Boys of Summer is a great song to learn how to play on guitar.
Not too easy, and not too hard either.
Boys of Summer is a song by Don Henley off his solo album Building the Perfect Beast.
It was the first track and single of this album that was released in 1984.
One of the challenge’s in playing this song is that it is recorded in Eb.
So I have just used normal tuning with open chords for you below.
Playing it in E means you have to dig deep ( or wear tighter jeans ) to hit the higher notes if you are singing along while playing.
And also if you want to play along with the Youtube videos it makes this a bit harder too.
This is the first time I have learnt to play Boys of Summer, but it has always been a song in my music collection or on my iPod for many years.
The chords for guitar are below, also some notes on playing, and the Youtube videos for Boys of Summer are below too.
Play Boys of Summer by Don Henley on Guitar
Intro
Em C D C
Verse
Em
Nobody on the road, nobody on the beach
C
I feel it in the air, the summer’s out of reach
D
Empty lake, empty streets, the sun goes down alone
C
I’m driving by your house, though I know, your not home
Chorus
G D
I can see you, your brown skin shining in the sun
D C
You got your hair combed back, and your sunglasses on baby
G D
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
D C
After the boys of summer have gone
Bridge 1
Em C D C
Verse
Em
I never will forget those nights, I wonder if it was a dream
C
Remember how you made me crazy, remember how I made you scream
D
Now I don’t understand, what happened to our love
C
But baby, when I get you back, I’m gonna show you what I’m made of
Chorus
G D
I can see you, your brown skin shining in the sun
D C
I see you walking real slow, and you’re, smiling at everyone
G D
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
D C
After the boys of summer have gone
Bridge 2
Hold C chord
Em C D C
Verse
Em
Out on the road today I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac
C
A little voice inside my head said, don’t look back you can never look back
D
I thought I knew what love was, what did I know
C
Those days are gone forever, I should just let them go but
Chorus
G D
I can see you, your brown skin shining in the sun
D C
You got that top pulled down and that radio on, baby
G D
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
D C
After the boys of summer have gone
Chorus
G D
I can see you, your brown skin shining in the sun
D C
You got that hair slicked back, and those, Wayfarers on, baby
G D
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
D C
After the boys of summer have gone
Outro
G D D C
G D D C
G D D C
Notes on how to play Boys of Summer
The Boys of Summer isn’t too hard to strum along with as there aren’t too many chords in it at all.
What makes it a great song is the use of the chords, and the highs and lows throughout the song.
You can get these highs and lows by changing from strumming to finger picking or using partial chords in the right spots.
Like I have mentioned above, this song is in Eb so if you are an outright beginner you will be challenged a bit trying to play along with your normal E tuning.
So you can tune down to Eb and or just learn the basic structure of the song and play it in E.
Below for you are the Youtube videos for you of Boys of Summer to play along with.
I have also given you The Ataris video too if you want to play along with a bit more grunt.
Here is the Don Henley video.
And this is The Ataris version of the song.
Pretty much the same with a few minor song structure changes.
It also has the lyric change of Deadhead to Black Flag which most people wouldn’t pick up.
Here is the song structure if you need it when you play Boys of Summer.
Intro
Verse
Chorus
Bridge 1
Verse
Chorus
Bridge 2
Verse
Chorus
Chorus
Outro
I have called the parts after the choruses Bridge 1 and Bridge 2 to keep it simple and not confusing, as they are a little different from the Intro and Outro parts.
Other than that, a great song to learn and play along with once you can get your head around the transition out of or to Eb.
Enjoy playing Boys of Summer and keep an eye to for my next song to learn to play on acoustic guitar.