Acoustic Songs, Advanced Acoustic, Song Book

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

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Scarborough Fair and Dorian

Originally, an old folklore, Scarborough Fair was made worldwide famous by Simon & Garfunkel.

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.

We spend a considerable amount of time doing this in the advanced acoustic guitar course, as well as learning the original part, of course.

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 actually 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.

Before we get to that, let’s start learning how to play Scarborough Fair, just like Paul Simon did on the original Simon & Garfunkel recording back in 1966.

In order 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. Below, you can see example 1 in TAB. This is what you’ll soon play as an intro and outro.

Scarborough Fair chords and TAB, example 1.

There are a further five examples that you’ll end up practicing to individual loops at different tempos in the course.

Scarborough Fair’s 8 guitar lessons

The most difficult aspect of this Dorian-sounding composition is actually to play at the full tempo. To get there, we practice at different tempos.

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

In total, there are 8 step-by-step lessons for Scarborough Fair available. Here are links to each lesson in the course (members only):

Scarborough Fair chords | Related pages

Five similar tunes

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

Simon & Garfunkel

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were a hugely successful American folk duo starting 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 tunes.

Simon & Garfunkel on the web

Advanced Acoustic Songs

These songs 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.

Advanced Acoustic Songs.