Banjo tablatures for Shady Grove
Traditional
Recomended level: Intermediate
Shady Grove is recognized as an Appalachian folk song. It is common in the bluegrass and old-time musicians of the Cumberland repertoire. The song has been performed by traditional and folk musicians as it is sometimes called a courting song. Shady grove is all about the true love that a young man has coupled with a firm hope that he would get to marry her. There are a lot of existing variants, and artists like the Kingston Trio, Jerry Garcia and David Gris man, Mudcrutch, Bill Monroe, Crooked Still, Taj Mahal, Doc Watson, and many others have performed it. Even the ever famous Van Beethoven has performed it before. If you do a little research about the song, you will discover that it has at least about three melodies and a ton of verses than you would want to count. The song has the same melody for its verse and chorus, so it shouldn’t take to long to know the tune. This same tune was used by the Fairport convention of 1969 to follow the traditional British ballad “Matty Groves.” But apart from this usage, “Shady Grove” and “Matty Groves” are not the same.
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Scruggs Style
- Difficulty
- Key Dm
- Tempo 120 bpm
- Tuning aDGBD
Shady Grove is a popular jam tune and has been recorded by tons of amazing artists. Listen to Doc Watson's version for a good time!
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Jim Mills Style - Kickoff
- Difficulty
- Key G
- Tempo 80 bpm
- Tuning gDGBD
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder recorded this tune around 155 BPM. Jim Mills is one of the best to ever play the banjo in Ricky's band or on earth. This version is based on his playi...
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Melodic Style
- Difficulty
- Key Dm
- Tempo 120 bpm
- Tuning aDGBD
The melodic arrangement of Shady Grove is a great way to imitate how a guitarist or mandolin player may play this tune.
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