This paper is concerned with the initial‐boundary value problem for a variable coefficient beam equation with nonlinear damping. Such a model arises from the vertical deflections of a damped extensible elastic inhomogeneous beam whose density depends on time and position. By using the Faedo–Galerkin method and energy method, we obtain the existence and uniqueness of global strong solution. Furthermore, the exponential decay estimate for the total energy is also derived. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.