What can you do as a free member?

Member benefits illustration

Create your free account today and unlock all our premium features and tools to enhance your gaming experience.

Member benefits illustration

Create your free account today and save articles to your watchlist and get notified when they're updated with new information.

Member benefits illustration

Create your free account today and save your favorite games for quick access later, synced across all your devices.

Member benefits illustration

By creating a Game8 account and logging in, you'll receive instant notifications when someone replies to your posts.

Comment rating feature illustration

By creating a Game8 account and logging in, you can make use of convenient features in the comments section, such as rating and sorting comments.

Premium archive feature illustration

By creating a Game8 account and logging in, you can access Premium articles that are exclusively available to members.

Site Interface

Guest
Free Member
Article Watchlist
Game Bookmarks
Cross-device Sync
Light/Dark Theme Toggle
User Profiles
Direct Feedback
Comment Rating

Game Tools

Guest
Free Member
Interactive Map Access
Interactive Map Pins
Interactive Map Comments
Interactive Map Pins Cross-Device
Check List
Event Choice Checker
Deck Builder Cross-Device
Message Board Notification
Message Board Cross-Device
Build Planner
Stat Calculator
Diagnostic Tool
Weapon/Armor Wishlist

Want more information?Learn more

Sea of Thieves

How to Use Instruments and Play Shanties

Add to Watchlist

★SoT PS5 Version and Season 12 are Now Live!
★New Pre-Order and Edition Bonuses for the PS5!
★Check out our Beginner's Guide for new players.
★Tall Tales | World Events | Trading Companies

Sea of Thieves - How to Play Instruments

Playing the instrument and singing shanties is part of living the pirate life in Sea of Thieves! Read on to learn how to use instruments alone or with others and select which shanties to play!

List of Contents

How to Use Instruments

Select an Instrument and Start Playing

To play an instrument, all you have to do is select the instrument from the radial menu then press and hold LMB/RT to start playing. There are four kinds of instruments you can choose from.

Instruments
Sea of Thieves - BanjoBanjo Sea of Thieves - ConcertinaConcertina
Sea of Thieves - DrumDrum Sea of Thieves - Hurdy-gurdyHurdy-gurdy

Change Shanties by Holding RMB or LT

You can select which shanty to play by pressing and holding RMB/LT while holding an instrument to bring out the shanty selection menu.

Playing Shanties With Others

Playing shanties with other players will just be as simple as playing an instrument at the same time. When one player starts playing a shanty first and then another player starts playing an instrument after, they will play the same shanty.

How to Unlock Shanties

Shanty Name Unlocked By
1812 Default
Ballad of the Mer Default
Becalmed Default
Bosun Bill Default
Grogg Mayles Default
Happy Birthday Default
Infernal Galop Default
Jolly Good Fellow Default
Maiden Voyage Default
Monkey Island Shanty The Legend of Monkey Island Tall Tale
Ride of the Valkyries Default
Row Row Row Your Boat Default
Seek the Dead Default
Stitcher's Sorrow Default
Summon the Beast The Legend of Monkey Island Tall Tale
Summon the Megalodon Default
We Shall Sail Together Becoming a Pirate Legend
Who Shall Not Be Returning Default
Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life) A Pirate's Life Tall Tale

Sea of Thieves Related Guides

Sea of Thieves - Tips and Tricks Partial

Beginner's Guide to Sea of Thieves

All Tips and Tricks Guides

Getting Started in Sea of Thieves
High Seas vs. Safer Seas Best Keybinds & Settings
How to Sail Your Ship and All Ship Types How to Return to Your Ship
How to Repair Your Ship How to Get Quests
How to Unlock Tall Tales How to Create and Customize Character
How to Join a Random Crew How to Save Your Game
General Tips and Tricks
How to Sword Lunge How to Become a Pirate Legend
Best Ways to Farm Gold How to Buy a Ship
How to Get Ashen Keys How to Get Ashen Chests
How to Raise Trading Company Reputation How to Catch Fish
How to Use Instruments and Play Shanties How to Get Ancient Coins
Can You Play in 3rd Person? How to Get the Dark Warsmith Set
Season 12 Content
Horn of Fair Winds Bone Caller
Double Barrel Pistol Throwing Knife
Multiplayer Guides
How to Join a Party and Invite Friends How to Enable and Use Voice Chat
How to Kick Players and Use the Brig How to Start a Player Alliance

