Return of the Grievous Angel

by Gram Parsons • Lesson #470 • Feb 10, 2023

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, I’ll teach you how to play Return of the Grievous Angel, the Gram Parsons country-rock classic featuring the amazing vocal harmonies of Emmylou Harris. I first heard this song about 20 years ago, and since then it’s become one of my all-time favorites. I’ll walk you through the chord shapes, explain the three different chord progressions needed, and show a few different strumming options.

Main Lesson

Playthrough (Key of G)

Here’s me singing it in Key of G (no capo). Even after removing the capo, I can’t quite capture those high notes without straining. You can hear me lower my vocals by an octave during the first chorus & refrain.

Playthrough (Key of D)

Here’s me singing it using chord shapes in the Key of D (with capo 2). After a lot of experimentation, this is the best key for me to sing it in. The low notes aren’t too low, and the high notes are just barely manageable. I surely can’t sing like Gram, but am still happy to share this!

How I Changed the Key to Fit My Voice

Here’s a behind-the-scenes process video showing how I changed the key from G to D, to better suit my voice. I explain the process of figuring out the equivalent of each chord, using my Chords in Each Key table from my Practical Music Theory course. If you want to try this yourself, download the key change worksheet I show in the video.

Lesson Discussion

Licensed Song Sheet 2 pages

Follow along with my print-friendly guide for this song! It’s available for purchase at Musicnotes.com, the web’s leading provider of licensed sheet music.

On the fence? Here's a guide I made showing the purchase & print process, including answers to common questions about my song sheets.

Buy at Musicnotes.com

Recorded Versions of This Song

Gram Parson’s album version:

Ryan Adams & Emmylou Harris (live):

Counting Crows cover (live):

Browse Related Lessons

Click any tag below to view other lessons I've made in that category:

Enjoy My Lessons? Show Your Support!

Most of the lessons on my website are 100% free. If you have the means, please show your support with a tip jar contribution. I put many hours into every lesson — but it only takes you a minute to make a donation. You have my thanks!

Donate

Looking for More Song Lessons?

Recently Added

Featured Courses

Strumming & Rhythm

While your left hand is busy learning chords, your right hand has its own job: creating a sense of rhythm with strumming! This can be tricky at first, but there's so much fun-to-be-had once you get over the hump. Here's a guide to get you started.

17 lessons

View

Fingerstyle & Travis Picking

Dive into the basics of fingerstyle guitar, with plenty of examples of riffs, exercises, and songs that put this technique to use. This includes a healthy serving of Travis Picking lessons, which feature an alternating bass note played with your right thumb.

31 lessons

View

Blues Starter Kit

A guide to must-know elements of beginner blues guitar! I'll walk you through the essential topics, showing you fun things to play along the way.

18 lessons

View

Reading Music for Guitarists

Learn to read tabs, chord charts, fretboard diagrams, strumming patterns, and more! This course explains how to understand all of these must-know notation styles.

6 lessons

View

Learning Lead Guitar

A collection of videos teaching you licks, riffs, solos, and other lead guitar techniques! Includes info on scales, CAGED shapes, and other helpful lead guitar concepts.

24 lessons

View

Beginner Chord Guide

A guide to the must-know chords you'll need when getting started with guitar! The quickest way to learn major chords, minor chords, the chords in each key, and more.

22 lessons

View

Practical Music Theory

A general overview of must-know theory concepts. The goal here is practical, easy-to-understand explanations — all of which provide clarity to your everyday guitar playing.

12 lessons

View

Using a Capo

Capos are incredibly helpful if you want to play along with your favorite artist, change a song's key, adjust things to your vocal range, and so on. In this series of videos I explain all this & more!

8 lessons

View

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Interactive fretboard map! See the patterns behind every scale in any key.

View

Capo Captain

An easy way to calculate key & chord combinations, for any capo location!

View

Key Master

See and hear the notes, chords, scales used in each of the most common keys.

View

Blank Tabs

Free PDF templates to download, print, and write out your own guitar tabs!

View

Coming soon is Jambox – which shows all the video jam tracks I've made. It's note quite ready for the spotlight, but check it out if you like!

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Be sure to never miss a lesson by subscribing on YouTube. I put out 2-3 new videos every week. These include full song lessons, as well as covers, practice tips, behind-the-scenes updates. Thanks!

Recent Lessons

Dec 20, 2024

Deck the Halls – Fingerstyle!

Here's a fingerstyle arrangement of Deck the Halls for you to settle into! This is a fun, relatively short song that you should be able to get up to speed with relatively quickly.
Dec 19, 2024

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Check out this sing-and-strum arrangement I put together! I'll show you how to play this Christmas classic using (mostly) easy chords in the Key of G. Such a fun song to play!
December 13, 2024

Gifted Memberships & Pentatonic Scale Q&A

For those of you who've wanted to easily gift a Song Notes membership to a friend or family member, you're in luck! Plus, check out two new PDF cheat sheets I made.
December 6, 2024

"Our House" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Let's fingerpick this classic from CSNY! While it's originally a piano-driven song, I came up with a easy-going Key of C arrangement I think you'll enjoy.
November 28, 2024

Thanksgiving Roundup: Improved Search, Vidami Coupon Code, and Melody Deep-Dives

A collection of website & lesson updates from the past couple weeks, including a 20% discount code for Vidami pedals!
November 15, 2024

"Scarlet Begonias" by Grateful Dead

Let's dive into the 1974 classic from the Dead, with an acoustic-friendly arrangement using Key of G chords! I also show how you can include the catchy riffs wherever they occur, which is great way to channel the full spirit of this song.
November 12, 2024

Does CAGED Help When Learning Songs?

A quick audience Q&A video, where I talk about how CAGED helps (or does not help) when learning songs. Featuring the main riff from Scarlet Begonias by the Grateful Dead, which I'll be teaching soon!
November 8, 2024

Rhythm Deep Dive: "Guitar Town" by Steve Earle

Watch the process of me transcribing the rhtyhm of an incredibly tricky song! All shown in real time, in writing. Featuring "Guitar Town" by Steve Earle.

Browse All Recent Lessons →

← back to homepage

Return of the Grievous Angel

Description

Main Lesson

Playthrough (Key of G)

Playthrough (Key of D)

How I Changed the Key to Fit My Voice

Lesson Discussion

Licensed Song Sheet 2 pages

Related Lessons

Recorded Versions of This Song

Unlock My Secret Stash!

Browse Related Lessons

Enjoy My Lessons? Show Your Support!

Looking for More Song Lessons?

Featured Courses

Strumming & Rhythm

Fingerstyle & Travis Picking

Blues Starter Kit

Reading Music for Guitarists

Learning Lead Guitar

Beginner Chord Guide

Practical Music Theory

Using a Capo

Fun & Helpful Tools I've Made

Fret Monster

Capo Captain

Key Master

Blank Tabs

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

Recent Lessons