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Home ❯ Songs ❯ Grateful Dead ❯

Scarlet Begonias

by Grateful Dead • Lesson #571 • Nov 15, 2024


About This Lesson

Hey there, my friends! In today’s lesson I’m excited to teach you Scarlet Begonias by the Grateful Dead. My arrangement is slightly simplified and very acoustic-friendly. I’ll use capo 4th fret to avoid barre chords, allowing us to play the full song with Key of G chord family. I’ve also worked out all the recognizable riffs, and demonstrate how you can play these wherever they occur, without ever having to leave open position. This one is a ton of fun, so let’s get into it!

  • 0:00 Playthrough
  • 1:14 Lesson Overview
  • 3:14 Chords, Capo, and Key
  • 4:57 Strumming & Rhythm
  • 9:01 Verse
  • 12:03 Chorus
  • 14:48 Bridge
  • 23:39 Ending Riff

Practice Notes 2 pages

It includes all of my notes for this lesson, allowing you to follow along at your own pace. You're free to download, print, and share the PDF across your devices.

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Here's a print-friendly PDF I made with all of my practice notes for this lesson. This lets you follow along with everything I show in video tutorial at your own pace.

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Lesson Discussion

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Additional Videos

Play-Along Practice Track

Here’s the audio track I play over in the beginning of my main video! This one loops through all of the progressions for 5 minutes, using bass and drums to help give you a rhythmic groove to follow. The current measure is always highlighted via the on-screen graphics, which help ensure you’re never lost. And if you do mess up, fear not! Things repeat a few times, so you always have another chance to get it right.

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Audio versions also available for download! Click to download the practice track with guitar or without guitar included in the mix.


Playthrough with Strumming Notes & Tabs (No Singing)

If you want a zoomed-in playthrough of each section with tabs & strumming notes shown on screen, this video is the one for you. It’s also played over my backing track (with drums and bass). There’s no singing, so you can more clearly hear my guitar.

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Playthrough with Singing (Full Song)

Finally, here’s a beginning-to-end cover I do where I put everything together in a single, un-edited take. This cover does not have the backing track heard in both videos above.

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