Summertime Chords

Easy tutorial for beginners with some explanations, the tab, the lyrics and the chords to play the jazz Summertime chords by George Gershwin on guitar.

PDF score of Summertime for guitar

Summertime chordsDownload

Summertime with chords

Introduction of Summertime with chords

Before starting Summertime chords, you can play about two repetitive chords on guitar. You can start over the tab as many times as you want :

chords summertime

The grid is read from left to right, from top to bottom. Each square represents a measure of 4 beats (one, two, three, four, if you count the rhythm).

If a square is divided in two OR if two, three or four chords appear, you will know that you have to play them in a four beat measure. If you don’t succeed, watch my videos or listen to the music, as it is sung/played at this time and do the same.

guitar summertime

Part 1 of the Jazz standard Summertime

Here are the new chords you will need to know for part 1 (and 2) of Summertime.

There are a lot of them, so I advise you to learn them and play them a little on guitar before you start following the tab :

guitar chords

When you master those chords, you can look the next tab to play part 1 and, following the lyrics, the whole song :

Remember that the chords are written above the lyrics so that you can play them at the right time. Therefore, it’s better to play while singing. Chords that are to the right of a phrase (not above a word) are played between the two phrases.

lyrics summertime
Tab text
Am6 E7/B Am6
Summertime
E7/B Am6 E7/B Am6 E7/B
And the livin’ is easy
Dm DmM7 Dm7
Fish are jumpin’
Dm6 E7 Am6 E7/B
And the cotton is high
Am6 E7/B Am6
Your daddy’s rich
E7/B Am6 E7/B Am6 E7
And your mom is good lookin’
CM7
So hush little baby
Dm7 E7 Am6
Don’t you cry

Play other jazz song or Gypsy Jazz Guitar Chords on Decibel Score like the song of Disney Everybody Wants to Be a Cat.

Summertime Jazz history

Summertime chords is a jazz standard written by George Gershwin in 1935. Composed as a lullaby, it quickly becomes a classic of the jazz scenes.

The music is played in jazz from the end of the 30’s by Sidney Bechet (1939) and then played by the greats like Chet Backer, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, Stan Getz or George Benson and sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone or Ray Charles.

The success turns Summertime into a universal song, sung in Rock by The Beatles or Janis Joplin, played in Gipsy Jazz by Django Reinhardt (guitar), Stéphane Grappelli or Biréli Lagrène and even in Bossa Nova by Caetano Veloso.

Summertime lyrics

The jazz song Summertime chords is composed of to parts.

The structure of the lyrics is simple:

Part 1 – Part 2

Part 1

Summertime
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high

Your daddy’s rich
And your mom is good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry

Part 2

One of these mornings
You’re gonna rise up singing
You’re gonna spread your wings
And you’ll take to the sky

Until that morning
There ain’t nothing gonna harm you
With daddy and mommy standing by

Find all our guitar lessons and tabs on Decibel Score.

Our score summarizes everything we just covered. You can download it for free to play the jazz song Summertime chords by George Gershwin on guitar.