Scarborough Fair | Chords + Lyrics (capo 7)
Intro
| A13sus4 | Dsus24 Dsus4/F# | Cmaj7 G/B |
||: A13sus4 | Asus2 :||
Verse 1
| A13sus4 | Asus2 | G C/E G | A13sus4 | A7sus2 |
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
| C | Am7 | C D | A13sus4 | Asus2 | A13sus4 | Asus2 |
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
| Asus2 | C | C G/B Am7 | G C/E G | C/E G |
Remember me to one who lives there,
| A7omit3 | G C/E | G C/E G | A13sus4 | Asus2 | A13sus4 | Asus2 |
she once was a true love of mine.
Verse 2
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Without no seams nor needlework,
then she’ll be a true love of mine.
Verse 3
Tell her to find me an acre of land,
parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Between salt water and the sea strands,
then she’ll be a true love of mine.
Verse 4
Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather,
parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
And gather it all in a bunch of heather,
then she’ll be a true love of mine.
Verse 5
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there,
she once was a true love of mine.
Outro
| A13sus4 | Dsus24 Dsus4/F# | Cmaj7 G/B | Asus2 |
Scarborough Fair Chords: Learn the progressions
The chords of Scarborough Fair take full advantage of the II chord. Using the extensions sus2, 13, and sus4 gives us a clear sense of the Dorian scale ringing through.
Applying a capo on fret 7, we think in A Dorian, but what you hear is E Dorian.
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 any sense.
Still, what you see above with chords and lyrics is what Scarborough Fair’s chords are, thinking in A (remember there’s a capo on fret 7!), here’s a full verse:
| A13sus4 (II) | Asus2 | G (I) C/E (IV) G | A13sus4 | A7sus2 |
| C (IV) | Am7 (II) | C (IV) D (V) | A13sus4 | Asus2 | A13sus4 | Asus2 |
| Asus2 | C | C (IV) G/B (I/3) Am7 (II) | G (I) C/E (IV/3) G | C/E G |
| A7omit3 | G C/E | G C/E G | A13sus4 | Asus2 | A13sus4 | Asus2 |
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. It’s only now that it becomes important what Scarborough Fair’s chord names are.
This also means that the chord chart you see below only becomes useful once you’ve learned how to play Scarborough Fair Using TAB.
With the TAB, there are chords, so once the TAB is removed, the chords alone will serve as a reminder.
Scarborough Fair Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
In the case of Scarborough Fair, you’re at first better off with a TAB chart than a chord chart (members get this). But after completing the TAB chart there is value in having it as just chord names.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Scarborough Fair Chord Chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro, here’s a link to that file: Scarborough Fair iReal Pro.
Below is a preview of the course material, we here learn each section of Scarborough Fair using play–along TAB loops.
Scarborough Fair TAB | Course Preview
You can’t change the finger-style patterns or chord shapes, as they give Scarborough Fair its distinctive sound.
Above you see the first play-along loop, there are only 6 of these in total as they repeat so often. In the course, we practice these loops at different tempos to ingrain the fingerstyle patterns in our muscle memory.
Here’s the first example in TAB (this is the intro, try playing along already now):
The chord names are very complicated and a consequence of the open strings so I wouldn’t worry too much about them at first.
Instead, focus on practising using the TAB loops and you’ll soon be able to do it, it really is all about muscle memory with this one.
Members learn it just like the original first, then build that 2nd guitar, complete with TAB and play-along loops.
Here’s a link to the 8 step-by-step guitar lessons: Scarborough Fair – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
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
Scarborough Fair | 8 Step-by-step Guitar Lessons + TAB
The most difficult aspect of the Dorian-sounding composition Scarborough Fair, is to play at the original tempo. To get there, we practice at different tempos.
Following this, we develop a 2nd guitar part, practice Dorian, and develop the vocal melody. This will hammer home the sound of the Dorian mode.
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Simon & Garfunkel tunes
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
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Scarborough Fair chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
