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FREE CHORD PROGRESSIONS - by Bradley Laird

Shady Grove - Minor Key Version

Here are the chords when this song is played in a minor key. This is the way you may have heard Doc Watson or Jerry Garcia sing the song.

*Note the chords marked with an asterisk "*". Doc Watson's version uses the Am, but when Grisman and Garcia did it they played a C chord there. You can play whichever one you like. Am is the relative minor of the C chord so either one works. (If you want to understand the reasons for this in more detail see my book Mandolin Master Class.) If you are playing this in Am that Em** chord becomes a G.

Concerning which key to play it in: Nearly everyone does this tune in D minor. However, if it suits your voice better I have given you the chords in Am as well. but, as always, see my pages on how to use a capo and how to transpose for more information if you need to slide it up to the key of Bb or B.

Additional Learning Resources:

The Mandolin Song Book by Bradley Laird includes tablature for the major and minor versions of Shady Grove and 31 other mandolin breaks and solos.

Bradley Laird's Free Mandolin Chord Charts

The Bluegrass Fakebook by Bert Casey has the Chords, Lyrics and Melody to Shady Grove, along with 149 more bluegrass songs.

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