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Scarborough Fair chords by Simon & Garfunkel

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Scarborough Fair | Chords + Lyrics (capo 7)

Intro

| A13sus4 | Dsus24 Dsus4/F# | Cmaj7 G/B |
||: A13sus4 | Asus2 :||

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 5

Outro

Scarborough Fair’s chords and progressions

Scarborough Fair 8 step by step guitar lessons

The chords of Scarborough Fair take full advantage of the II chord. By using the extensions sus2, 13, and sus4, we get a clear sense of the Dorian scale ringing through.

It would be impossible to play Scarborough Fair using different chord shapes than what you see me play in the video lesson above. It is the shape and the incorporated open strings that make the arrangement what it is.

Using a capo on fret 7, we think in A Dorian, but what you hear is E Dorian. You can’t change the finger-style patterns or chord shapes, as they are what give Scarborough Fair its distinctive sound.

But what you can do, is add a 2nd guitar part. Doing this will enhance the first part as well as teach you more about how this song is put together.

What Scarborough Fair’s chords do is use all kinds of intervals from the Dorian scale, maintaining the open 5th string.

To name these chords can cause all kinds of debate, after all, they are unique due to the open strings, so reading them as you would with any song doesn’t make all that much sense.

Still, what you see above is what Scarborough Fair’s chords are, thinking in A (remember there’s a capo on fret 7!)

As complicated as these chords may appear, what they do is explain the intervals in them. When we create a 2nd guitar part, that’s what we focus on, to still include the same extensions, just in a new key by removing the capo.

To play the song perfectly at 129 BPM, we have to break the arrangement down into smaller chunks and practice these on a loop at different tempos.

In the first lesson, we do this at 100 and 110 BPM. Over the steps that follow, we gradually build towards playing at the full tempo.

Following this, we develop a 2nd guitar part, practice Dorian, as well as play and develop the vocal melody.

Here’s a link to the complete lesson series (members only): Scarborough Fair 8 step-by-step guitar lessons with TAB.

Become a member today and get unlimited access to all step-by-step guitar courses, TAB for the songbook, the Self-Eliminating Practice Routine, and the eBook Spytunes Method.

Simon & Garfunkel did not write Scarborough Fair!

Originally an old folklore, Scarborough Fair was made worldwide famous by Simon & Garfunkel in 1966 when they released it on the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and then again in 1968 as a single.

The single was a consequence of the song being featured in the movie The Graduate (1967), a film that had plenty of Simon & Garfunkel material, including The Sound Of Silence, April Come She Will, and (very suitably), Mrs. Robinson.

As The Graduate became the highest-grossing film of 1967, Simon & Garfunkel became even more famous.

But Scarborough Fair wasn’t just an old tune Paul Simon had found and made famous, he was taught it whilst residing in England after the duo had temporarily parted ways.

The man who taught Paul the tune was Martin Carthy who felt that he should have been included in the credits on the album. After all, he had recorded it as late as 1965.

Before him there were plenty more who tried, Bob Dylan‘s Girl From The North County is based on Scarborough Fair and was released in 1963 on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan where we also find Blowin’ In The Wind.

But the digging hardly stops with Bob, there’s a long list of folk singers dating back to Georgia Ann Griffin in 1939.

If we ignore recorded versions we can keep going even further, some musicologists have gone back to 1670, and a Scottish Folk song where Scarborough Fair probably originated from a ballad called The Elfin Knight.

So Paul Simon didn’t write Scarborough Fair, he did however make it his own.

Scarborough Fair chords | Related pages

Advanced Acoustic

The advanced acoustic tunes use big chord extensions and sometimes, unique and complex chords that incorporate open strings.

Study these in-depth and you will gain a complete understanding of the guitar fretboard, including how to build any scale, arpeggio, or chord.

Five similar tunes with chords and lyrics

When you can play Scarborough Fair's chords, try these five tunes from the song book.

Simon & Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel was a hugely successful American folk duo that started out as Tom & Jerry before they adopted their more obvious choice of stage name.

Their hits include Homeward Bound, Scarborough Fair, The Boxer, Mrs. Robinson, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and American Tune.

Simon & Garfunkel on the web

Country & Folk

In the primarily acoustic genres of Country & Folk, you must acquire what matters the most: A repertoire. Nothing else will give you the gig.

Learn tunes by Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, America, Don McLean, and many more.