Comment

Post (0 Comments)

Author

Sea of Thieves (SoT) Walkthrough Team
This article was created by Game8's elite team of writers and gamers.
    Leave feedback(Login required)
    Please participate in our site
    improvement survey
    12/2025
    Would you assist in
    improving Game8's site?
    ×
    This survey will take about 1 minute.
    Your answers will help us to improve our website.
    We are listening to our users' valuable opinions and discussing how to act on them.
    The information collected through this survey will be used for the purpose of improving our services. In addition, the information will only be disclosed a part of a statistic in a format that will not allow identification of personal information.
    Begin Survey
    Not Now
    ×
    Please rate each item regarding Game8.co's Advertisements.
    Amount of Ads
    Very Dissatisfied
    Somewhat Dissatisfied
    Fine
    Somewhat Satisfied
    Highly Satisfied
    Placement of Ads
    Timing of Ad Display
    Ad Loading Speed
    Safeness of Ads
    Content of Ads
    ×
    Please rate each item regarding Game8.co's Quality of Articles.
    Amount of information
    Very Dissatisfied
    Somewhat Dissatisfied
    Fine
    Somewhat Satisfied
    Highly Satisfied
    Frequency of updates
    Speed of new information
    Accuracy of articles
    Understandibility of articles
    Readability of sentences
    ×
    Please rate each item regarding Game8.co's Usability of the Site.
    Ease of finding information
    Very Dissatisfied
    Somewhat Dissatisfied
    Fine
    Somewhat Satisfied
    Highly Satisfied
    Loading Speed
    Use of Color
    Font Size
    Visibility of Images
    Easy to Understand Layout
    ×
    Please rate each item regarding Game8.co's Message Boards, Comments.
    Ease of Writing
    Very Dissatisfied
    Somewhat Dissatisfied
    Fine
    Somewhat Satisfied
    Highly Satisfied
    Readability
    Ease in Finding Information
    Comment Quality
    Comment Quantity
    Admin Response
    ×
    Please rate each item regarding Game8.co's Site's new design.
    Please rate our site's new design
    Very Dissatisfied
    Somewhat Dissatisfied
    Fine
    Somewhat Satisfied
    Highly Satisfied
    Do you think that the website's design change makes the site easier to use?
    Has the new design made it easier for you to find information on the site?
    Has the new design improved the overall visual appeal of the site?
    How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the new design of the site?
    ×
    How likely are you to recommend Game8 to someone you know?
    Very Unlikely
    0
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10
    Very Likely
    If you have other opinions regarding potential improvement to the website, please share them with us. We would appreciate your honest opinion.
    Note: This is a free response section, so you can proceed without entering anything.
    Note: Please be sure not to enter any kind of personal information into your response.
    ×
    Thank You
    ×
    Thank you for participating in our survey! Your answers will help us to improve the quality of our website and services.
    We hope you continue to make use of Game8.
    Close
    For other opinions or comments, go here.

    Rankings

    Popular Articles
    Message Board
    • We could not find the message board you were looking for.

    Gaming News

    Tides of Annihilation Gameplay Trailer Deep Dive: Dual Frontline System & More Analyzed

    Tides of Annihilation Gameplay Trailer Deep Dive: Dual Fr...

    Popular Games

    Recommended Games

    All rights reserved

    ©Microsoft 2024. Microsoft, Rare, the Rare logo, Sea of Thieves are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.
    ©Disney. All trademarks and copyrights are property of their respective owners.
    MONKEY ISLAND © & ™ 20‍24 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.

    The copyrights of videos of games used in our content and other intellectual property rights belong to the provider of the game.
    The contents we provide on this site were created personally by members of the Game8 editorial department.
    We refuse the right to reuse or repost content taken without our permission such as data or images to other sites.

    Sea of Thieves (SoT) Walkthrough & Guides Wiki

    Quick Access
    Guide Index

    Latest News

    Tall Tales

    Maiden Voyage

    Shores of Gold

    Ashen Age

    A Pirate's Life

    The Legend of Monkey Island

    Tips and Tricks

    Season 12 Content

    Trading Companies

    Commendations

    World Events