the Verses is light and ringing. The chords ring into each other. Nice and relaxed.

The chord sequence below is the whole Verse.

The Chorus-

(Addiitional Chords)

The following sequence and rhythm plays for the first 6 bars. This is more percussive with a mute on the 2 & 4 beats.

The second half of the Chorus becomes more like the Verse feel as the chords start to open up and ring into each other. This following sequence is the second half.

Percussive Break – 

Using the same percussive rhythm as the intro strum with the line ‘ Martinique, that Monsserat Mystique’

We’re then into Verse 2..

SONG STRUCTURE

Have an awesome time learning this song. Some lovey sounding chords and nice relaxed rhythm. 

Enjoy!

🎸

 

FULL VIDEO LESSON

 

ACOUSTIC COVER (FULL PLAY-THROUGH)