How to Play the Kinks’ Swingy, Snarky Hit “Sunny Afternoon”

Like many Ray Davies songs, “Sunny Afternoon,” the Kinks’ hit released in 1966 on Face to Face, isn’t quite what it seems on the surface. Over bouncy, cheerful music, Davies sings in the voice of a rich man loafing in the sun while complaining about taxes, the loss of his yacht, and the girlfriend who fled his drunken cruelty.

Musically, the song’s highlight is its descending bass line, heard in the intro and the end of the chorus. On the original recording, bass and electric guitar carry that bass line while Davies’ acoustic guitar mostly supplies strummed chords. This arrangement combines bass and chords in one part that can stand alone, and it’s a blast to play.

In the intro, start with the bass line only—use palm muting for a thumpy sound. In measure 5, add chords. The basic harmony is two measures of Dm and two of A7, but the fingerings that accommodate the bass line turn the chords in measure 6 into inversions of G7 and Gm. As a variation, I like to play the descending riff in octaves, too, as shown.

For the main rhythm, strum mostly quarter notes with a swing feel and a strong backbeat. The chart uses A7 chords throughout, reflecting the overall band harmony, but note that Davies often plays straight A major chords. In fact, for the bass line riff, he holds a first-finger barre for A and then frets the G and F bass notes with his second finger and thumb, respectively.

In the chorus, Davies uses open D7 and G7 shapes. I prefer the alternative fingerings shown: a closed D7 and a G7 with its seventh in the middle rather than on top. The chord library shows a full F barre chord, but I often reduce it to an F/C on the four middle strings.

The ending is based on a Davies live performance, with a third-string hammer-on on a Dm chord and a quick hop to A7 (or A) to wrap up.

Due to copyright restrictions, we are unable to post notation or tablature for this musical work. If you have a digital or physical copy of the January/February 2026 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine, you will find the music on page 46.

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2026 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.