ocean eyes

I’m still struck by the artistry of Billie Eilish’s debut, “dont smile at me”. She brought such a dark and unique sound to pop music—and remarkably, she was only 15 when it was first released. Beyond the music, I loved her unconventional “orthography” as a marketing move; titling songs in all lowercase and bold uppercase, was a small detail that was so cool at the time — every other pop star seemed to copy it immediately afterward.

To this day, my favorites remain “you should see me in a crown” and “ocean eyes.” The latter is naturally guitar-friendly, and while I posted a fingerstyle cover of it years ago, I really wanted to revisit it. I’ve updated the performance and transcription with a lower tuning, different chord voicings, and a more unique, textured feel.

You might also like to play…

you should see me in a crown | fingerstyle guitar + TAB

No Time to Die | fingerstyle guitar + TAB

What Was I Made For? | fingerstyle guitar + TAB

How to play “ocean eyes” | fingerstyle guitar

The guitar tab for this arrangement is beautifully written across 2 pages. It’s suitable for beginner guitar players and up. If you’d like to learn more about my righty-hand technique, check out this post. Enjoy! The guitar tab is available below:

My song structure looks like this in accordance with the guitar tab:

Verse 2x, Verse End

Chorus 2x, Chorus End

Verse 2x, Verse End

Chorus 2x, Chorus End

[guitar tab] **Billie Eilish: ocean eyes | fingerstyle guitar

My tuning for this piece is one whole-step down: D G C F A D.

However, feel free to play it in standard tuning — as the actual song (is also) played in standard tuning.