James Taylor – Sweet Baby James

Learn how to play James Taylor – Sweet Baby James note-for-note on guitar.
Difficulty level: Intermediate
Barre chords: Yes
Thumb over chords: No
Playing Style: Fingerpicked with finger strums
Tuning: Standard
The title track from the 1970 album that launched his career as a major star and one of the great songwriters of our time.
The complete file contains a lesson video, a performance play thru video, full tabs, chords and lyrics. You’ll receive a link to download the lesson which will download as a zip file of 239 Mb containing all the lesson content.
Return to Individual Songs Page
Lesson Preview
Tab Preview
Chords & Songsheet Preview
Return to Individual Songs Page
You’ll receive at least two videos per song, one lesson and one performance-standard play-through. You’ll receive the chords/lyrics and guitar tabs as PDF files.
The videos are mp4 format and should play on PC’s, Macs and most mobile devices.
They will download as Zip files. If you don’t have a Zip program on your PC you’ll need to install one to open the file.
If you want to download to an iPad or iPhone you’ll need an app to do so, please read here to know more about it.
Browse Our Lessons by
Fingerstyle Instrumental pieces
Charlie Apodaca says
How do I download the music sheet? There is nowhere for me to enter my email address in the download link above.
John Swickert says
Thanks
Anonymous says
Thanks a lot Jerry!
Frank
Marguerite Farrell says
I am so glad I found your site. I am going to try out some of your freebies, but I am sure I will buy some soon. This is just what I was looking for. I tried taking some lessons but I have a really bad neck and the pain was too bad for me to sit there. So thank you so much.
Courtney Castro says
Thank you Jerry!
Walter Mee says
I’ve been daunted by this song for twenty years.
Went to YouTube and had it sorted in 2 days.
Well done, the sign of a great teacher.
Ed Kaminski says
Jerry, you teaching technique for beginning guitarists is excellent. The details of chord formation and changes combined with melody and left/right hand movement is very helpful.
Thanks for your hard work!
Peggy says
Been working on this song from your Youtube video. Thanks for breaking it down so well!!
Burt Carter says
I sang my daughter and now sing my grandson to sleep with this song. (A capella, of course; a stringed instrument is a sure way to crash any going-to-sleep plan.) As Johnny Cash said, it’s, “the only lullaby that mentions a turnpike”.
I’ve always played it rather free-form with my fingers, but wanted to study how it was originally done. Thanks for the opportunity.
Jose Luis Calderon says
Thank you so much for your knowledge and for all your work that you share with us. Perfect in every way.
Terry Tvrdik says
Jerry, another unbelievable effort. You are nothing short of amazing. Thank You!….Terry (Massachusetts, USA)
Jerry says
I think *aww shucks* are the words I’m searching for :)
michael swierbut says
Just finished “Streets of London”. I am so pleased with the way I play this lovely tune. Thanks so much for all your efforts in helping folks play better guitar.
John Manning says
Great stuff Jerry . Your step-by -step teaching technique is very clear and understandable and I find your teaching tips on fingering and chords most helpful.