Scarlet Begonias – Solo from 5/8/77 – Video Lesson

Jerry Garcia's playing from 5/8/77, and more specifically, his playing from that night's version of "Scarlet Begonias" is heartfelt and beautifully melodic. There are many licks throughout this four chorus solo that you could "cherry-pick" and include in your playing; however, there is a ton you can get out of studying this solo in its entirety. It builds perfectly from start to finish, is very melodic, and follows the chord changes to a T. I guarantee by the time you get through this entire piece, you'll have a much better understanding of Jerry's playing, and his approach to playing a song like "Scarlet Begonias".

The CAGED System

Once you begin playing through this transcription, you'll find that Jerry was very fond of working out of chord shapes. If you're not already familiar with it, the term "CAGED" refers to the five common open-position chord shapes of C, A, G, E, and D. These shapes can then be moved all over the neck to produce chords in every key, while retaining the familiarity of the shapes you probably learned when first beginning the guitar. Familiarizing yourself with these shapes and being able to visualize them on the fretboard as you play through this solo will really help you understand how Garcia's licks relate to the underlining harmony (chords) of the song. Figures 1a-1f illustrate the CAGED shapes for the E chord (note there are 2 shapes for the E shape - one being an open shape).

Figures 2a-2f illustrate the CAGED shapes for the A chord (note there are 2 shapes for the A shape - one being an open shape).

And finally, we have figures 3a-3e which illustrate the CAGED shapes for the B chord (note there is no open shape for the B chord).

Be sure to download a copy of my transcription from below. Once you've learned the solo in its entirety, see if you can use the CAGED shapes from above as a guide and come up with your own solo. Most importantly, have fun!